traveller212

Wanting to plan a trip to Costa Rica. Normally, we like to take our vacations in the summer, but it sounds like Costa Rica might not be a good idea in the summer due to heavy amounts of rain. I know it rains in the rain forest, but I would be miserable if it rained during an entire 10 day trip. Nov-Jan are out for unrelated reasons. Thoughts? What is it really like in the summer?

Iza

We went to CR twice, both times in August and are now planning a 3rd trip also for August. We had some rain during our trips but nothing major and never all day. Most of the time days were sunny with a brief storm or passing rain in the evening or at night. We had a number of days without any rain at all, with beautiful sunny weather.<BR>The weather varies depending on where you are in the country. Here were my observations based on our trips:<BR>San Jose area - temps in the 70s, occassional rain, can get cool at night at higher elevations<BR>Arenal area - the most rain we had in all of CR, temps in the 70s, damp, cloudy and foggy for 2 days when we were there (could not see the volcano)<BR>Manuel Antonio - mostly sunny with only occassional showers, temps probably in the 80s but we were comfortable without A/C<BR>Osa Penninsula - very humid even if the temps were not that high, stormy weather with occiassional sunny spells<BR>Tamarindo - mostly sunny and hot, very little rain (we spent 10 days there in total in two years and it rained only 2-3 times, and even on the days when it rained the majority of the day was sunny with rain in the afternoon/evening). <BR>The added advantage of travelling in the summer are better prices and not crowded.

traveller212

Wow, Iza, you have given me hope for a summer trip to Costa Rica. Did you go on a tour? On trips to Asia and Europe I have not gone on tours, preferring to figure it all out myself. But CR seems like it might be best seen with the help of a tour?

Iza

We didn't go on a tour. The first time, we picked places where we wanted to stay, talked to a travel agent and got some recommendations, did some research and then used that travel agent to make arrangements for us (but it was not an organized tour). The second time around, we visited 4 different areas of Costa Rica (we had 2 weeks) and made all of the arrangements ourselves which was surprisingly easy. We are doing the same on our third trip. <BR>If you like researching your destination, you can definitely plan and execute your own trip to CR.

Suzie2

Just a little more to add to Iza's info. Getting around is fairly easy. There are private buses (interbus and fantasy bus that go to most of the big areas for a reasonable price) air (Sansa, Nature Air), private shuttles. Once at the hotel they will have lots of info on what is available to do in the area and can help you get set up with some day trips. I wouldn't worry about making tour reservations ahead of time. My favorite place to stay in San Jose on the rare occassion that I stay in SJ is Hotel Don Carlos. They have an excellent tour office and can set you up with day trips out of San Jose and river rafting. They can also give you some excellent advice on in country travel. I would make air reservations ahead of time. You can print out vouchers from the internet. You could probably even wait to get a room when you get there if you are the adventurous type.