vbooks

My wife and I vacationed in Costa Rica Jan 12-20 and based much of our trip planning on help from this forum...thanks to all who assisted us!

In sum, we spent a night at Xandari Resort near the airport in Alajuela; then flew Nature Air to Osa and stayed 3 nights at Bosque Del Cabo (BDC); returned to Pavas Airport where our driver met us and drove to Lost Iguana Resort near Arenal Volcano for 3 nights. Then back to Xandari and before flying home the next day. We basically wanted a low stress week, avoiding busy tourista areas, staying at upscale resorts and keying our tours to enjoying the flora and fauna.

A few comments on the trip:
Xandari was very nice, a true oasis within the busy rabble of Alajuela and 15 minutes from the airport. Recommend room #20, a large, real funky thatched roof design right next to a pool that hardly anyone used but us. Excellent food and nice people.

Nature Air flight was enjoyable and we were met by BDC Land Rover for a fun 40 minute trip on a dirt road one other guest described as a "crater". BDC, was very nice but I would not describe it as outstanding like some Fodor listers have. We stayed in deluxe cabinas and tramped all over the trails, seeing a variety of wildlife. Food was good at breakfast and lunch but was disappointing at dinner. We also did not like the family style group grope at the evening meal but got used to it. Our fears of noisy children and overly chatty guests was unfounded. Most of the people we got to know were interesting and enjoyable....one guest described the lot as "an accomplished" group. The staff was superb there. It was expensive.... our total bill including 3 tours was $1500 for 3 nights plus tips.

We opted to have a driver meet us at Pavas Airport for the trip to Arenal area. This was an excellent means of avoiding the hassle of a rental car and was easy and inexpensive. $150 each way plus tips (cheaper than a car rental)and the driver was very safe and on time contact Leo at [email protected]

Lost Iguana was fairly nice with excellent view from our standard room (#38) but it was basically run by a bunch of youngsters with little adult supervision if you know what I mean. Also, the grounds are very steep and walks back to our room were strenuous after a day on the trails. We used the free golf cart service whenever we could. Food was pretty good. I think I'd pick another resort if I travel there again, maybe the Observatory Lodge.
We had planned to take a tour to Cano Negro wildlife reserve but the trip there was 2.5 hours one way so we opted for a local float trip on the Pinas Blanco River which turned out to be excellent. Also, the Hanging Bridges near Lost Iguana was excellent too with lots of wildlife.

Then back to Xandari for the night before flying home the next day. I recommend this itinerary for anyone seeking an easy trip off the beaten path. Thanks again to the Fodors Forum!.... Ross

Keith

Thank you for the report. Doesn't sound like you had as much fun as you hoped, but maybe I am focusing on the wrong parts.

You might consider a rental vehicle the next time. My 4x4 for 5 days including gas was about what you paid for a driver.

Keith

volcanogirl

Sounds like you had some disappointments. We loved both BdC and Lost Iguana and didn't see any wildlife at all at the Hanging Bridges - what did you guys see? I'm always jealous when people say they had good wildlife spotting there; we tried so hard. Thanks for the info. on Xandari - looks like a great spot.

vbooks

Hi again, BDC was very nice, just not stellar. The dinner on two nights was not much better than cafeteria fare. To be fair, I don't think one should judge Costa Rica on its resorts so much as on its wonderful natural beauty and friendly people. I wonder how good any Ritz would be if it had to operate from some jungle in the Osa peninsula??
Wildlife we saw (we were pretty lucky):
BDC - from our Cabinas porches (Manglillo and Las Palms)we saw 15 coatis rummaging for bugs one morning and a pair of whales cruising by at a distance.
One morning walking out the entrance road, we saw a "family" of peccaries (sp?), ditto coatis, a handful of noisy howler monkeys. Each day we saw howlers, curious leaf cutter ants, coatis, bats, and a bunch of colorful birds. This is bird season in CR.
BDC guides have a sunset tour and a dawn bird and monkey tour that were super, right on the grounds.
We took a boat/snorkeling tour of Gulfo Dulce and spent one hour milling about with 150 dolphins and stopped at a wildlife sanctuary on the eastern shore and spend 1.5 hours hugging Lulu the howler as well as a sweet spider monkey. There was a sloth there we got to touch as well as toucans (no touch) and white faced monkeys (ditto.)
I should mention that the cicadas (sp?)were incredibly noisy all day at BDC then got quiet at night.
At hanging bridges we saw coatis. howlers and for there, very rare white faced monkeys. Another couple had a guide and he said he had not seen white faces there in four months.
On the river trip we saw an otter, 3 iguanas in trees, a sloth, howler groups in 2 trees and lots of milk cows.
Birds were everywhere including many raptors and fishers.
At Xandari, only Napoleon the cat and his girlfriend tabby cat and the happy restaurant dog(forget his name). Xandari, by the way, was featured on one of Samantha Brown's Travel Channel shows....Ross

hipvirgochick

Thanks for posting vbooks. It does sounds like you had some disappointments, but hopefully the good outweighs the bad. You got to see some amazing wildlife, so that's cool. Can't believe the Titi's weren't around for so long at BDC. I guess we got lucky to see them 3 out of the 5 days were there last May. However, we didn't see any peccaries, so maybe in April! The dinners we had were outstanding, 5* by all means. The breakfast and lunch dinners were fantastic too. I think, but I'm not sure, the regular chef maybe also be on break.

volcanogirl

Wow, great animal sightings; hip, that makes sense if the regular chef may be out. Our food was consistently good there. Speaking of BdC, did Kim have the baby yet?

vbooks

Yes, Kim did have her baby boy. We went on the boat trip with Kim's mom who was visiting..... Ross

tully

Thanks for posting your report. Sorry you didn't have a great time; I'm one of those that always find BdC outstanding and always had great food, but then again I could probably have snacks & sandwiches there and be happy - the scenery, staff and all the animals are enough for me!

vg - yes, he's beautiful of course and looks like he's going to be tall like Phil. I was just thinking of this the other day - imagine finally getting him down for a nap & a troop of howlers come thru! Bet soon he'll sleep right thru all of that.

volcanogirl

That's great - he's going to grow up with an amazing life. Congrats to them! What name did they decide on?