I am beginning to plan a possible trip to Costa Rica for Feb/Mar of 2000. Can anyone recommend any good all-inclusive resorts? I do not know much about the various locations in Costa Rica, so any info. would be great!! However, the less traveling time from the airport, the better. <BR>thanks!!! <BR> <BR>p.s. somewhere that is central to many activites would also be preferred.

Here are some websites I wander to when I want to go back to Costa Rica - in my mind! The first is a BBS to ask questions. There are several who work or go there a lot. The other really good one is the sony.inergy one. Lots of info there. If you need the name of a good small hotel (not inclusive), we stayed at The Bougainvillea just outside of San Jose. <BR>I think you are wise in staying in the Central Valley. you can reach almost every part of the country from there. There are many tour companies available. You could plan on a few 2 & 3 day trips to places like the Monteverde Cloud Forest (I highly recommend seeing that), or to Cartago and the Lancester Gardens, or to Sarchi (home of the painted oxcarts), to Grecia to see the metal church, or to Poas Volcano and the beautiful countryside around it, or the Orsi valley, Manuel Antonio Park (a long drive)---try these sites and have a wonderful time! Feel free to email me if you have more questions. <BR> <BR>www.casualforums.com/globe/CR_Forum/ <BR>&gt; <BR>&gt; http://www.costaricapages.com/ <BR>&gt; <BR>&gt; http://www.tourism-costarica.com/ <BR>&gt; http://gallery.uunet.be/guido.gevels/index_en.htm <BR>&gt; <BR>&gt; http://sony.inergy.com/CRica/ <BR>&gt; <BR>&g

we visited Costa Rica last year in April-already very HOT and humid. We loved the trip. We stayed at the Melia Playa Conchal. It is a huge property (they run golf carts around as a shuttle service to and from the room, restaurants, etc.) located in the Guanacaste region. There is a new international airport, Liberia, located approx. 20 min. from the resort. The food, service and amenities at this hotel are all excellent. We stayed on a modified american plan but others had an all-inclusive plan. There is also a tour operator (Tam Tours) on the property that offers many different excursions. Don't miss the Arenal Volcano and the Tabacon hot springs at the base of the volcano. The Guanacaste region of Costa Ria is very dry, not lush and green. But as you travel inland the landscape changes dramatically to the very lush and green. We did not make it to the caribbean coast although we did sense a strong sense of separation between the people of each coast. Hope this helps, have a great trip.

i loved the oja penisula - stayed at la paloma - wonderful location, birds galore, food terrific, good fishing, nice people, takes some effort to get there.

<BR>I agree with staying in the Central Valley. All of the points of interest mentioned and a lot more are convenient to San Jose. The city itself has a lot of interesting things to see. We spent a week at the Bougainvillea just outside SJ. It's about 15 minutes from downtown (by cab or shuttle) and about 40 minutes from the airport. We were there last summer and loved it.

Barry, Glad to hear you enjoyed the Bougainvillea as much as we have. We stayed there for 6 weeks in '94 (job related/paid by someone else) and two other times on trips in '97. They were just adding on then--how does it look? By any chance are Maritza and Auxie still at the desk? Carlos and Walter in the dining room? What wonderful memories I have of sitting in their gorgeous garden, and walking around the neighborhood. Time to go back!