Costa Rica trip report - August 2009
Aug 25th, 2009, 08:50 AM
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Costa Rica trip report - August 2009
Hi,
thanks to everyone for the help with planning our CR vacation. Thought I should post a summary of our trip, maybe it will help someone else plan their vacation!
My husband and I decided to brave the "green season" and took our 3 boys (ages 5, 9, 16) to CR from August 14 - 23, and we had a great time, and great weather!! A little rain every afternoon around 4 pm or later (only one day the rain came a little earlier), but hot and sunny the rest of the time.
We stayed at Hotel Buena Vista the first and last night, and it worked really well as our flight arrived late at night, and we left to go home very early. The staff at the hotel were very helpful, and the room was perfect for us. They helped to arrange our rental SUV, and that saved us a lot of hassle I'm sure. We enjoyed having our own vehicle, and found the roads not as bad as we thought they'd be. And no car trouble. The GPS was a life saver for sure.
We travelled to La Fortuna first, and stayed at El Silencio del Campo. Great hotel. Good view of the volcano.
Weather while in La Fortuna was good, bit of rain the first afternoon, not bad. We had perfect clear views of Arenal Volcano all 3 of the days we were there!!
Right after we arrived, we went to the waterfalls. Hike down was easy, swam under the falls in the rain - it was so warm it didn't matter that it rained.
We had an early dinner and then went to Tabacon Hot springs at 6 pm for the lower rates. To our surprise, they were offering 2 admission days for the price of one for each person, so we planned to go back the next night for sure. We enjoyed our time at the springs, and it was not busy at all. After Tabacon, we drove around to go watch the volcano activity, saw lava - we enjoyed that a lot!!
Next day we went to the hanging bridges. It was hot and sunny, and we saw lots of animals. Lots of Capuchins and Howler monkeys (one howler was right on one of the bridges we crossed!), lizards, birds, tons of blue morpho butterflies, lots of cool bugs and spiders. We really enjoyed our hike. Saw a famiy of coatis on the way back to our hotel.
We went back to Tabacon in the afternoon so we could experience it during the daylight. Beautiful -- and even better, free!!
El Silencio del Campo was a good hotel, and we enjoyed their hot springs as well.
Next morning we drove to Quepos/MA area. Got a little lost at one point, but we figured it out quickly and were back on track in no time. Trip only took us just over 5 hours.
Stayed at Tulemar Bunglows, another great hotel for our family of 5. We loved the hotel beach and spent lots of time in the water every day, playing in the surf, boogie boarding. What a beautiful beach, warm water, and safe surf. There were sloths and monkeys around the pool every day, morning and night, the kids really enjoyed swimming under the sloth and eating breakfast while watching the squirrel monkeys.
Other activities we enjoyed while in MA area: Titi canopy zip line, surfing, MA national park (our tour guide was great! we saw a ton of animals, bugs, etc).
Some of the animals we saw (almost everywhere we went): two and three toed sloths, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys, lizards, frogs, coatis, long nose bats, crabs, agouti, tamandua (anteater), iguanas.... and on an on. Unbelievable experience!
We had great meals every where we went. We asked for help at out hotels and the staff provided excellent suggestions.
In La Fortuna, we ate at La Choza de Laurel, Don Rufino, Las Brasitas.
In MA we ate at La Avion, La Hacienda, Salsipuedes (my personal fav, tapas bar), Rico Tico Bar n Grill (at Si Como No).
And beer. Loved the beer. Imperials - pretty good. Really enjoyed the Bavaria dark though.
In summary, fantastic holiday and great memories for my 3 kids (and the adults too). August was a great time to vacation in CR. No crowds, anywhere. Deals on hotels, activities. Great weather - the rain didn't stop us from enjoying anything we did, and most of the rain came in the evening.
Thanks again to everyone that sent us their suggestions - everything worked out perfect!
My only complaint - we had to come home!
Lisa
thanks to everyone for the help with planning our CR vacation. Thought I should post a summary of our trip, maybe it will help someone else plan their vacation!
My husband and I decided to brave the "green season" and took our 3 boys (ages 5, 9, 16) to CR from August 14 - 23, and we had a great time, and great weather!! A little rain every afternoon around 4 pm or later (only one day the rain came a little earlier), but hot and sunny the rest of the time.
We stayed at Hotel Buena Vista the first and last night, and it worked really well as our flight arrived late at night, and we left to go home very early. The staff at the hotel were very helpful, and the room was perfect for us. They helped to arrange our rental SUV, and that saved us a lot of hassle I'm sure. We enjoyed having our own vehicle, and found the roads not as bad as we thought they'd be. And no car trouble. The GPS was a life saver for sure.
We travelled to La Fortuna first, and stayed at El Silencio del Campo. Great hotel. Good view of the volcano.
Weather while in La Fortuna was good, bit of rain the first afternoon, not bad. We had perfect clear views of Arenal Volcano all 3 of the days we were there!!
Right after we arrived, we went to the waterfalls. Hike down was easy, swam under the falls in the rain - it was so warm it didn't matter that it rained.
We had an early dinner and then went to Tabacon Hot springs at 6 pm for the lower rates. To our surprise, they were offering 2 admission days for the price of one for each person, so we planned to go back the next night for sure. We enjoyed our time at the springs, and it was not busy at all. After Tabacon, we drove around to go watch the volcano activity, saw lava - we enjoyed that a lot!!
Next day we went to the hanging bridges. It was hot and sunny, and we saw lots of animals. Lots of Capuchins and Howler monkeys (one howler was right on one of the bridges we crossed!), lizards, birds, tons of blue morpho butterflies, lots of cool bugs and spiders. We really enjoyed our hike. Saw a famiy of coatis on the way back to our hotel.
We went back to Tabacon in the afternoon so we could experience it during the daylight. Beautiful -- and even better, free!!
El Silencio del Campo was a good hotel, and we enjoyed their hot springs as well.
Next morning we drove to Quepos/MA area. Got a little lost at one point, but we figured it out quickly and were back on track in no time. Trip only took us just over 5 hours.
Stayed at Tulemar Bunglows, another great hotel for our family of 5. We loved the hotel beach and spent lots of time in the water every day, playing in the surf, boogie boarding. What a beautiful beach, warm water, and safe surf. There were sloths and monkeys around the pool every day, morning and night, the kids really enjoyed swimming under the sloth and eating breakfast while watching the squirrel monkeys.
Other activities we enjoyed while in MA area: Titi canopy zip line, surfing, MA national park (our tour guide was great! we saw a ton of animals, bugs, etc).
Some of the animals we saw (almost everywhere we went): two and three toed sloths, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys, capuchin monkeys, lizards, frogs, coatis, long nose bats, crabs, agouti, tamandua (anteater), iguanas.... and on an on. Unbelievable experience!
We had great meals every where we went. We asked for help at out hotels and the staff provided excellent suggestions.
In La Fortuna, we ate at La Choza de Laurel, Don Rufino, Las Brasitas.
In MA we ate at La Avion, La Hacienda, Salsipuedes (my personal fav, tapas bar), Rico Tico Bar n Grill (at Si Como No).
And beer. Loved the beer. Imperials - pretty good. Really enjoyed the Bavaria dark though.
In summary, fantastic holiday and great memories for my 3 kids (and the adults too). August was a great time to vacation in CR. No crowds, anywhere. Deals on hotels, activities. Great weather - the rain didn't stop us from enjoying anything we did, and most of the rain came in the evening.
Thanks again to everyone that sent us their suggestions - everything worked out perfect!
My only complaint - we had to come home!
Lisa
Aug 26th, 2009, 04:42 AM
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Thank you so much, I wil use your trip as our basis to go off of! My husband and I want to go to CR in April... we were looking at the tours but they are so expensive, it good to know you saw so much with out them. Can I ask did you book the hotels & flight together or separate?
Aug 26th, 2009, 06:15 AM
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We booked the flights and hotels separately. We flew on Mexicana Air which worked out well - no lost bags, so that was a bonus.
We meet a family that was on a tour and they were having a good time, but wished they had more time to do their own activities. They did a tour because they were nervous about driving. We found the drive not that bad, and we really enjoyed being able to go wherever we wanted
The hanging bridges - I can't believe we saw so many animals there either. From my reading on the forum and other websites, I was not expecting to see too much. The howler monkeys were the best - we could have reached out and touched one (had to keep telling me kids to stay back a bit, they were having fun listening to them howl!).
We meet a family that was on a tour and they were having a good time, but wished they had more time to do their own activities. They did a tour because they were nervous about driving. We found the drive not that bad, and we really enjoyed being able to go wherever we wanted
The hanging bridges - I can't believe we saw so many animals there either. From my reading on the forum and other websites, I was not expecting to see too much. The howler monkeys were the best - we could have reached out and touched one (had to keep telling me kids to stay back a bit, they were having fun listening to them howl!).
Aug 26th, 2009, 10:01 AM
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We saw lots of leaf cutter ants for sure. Sorry to say, but we did see a group of howlers and a couple groups of capuchin monkeys, quite a few lizards, massive spiders, butterflies. Guess it was beginner's luck! The howler's were at the bridge that is after the "Monkey Ladder bridge" - I think it was called the Arenal view bridge.
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