Thanks to all of you who give so much of your time to help others plan their trips.


First, Costa Rica is a beautiful country with equally beautiful people. We always felt welcome and safe. Having been to many countries, I can say with confidence that you don’t always feel welcome and/or safe.

We used a taxi to get from SJO to our hotel. Very easy. We just showed our hotel address to the person at the ticket counter, paid her $22 and our driver walked up to help us with our bags.

Casa Roland Hotel – We chose this since it was close to Tobias airport.
Very comfortable room, clean. But, I have to say there was a lot of street noise. Perhaps they have rooms away from the street? I wasn’t there long enough to investigate. Also, we live in the country where there is no sound at night except the occasional coyote. So city noise is very bothersome to us.
Good breakfast and they provided a taxi to the airport.

Nature Air – Wow. Very friendly. Nice building, very clean. Again, we felt very safe. We worked hard to keep our luggage under the weight limits. But, there were definitely bags being loaded that weighed more. I guess they were just paying the fee for the extra pounds?

Drake Bay, La Paloma – We enjoyed our stay very much. They make everything so easy. The food was good. Our guide to Corcovado was Randall. He was fantastic. We learned so much from him. We were in #4 which had an amazing view of the pacific. We saw as many animals on their property as we say in the park.
I do have one suggestion with regard to their tours. We did the Cano Island snorkeling trip. We knew the snorkeling would not be comparable to some of the Caribbean islands but we did see quite a few fish and sharks. But, Cano Island was not enjoyable at all. We had a small group and we convinced our guide to leave early and go back out for the second session of snorkeling. We did not choose to hike the island since there are no animals. So you just sit around at some picnic tables with 75 -100 other people. It was crowded and dirty.
We think they should offer a ½ day snorkel trip with no island stop (except maybe a bathroom break).

Tricolor – Friendly people. Our car was not in the best shape. I guess we have gotten spoiled in the past.

Peace Lodge – I am sure many will disagree with me on this one. But, we would not recommend staying here. It makes a great ½ day stop. See the butterflies and frogs, hike the waterfalls and move on. There is so much natural beauty in Costa Rica that to stay somewhere so contrived felt strange. It was so highly recommended to us that I did not even look for an alternative place to stay in the area. Perhaps there is nothing?

Lost Iguana – Beautiful grounds. We were in the Casita above the owner’s villa. There were no other buildings next to us and we had an amazing view of the Arenal. Unfortunately, the lava had moved about a week before we arrived. But we did hear the rumbles. Just as others have said, their attention to detail is lacking at best. And, they are so slow. My son said they do a great sloth imitation. We stood in lobby for a very long time waiting to get checked in. There were employees everywhere and only one guy to help us. Then, he took a phone call in the middle of checking us in. So we waited. However, we did enjoy our stay. The casita was comfortable, the pool was very nice, they have animals on their grounds.

Pure Trek – We had a great time. Caution, the lunch provided is more typical costa Rican rice and beans. So, if you have had your fill of this combo you might want to eat before you go. We were fortunate to have a small group (9). The guides were great always making a point to call you by name.

SkyTram-SkyTrek – Again, fantastic time. What a hoot. Felt very safe.

Hanging Bridges – This is a very pretty walk. Don’t go expecting to see many animals. We did spot some birds we hadn’t seen elsewhere. This was where we received the most bug bites on the whole trip.

Cano Negro with Sunset Tours – We really enjoyed this. Although we did not book a private tour, we were the only ones on the trip. We saw so many animals!
Again, lunch is typical Costa Rican.

Caribbean – This is like going to another country. We stayed in Puerto Viejo at Azania bungalows. We had been warned on this site and by some in Costa Rica that they were not really personable there. Actually, there was a young Panamanian man working the front desk when we checked in. He was great. However we did meet the infamous “quiet” owner at checkout. But we found the humor in it all. This was really fun. Puerto Viejo is very Jamaican. We were so glad we added this to our trip.

There is a sloth sactuary just out of Cahuita. Our children really enjoyed this. If you have done a lot of hiking and touring, make sure you ask for the mofified ticket. I think they are in tune with the cruise ships that come in to Limon. They have a "boat ride and jungle walk" for those who have not been hiking in the "real" jungle. They even admitted we would not see any wildlife.
But, they have sloths that have been rescued. You can pet them. They have quite a few babies in baskets. You were not allowed to touch the babies but we could stand right next to them and watch them for as long as we wanted. They are quite unique creatures.

Bugs – We did not get any bug bites while on the Osa. Even during the night tour. They said since it had not rained in a while there were no bugs. So I stopped carrying bug spray with us. Our worst experience with bugs was on the Hanging Bridges.

Driving – The do have a unique style of driving. They are not rude drivers. But, since their roads are not wide enough to have slow lanes, there is a LOT of passing. Passing on hills, passing on blind corners, passing in blinding rain, a lot of passing. But, my husband can drive anywhere and be comfortable with it. Paris, Rome, Autobahn, Amalfi Coast nothing intimidates him.

Food – You don’t go to Costa Rica for a culinary experience. We consider ourselves “foodies”. This was definitely hard on us. Even some of the restaurants recommended on this site just did not have an appeal for us. El Novilla was just ok. We just kept saying to our kids, at least it is not rice and beans. La Pecora Nera is supposed to be one of the best restaurants in Costa Rica. The service was outstanding. The food was ok.

Clothing – You don’t really need anything special. We were fortunate enough to be there during dry season. You may need more during the rainy season. But we found tennis shoes fine for hiking. Our keens were good for any wet activities. We laughed during the canyoning tour because we had been concerned about which shoes to wear and one of our guides wore a pair of flip flops. Casual was fine even in the nicer restaurants. We already had a lot of “wicking” clothes. Even these felt wet when you put them on in the morning. When the humidity is so high there isn’t much you can do to escape it.
Don’t spend time or money on a lot of special things. It is a very easy country to travel in.

We had a awesome time. We feel so fortunate to have gone before more of the large hotels move in. The locals predict large scale developement on the Osa due to the free trade agreement.

Beautiful, Fun, Relaxing, Easy,
Pure Vida

Thank you for the great report!

We're planning on going in early May so I'm always interested in hearing which direction the lava flow is going!

Thank you so much for the great trip report. Your reccomendations are very helpful. You went so many interesting places. Which was your favorite?

sparklegem,

Favorite is such a hard thing. Each place was different.

The Osa was a favorite for being less populated. We really took the time to try and learn about daily life from the locals. They are eager to share if you have genuine interest.

The jungle in the Arenal area looked more like the jungle we were expecting. It was really beautiful. It is hard to comprehend how many colors of green are in our world.

My favorite "thing" was the sound of the howler monkeys. I would get up before sunrise, make some coffee, and sit on our balcony watching the sunrise and listening to the howlers. What an amazing sound! I would never tire of that.

We enjoyed just driving through the country. Seeing their houses. They seem to be a proud people. Even though they might not be wealthy financially they keep their yards clean and neat. The houses seemed to be in good condition.
The children look happy.

Take the time to have conversations with your guides about their lives, growing up, schooling, family. There is always something to be learned.

Thank you so much, Wego. "Wego" in hour!

Nice report, wego--enjoyed your comments. What a great trip for your kids. I especially appreciated the nice things you had to say about the people, their homes, their pride. .all very true. Great little country just to drive through, as you say, and observe the people as they go about their daily lives. I can't help but think how much the tourism upswing must be changing lives for so many--some for the good, some for the bad. Thanks again!

Thanks for posting your report, sounds like you really enjoyed yourself. Nice to get a review of Casa Roland, I know a couple people here have enquired about places near Nature Air. You know what's funny? I love the food in CR, especially the breakfasts. I always try to make my gallo pinto taste the same but never succeed!

What a wonderful report. I know it was the people we fell in love with on our first trip many many years ago and it is one of the highlights of our trips still. Very hard working people. I do appreciate the lack of trash more now that I have taken a couple of trips to Guatemala.

We are the same as you and have trouble with city noises at night. I grew up outside of NYC and used to go in for the day/evening a lot but only stayed overnight a few times. Just too many people and too much noise. I find San Jose really noisy at night too and try to stay out of it as much as possible. We gladly put up with it when we stay with our friends in their home in Escazu but we do leave there a little tired. The smaller older hotels aren't as sound proof as some of the bigger ones. We had a coyote walk through our back yard here in Ohio last week and it is always a thrill when the deer start bringing their babies around in the spring. It does make you more sensitive to noise at night particularly. I am sure people will be interested to know of options near the Tobias airport.

Glad to read that La Paloma is still as nice as we remembered. Good idea about the 1/2 day tour. We did the hike on Cano Island when they still had the spheres (very few) out there. We were very disappointed. I believe they have since removed them so there is even less reason to do the hike. There was very little to see.

Having so much in the way of beans and rice was hard for me at first. Now I don't feel like I have had a good meal down there without at least a little. Until I started going to CR I would not put a bean down my throat for anything. Salsa Lizano helps. I did have a hard time with some fresh bread stuffed with beans that my homestay "mama" left for me for breakfast one morning while she went out walking early.

I have been to Europe several times also and really commend your husband for being able to drive in the cities there. The Autobahn was my first experience with fast speed driving although we slowed down a few times to get a good laugh at the guys lined up on the side. Our first experience with that too!

Thanks for the great trip report.

Tully,
Orlandos MIL is an incredible cook and I am going to have her show me how to make a good Gallo Pinto as well as some other things. I'll pass it on. She made an incredible dessert for Orlando's birthday that I have to learn too. It was very simple but just yummy.