Hello All,
Thanks to those of you whose comments helped me to plan a fantastic 10-day trip to CR! We just returned. We are a family of 4 with moderately adventurous daughters ages 8 & 11, so my comments are mostly oriented to families traveling with kids.

We spent one night in SJ at Orquedeas Inn, which was delightful (though our roadside room wasn't very nice, I had a peek at some poolside ones that were lovely, as were the grounds etc.)

Following advice from some of you, we hired Wilson Rojas to drive us to La Fortuna. He was great, and can be contacted directly at [email protected] or [email protected]. Cell phone 506-377-8891. We stopped along the way to look for birds and ogle waterfalls, which was all lovely, though in retrospect this made the driving day feel too long for the kids, and I wish we'd just motored straight to Fortuna.

We stayed 3 nights at Los Lagos which was a great choice for the kids, and we could have stayed longer. When we first arrived it seemed too Disneylandy for our tastes, but the pool complex (warm pools, cool pools, swim up bar, slides) was awesome and we could have spent days just playing there. As it was my kids definitely wanted to hunker down and hang out poolside and relax most of the first couple of days so I was really glad that we didn't pre-book tours. It is really easy (and probably cheaper) just to do this on-site, or skip a guide and go by cab. The zip-line on-sight at Los Lagos was fabulous - everyone in my family raved about it as the #1 activity of the trip. The hanging bridges hike was awesome too: we saw loads of monkeys, both types of sloths very close up right off the bridge, and tons of other great creatures. We thought our choice to take a cab ourselves and not to hire a guide was a good one as we could go at our own pace, and generally when someone spots something you have a chance to come over and see too. We got some magnificent daytime volcano viewing though it clouded over every evening. We didn't go to Cano Negro because we felt it was too much schlepping.

We next drove the 5 hours to Manuel Antonio for 2 nights at Si Como No. This is a beautiful resort but we are not really the resorty types and probably would have prefered one of the midrange hotels with a more bunaglowy feel (and saved a lot of moola). They are all close together and the views are all comparably magnificent. We had a terrific day at MA - took the public bus down the hill which was fun, enjoyed the shops and roadside food, loved seeing the meddlesome capuchins close up on the beach, (definitely no guide needed for that one) and played in the gentle waves til it got too hot and crowded at midday. As great a day as this was, we all agreed it wasn't worth the 5 hour drive there and transition to another hotel. We think we should've skipped it.

We definitely felt that the only drawback of our trip was too much transitioning, and that 2 places would have been better than 3. At least one of us got pretty cranky on the long travel days or then didn't want to do an activity, so it would've been better, for our style, to minimize those in favor of longer stays in 2 places. Also our kids definitely did NOT want major activity on every single day, though I know this is how many people plan their trips.

We then flew by way of San Jose to Puerto Jiminez, 2 short flights which ended up being much more fun than we'd expected, with incredible views of the country. We spent 4 nights at the beachhouse at the Yellow Coco inn at Playa Puntarenes south of P. Jiminez. It is magnificent - commanding a fairly rare ocean view steps from the beach. The beach house is 2 stories, open on all sides to what my daughter kept referring to as "living in a travel brochure" and in fact was much bigger than we needed. It would be a great place for 2 families or a large family as it sleeps 8, and is pricey, esp. as no meals are included. It's easy and delightful to walk a few yards down the beach to one of 2 fun restaurants though. (Black Turtle Lodge or Pearl of The Osa, both of which seem great.)

Our highlight was the half-day tour in Golfo Dulce which included dolphin sighting (an enormous and awe-inspiring pod of spinners frolicking alongside our boat), snorkeling (calm water, shallow, decent fish) and a trip to the wildlife sanctuary where my daughters died and went to heaven (ok, so did I) touching and holding monkeys! We also took a marvelous horseback ride an hour down the pristine, jaw-droppingly gorgeous beach and then back through the jungle. The ocean was beautiful though at times the surf a bit rough, and unfortunately we were all stung by jellyfish though we were told they are only occasionally in the area (some say it coincides with the full moon, who knows, but it kept us from swimming the last day which was a big bummr.) Other than that we lounged on our porch amidst the most amazing array of birds and butterflies imaginable, with several pairs of scarlet macaws hanging out and squawking their heads off in the tree by the house, the occasional howler monkey troop wandering by, and flukey rainstorms pounding the roof at night, and it was absolute heaven!

In sum: great trip, but with kids I would not go to so many places, and definitely stay somewhere at least 3 nights. I recommend booking activities when you get there (esp. b/c you don't want to be tied into something if the weather is bad or someone is sick), and considering going it alone at times to set your own pace. For our style, less is more oftentimes!

Thanks everybody!

Sounds like a fabulous trip! Thanks for reporting back. I'm taking my 11 year old to Los Lagos next month and it sounds like a place she'll love. Last time we stayed at a lovely hotel, but no kids in sight so I think she'll have a great time there. Agree with too much moving around...sort of takes the fun out of it. But at least you got to experience a nice variety and Yellow Coco sounds great. Jellyfish though...ouch! Like you, we loved the wildlife sanctuary and are looking forward to checking on our "friends" again upcoming trip. Hope you got some pics of the girls with the monkeys!

I am planning a 10 day trip and am having a hard time deciding what areas to do. If you would have cut out one area what would it be? Thanks for any info you can give me.

Annie, I'm so glad you guys had a great trip. You had such good luck at the Hanging Bridges; we didn't see any wildlife there at all. We loved the Osa and the animal sanctuary too. Lulu fell in love with my husband, and I got to hold a sloth there. Your girls will never forget the trip.

Sounds like a fantastic trip! I agree with your sentiments about moving around and also that there are so many nice places to stay in MA without splashing out a lot of cash. I always stay in the Garden side rooms at Orquideas, was it loud on the road side?

vg - what do you mean Lulu fell in love with your husband??!! And here I thought she fell in love with me

annie - will you have pics? Would love to see more of Yellow Coco.

tully - LOL! I think Lulu is a love the one you're with kind of girl! She ran right to my husband and was hugging him around his neck, and then she wrapped her tail around his neck and was hanging upside down. I love those pictures. Who knew a monkey could be so lovable?

Thanks, all. I'll try to post some pics. To Jbowen, We all agreed we could have skipped Manuel Antonio. It is beautiful there and we did have a terrific day, didn't feel it was too too touristy at least early in the morning, but not worth the long drive there since we had much more remote and magnificent beachside experiences and close up wildlife at the Osa peninsula. If you aren't going to Osa it may make sense to go there, but there are also lots of other lovely coastal places, including futher south than MA, which aren't as developed. We could've done 4 nights Los Lagos and 5 nights Osa more comfortably I think, or just Osa in two different kinds of places perhaps. We had a night in SJ (alajuela actually) and Miami on either side, which turned out to be ok, but I think 2 main places with daytrips is plenty in 10 days. I think it'd be great to have had enough time to take a public bus somewhere, get more authentic feel for the place too, though not everyone is comfortable doing that with kids and luggage. It may be worth it to try to stay on the side of Arenal where if it's clear you can see lava at night (we didn't). On a prior trip I loved the Carribean coast too, and thought Monteverde was a little overrated Good luck!

Ammendment-
in terms of what we might cut out, we could have just as easily cut out the arenal area in favor of MA or other coastal place, since each affords its own special landscapes, but at each place you can do hanging bridges, zip-lines, boat tours etcettera, and some folks who go to arenal hoping to see lava end up disappointed because of cloud cover.

My husband and I felt we could have given Manuel Antonio a pass too; it's just not really our scene even though other people love it. Everything is so easy and accessible there, but we just like a little less development.

Annie, thanks for a great trip report. We will need a driver for an April trip for 9 people- can you confirm Wilson's email? You left out the "l" but I didnt' want to just assume it was a typo. Thanks

yes, a typo, sorry

[email protected]
[email protected]

Annie928, Did you use the driver to take you to MA or did you rent a car in Arenal? How were the roads from Arenal to MA? Do you think we need a 4x4?

Hi,
The driver took us from Alajuela (SJ) to La Fortuna and then we got another driver from La Fortuna to MA. I booked that driver through Nature Air in town and saved $30 from what the hotel quoted me ($170 instead of $200, and from SJ to La Fortuna it was about $120). Having a car would be great, though, to get to different places, but the cabs were easy to come by. Didn't seem to me any reason to need a 4X4 at least not this time of year. I thought the roads were surprisingly good, if narrow, but then again I've done most of my traveling in Mexico

My husband and I have been travelling to CR for 6 years now, usually coming for a month or so around New Years. We have used Wilson Rojas every time we've visited, whether for us or for friends who were visiting. There is no better tour guide and transporter than Wilson -- we can't recommend him highly enough. His contact information is: [email protected] or [email protected]. His cell number is 506-377-8891.