jlw3369

My boyfriend and i are planning to travel to CR for the first time in Sept. After a bit of research we decided to go to the Osa Peninsula area...seemed like the best place to spend some time in a rainforest atmosphere...not surrounded by tourists.

Does anyone have experience with places to stay in this area? Lapa Rios looks really nice...are these type places worth the cost? Is it really as nice as the website looks? Thought we would spend 3-4 days somewhere like this, then try to go fishing and diving and/or snorkeling in another town...maybe stay cheaper.

any recommendations would be well appreciated. Should we go to Golfito for fishing? Thanks.

Suzie2

No to Golfito but the same fishing company can pick you up in Puerto Jimenez to take you out.
Do a search for Lapa Rios on this board. I have written quite a bit about it and other options for places to stay instead.

jlw3369

suzie2--thanks for the reply..did a search like you said and found lots of info...kindof starting to think bosque more than lapa rios. they both seem nice, just kindof sounds like bosque might be a bit less "all-inclusive"...is that somewhat correct?

basically, we REALLY dont like travelling in "herds" and things like that --that i associate with all inclusive places.

we just want to see some cool stuff in the rainforest--hang out on the beach--maybe do an overnight camping trip--do some activities...fishing, kayaking, hiking , (i think you mentioned climbing waterfalls)...all of that stuff sounds great, just would not like to be forced to hang out with everyone that is staying at the lodge...am i making sense?

thanks again for your reply--any more info you might provide is appreciated.

Suzie2

Many of the lodges like Bosque, Lapa Rios, etc. appear to be all inclusives and they are to some extent mainly due to their more remote locations and the lack of other options. My husband and I are NOT all inclusive type people and except for me taking one day tour one year by myself after he had left the country we don't do "herd" type trips.
Basically the way they work is, you pay for however many days you want to stay there and food is included. Drinks are extra. There really aren't many other options at places like those. The little town of Puerto Jimenez is a $20-45min ride on a bumpy, dusty road. A pretty expensive dinner considering the lousy food you would find in PJ when you got there.
Bosque is slightly more casual than Lapa Rios but the rooms are as nice if not nicer. The surrounding grounds and gardens are much nicer at Bosque. At Bosque you have strolling room where you can just wander around and the wildlife comes to you without much effort. We had a whole troop of white faced monkeys come right up to the bar by the pool. We felt the hiking at Bosque was much better also.
At LR, if you have a cabin #'d higher than about 6 you will have nothing but steps to and from everything. My husband was a marathon runner when we stayed there and even he was miserable climbing those steps (we were in cabin 13).
Bosque has the owners right there who are friendly but not pushy. Phil always has a big smile for everyone.
At LR you have a management company.

When you say fishing and diving in another town did you mean in another area of CR?
You could just go to Drake Bay although I honestly thought the hiking and wildlife were better around Cabo Matapalo but you could go fishing and diving from there. Check out La Paloma and Casa Corcovado. It will be very humid there in Sept although possibly less so at Casa Corcovado.
On the opposite end of the country practically is the Flamingo area. Flamingo Beach is very pretty and not terribly crowded. Maries is a great place to eat and the Flamingo Beach Marina is a fun place to stay. There is even a casino in the area. Great fishing and diving/snorkeling around there also. You could also walk a short way down the road to Potrero to see monkeys. They line the road up in the trees there.

Regarding getting help from tour companies etc. It really doesn't mean you will be on a "herd" tour. Most of the companies down there will help you as much or as little as you want. You don't have to sign up for a preset trip. You can make up your own trip and just ask them to make the in country travel arrangements and hotel reservations for you. Much of the stuff is easy enough for you to arrange for yourself or in the case of going to someplace further away like Bosque...they can make the flight arrangements for you.
Before you commit to anything on the Osa, I would contact them now and ask about the weather at that time.

jlw3369

thanks again for the advice...we will definately check on the weather. at first we were planning september, but now i am thinking maybe we should wait until nov, or maybe after the first of the year...i just dont want to experience a whole lot of rain...dont mind some, but dont want to not be able to do things b/c of it.

will read up on flamingo beach also...

ok, say we stay at bosque for a few days, then maybe stay somewhere closer to cano island where we could do some snorkeling...where is a good place to stay around there?

thanks alot for your advice.

Suzie2

The two places I mentioned for Drake Bay are both very good as is Aguila de Osa. I hear Wilderness Lodge is pretty good but not as nice as the others.
Problem here is getting to it from Puerto Jimenez. I would recommend just picking one of the two areas.
The Flamingo area isn't very remote if that is what you are looking for but it does have some good places to go diving and fishing nearby.

cross

We are thinking of staying at Casa Corcovado in Jan/Feb timeframe. I am expecting that the humidity/heat is pretty intense in the jungle that time of year - but is it miserable and unbearable w/out AC? My hubby is big AC guy -- help! Has anyone stayed here? How does this compare to Aguilla - I'd like to stay in the most comfortable accomodations (all relative in the jungle) but...

The other option I guess would be to stay on the PJ side at Iguana or Crocodile that has AC, but feel like we'll miss out on the best part! He's also a big fisherman but think we can do that on either side - thoughts? Thanks!

Suzie2

My husband likes to be cooler also but we have never had too much trouble at night on the Osa. Iguana would probably be the warmest we have stayed in. It is probably the closest to the beach of any of them. There is a small fan over the bed there that helps if you haven't used your electricity allotment up for the day. All of the rooms have solar power and the battery holds just so much and if you use too much in the evening you won't have enought for the whole night fan wise.
Aguilla is supposed to be very nice. I stayed at La Paloma which is right across the little river and to my way of thinking probably has a better breeze because it is up high and does not have anything in front of it to block the breezes.
The only place that I know of for sure that has A/C on the Osa is Crocodille Bay. There may be other places but none of the more popular places do. Crocodile Bay is definitely fishing oriented. I hear it has very good food. The buildings are a little blocky for me and from the outside don't have much interest. They are supposed to be very nice inside. Not the kind of place I go to CR for so can't tell you for sure.
Casa Corcovado, Aguila, La Paloma are all very nice places and offer beautiful settings and lots of very nice day tours that you can take. CC is set up off the beach a little bit so should be cooler as is La Paloma. Aguila although very nice is surrounded a little more by hills, trees, a little river and other hotels and didn't appear to be very open to the breezes.
You will have easier access to snorkeling and yes fishing for your husband as well as many other things.

Btw, the humidity will be less in Jan/Feb because it is the dry season.
That is when we go most years. Still pretty hot tho.

cross

Thanks Suzie2! Your insight on the message board is invaluable! So much to decide on and it helps immensely to have your personal suggestion/advice. Thanks for taking the time to respond!

I think we'll stay on the Drake Bay side -- feel like I can't leave CR w/out the Corcovado experience (AC or no A/C!). Sounds like any one of the three: Aguila, La Paloma or CC will do just fine. CC accomodations look less "open and luxurious" than the other two, but maybe just bad website pics ?

Also past posters seem to comment that food is just "okay" there (at CC), as opposed to Aguila and La Paloma.

I'm looking forward to the adventure of just getting there! (planes, van/truck, boat, tractor... to CC - sounds like 1/2 the fun)

We'll be going up to Makanda afterwards for several nites, with probably a bit of duplication in terms of the jungle experience- but I can't see how that's a bad thing in CR -- plus we'll get to cool off in the AC there!!

We prob won't get to Arenal/Monteverde this trip (we only have 8 days), but just gives us a reason to come back!

Thanks again for the info ...!

Suzie2

If your husband is a real serious fisherman I would recommend saving your money on the Osa and going to Manuel Antonio. We have fished once out of Drake and 3 times out of Pto Jimenez and have never had the luck we had out of Quepos. The most we caught out of PJ was 3, 2 out of Drake, 23 out of Quepos.

cross

hmm...Suzie2! Once again great info!!
So if we are going to Makanda to fish out of Quepos, we should forego the OSA "experience" and maybe go for the Volcano instead?? Do you think we'll be missing too much of the true flavor of CR and "jungle" by only getting it in MA?? Thoughts?

The Volcano deal just felt to "touristy" for my taste and the fact that it seems to be covered in clouds most of the time. But maybe I'm missing something?

Thanks again!!

cross

Another thought, Suzie2 -- what do you think about just doing Makanda for 3 days/4 nites for the fishing and jungle trips and then head up to Tamarindo (capitan suizo) for clean beach, privacy, seclusion. ?

or is Arenal not to be missed whether you see the volcano or not?

thanks.

JeanH

This past February we spent three nights at Aguila De Osa followed by three nights at Makanda by the Sea. Very different experiences. We took a guided hike in Corcovado and a snorkeling trip to Cano Island while at Aguila. The scarlet macaws were awesome. The dining is 'family style' at Aguila, which I wasn't sure I would enjoy, but it was quite pleasant. Less than two dozen people while we were there. Kayaks available to go up the river. There was even a very small town to hike to if you cared to.

We don't mind the heat, so it didn't bother us at all. There are ceiling fans in the rooms which help alot. I'd also request a unit 'on the end'. We were in the middle so didn't get cross breezes. Rooms are pretty basic, but clean. Food was good, a couple selections at each meal.

Makanda (and the entire Manual Antonio area) has a completely different 'feel' than the Osa. I enjoy them both, it was nice to get back to more restaurant choices. Manual Antonio Park isn't very large, but there are lots of sloths and monkeys.

We made the mistake of waiting until we got to Quepos to try and arrange a fishing trip for my husband. It didn't work out, so he didn't have the chance to fish. He was bummed. Next time we'll plan better.

Jean

cross

Thanks Jean! Great info..

Sounds like it was worth the adventure to get down there -- and that we can enjoy both locales for different reasons. Boy, it's so hard to decide on the itinerary -- I keep going back and forth on how to get the most out of a one week experience - wish I had a few weeks to do it all!

Suzie2

Jean beat me to it. She hit it right on the head when she said they are both very different experiences (Osa/MA).
I would just wait for the fishing until you get to MA. You can arrange for it ahead of time but that is where it would be the best.
La Paloma is a very nice place. Nicole is the manager and takes good care of business. There are munchies and drinks during a little happy hour before dinner. Not super fancy but very comfortable. The meals are family style, good and a lot of fun. It gives you a chance to meet people and compare notes on tours available or even on other parts of CR itself. Most of the places we stay in are family style for dinner at least. Sometimes breakfast and lunch are individual. Heck, I can sit across from my husband every other day of the year, it is kind of nice to see new faces. Most of the more remote lodges are more apt to have family dining. Have not actually been to CC but have heard some pretty good reports and it is a place that I would like to go to someday. Even after 10 years of traveling down there we are still up for new places and have not stayed in the same place twice (except for my lone beach time at Iguana/Pearl). We will be breaking our record next year when we go back to Bosque del Cabo.

Regarding Arenal/Fortuna, it took until this last year to drag my husband, kicking and screaming to Fortuna. We had been to the Observatory Lodge which is out away from town. I had been through the town before on my own but couldn't talk him into it. He was very pleasantly surprised at what a cute little town Fortuna is. The only place that really felt touristy was Tabacon. There were a million people, give or take a few LOL, but it was still fun for a little while.
You actually have two options for flying into Drake Bay. There is an airstrip right in Drake Bay that, after years of controversy, is now open to fly into. That said, you would miss a fun part of the trip if you flew that way. The ride down the Sierpe is very interesting and really neat. You need to fly into Palmar Sur for this.

cross

Thanks to both of you Suzie2 and Jean!!

Truly informative - So I'm sticking w/ Osa and then MA (Makanda). In terms of travel, I think we will definitely do the Palmur Sur and Sierpe adventure -- definitely part of the adventure! For the return flight, do you know if you can get from the airstrip at Drake Bay to Quepos, w/out flying all the way back to San Jose? Thought maybe we would do the Sierpe boat trip down, but fly back from Drake into Quepos to save time. Looks like Sansa flights all go in and out of San Jose (no Drake to Quepos) but wasn't sure if there was another service ?

Thanks again!!

ctkathy

Cross,

You might want to do Makanda first. We are going in Feb and will do Makanda and then Osa because the plane will fly from Quepos to Puerto Jiminez. Not sure if planes will also go from Quepos to Drake Bay or Palmur Sur, but the possibility does sound reasonable.

Kathy

Suzie2

There are times when the plane will stop in Quepos. I would contact the airline to see what it would take. When we few out of Palmar Sur the plane did indeed stop to let some people off in Quepos. I have heard the same thing from other people.

cross

Thanks again for all the help -- this board is amazing!

CR, here I come!

JeanH

We flew directly from Palmar Sur to Quepos in February. The travel agent that we used said it was a flight only 'available to travel agents'. Whatever, it worked out well for us.

Jean