Costa Rica Trip Report - Part I; MA, Monteverde, Arenal
Feb 21st, 2009, 01:51 PM
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Costa Rica Trip Report - Part I; MA, Monteverde, Arenal
Part I- General Info; give back to the Fodor's community
First of all thanks to all of you who helped with my trip preparation, decisions, information, etc. I was very happy with all my choices and how they turned out.
After researching on the Internet and reading guides from the Library, I contacted Pat Hewitt ([email protected]), travel agent specialized in Costa Rica who had good reviews on Fodor’s and is also the “resident expert” on Fodor’s Costa Rica Forum.
Pat reviewed my travel “standards” and my preliminary itinerary and hotel choices. He agreed with most of them and proposed what he thought that would work best for us. We agreed on them and he made the reservations.
We are 62 and love to explore nature in relative comfort, meaning that we prefer to watch those adventuresome people who pay to go to zip with high speed at incredible heights on zip lines and go on Tarzan swings, grab snakes and do not mind to be bitten, etc.
In the States we usually pick AAA- 3 diamond hotels/motels and that’s what our goal was in CR too. As far as transportation goes, based on everything we read and investigated, we decided against driving and had Pat reserve private drivers with vans with A/C to take us from location to location.
Our itinerary included:
- 3 nights in Manuel Antonio at Costa Verde ($520 for 3 nights, including taxes but NO breakfast) in a Studio Double w. A/C
- 3 nights in Monteverde at El Sapo Dorado ($409 for 3 nights, including taxes & breakfast) in a Fountain Suite Double
- 2 nights in Arenal at El Silencio Del Campo ($280 for 2 nights, including taxes and breakfast) in a standard double cottage
- 1 night in Alajuela at Orquideas Inn ($138, including taxes and breakfast) in Darly’s double suite
Transportation (arranged by Pat) on two legs was provided by Coach Costa Rica (located in San Jose), by Palamino Tours (located in Montevede) for 1 leg and by Flora & Fauna for the van-boat-van trip from Monteverde to Arenal.
I found making the trip arrangements through Pat very helpful. I was able to pay w. a credit card in the US without being penalized with the 3% nowadays the majority of credit card companies are hitting you with. Pat charged the same price the hotels charge when one makes reservations directly with the hotels and I assume that if you run into trouble (which wasn’t our case) he would help you.
The fact that we didn’t have a car had minimal impact as most of the tours offer pick-up and drop-off at the hotels. We used cabs only twice for very short rides (to avoid walking in the dark in places with no side walks) and the cost was minimal. Also in most places there is public transportation which is helpful.
The best driver award goes to Jose Francisco (Fran) Gallegos ([email protected] or [email protected]) who works for Coach Costa Rica. He drove us from the airport to Manual Antonio and then from Arenal to Alajuela. Highly professional and very pleasant, he arrived at least an hour before the scheduled pick-up times to ensure that he will be on time. He stopped and was happy to do so in places where we wanted to stop and places he recommended for a break, for lunch, some sightseeing, etc.
The best hotel awards go to Costa Verde in Manuel Antonio, and El Silencio Del Campo in Arenal.
People in general were very friendly and helpful throuout the trip and we always felt welcome.
Money matters:
Since we paid for the major expenses before the trip, we decided to take cash (US Dollars) for the trip to cover meals and guided trips, tips, etc. I used a money belt on the road and all the hotels had safes, so we didn’t have any issues due to this. We were told to avoid the exchange places in the customs area, which we did. We followed advice and after exiting from customs we crossed the street and went upstairs to the international departure area where they have a bank and an ATM too. We exchanged in the bank $150 at a rate of 556 colones /$1.00 and that was enough for us for the whole trip as they take US dollars every place and most places have a very reasonable exchange rate. Since there was no line at the bank or at the next counter where one pays for $26/person exit fee, I also took care of the exit payments. While we had credit cards with us, we barely used them and never stood in line at banks and didn’t use ATMs either.
Expenses other than the hotels:
We paid a total of $555 for the private vans and an estimated of $20 for local buses and two cabs. Renting an appropriate car w. gas and insurance would have not cost us less.
We found Costa Rica quite an expensive place. Tourism now brings more $s than bananas and coffee combined (the two major revenue sources in CR). I started planning the trip mid-2008. In 2009, prices for most tours jumped 20-30%. They were not inexpensive to start with. Many times the “value proposition” (using Europe or US as a base for comparison) is not there. While you get some level of service, in many places you do not seem to get what you are paying for.
The global economic problems are felt in CR too. Hotels, for which normally we were told to make reservations months ahead of time in the dry season, had vacancy. Despite this, prices charged in CR didn’t go down, or at least not yet…
The cost of meals is “reasonable” but also very dependent on where you eat (at the hotel, in a soda, etc.). Some places include on the menu the tax and 10% service charge, others include only one of them and others include none, but they are always included in the bill. So as a function of this, the check can be about 25% more than what the menu shows. Due to the fact that charges include by default a 10% service charge, service in many places is not necessarily what you would expect. We had a waiter who told us “so you are ordering ONLY a soup and a salad” and then left us waiting for a very long time…
Our experience with tours was similar to what we have heard from others: going to the rain forest without a guide probably results in a nice walk but without seeing animals or birds. So we went on guided tours. They are not cheap. For most of them we made tentative or firm reservations from home via the Internet or by calling and then paid locally. I did not make any reservations that could not be cancelled and I tried to avoid reservation intermediaries that add their commissions to the already high price. We did spend about $800 on guided tours and hot springs for the two of us.
While the basic cost of transportation, meals and hotels is not cheap, everyone expects tips. I do understand that most of the time the pay received by those who deliver the service is probably a small % of the actual charge, but I am used to give tips only when deserved. I am not going on trips as part of my charitable activities, so on some occasions I did not feel “comfortable” with the expectation….
Food:
The food is OK. We usually do not make a special effort during our trips to find “exclusive” restaurants or culinary feats. The local food is simple, relatively healthy and it includes rice, plantains, beans and fruits. We loved the fresh fruits, they tasted great. Local custard, some corn based sweets are interesting. We drank only bottled water to make sure that we don’t ask for trouble. My husband liked very much the local beer (Imperial). We used tap water for washing our teeth or fruits and had no problems.
Toilets and sanitary conditions in general:
I had concerns based on what I read. While in many public places they have signs asking you not to drop used toilet paper in the toilet (and they have uncovered garbage cans for it…), in most hotels there were no signs and garbage cans were covered. However, we were told that just about everywhere they have only septic tanks and in places on lower levels that are close to the ocean the raw sewage ends up in the ocean during high tides. As a result, we walked as part of a tour on the beaches of Manuel Antonio but didn’t join the crowds in the ocean and elected to use the hotel’s pool. Also the public restrooms in parks (particularly in Manuel Antonio) are not recommended …
While I was afraid of the flies sometimes present in restaurants, we got home without having to use any of the Imodium or antibiotics we had with us.
Language:
We found that those working with tourists speak English very well. Other locals might not, but that didn’t impact us at all.
Clothing:
We were equipped and prepared for everything (being told that wet clothing will not dry quickly). Due to our luck with the weather, we didn’t have any wet clothing, other than the bathing suits and didn’t need quite a few layers we took with us. We used mostly the light pants (I had two white, light cotton long ones and one quick drying one that converts to shorts, which appears to be the tourist “uniform” in Costa Rica). I didn’t wear shorts as I was concerned about bites. I was bitten only twice, supposedly by chiggers during a walk in a forest. We noticed mosquitoes only in Arenal at the pools but the spray protected us. The sunscreen, sun hat, sun glasses, very light long sleeve cotton shirts came in handy. While I had the recommended quick dry socks I never used them, the all cotton ones that I like worked very well. My fake $2 Crocks were handy as slippers and at the pool. We had no hiking boots and managed without them using some more rugged shoes/sneakers.
We needed light jackets in the evening in Monteverde, but our experience was not similar to others’. We met a few couples in Manuel Antonio who “escaped” from Arenal and Monteverde where they experienced a cold front with heavy rain and were locked into hotels with no heating and had a very bad time.
Interesting:
Costa Rica has no military since 1948. They are very proud of this, rightfully so. They mentioned that since they can spend the money on education instead, they have one the highest standard of living in Latin America. As a result, they can afford to employ legal and illegal immigrants, mostly from Nicaragua, for the most difficult jobs. Nicaraguans pick the coffee and pineapples. They get ONE colones/pineapple and if they work as hard as they can they make $4/day…. But obviously this is still better than what they can get at home….There are about 1 MM immigrants in CR, out of the 4MM inhabitants.
Overall, our conclusion is that your trip is dependent in major ways on your preparation, expectations and luck. Many of the things we were prepared for based on what we read, never materialized. We were also extremely lucky with the weather. As a result, we had a great trip and enjoyed our stay a lot.
The next part will describe in more detail our experiences in each trip segment. Sorry about the “style”, it doesn’t include the usual LOLs ??
First of all thanks to all of you who helped with my trip preparation, decisions, information, etc. I was very happy with all my choices and how they turned out.
After researching on the Internet and reading guides from the Library, I contacted Pat Hewitt ([email protected]), travel agent specialized in Costa Rica who had good reviews on Fodor’s and is also the “resident expert” on Fodor’s Costa Rica Forum.
Pat reviewed my travel “standards” and my preliminary itinerary and hotel choices. He agreed with most of them and proposed what he thought that would work best for us. We agreed on them and he made the reservations.
We are 62 and love to explore nature in relative comfort, meaning that we prefer to watch those adventuresome people who pay to go to zip with high speed at incredible heights on zip lines and go on Tarzan swings, grab snakes and do not mind to be bitten, etc.
In the States we usually pick AAA- 3 diamond hotels/motels and that’s what our goal was in CR too. As far as transportation goes, based on everything we read and investigated, we decided against driving and had Pat reserve private drivers with vans with A/C to take us from location to location.
Our itinerary included:
- 3 nights in Manuel Antonio at Costa Verde ($520 for 3 nights, including taxes but NO breakfast) in a Studio Double w. A/C
- 3 nights in Monteverde at El Sapo Dorado ($409 for 3 nights, including taxes & breakfast) in a Fountain Suite Double
- 2 nights in Arenal at El Silencio Del Campo ($280 for 2 nights, including taxes and breakfast) in a standard double cottage
- 1 night in Alajuela at Orquideas Inn ($138, including taxes and breakfast) in Darly’s double suite
Transportation (arranged by Pat) on two legs was provided by Coach Costa Rica (located in San Jose), by Palamino Tours (located in Montevede) for 1 leg and by Flora & Fauna for the van-boat-van trip from Monteverde to Arenal.
I found making the trip arrangements through Pat very helpful. I was able to pay w. a credit card in the US without being penalized with the 3% nowadays the majority of credit card companies are hitting you with. Pat charged the same price the hotels charge when one makes reservations directly with the hotels and I assume that if you run into trouble (which wasn’t our case) he would help you.
The fact that we didn’t have a car had minimal impact as most of the tours offer pick-up and drop-off at the hotels. We used cabs only twice for very short rides (to avoid walking in the dark in places with no side walks) and the cost was minimal. Also in most places there is public transportation which is helpful.
The best driver award goes to Jose Francisco (Fran) Gallegos ([email protected] or [email protected]) who works for Coach Costa Rica. He drove us from the airport to Manual Antonio and then from Arenal to Alajuela. Highly professional and very pleasant, he arrived at least an hour before the scheduled pick-up times to ensure that he will be on time. He stopped and was happy to do so in places where we wanted to stop and places he recommended for a break, for lunch, some sightseeing, etc.
The best hotel awards go to Costa Verde in Manuel Antonio, and El Silencio Del Campo in Arenal.
People in general were very friendly and helpful throuout the trip and we always felt welcome.
Money matters:
Since we paid for the major expenses before the trip, we decided to take cash (US Dollars) for the trip to cover meals and guided trips, tips, etc. I used a money belt on the road and all the hotels had safes, so we didn’t have any issues due to this. We were told to avoid the exchange places in the customs area, which we did. We followed advice and after exiting from customs we crossed the street and went upstairs to the international departure area where they have a bank and an ATM too. We exchanged in the bank $150 at a rate of 556 colones /$1.00 and that was enough for us for the whole trip as they take US dollars every place and most places have a very reasonable exchange rate. Since there was no line at the bank or at the next counter where one pays for $26/person exit fee, I also took care of the exit payments. While we had credit cards with us, we barely used them and never stood in line at banks and didn’t use ATMs either.
Expenses other than the hotels:
We paid a total of $555 for the private vans and an estimated of $20 for local buses and two cabs. Renting an appropriate car w. gas and insurance would have not cost us less.
We found Costa Rica quite an expensive place. Tourism now brings more $s than bananas and coffee combined (the two major revenue sources in CR). I started planning the trip mid-2008. In 2009, prices for most tours jumped 20-30%. They were not inexpensive to start with. Many times the “value proposition” (using Europe or US as a base for comparison) is not there. While you get some level of service, in many places you do not seem to get what you are paying for.
The global economic problems are felt in CR too. Hotels, for which normally we were told to make reservations months ahead of time in the dry season, had vacancy. Despite this, prices charged in CR didn’t go down, or at least not yet…
The cost of meals is “reasonable” but also very dependent on where you eat (at the hotel, in a soda, etc.). Some places include on the menu the tax and 10% service charge, others include only one of them and others include none, but they are always included in the bill. So as a function of this, the check can be about 25% more than what the menu shows. Due to the fact that charges include by default a 10% service charge, service in many places is not necessarily what you would expect. We had a waiter who told us “so you are ordering ONLY a soup and a salad” and then left us waiting for a very long time…
Our experience with tours was similar to what we have heard from others: going to the rain forest without a guide probably results in a nice walk but without seeing animals or birds. So we went on guided tours. They are not cheap. For most of them we made tentative or firm reservations from home via the Internet or by calling and then paid locally. I did not make any reservations that could not be cancelled and I tried to avoid reservation intermediaries that add their commissions to the already high price. We did spend about $800 on guided tours and hot springs for the two of us.
While the basic cost of transportation, meals and hotels is not cheap, everyone expects tips. I do understand that most of the time the pay received by those who deliver the service is probably a small % of the actual charge, but I am used to give tips only when deserved. I am not going on trips as part of my charitable activities, so on some occasions I did not feel “comfortable” with the expectation….
Food:
The food is OK. We usually do not make a special effort during our trips to find “exclusive” restaurants or culinary feats. The local food is simple, relatively healthy and it includes rice, plantains, beans and fruits. We loved the fresh fruits, they tasted great. Local custard, some corn based sweets are interesting. We drank only bottled water to make sure that we don’t ask for trouble. My husband liked very much the local beer (Imperial). We used tap water for washing our teeth or fruits and had no problems.
Toilets and sanitary conditions in general:
I had concerns based on what I read. While in many public places they have signs asking you not to drop used toilet paper in the toilet (and they have uncovered garbage cans for it…), in most hotels there were no signs and garbage cans were covered. However, we were told that just about everywhere they have only septic tanks and in places on lower levels that are close to the ocean the raw sewage ends up in the ocean during high tides. As a result, we walked as part of a tour on the beaches of Manuel Antonio but didn’t join the crowds in the ocean and elected to use the hotel’s pool. Also the public restrooms in parks (particularly in Manuel Antonio) are not recommended …
While I was afraid of the flies sometimes present in restaurants, we got home without having to use any of the Imodium or antibiotics we had with us.
Language:
We found that those working with tourists speak English very well. Other locals might not, but that didn’t impact us at all.
Clothing:
We were equipped and prepared for everything (being told that wet clothing will not dry quickly). Due to our luck with the weather, we didn’t have any wet clothing, other than the bathing suits and didn’t need quite a few layers we took with us. We used mostly the light pants (I had two white, light cotton long ones and one quick drying one that converts to shorts, which appears to be the tourist “uniform” in Costa Rica). I didn’t wear shorts as I was concerned about bites. I was bitten only twice, supposedly by chiggers during a walk in a forest. We noticed mosquitoes only in Arenal at the pools but the spray protected us. The sunscreen, sun hat, sun glasses, very light long sleeve cotton shirts came in handy. While I had the recommended quick dry socks I never used them, the all cotton ones that I like worked very well. My fake $2 Crocks were handy as slippers and at the pool. We had no hiking boots and managed without them using some more rugged shoes/sneakers.
We needed light jackets in the evening in Monteverde, but our experience was not similar to others’. We met a few couples in Manuel Antonio who “escaped” from Arenal and Monteverde where they experienced a cold front with heavy rain and were locked into hotels with no heating and had a very bad time.
Interesting:
Costa Rica has no military since 1948. They are very proud of this, rightfully so. They mentioned that since they can spend the money on education instead, they have one the highest standard of living in Latin America. As a result, they can afford to employ legal and illegal immigrants, mostly from Nicaragua, for the most difficult jobs. Nicaraguans pick the coffee and pineapples. They get ONE colones/pineapple and if they work as hard as they can they make $4/day…. But obviously this is still better than what they can get at home….There are about 1 MM immigrants in CR, out of the 4MM inhabitants.
Overall, our conclusion is that your trip is dependent in major ways on your preparation, expectations and luck. Many of the things we were prepared for based on what we read, never materialized. We were also extremely lucky with the weather. As a result, we had a great trip and enjoyed our stay a lot.
The next part will describe in more detail our experiences in each trip segment. Sorry about the “style”, it doesn’t include the usual LOLs ??
Feb 21st, 2009, 02:02 PM
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I would agree that Costa Rica isn't cheap, but I can guarantee that you wouldn't be able to get comparable lodging and services in Europe for anything less than twice what you pay in Costa Rica (unless you do the Four Seasons or something like that).
I was surprised by how much I liked Imperial.
I was surprised by how much I liked Imperial.
Feb 22nd, 2009, 08:25 AM
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Suzanna,
Great tri report so far. I am looking forward to the rest.
It is very balanced, thorough and full of great observations and details.
I think you hit a very important point. Costa Rica may not be for everyone. It is important to have some idea what to expect and have realistic expectations. Your preparaton served you well. if one is aware of possible pitfalls and problems and they don't happen - all the better.
Pura vida,
raquel
Great tri report so far. I am looking forward to the rest.
It is very balanced, thorough and full of great observations and details.
I think you hit a very important point. Costa Rica may not be for everyone. It is important to have some idea what to expect and have realistic expectations. Your preparaton served you well. if one is aware of possible pitfalls and problems and they don't happen - all the better.
Pura vida,
raquel
Feb 23rd, 2009, 04:33 PM
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It takes a lot of time to write these reports, so I will post the rest in "segments". I am also busy selecting pictures to share with friends; we took about 600 of them and most of them are wonderful memories, so it is not easy to pick the subset.
RAC, my trip trip report reflects our experiences and impressions. Others might have had similar or very different experiences in the same place. It was interesting to read Andrea's very informative trip report and see that during the same period, at the same place she experienced things differently. We had to be on the same days in Manuel Antonio at Costa Verde. While we had breakfast at Cantina and saw no monkeys, she had breakfast at Anaconda and saw quite a few of them... Based on our expectations and based on how we wanted to see CR, we felt that CR was not inexpensive. Obviously one doesn't have to stay at Costa Verde and guided tours are not mandatory. There are people who come with little money and get room & board for working on coffee plantations. The prices that I mentioned reflect the whole experience, not only hotels. However, based on our experience, in Europe, (depending on where you go and how much homework you do), if you spend the same money we spent on the hotels in CR, you probably get something decent where you don't have to worry about where you put the used toilet paper, etc. As Pat Hewitt explained before our departure, Costa Rica is not a third world country, it is 2.5.... Last year we traveled in Portugal. While previously my goal in Europe was not to spend more than $100/night, last year I had to raise the bar to 100 Eur/night to get the 3 diamond quality hotel, which is not more than what I paid in CR. And while I still consider CR expensive for the level of service, I went knowingly into it and I do not regret it. The experience was worth the money and we really enjoyed our trip. I just wanted to make sure that others know that depending on what you do, it can really add up.
RAC, my trip trip report reflects our experiences and impressions. Others might have had similar or very different experiences in the same place. It was interesting to read Andrea's very informative trip report and see that during the same period, at the same place she experienced things differently. We had to be on the same days in Manuel Antonio at Costa Verde. While we had breakfast at Cantina and saw no monkeys, she had breakfast at Anaconda and saw quite a few of them... Based on our expectations and based on how we wanted to see CR, we felt that CR was not inexpensive. Obviously one doesn't have to stay at Costa Verde and guided tours are not mandatory. There are people who come with little money and get room & board for working on coffee plantations. The prices that I mentioned reflect the whole experience, not only hotels. However, based on our experience, in Europe, (depending on where you go and how much homework you do), if you spend the same money we spent on the hotels in CR, you probably get something decent where you don't have to worry about where you put the used toilet paper, etc. As Pat Hewitt explained before our departure, Costa Rica is not a third world country, it is 2.5.... Last year we traveled in Portugal. While previously my goal in Europe was not to spend more than $100/night, last year I had to raise the bar to 100 Eur/night to get the 3 diamond quality hotel, which is not more than what I paid in CR. And while I still consider CR expensive for the level of service, I went knowingly into it and I do not regret it. The experience was worth the money and we really enjoyed our trip. I just wanted to make sure that others know that depending on what you do, it can really add up.
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