Costa Rica Trip Report - just returned!!
 

Hello everyone,
I want to thank everyone for helping us plan our vacation to Costa Rica. We couldn't have done it without the help of this travel forum. I hope my trip report will help first timers planning their trip.

There were 5 of us: my husband, myself, (both in our 50's), our 2 daughters, ages 23 and 21; and my sister-in-law (in her 50's). The 4 of us shared one room and my sis-in-law had a single. I will quote prices of our room for 4 and meals for 4.

Day 1 - Boston - San Jose- MA

We flew from Boston on AA on a 7:30AM flight. I want to thank fodorite JoBurritt (sp?) for warning me to be at Logan EARLY. We arrived at 5:00am & there was a line already for our flight. By 5:20am the line tripled!! Some people's luggage weighed too much so they were moving clothing around right there at the counter! It was very chaotic. Security lines were long, too. We made it to our gate by 6:30, had time to use bathrooms, get coffee, and boarded at 7:00am. Changed planes in Miami. Arrived at SAn Jose ON TIME at 12:40pm. Immigration was a breeze, luggage was waiting for us at the carousel & customs was a breeze. Went to Dollar Rental counter at the airport. Waited 5 - 10 minutes for their shuttle bus to bring us to their office. We rented a 4x4 Pathfinder. We were ready to leave Dollar by 2:00pm. Perfect timing for our 3 1/2 hour drive to MA. The drive over the mountains was spectacular! Narrow, curvy roads, slow going, beautiful scenerey! On the beach road to MA, a police officer stopped us for speeding! He asked my husband if he wanted to see what he clocked us at as proof, but my husband said he trusted him. Then his demeanor changed..he smiled & said he would not give us a ticket if we promised not to speed! We were shocked and thought we heard wrong at first! So then we drove VERY SLOW the rest of the way to MA!!

We stayed at La Colina for 4 nights, which we were very happy with. We had an ocean view suite for 4 people. Cost: $90 per night includes breakfast. Great views of the ocean! Lush grounds, 2 small pools (one with swim-up bar). We had to climb about 70 - 80 steps every time to get to our room!! Great exercise. Personally, I don't think it is necessary to spend a lot of money for a nice hotel. La Colina was great, especially for the price. Although our room was not really a suite, but an L-shaped room with private bath & balcony with great ocean views.
www.lacolina.com

Had supper in Quepos at Dos Locos. Mostly locals were there. Very good Costa Rican & Mexican food. Cost: $40 for 4 people, includes drinks.

Day 2 - Playa Espadilla

Because we were exhausted from our long trip, we decided to spend our first day in MA at the public beach just outside of the park (Playa Espadilla). Cost to rent 2 beach chairs & 1 umbrella: 3000 colones. Waiter comes by to serve drinks. Very good drinks!! We had lunch at a local stand near the beach. Ate at a picnic table under a tarp. I ordered a fish plate for 1500 colonnes. My fish was in a cooler on the picnic table. They cooked it on a portable stove right next to me. Delicious meal. We were the only tourists eating there...the rest were locals.

We booked a tour of MA with Fernando for the next day. Cost: $15PP because there were 5 of us. Otherwise, $20PP. Don't buy the tours from your hotel..too expensive. If you don't have a car, you can take a bus or taxi to MA.

Had dinner at the restaurant at La Colina. Good food. I had a shrimp dish and gazpacho. Cost: $75 for 4, includes drinks.

Woke up every morning at La Colina to the sound of roosters crowing!

Day 3 - Tour of MA National Park

Before we met our guide at 8:00am, we bought lunch (empanadas, etc) at a nearby store. Fernando was an excellent guide. Without him, we wouldn't have seen many of the animals we saw. I strongly recommend getting a guide. We saw lizards, bats, sloths, white-faced monkeys who put on a good show for us jumping from tree to tree. kingfisher birds, butterflies & a red grasshopper (can't believe Fernando spotted the grasshopper from so far away!)

Tour was a good 3 hours long. At the end of the tour, we re-entered the park (you can do this as long as you have your ticket). We spent the afternoon swimming at Playa Manuel Antonio inside the park. Beautiful beach with white sand, warm water, rainforest goes right to the beach. We saw lizards on the beach. No snack bar inside the park. There are restrooms and showers. The beach is gorgeous!!

Had supper at Le Gran Escape in Quepos. Good food but more tourists than locals. Cost: $80 for 4, includes drinks.

Day 4 - Horseback riding at La Finca Valmy!!

Our hotel booked this horseback riding tour for us at La Finca Valmy. This was definitely the highlight of our trip. I highly recommend this tour. They picked us up at 8:30am, picked up more passengers, then drove inland down dirt roads to La Finca Valmy. Took about 1 hour. We had time to use bathrooms before they saddled us up on our horses. We spent 3 1/2 hours riding through lush jungle, over mountains, through streams and fields!! Gorgeous scenery. We were able to ride at a good pace. Trails were wide so didn't get scratched. (I remember someone wrote about their ride in the Arenal area & they didn't seem happy with it because of narrow trails & getting scratched by branches & worried about barbed wire.) This was not a problem with this trail ride. Safe, wide trails. Horses in good condition. We stopped at a waterfall for a snack and to swim. Very refreshing!! Then we rode back to the farm where we sampled fruits, coconuts & cinnamon from the trees. Then a 5-minute ride to the farm house for lunch under a pretty patio next to a pool. Gourmet lunch consisted of salad, drinks, chicken & mushroom dish with sauce, rice, vegetables & dessert. Some people swam in the pool but we didn't because it was raining at this point. Toucans & parrots flying around & landed on our table. Returned to hotel by 4:30PM.
Cost: $65.00PP includes lunch. Worth every penny!!! Favorite tour of our trip.

Had supper at BS Bar & Grill on the road to MA on the right. Good food, very helpful waiter. Cost: about $40 for 4. In the day time, there would be nice views of the ocean from this restaurant.

We had planned on eating at Karolas because everyone recommends it but we never did. I know it is pricey, and we found restaurants with good food at reasonable prices so we just couldn't justify spending a lot of money on meals when it didn't seem necessary.

Need to take a break. Will continue my report soon. Would love to answer any questions anyone has.

Day 5 - On the Road Again...MA to Arenal and LAVA FLOWS!!

Saturday AM there is an open air market in Quepos, which we stopped at to pick up some snacks for our ride to Arenal. We bought something that we thought had watermelon in it but it turned out to be some kind of weird pudding with a strange plum taste!! we threw most of it away. But had fun sampling different foods.

We left Quepos around 9;30AM for our long ride to Arenal. Stopped at Playa Hermosa to see the surfing beach. While walking back to our car, saw a huge cloud of dust from the dirt road. When the dust cleared, what emerged was a Tican cowboy herding about 2 dozen cattle! What a great sight. Kodak picture moment! We would have missed opportunities like these without our rental car.

We also saw the same policeman who stopped us the other day!! He was stopping traffic! BE SURE TO DRIVE SLOW ON THIS STRETCH OF ROAD!

Then we stopped in Jaco for about 1/2 hour to do some shopping. I know that most people don't seem to like Jaco but we thought it was cute & had cute stores. Keep in mind we were only there for about 30 minutes, but thought it seemed nice.

Then we stopped at Playa Tarcoles (not too far from the bridge)for lunch at an open-air restaurant right on the beach. Good food & excellent picturesque location! Colorful painted fishing boats in the water & on the beach. Pelicans in the water & on the boats!

Then we continued driving north to Barranca where we turned inland towards San Ramon. This stretch of the road was very mountainous, scenic, curvy & slow going behind lots of trucks. At San Ramon, we turned left & followed signs towards Arenal. This stretch of the road was absolutely gorgeous. EVEN MORE SCENIC THAN THE PREVIOUS STRETCH! At one point, we were on the ridge of the mountains with breathtaking scenery on both sides of us. Very curvy, up and down hills, slow going, but worth it.

We arriveed at Arenal Paraiso around 5:00PM. Really liked AP even though some posters just before we left seeemd to be unhappy with it. We rented a deluxe bungalow for 4...so glad we did. I saw the standard bungalows and thought they looked small & patio was unattraticve. I think the deluxe is worth it especially for 4 people. Very pleased with the service and staff. Grounds are very lush. Had dinner that night at El Jardin in La Fortuna, another local restaurant. I think we were the only English speaking people there. I had a delicious steak dinner. Cost: about $40 for 4 including drinks.

Drove back to AP and couldn't believe our eyes when we arrived at our bungalow. SAW RED LAVA FLOWING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!! I never expected to see the lava in August!! What good luck! Watched the lava for about one hour!

Day 6 - Hanging Bridges, Canopy Tour & Lightening Storms!!

In the morning we drove to the Hanging Bridges, which we really enjoyed. Cost is only $20PP. Don't take the expensive hotel tours. If you don't have a car, hire a taxi. AP had a tour for $45.00!! If you arrive between 7 & 9, you can go with a guide. We arrived just after 9:00am & didn't mind not having a guide. The bridges are a lot of fun. It is a 2 mile hike with 14 bridges. Very cool in the rainforest. We saw a parade of leaf-cutter ants marching down the trees and across the trail carrying pieces of leaves. How cute! Also saw lizards, birds, butterflies & coati on our own. Beautiful view of Arenal from the gift shop area.

In the afternoon, my family & sis-in-law decided to go on the 3:00pm Arenal Canopy Tour. I chickened out (thank God!) & went to the swim up bar, where I met some nice people and socialized and drank STRONG MARGARITAS!!

Around 4:00pm, it started to rain. I commented I was worried about my family getting wet but the couple next to me assured me they wouldn't get wet because they were under the canopy. (They were obviously a little tipsy at this point. They had gone on the tour earlier.) Then it started thundering and lightening! Like fools, we actually stayed in the pool for awhile. Obviously, we all had too much alcohol at this point! At 5:00 I went back to our bungalow. My family returned shortly after, SOAKING WET FROM THE RAIN! PART OF THE TOUR WAS IN THE OPEN WITHOUT A CANOPY SO THEY WERE DRENCHED!! Then it was lightening & thundering where they were but had no choice but to continue with the canopy tour. They said the guides were very professional and safety conscious. They made the people move very fast from platform to platform to get them thru ASAP. My daughter who wears contacts couldn't see, my husband wears glasses and couldn't see because of the heavy rains. They had fun but it was scary because of the lightening! But they had nothing but PRAISE for the guides. Well, that was enough excitement for the day!!

For supper, we went to Las Brasitas, a wonderful Mexican Restaurant with great ambience, delicious food & reasonable prices. I had grilled tilapia, vegetables & salad. We had nachos with salsa & guacomole for an appetizer. Had fruit & milk drinks! Delicious! Cost: about $40 for 4.

Heard howler monkeys every night we were are AP.

Good fortune again!!! WE SAW THE LAVA FLOWS ON OUR SECOND NIGHT, ALSO!!! TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW. COULDN'T BELIEVE OUR GOOD LUCK!

Day 7 - Cano Negro Reserve Boat Tour

This tour was also one of our favorites. Cost: $50PP, includes lunch, and worth every penny.
They picked us up at 7:20AM at AP. About a 2-hour drive to Cano Negro, close to the Nicaraguan border. Along the way, we stopped to see about 24 huge iguanaS hanging out in trees, another stop for howler monkeys, & another stop for a sloth. We stopped at a restaurant to pick up our lunch. The boat holds 18 people; there were 9 of us in all. Boat has a roof so you are protected from sun & rain. Very relaxing & calm boat ride down the river, surrounded by jungle & farms. Saw 4 caimans, (one of which was sunning himself on a log.) Also saw Anahinga birds (snake birds - very unusual), flock of singing ducks, tanagers, kingfishers, bats (they blend in perfectly with the tress), white egrets. Then we also cruised thru a wide lake with tall grasses & grazing horses. This lake is dry during the dry season. Very picturesque during the rainy season. We had lunch on the river bank: paella, nachos, beans, vegetables, drinks & watermelon. We returned about 3:00- 3:30 to AP. We loved this trip!!

Also enjoyed the breakfast buffet at AP!

Next installment coming soon. Need to take a break!

Day 8 - Hitting the road again...Arenal to Poas!

It took us 3 hours to drive from Poas to Arenal. The first half of the drive was flat & easy. The 2nd half was up the mountains, curvy & windy, very scenic. Stopped at a soda for lunch.

Our accommodations were for one night at the POAS VOLCANO LODGE!! This is an awesome place...not to be missed! It is an English style stone farmhouse set on a dairy farm. The grounds are gorgeous, with flower gardens, humming birds & green, green pastures with cows. We had 2 double rooms with shared bath (just for our 2 rooms) at $55 per room including breakfast. What a bargain! Our rooms had a lot of ambience, the beds & pillows were the most comfortable on our trip. This was our favorite lodging of the
4 places we stayed.

The common room had a huge stone fireplace with sunken sitting area & a raised sitting area with plush comfortable furniture. One wall was all glass. The fire was crackling & we read books, played chess & listened to music before and after dinner. They have a game room with a billiard table, board games, books & music.

There are 3 hiking trails through cloud forest & pastures with cows. We hiked thru part of them but got stuck in mud so could't finish. At one point my 21 year old was stuck in mud almost up to her knees!!

We paid to have dinner at the Lodge. two choices: fish or chicken, soup or salad, & dessert. About $20PP. Wine was extra. Delicious meal.

Poas Volcano Lodge is 20 mins from Poas & 10 mins from La Paz. I know that a lot of people love Peace Lodge. Peace Lodge is beautiful but so expensive. For a truly unique experience in a beautiful, elegant farmhouse with gorgeous grounds & low prices, try POAS VOLCANO LODGE. My sis-in-law's single room was $65 per night!
WWW.POASVOLCANOLODGE.COM
We really wish we had more than one night here.

Day 9 - Craters, waterfalls & Las Orquideas Inn

After a hearty breakfast, we drove to
Poas. Was at the crater by 8:30am and it was clear & sunny. Great views of the green lake inside the crater. We had great luck this trip with volcanoes. Hiked to Botos Lagoon. Back at Poas crater at 9:30 & watched the clouds come in & hide the crater within seconds. Then the clouds were gone within seconds.

Drove back to the lodge, checked out & drove to La Paz to see the beautiful waterfalls, butterfly gardens & hummingbirds. Oh, Poas Volcano Lodge gave us a discout coupon to La Paz, so it only cost us $13PP.

Drove to Alajuela (took an hour)& checked into Las Orquideas Inn. Cute Spanish architecture & lovely grounds. My sis-in-law single room was nice with cute ambience. Our room for 4 was large but very plain with ugly furniture. Our headboards were spiky green things meant to resemble palms (I think). $85 for the room incl breakfast. But we enjoyed the Inn and the Marilyn Monroe bar with Alphonso, a funny & friendly bartender. They gave us coupon for free rum punch. Alphonso makes great mojitos!

Two more days to go!

Day 10- San Jose sightseeing, shopping & the Imelda Marcos Syndrome!

We hired a driver from the travel agency at Las Orquideas to drive us into San Jose so we would't have to worry about driving there. Cost was $5PP one way. I did not use a pocketbook in San Jose. Used a neck pouch for cash & credit cards.

We enjoyed San Jose. Visited the gold museum - fascinating, worth a visit. Went to National Theater & Metropolitan Church. Visited the Central Market. What a place! Fresh veggies, fruits, flowers, eating stalls, clothes, birds, meat, you name it, they got it. Our senses were bombarded!

Then shopping on the pedestrian mall. Every other store was a shoe store! The stores were having sales, prices were great & the quality of the shoes was so impressive. I am embarrased to say that between the 5 of us, we purchased 17 pairs of shoes! Most of them cost $10 a pair. We couldn't resist the temptation!

Our driver picked us up at 6:00pm and we had supper in Alajuela at La princessa marina - meal was ordinary.

Day 11 - Homeward Bound - the flight from hell!!

We had a 1:50PM flight so we drove to Grecia. Visited the red metal church & the central market. Bought more coffee - cheapest prices - $3.00 a pound.

Returned to Las Orquideas to check out. My husband got directions from the highway to Dollar but not thru Alajuela (he thought he knew the way). Well,he was wrong. Alauela is confusing with one way streets, lots of traffic & traffic lights. We kept going around in circles. What should have been a 20-minute trip took 1 hour! I was not happy!

But we made it to the airport & waited in line for 15 minutes to pay our departure tax. Our flight landed in Miami on time but we sat on the run way for 30 minutes. We had to clear customs in Miami! We were so stressed out. Go thru immigration. Get our luggage. Go thru customs. They seached my sis-in-law's luggage! Wehad 30 minutes to go. Found out where our gate was & then was told our flight was delayed until 8:40pm. Thank god! Long walk to the gate..got some sandwiches. Then found out flight delayed until 9;50pm. Everyone is upset. We finally arrived at Logan at 1:00am & had to wait 30 minutes for luggage. Got home at 3;30AM.

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS:

Costa Rica is an absolutely beautiful country! Lush, green, dramatic, beautiful beaches. Probably the most beautiful country we have visited so far...and we have been to European countries, Caribbean, Canada & China. It was everything I expected it to be and more.

PEOPLE: The Ticans are wonderful people, warm, friendly, always smiling, more than willing to help. They don't only give directions, they show you where you want to go. They really were the highlight of our trip. We never felt like someone was taking advantage of us or cheating us.

WEATHER: The weather was better than I expected. MA was the hottest, sunniest and most humid. But I actually expected MA to be even hotter than it was. It was 82 degrees when we landed. I never paid attention to weather reports after our first day, but it seemed like each day got warmer.
Arenal, Poas & Alajuela were cooler and had more rain. Rain would usually start in around 3:00pm or 4:00pm. Rain never prevented us from doing what we wanted to do. Only problem was the day my family went on the canopy tour at Arenal.

WHAT TO BRING: Only used my rain poncho once...at La Paz when we were close to waterfalls and getting sprayed on. Actually, the poncho was too warm & humid. We used umbrellas more. Wore shorts most of the time. Long pants once in Arenal. Wore a skirt twice but definitely not necessary. I never needed insect repellent but my family did several times. Used sun block at MA a lot.

I would definitely go to CR in August again. Great time of year to visit CR.

DRIVING: We enjoyed driving and was glad to have the convenience of a car. Could stop whenever we wanted. Roads were paved and some had potholes. Slow going in the mountains. You need patience when stuck behind trucks. We drove to our destinations only in the day time.
Always arrived by 6:00PM. Driving was definitely better than we expected it to be.

If anyone has any questions, please ask. I would love to help.

Karen

Karen,
What a terrific trip report!!! It brought back so many wonderful memories for me of my first trip to Costa Rica in 2002. We also did the horseback ride with Finca Valmy. Like you, it was one of the highlights of our trip. Aren't Valentin and Michelle the most wonderful and gracious hosts?!?
We also toured Cano Negro on that first trip. I visited Tortuguero on my last trip (about a month ago), and although I loved Tortuguero and would very much like to return, I actually saw more birds and wildlife on Cano Negro. It is an amazing experience.
I'm so envious that you were able to see Arenal - on two nights no less! In three trips to Arenal, I've never seen the lava side clearly, only the La Fortuna side. Maybe for me the 4th time's a charm?? :)
We drove past Poas Volcano Lodge on my second trip and it looked beautiful. After reading your comments, I can't wait to stay there on a future trip.
Terri

kwoo, your report has been so much fun to read! I especially enjoyed your mention of Alfonso, as he was one of our favorite people at Las Orquideas. Did you know he is 29? I would have guessed 22. . .:) Did you meet Edwin, the older bartender?

Poas Volcano Lodge sounds delightful. Never heard of it, but now want to stay there sometime!

Also good to hear your review of Cano Negro. Someone posted recently about why the travel books don't recommend it very highly. Who knows? It sounded great!

Wonderful report! Sorry about your long travel time home. :)

Kwoo: Thank you for a terrific report! I do have a specific question that I hope you'll be able to answer. (I posted the question a day or so ago, but no one answered.) We're concerend that getting non-smoking accommodations in CR may be a problem. E.g. I'd originally wanted to stay at Si Como No and then learned that they do not have any rooms set aside for non-smokers. Supposedly, Makanda does-- but recently we met some people who were in CR about 10 years ago, and their impression was that CR does not have many (any?) accommodations that are genuinely set aside for non-smokers. I'm hoping that things are better in that department now, but I just don't know. We're due to be in the country for 11 days in January-- but I believe I would go somewhere else if I can't be sure that our accommodations will be smoke-free. This is important to me and my husband. (We've had some trouble in some European countries with this, but not a whole lot; most have non-smoking rooms or floors now. As do Australia, New Zealand, Caribbean, etc.) Thanks for your help-- and, again, thanks too for a wonderful trip report.

Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments!

Poss, I remember seeing non-smoking signs in some of our rooms. I just asked my husband & he is positive all our rooms had non-smoking signs. We didn't see any ashtrays. Also, we are non-smokers & didn't smell any smoke in our rooms. Maybe you should conact the places we stayed in & ask them? I hope you decide to go to Costa Rica. It is such a beautiful country!!

TAGriffin, the next time we go to CR, we would like to go to Tortuguero. Do you recommend it? Did you see the turtles?

Shillmac, Alphonso is great! He definitely looks much younger than 29! We did not meet Edwin. We really like the people from the travel agency. They were always friendly, helpful & honest.

GREAT trip report! Enjoyed reading all of it! Sorry to hear about your A.A. delays home. We had a similar problem SJO to Tampa via Miami. Our plane in MIA was delayed several times. A few days later (steaming mad), I called A.A. and they were more than happy to give us vouchers to use for our next travels on A.A. to compensate for the MIA to TPA portion. Sure took the "sting" out of it. And with five of you, it might help finance your next trip to Costa Rica!

Lisa in Manuel Antonio

Karen,
I absolutely loved Tortuguero and would highly recommend it. A tropical storm arrived on the night of our turtle tour. We started down the beach, but had to turn back because the surf was completely covering the beach, so the turtles were unable to nest. The very next night, another group went out and saw turtles. They say you have a 50/50 chance and that was certainly our experience. Even though we did not get to see the turtles, it was one of the highlights of my 3 trips to Costa Rica. We stayed at Mawamba, which was rustic, but very clean and comfortable. The food was wonderful and our guide was terrific. I would also recommend boating in and flying out. After boating in on the first day and two canal trips during our stay, we were ready for another form of transportation. Also, the view is spectacular and the flight was smooth and quick.
Terri

In case anyone is interested, I found the website for Finca Valmy, where we went horseback riding. It is www.valmytours.com

It is a fabulous horseback riding tour. Michele, the owner, is warm & gracious, and Valentin, the guide, is wonderful. They pay so much attention to details.

Kwoo - we were stopped (well my husband) on our last day in CR by the police for speeding. Also let off with a warning! Just curious - was your Pathfinder manual or automatic? When I had priced cars before I think I remember Dollar telling me they didn't offer automatics in CR - but I thought I would double check to see what you had. I know everyone highly recommends Dollar in CR and I would have rather had a smoother pick up/drop off - we were with Thrifty but had a very nice & new Toyota 4Runner. Just curious.

Sclubb, Our Pathfinder was an automatic. We are happy with Dollar. There were some scratches on the vehicle when we picked it up. They made note of them & didn't try to charge us for dents/scratches when we returned the car. We picked up the car at their agency near the airport and returned it to the same place. Everything went very smooth.