Boose

We are starting to plan a trip to Costa Rica in mid-March 2005. We are an active, adventuresome group consisting of two 50 year old parents and 3 kids (18,22,26)who love birds (have a cockatoo and a cockatiel) and luxury surroundings. We will have about a week in Costa Rica. What would you suggest?

janeg

If you want a guided tour, look at http://www.expeditions.com/ They have a March 05 trip to CR & Panama.

shillmac

Do tell us more! Do you want the usual combination of forest and beach? Are you interested in bird watching with a guide?

Arenal (the volcano area) is a great favorite of first time visitors, and there is SO much to see and do nearby, but there really isn't a luxury property in the area, although there are some very decent places to stay! This area is certainly good for a couple of nights at least.

If you want to spend the entire time at the beach, the possibilities are endless when it comes to luxury. There are some nice beach areas very close to rainforest (or moist forest) with lots of things to see and do and plenty of luxury hotels. . .both all-inclusive if that appeals to you, or not.

One of the more popular areas of the country is Guanacaste province. It's a great place to visit and there are some very nice places to stay, but it tends to be a bit dusty and brown in March. During the rainy season, it is very lush and green!

Another popular area is Manuel Antonio National Park, near Quepos. Always green here, there is no end of deluxe properties and things to do. It is about 3 hours drive from the airport. For the first timer, I think the perfect trip to Costa Rica would include Arenal and Manuel Antonio.

Another very nice area is MalPais/Montezuma/Sta Teresa on the southern Nicoya Peninsula. Requires a domestic flight or about a 6 hour drive that includes a 1.5 hr. ferry crossing. (Nice to have a car once you are there).

The beaches on the Pacific are very very hot during March. The central valley all around San Jose (and up toward Arenal) tends to be quite pleasant and cool year round. Gorgeous weather.

So tell us more about what you think you would enjoy!

Jessie_

I have birds too! A scarlet macaw and an amazon. Those cockatoos are so loveable. We never get tired of looking at the birds in CR.
Best birding we have done is at Bosque del Cabo. I am going to sound like a broken record I think but we do love it there. Not real luxury but very nice.
There is a group of hotels that are considered to be small but distinctive. We stayed at Casa Turire and it was lovely. Not much to do around there though but go rafting on the Pacuare or the Reventazon. The Turrialba area is not a hot spot for tourism but we like it there. We go often enough that we don't need to go to the touristy areas anymore. http://www.distinctivehotels.com/

Costa Rica Expeditions specializes in upper scale vacations in CR and have been doing it for many years. We used them a couple of times and were very satisfied with the service.

Boose

Thanks for all the help so far. Yes, the combination of forest and beach would probably work well for us. We would be happy in the forest (or is it jungle there?) for a few days and then would like to go to a beach where we could spend sometime on day trips to really interesting places that have volcanoes, birds, monkeys, and scenic, natural beauty. What is there in Arenal besides the volcanoes which are certainly exciting on their own? How many days should we stay there? What hotels would you recommend there? Are there interesting day trips from Manuel Antonio?
Is it safe driving in Costa Rica? Are there no banditos, etc? Is it better to get a driver with a car? Are cars/drivers expensive or inexpensive?
Thanks in advance for any help.

JoniC

We went to Costa Rica a few years ago in March. Love bird watching and hiking, and staying in luxury accommodations. We stayed at Xandari near Alajuela and went to
.La Selva
.Bosque de Paz cloud forest (the highlight of the trip; it was incredible; like Monteverde but there were only 4 of us in the entire place!.
.La Paz (I think that is what it was called) Waterfall Gardens
.Hiked around the hotel grounds itself which had several waterfalls and was just beautiful

Then went to the Pacific side and stayed near Jaco (stayed at Villa Caletas but I don't recommend it). Would recommend the place down the road, I think it is called Los Suenos owned by Marriot. From there we went to:
.Carara (Don't miss this; you will get to see the endangered Scarlet Macaws in the wild; just amazing to see them flying around free!).
.Manuel Antonio

We booked the day trips through the hotels and decided not to brave the roads ourselves. Plus it was better to have a guide who could point out all the birds, animals and plants. Made it much more interesting. The hotels also arranged for transportation to/from the airport and to the other side of the country.

Note: I did not go to Guanacaste even though that is a popular tourist destination and has very nice hotels. It is very dry there (especially in dry season) and I don't think it has the typical rainforest habitat so I suspect it would have less parrots, etc. I was more into the rainforest, cloudforest, jungly atmosphere.

You will love it! I am looking forward to going back but my next trip will be Panama just for a little variety.

Joni

Kwoo

Hello Boose,
I can answer some of your questions. We just returned from our first trip to CR and loved every minute of it!

My trip report is called "Costa Rica Trip Report - just Returned" if that will help you.

We spent 3 full days in MA. Spent 1 full day relaxing at Playa Espadilla. Had guided hike of MA National Park one morning, then swam at Playa Manuel Antonio that afternoon. Went horse back riding at La Finca Valmy for a whole day (3 1/2 hours riding, lunch, etc)..awesome tour!! WE stayed at La Colina, which we like very much.

Spent 2 full days at Arenal Paraiso, which we also enjoyed very much. Saw the lava flowing for 2 nights. Went on the Hanging Bridges, & my family did a Canopy Tour (I chickened out & had fun at the swim-up bar.) Also went on the full day Cano Negro Reserve Boat Tour. Definitely recommend. In that area, you can also go to Fortuna waterfall, have guided hike of Arenal National Park, including lava flows. There are also the Venado Caves, & I think white water rafting.

We rented a Pathfinder & loved having our own car. We went where we wanted, whenever we wanted & made stops along the way. There aren't any banditos in CR. Roads over the mountains are curvy and narrow; you get stuck behind slow-moving trucks; you just need to be patient. All the roads we took were paved; some had potholes but not a lot. My husband & 21-year old daughter shared the driving.

Hope this helps. You will love CR! It is so beautiful!

Jessie_

There are several things you can do in the Arenal area. A full day trip up to Cano Negro is extremely interesting. Amazing birds and wildlife to see. I think someone already mentioned the Hanging Bridges, just relaxing in the hot springs watching a volcano. March should be perfect weather for everything you want to do.

For the coast, Manuel Antonio is an option, pretty crowded that time of year. The Guanacaste area should be a bit less crowded just because there aren't as many hotels. Plenty of luxury there. Flor Blanca, Capitan Suizo are a couple of nice small places. Then there is the Paradisus Playa Conchal for an all inclusive. You can even get butler service there. Hotel Punta Islita is another option. There is the new 4 Seasons a bit further up. You can take day trips out of any of these places.

Boose

Thanks for all your replies. Using your responses and reading the other postings< I'm getting a much better feel forthe things/places we might be interested in visiting.