Costa Rica - Family Vacation - Help please
 

Next year my son graduates from college and my older daughter from high school. We decided to let them select a vacation destination to celebrate. Costa Rica it is! After much discussion we have realized that there are only two possible weeks we can all go. Our only choices are the fourth week in November (Thanksgiving week) or the first week in January.

I understand that the weather is iffy in November, however hotel prices are considerably better. The prices in January don't mean we can't go, but it's always nice to do it a little cheaper if possible. We are looking at 6 of us on the trip - my husband and me, our three children, and our son's girlfriend. (probably fiancee by then) This means either renting a house or two rooms. Airline prices look about the same either way. I assume that crowds are better also in November. I know the pros and cons intellectually, but with no personal experience I though it better to ask. When would you go?

Secondly where would you go? I've already done quite a bit of research so if you say a place I will know what you are talking about. Potential itineraries for a family who will be interested in an active, adventurous vacation - definitely zip lining, white water rafting, canyoneering as well as hiking, sightseeing, nature spotting. I would say that although we would like to spend some time on the beach we would lean more towards mountain and jungle. We will have 7 days on the ground - not counting arrival and departure days.

Thank you so much. I can't wait to hear your responses.

I would do a rafting trip on the Pacuare out of San Jose and then go to Arenal for the Cano Negro tour with Sunset Tours, volcano watching, canyoneering, Sky Trek zipline, the Hanging Bridges, the waterfall, and Eco Termales hot springs - they serve a good chicken dinner too.

thank you volcanogirl - so would that be two nights in or near San Jose and the rest of the time based at Arenal?

Yep, that's what I would do. www.riostropicales.com is a good outfit for rafting. They have daytrips and also overnight trips, whichever interests you. Arenal would be a great spot for you guys just because there's so many adventure activities to do there. www.desafiocostarica.com gets good reviews for canyoneering.

Our family went to Costa Rica in April. With two teens (boy & girl), our itinerary was a mix of adventure and some relaxing at the beach. We flew into San Jose, and stayed close by the first couple of nights (one would have been enough) We rented a car, and drove up to Arenal. We stayed at the Lost Iguana, and would recommend it for your family. We stayed in one of the Celebrity Suites. There is a second bedroom with bunk beds, and a separate bath. We went with the one day combo tour with Sunset Tours. It was a guided tour (ask for Zender!) which included the Hanging Bridges, La Fortuna Waterfall, Buffet Lunch, Hike to the Arenal Volcano, Tabacon Resort Hot Springs & Spa,Buffet dinner at Tabacon Resort. Zender was great at spotting wildlife and we got some great pictures. My son went swimming at the base of the La Fortuna falls. Tabacon Springs was great for relaxing those muscles after hiking. Arenal also has the Sky Tram & Sky Trek for zip lining.

We then drove back down to San Jose and went with a one day white water rafting trip on the Pacuare River with Riostropicales. It was a fun, but a long day. If you go out of San Jose, choose a hotel closer to San Jose, away from the airport area. We had the first pick up at 5:15AM at the Orquideas Inn. Great place to stay, but added an extra hour to our trip for rafting.

We then drove down to Manuel Antonio and stayed at Tulemar in the Villa Mot Mot. Another recommendation for your family. It was very spacious and awesome views from the deck looking out over the ocean. We had monkeys visiting us on the deck every day. The villa has a bedroom with two beds, and there is a pull out trundle bed in the living room area. However, the couch was comfortable enough for my son so we never used the pull out. Their is a kitchen with a fridge, microwave, stovetop, and sink, which we used a couple of nights to eat in. Tulemar also has a private beach with equipment. It was great to take a day to unwind at the beach, and the kids had the option to take in some watersports.

In Manuel Antonio, we took a guided tour Aguila Tours (ask for Juan!) I would recommend using tour guides for both Arenal and Manuel Antonio. We saw so much more and learned a lot using guides. We also took a charter fishing excursion out of Quepos and caught some sailfish. It was a big rush for my kids pulling in one of those fish!

Have a great trip! It was definately one my family will remember for a very long time.

If you decide to do a combo of Manuel Antonio and Arenal, I'd probably give up rafting on the Pacuare. You can raft out of Arenal if you really want to do it. Agree with the rec. of Tulemar Bungalows; Buena Vista Villas and Si Como No are popular with families too. Lost Iguana is our favorite spot in Arenal as well.

Pacuare was one of our high lights of the trip. But with 7 days, it would be really hard to cover Arenal, Manuel Antonio and Pacuare. We had 11 days, so we were able to add Pacuare to our trip, which was my son's favorite excurion. It really depends on what your family enjoys most. Costa Rica offers so much variety. Its a great place for families.

volcanogirl - thanks so much for the suggestions and the websites - that is very helpful.

Faye - sounds like a great trip and much like what we are looking for. I checked out the Lost Iguana and that is definitely a consideration for us. Looked into Sunset Tours also. They have so much to select from - did you do anything else with them? The combo tour looks wonderful, but wow - what a long day. So, you didn't find it to be too much? I can tell I'm going to have to get in better shape before we go. ;-)

volcanogirl - I think we are leaning toward a combo of Arenal and a beach destination. Perhaps 4 days Arenal, 3 beach? After talking with my daughters last night I think we will skip Pacuare this trip. White water rafting is the one thing that we've all already done a few times. I've added your additional lodging suggestions to my list and will be checking into them.

Sounds like everyone says MA for beach? Would anyone like to expand/expound on why that is the best choice?

Marina - thanks for the link. We have actually looked into Guachipelin because my daughter watched a Samantha Brown episode where she stayed there. I picked up the new Frommer's Costa Rica and they were panning it a little. They still recommended it, but said that the tours had become a bit like a cattle call and that they didn't think the tubing adventure was as safety conscious as it should be particularly at the end of the rainy season. (I'm not quoting exactly as the book is not in front of me - but this was the gist.)

Obviously I have no way of knowing the truth. What do you and everyone else think of that.

We haven't purchased our airline tickets. We can fly into San Jose and out of Liberia or do the opposite. It is about $50 more a ticket to go through Liberia and the connections are a little longer.

Bottom line - we can select a beach and then decide on airline tickets, so we are definitely looking for reasons to prefer one over the other. What are the pros and cons of Guanacaste as opposed to MA?

edaviscr - thanks! So you're saying that if we go in November we might prefer Guanacaste for better weather - that makes sense. What do you think if we go in January - do you have a beach preference if we are in Costa Rica later in the dry season?

Thanks to everyone for your responses. They have been so helpful. Just a couple more questions off the top of my head.

How far in advance do you suggest making lodging reservations?

Is it necessary to make tour reservations in advance?

Has anyone heard of Leaves and Lizards? Just asking because it was highly rated on trip advisor and my daughters (the younger one is highly involved in helping plan this trip) thought it looked interesting.

Has anyone done the Rio Celeste hike? Any thoughts?

Last, definitely not least - transportation? We would prefer to have our own rental car as we like the
freedom to come and go and explore a bit on our own. What do you think?

Thanks again for your time and your ideas. Everyone has been incredibly helpful.

MA is popular because it's very easy to get around here, there are gorgeous views of the water and sunset, loads of good restaurants, and the park has a beautiful beach and lots of wildlife. It's also very Americanized, so lots of English speakers here. I would book your hotels as soon as possible. For most tours, you can just book when you get there. You might book Eco Termales ahead if that interests you because they tend to sell out, and they limit entry to 100 people. I haven't stayed at Leaves and Lizards, but I've read good reviews.

We were just recently researching the Rio Celeste hike; it's supposed to be beautiful with gorgeous blue water - the tour we looked at said you should be "expert fitness level" so that spooked us a little bit. It does get rave reviews. If you do it, would you post back? Would love to hear what you guys thought.

Faye - great trip report...can you tell me who you guys went out fishing with in MA?

Hi Viaggatrice,
We went to Costa Rica in 2004 with our daughters, in their 20's. We stayed at Manual Antonio, Arenal, Poas Volcano, and Alajuea (sp?)just outside of San Jose. We loved every place we visited and felt we got a good overview of CR - beaches, volcanoes, rainforest, wildlife, even spent a day sigtseeing in San Jose.

Lodgings - La Colina at M.A., Poas Volcano Lodge near Poas (our favorite place, absolutely beautiful - it isn't necessary to spend big bucks at Peace Lodge), Arenal Paraiso, and Orquideas Inn in Alajuea.

If you are in M.A., you must go on horseback riding trip with Finca Valmy Tours - absolutely the highlight of our trip.

In Arenal, we did the hanging bridges, my family did the zip line while I was at the swim-up bar, and the Cano Negro boat tour was another favorite.

Hope this helps. You will LOVE Costa Rica!

Hi Viaggatrice,
The full day combo tour with Sunset was a full day, but not exhausting. There is a lot of hiking, but the thought of relaxing at Tabacon kept us going. We didn't book anything the next day, but kept our options open to just relax.

AK Girl.. we booked our charter with Capt. Dale Weir with Blue Water Charter, out of Quepos. Would recommend them for families.