Family vacation in Dominical
 

We had a wonderful trip to Dominical the first part of March. We took our daughters (ages 15 and 9), and were joined by my parents and my 24 year old niece. We found Dominical to be a great area for a family. There were plenty of excursions to choose from, many beautiful beaches to explore, and so few tourists. The scenery was gorgeous with the lush, green mountains right next to the beaches.

Travel: Since my husband travels to San Jose once a month for work, we coordinated his business travel with our family trip, and my daughters and I flew down a few days later. I carried a notarized “Permission to Travel” document signed by my husband just in case anyone would question me traveling alone with my daughters. I didn’t need to show it at the airport or immigration.

Hotel in San Jose: We met up with the rest of our family and spent the first night at the Double Tree Cariari, where my husband stays when he is working down there. We found it to be quite nice. It has an open air design in the lobby and hallways, is just two stories, and the rooms are large with comfortable beds. It didn’t feel like a typical chain hotel.

Rental Car: We rented a Mitsubishi Montero from Solid Car Rental. We needed a 4 wheel drive that held 7 passengers. It wasn’t a bargain, but it was a nice vehicle, and Solid was easy to work with, and delivered it to our hotel. The third row seat was quite low to the ground, so the shortest two ended up there. We had to strap some of the luggage to the roof. We took the straight forward route of the Pan Am towards San Jose, then onto 27, ending on 34.

Rental House: Loved staying in a rental house. It was a fantastic house with a large infinity pool and a view of the ocean for an incredibly low price. The owners were two ex-pats of 13 years who were the kindest, gentlest people. The only drawback was that the house was about a 5 minute drive from the highway, and then an 18 minute drive up the mountain on a twisting gravel road. http://www.vrbo.com/221145

Fodorite Friends Reunion: I “met” mixter603 on Fodors in 2007 before meeting her and her husband at Bosque del Cabo. She and her husband decided to meet up with us in Dominical for our third Costa Rican reunion. Mixter rented a house much closer to Dominical, up a very steep, but short driveway. We met each day for our outings or dinners, and having them there and meeting our family added a lot of fun and laughs to our trip.

Activities: We hiked at Hacienda Baru and saw some capuchin monkeys and leaf cutter ants. The butterfly house was fun, as was watching the hermit crabs on the beach. My husband, our 15 year old, me, and my 78 and 79 year old parents went ziplining with Osa Mountain Adventures and really enjoyed it. The views are amazing. My husband and I had zipped with SkyTrek in Arenal, and that zipline was so intense, we didn’t really get to look around or relax. Osa Mountain was exciting, but much less terrifying. There were only ten of us in the tour group, so it didn’t take very long.

The two favorite activities we did were the horseback riding tour, and days at the beach. Many people have written about how wonderful Don Lulu’s Nauyaca Falls tour is, and you can add me to the list. Gentle horses, excellent food, kind guides, the scenery, and of course the beautiful falls make this a not to be missed family activity. My 9 year old had never been on a horse before, and she is a little bit of a fearful type, but she was perfectly fine (I think I was more nervous than she).

We visited Playa Ventanas (beautiful), Playa Hermosa (fun waves), Playa Ballena (gentle surf, but we only picnicked there), Playa Uvita (hot hike onto the whale’s tail), and Playa Dominicalito (great for boogie boarding). The best part is that none of the beaches were crowded! The kids loved drinking Pipa Frias on the beach. We hiked to Uvita Catarata, which was a nice little waterfall with a refreshing pool for swimming.

We also spent a lot of time swimming in the pool at the house, visiting the horses that were on the property, watching the capuchins and toucans that would visit, and looking for creepy, crawly critters.

Meals: We did a lot of cooking at the house and packing lunches for beach days. The home owners recommended a local fisherman to buy fresh fish from, so we grilled a lot of fish and it was heavenly. We ate at Tortilla Flats for lunch a couple of times, La Parcela for dinner, Cuna del Angel for dinner (we liked La Parcela better), and a place along the Costarena whose name I can’t remember for lunch (close to Osa Mountain Adventures). Grocery shopping was an experience all in itself as we tried to avoid purchasing “gringo” food, and marveled at how inexpensive the fresh fruits were.

Overall: The things we loved best about the Dominical area were the beaches and lack of people at them, the lush mountains, the pura vida atmosphere, and the rental house. The drawbacks of the area were the lack of howler monkeys and coatimundis, and we didn’t find as many spots for hiking. I had so wanted my daughters to hear the howlers, and my husband and mixter603 missed all of the hiking we have done on past trips. Bosque del Cabo has spoiled us in that regard.

We all miss Costa Rica terribly. My parents and our daughters now understand why my husband and I love it so much. My niece stayed in Costa Rica to volunteer for a month the the Sarapiqui Learning Center, the lucky girl. And I am already researching where we want to go on next year’s trip!

What a great trip. Sounds very relaxing. I'm pretty sure I will do the Nauyaca Falls ride again in June, not sure if I can top my last time there but can try! I think Bosque has spoiled many of us :) I may try the zipline at Baru when I go to hike there, was it a decent amount of lines and reasonable price? Thanks for posting your report! The rental house looks lovely.

Thank you for reporting back!

Hi tully, we didn't do Baru's zip - we did Osa Mountain Adventures. http://osamountainadventures.com/adv...-canopy-tours/
I've heard Baru's is educational, but pretty tame, and we wanted a bit more excitement. We were really pleased with OMA. There was a suspended plank bridge to cross (scary) and we were lowered down the trees twice (I went upside down, once), 10 (I think) lines, and a tarzan swing - $55. It's a bit of a drive to get there from Dominical.

Sounds like a wonderful time; thanks for posting.

Sounds like a great trip to an area that I have never visited on previous trips. Guess I should add another spot to my bucket list!

It sounds like you had the perfect spring break with great weather and lack of crowds at all the beaches you visited.

I know what you mean about missing it - I've been home for 27 days and counting down until the GTG in late June!

Thanks for sharing details on a wonderful trip.

Colibri - the area is worth a visit. I think if you spent some very early mornings at Hacienda Baru, you would have some nice wildlife spottings.

I never expected to spend as much time at the beach, but our girls are water lovers, and we all ended up having fun in the waves.

JN- I have read some really good reviews on Hacienda Baru, so will definitely keep it in mind. I'm always planning the next CR trip!

hey janenicole - met you a few years ago at BDC ;) We love the laid back vibe of Dominical - your description of the beaches is spot on...we've been to all the beaches there and that hike out to the whales tail was SO HOT!!! We always do lunch at La Parcela - they have the best insalada mixta - my mouth is watering just thinking about it. Did you do the ceviche stand south of Dominical....the name escapes me - really popular local spot?
Love the trip report - thanks for the info on Don Lulu's Nauyaca falls - we have stayed in that area 3 times and have yet to do it - definitely on the list now!
steph

Hi, janienicole! What an awesome trip report. I was in Dominicalito with my daughter and grandson just a couple of weeks later. Would love to have met you! I think we've e-mailed off-Fodors a time or two.

STILL haven't done the horseback there, although I've been reading wonderful reports like yours for 10 years now. I'm glad to know your 9 year old was able to do it. . .I'd love to take our granddaughters when they are a little older (4 and 8 now).

Are you still considering retirement in CR? I notice your husband is still working there. How is that going? Let me know what's on your mind these days with regard to property in CR. We are really enjoying our place. Will be there for 2 months June-August.

Nice to catch you on Fodors. I don't get over here very often anymore. Thanks again for such a great report!

Hi Steph and Shillmac! Fun to "talk" to you both!

Steph, I wish we would have hit La Percela for lunch so we could have seen the view. Didn't hit the ceviche stand, but will look for it next time. I was the one in the family that felt the least comfortable on a horse, and I wouldn't hesitate to do Don Lulu's again. I had the best cup of coffee ever on the tour, too - another positive about it!

Shillmac, I miss "seeing" you regularly on the forum. So, your house is done? How exciting! My husband loves traveling down to CR for work. I think when retirement day comes, we will scope out some different areas by renting, first. And we want to check out Belize and Panama. Too bad the timing doesn't work out for us to join the GTG at Bosque this summer. It would have been so fun to meet you and everyone else. Maybe the next one!

Even though the weather here is finally warming up, I still wish I was back in Costa Rica!

I really enjoyed to hear about your great trip. Thanks for sharing your experience with us.