My husband and I were recently married and are planning our honeymoon to Costa Rica December 13-24. With all the wedding details, I am just getting around to planning the hotels and activities for the trip. Thank you to all of you for your helpful posts as I think I now have a skeleton of an itinerary and would love some input. We want a mixture of beach/nature/hiking and rainforest.

Arrive December 13th at 9:30 PM into Liberia (that's the airport we could get the frequent flier seats)
Stay overnight at Best Western Hotel El Sitio near the aiport

Depart December 14th to Punta Islita
(I think we will need to hire a driver - any ideas?) Also, any recommendations on places to stop along the way?

Stay in Punta Islita until December 17th
Leave for Mal Pais for 2 nights at the Casa Chameleon (checking availability)
-Does anyone know how long it will take to get from Punta Islita to Casa Chameleon? I am assuming that we will hire a transfer.

December 19th - fly Nature Air from Tambor to San Jose to transfer to flight to Puerto Jimenez to go to Bosque Del Cabo for 3-4 nights

December 23rd - depart BdC for San Jose and spend last night at Xandari before leaving on the 24th from San Jose

Thoughts? Thanks for your help.

Have you made any of your hotel reservations? That close to Christmas you might not get what you want. Very popular time to travel, and most hotels in Costa Rica are small.

We already booked the BW, Punta Islita and Bosque del Cabo. Does the itinerary sound good though?

Sounds great! You'll have a wonderful time -- very nice choices.

Sandy

you could stop off on the way to Punta Islita at Playa Samara or my favorite Playa Carrillo:

http://costa-rica.typepad.com/playa_...ome/index.html

http://costa-rica.typepad.com/playa_...ome/index.html

Hi there. My fiance and I just returned from our honeymoon in Costa Rica and stayed a few nights at Punta Islita and then Casa Chameleon. We had our own car the entire trip so I don't know much about hiring drivers, although they have these tourismo van type things all over. We went to Punta Islita from Tamarindo and it took between 4 and 5 hours by car. You have to cross a 100 foot wide river with no bridge that is 2 feet deep the last hour of the trip but it is definetely part of the adventure!! Playa Samara is a good spot to stop on the way.

Mal Pais and Casa Chameleon are really great. It is a five hour drive between the two because you cannot drive directly along the coast. You basically have to drive a huge loop which is why it takes so long. I'm not sure how easily you will find a driver between the two because there is no town in Punta Islita. Bobbie and Anthony at Casa Chameleon are great! Beware though that Mal Pais currently has no banks and it is near impossible to find cash in the area. Plan on bringing plenty with you or travelers checks because many place either don't accept credit cards or their credit card machines aren't working. It is definetely a huge adventure which is part of what makes it so much fun. We did it all and totally loved it. If you can't get into Casa Chameleon try Milarepa or Flor Blanca. Milarepa looked really nice and I've heard that Flor Blance is extremely overpriced but nice.

Hope that helps.

Dave