My fiancee and I are planning a honeymoon in Costa Rica for October. She has never been to CR and I haven't been in 15 years. We are planning on flying into San Jose on a Monday and then spend 2 nights at the Tabacon Lodge. From there we want to go to either the Four Seasons or the Paradisus Playa Conchal for 4 nights. We would then depart from Liberia.

Does anyone have recommendations in choosing between the Four Seasons and Paradisus? It seems we would get more for our money at the Paradisus, but we are not familiar with the hotel, compared to knowing the Four Seasons hotels' reputation.

Can anyone suggest a good travel agent for helping us plan our trip? I really don't want to have to deal with setting up transfers, and booking hotels. I think a good travel agent will be useful in making sure our trip goes well.

Anyone know how bad the rainy season is in early October? Is it enought to think about going somewhere else? We've already ruled out the Caribbean because of hurricane season.

Any and all suggestions or recommendations are appreciated. I can be reached at [email protected]

Thanks,

Mark

Don't know much about the Four Seasons but I can state the the Paradisus is absolutely amazing!! I have a trip report posted here around May 2003. Check it out and if you have any questions, let me know.
Lisa S

Paradisus is located on a beautiful beach while I don't believe FS is on a nice beach (I may be wrong about the beach - do a search on this site, there were some recent reports about it). I don't know what types of hotels you prefer but FS is a smaller and newer property, Paradisus is a big resort.

You really do not need a travel agent for your trip but if you prefer to use one, Costa Rica Expeditions is a highly regarded outfit. We also used Costa Rica Connection (www.crconnect.com) back in 2000 during our first trip there. They did a very good job for us.

Thank you for the responses. Lisa, I read your other post and the Paradisus sounds great. I think for the price, and the resort being an all-inclusive, my fiance' and I would be better off at the Paradisus than the Four Seasons. I'm sure the Four Seasons is very nice, but I think the different offerings of the Paradisus sounds better. Thanks for your help.

Thanks,

Mark

Mark - We too going on our honeymoon in October and we thinking Costa Rica or Belize or DR. Are you not worried about the weather in October? I hear some say there are chances of rain and others talk about hurricanes!

No hurricanes in Costa Rica during that time but there are in the other two places. If you are interested in the Caribbean side, that is their drier time and they have a big festival.