Easter Week in Costa Rica
Apr 13th, 2004, 02:37 PM
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Easter Week in Costa Rica
Just returned from a week trip to Costa Rica from NYC. Rented car (Sentra) upon arrival (1:00pm) and headed out south on Route 2 to Trogon Lodge. Going through San Jose is nerve wracking people and cars come from all directions, worse than driving in Rockefeller Center around Christmas. Once get through San Jose come to traffic circles and poor signage making it hard to find Route 2. Taking Route 2 you get the hang of pretty fast, pass slow moving vehicles when available, otherwise stay in lane at all times, busses and trucks from other direction come around fast and furious. Saw a couple of cars stopped for speeding and there was one traffic stop where they were stopping intermittent vehicles. The Ciel de Muerte wasn't bad though it was the afternoon, clouds some rain but visibility was never that bad.
Arrived at turnoff for Trogon lodge, kilometer 80, after about 2.5 hours, turnoff does not say Trogon Lodge asked at bar on corner. Road to Trogon Lodge is one lane of dirt rock and holes with deep drop off on sides. Went 15 to 20 kph for the 7 kilometer trip. Trogon Lodge in beautiful valley, with nice gardens with many birds, saw at least 5 different species of hummingbirds while sitting on restaurant deck. Rooms nice, basic with gas fireplace, hot showers. Dinner a bargain at $12 trout, mashed potatoes, salad, vegetarian lasagna, dessert. Breakfast at $9 less of a bargain. Went on morning tour looking for Quetzal saw at least 6 including 2 nesting at about eye level, watched male and female for half hour.
After breakfast drove down to Dominical 2 hours to the Villa Rio Mar. Again down bad dirt road to get to hotel, in fact Dominical has the a horrible road through the center of town. Rio Mar advertises as being on river but not really, the river is on other side of road, so it is undeveloped. I think I was the only one from hotel to go to river, saw a troop of monkeys in trees on other side of river early one morning. Rooms are ok, kind of run down, nice gardens on property, restaurant ok, would suggest someplace heading south with ocean view instead.
Went to Ballena National Park, long deserted beach water had some sort of brown stuff floating in it where I first went in so I moved down the beach a little where it was cleaner. Note that Ballena is pretty deserted with some campers and locals selling stuff, I would not leave valuables in car or on beach.
All in all coast south of Dominical is beautiful but if you want to see monkeys, I would suggest Manuel Antonio instead. We stayed at Costa Verde last year which was beautiful with lots of wildlife (monkeys, sloths, toucans). Note Costa Verde has in the past fed the monkeys, now they have many signs telling you not to feed them but the monkeys are pretty aggressive by the restaurant.
After 2 days drove back to San Jose, uneventful except for driving in San Jose. Stayed in Hotel Santo Tomas, nice pool, good location if need to be downtown, but wouldn't recommend. At night you hear the comings and goings of other guests, toilets flushing, one woman crying for an hour. Staff tries to be helpful but they we got 2 phone calls on different days on at 6am the other at 9am telling us our cab was there when we hadn't ordered one. Would suggest Bougainvillea in the suburbs where we stayed last year which has beautiful grounds and a nice pool.
Did the 2 day rafting on the Pacuare River with Rios Tropicales. Had a really great time and the guides were great. The lodge in the jungle is basic but clean with hot water, food was adequate. They had zip lines in the jungle which we did the 2nd day at 6am, no additional charge. Tipped our raft guide $20, tipped 4 other people $5. Bring $5's or 10's for tipping. Only problem was my wife awoke the next day with diarhea.
All in all a wonderful trip planning to return soon.
Arrived at turnoff for Trogon lodge, kilometer 80, after about 2.5 hours, turnoff does not say Trogon Lodge asked at bar on corner. Road to Trogon Lodge is one lane of dirt rock and holes with deep drop off on sides. Went 15 to 20 kph for the 7 kilometer trip. Trogon Lodge in beautiful valley, with nice gardens with many birds, saw at least 5 different species of hummingbirds while sitting on restaurant deck. Rooms nice, basic with gas fireplace, hot showers. Dinner a bargain at $12 trout, mashed potatoes, salad, vegetarian lasagna, dessert. Breakfast at $9 less of a bargain. Went on morning tour looking for Quetzal saw at least 6 including 2 nesting at about eye level, watched male and female for half hour.
After breakfast drove down to Dominical 2 hours to the Villa Rio Mar. Again down bad dirt road to get to hotel, in fact Dominical has the a horrible road through the center of town. Rio Mar advertises as being on river but not really, the river is on other side of road, so it is undeveloped. I think I was the only one from hotel to go to river, saw a troop of monkeys in trees on other side of river early one morning. Rooms are ok, kind of run down, nice gardens on property, restaurant ok, would suggest someplace heading south with ocean view instead.
Went to Ballena National Park, long deserted beach water had some sort of brown stuff floating in it where I first went in so I moved down the beach a little where it was cleaner. Note that Ballena is pretty deserted with some campers and locals selling stuff, I would not leave valuables in car or on beach.
All in all coast south of Dominical is beautiful but if you want to see monkeys, I would suggest Manuel Antonio instead. We stayed at Costa Verde last year which was beautiful with lots of wildlife (monkeys, sloths, toucans). Note Costa Verde has in the past fed the monkeys, now they have many signs telling you not to feed them but the monkeys are pretty aggressive by the restaurant.
After 2 days drove back to San Jose, uneventful except for driving in San Jose. Stayed in Hotel Santo Tomas, nice pool, good location if need to be downtown, but wouldn't recommend. At night you hear the comings and goings of other guests, toilets flushing, one woman crying for an hour. Staff tries to be helpful but they we got 2 phone calls on different days on at 6am the other at 9am telling us our cab was there when we hadn't ordered one. Would suggest Bougainvillea in the suburbs where we stayed last year which has beautiful grounds and a nice pool.
Did the 2 day rafting on the Pacuare River with Rios Tropicales. Had a really great time and the guides were great. The lodge in the jungle is basic but clean with hot water, food was adequate. They had zip lines in the jungle which we did the 2nd day at 6am, no additional charge. Tipped our raft guide $20, tipped 4 other people $5. Bring $5's or 10's for tipping. Only problem was my wife awoke the next day with diarhea.
All in all a wonderful trip planning to return soon.
Apr 14th, 2004, 08:01 AM
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Flew direct on American. Cost was $516. Previously flew on TACA, they were equivalent servicewise. Remember your $26 per person to leave Costa Rica I forgot and had just barely enough ($50 US and $5000 colones). Note in paying they only accept VISA debit cards, not Mastercard.
Apr 14th, 2004, 09:56 AM
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Greetings...
My boyfriend and I are planning our first trip to CR from NYC in May. Dominical was on our itinerary along with visiting the Caribbean side and Montverde. Sounds like we should skip Dominical? we wanted to avoid Manuel Antonio. can you suggest someplace that is just as beautiful that isn't over populated? Moderately priced? we were also thinking of staying at Tabacon for a few nights and heading towards the coast. Have you stayed a Tabacons?
Please advise further I eagerly await a response!
SF
My boyfriend and I are planning our first trip to CR from NYC in May. Dominical was on our itinerary along with visiting the Caribbean side and Montverde. Sounds like we should skip Dominical? we wanted to avoid Manuel Antonio. can you suggest someplace that is just as beautiful that isn't over populated? Moderately priced? we were also thinking of staying at Tabacon for a few nights and heading towards the coast. Have you stayed a Tabacons?
Please advise further I eagerly await a response!
SF
Apr 14th, 2004, 12:21 PM
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Haven't been to Tabascons. Sorry I put you off Dominical because it really is quite beautiful, just different than Manuel Antonio which I really loved. If you are still interested in Dominical, I met a couple who stayed in a place overlooking the ocean south of Dominical, that is listed on the last page of the Lonely Planet guidebook which they said was very nice. No pool, cabins made from trees planted on property 20 years ago, meals included but I can't remember the name.
I hear the beaches by Monteverde are really nice with some good surfing spots. Note unless you are spending 2 or more weeks or flying around the country I would suggest concentrating on an area. A nice trip would be Sarapiqui on the Carribbean side, Arenal, Monteverde and then the beaches near Monteverde.
I hear the beaches by Monteverde are really nice with some good surfing spots. Note unless you are spending 2 or more weeks or flying around the country I would suggest concentrating on an area. A nice trip would be Sarapiqui on the Carribbean side, Arenal, Monteverde and then the beaches near Monteverde.
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