Guanacaste in October
 

Hello there! My family of 5 will be traveling to Costa Rica this October. Hubby and I last went to CR about 12 years ago, when we flew into San Jose, stayed in Jaco, visited San Manuel Antonio, and then Arenal. This time we are bringing our three young children, ages 7, 5, and 4.

We are coming in with friends and staying at Dreams Las Mareas for 3 days. This style of travel (all inclusive resort) is not my ideal, but it is a compromise in order to be with friends, who are staying the entire week. We would like to branch off and visit other places, stay in smaller hotels/B&Bs, eat local food, etc. Our Spanish is decent if one speaks slowly, :) We will have about 9 days in the area.

Any recommendations? I would love to be super adventurous and venture over to Nicaragua, but somehow I think that might be more difficult than it's worth.

Thank you!

I was hoping someone had suggestions for you as I'm also planning a trip with young children. We're probably going to stick to Arenal and Guanacaste, but looking for recommendations on what to do. Good luck with your planning!

We've been to the Arenal area several times, so I can help with that. Tons to do there, but with young kids, be sure to visit Proyecto Asis animal rescue center where you can help feed the animals. There's a beautiful waterfall hike you can do. Nice hiking at the Hanging Bridges. Also like the Penas Blancas safari bloat and the Cano Negro tour to see wildlife, not sure what ages your children are. There are tons of adventure activities as well if you have a sitter for the day - ziplining, white water rafting, tubing, etc. Desafio is a good local tour company if you want to explore their website. The natural hot springs like Tabacon are gorgeous. You might think about spending a night at the Toucan Rescue Ranch if you fly out of SJO. We like Manuel Antonio for beach time because it's lush and green and has tons of wildlife, so we haven't traveled to Guanacaste.