We're spending our last night at Vista del Valle after spending 4 nights in MA at Tulemar. What time would you recommend that we arrive at Vista del Valle for our last night in CR?
Also, I'm trying to decide between just relaxing at VDV until our 3:50 pm flight or setting out early to Poas and Doka before going to the airport.
Any thoughts? We're a family of 4 with 2 teenage boys.

Thanks!

Dear Nina:

I would do something, but that's me: the marathon siteseer.

Go for the Poas/Doka deal. We got up late on our last day so we opted for the Ave Zoo. It only took about an hour to go thru.

Good luck and have fun.

MY

I'd go to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens or if you just want to relax at VdV, they have a nice pool and hot tub; we were the only ones using it when we stayed there. They also have a nice open-air restaurant where you can have dinner - not very many options, but the food was pretty good. There are horses on the property; you might check into going horseback riding or you could hike to the waterfall.

Another opinion, nina! Well, you asked! How about a bit of both? I'd not rush through the breakfast at VdV (which you might need to do to get to Poas early enough, 8:30 or so). How about spending a little time at the hotel, then visiting the Doka Estate (you could spend about 1.5 here with the tour and gift shop).

I like that Shillmac! I don't know if the boys will want to do the whole tour, I was thinking of just visiting Doka, walking around and buying some coffee in the gift shop.

Do you think it's worth going to Doka if we don't do the tour?

Oh sure, the property is lovely. We've been 3 times and only taken the tour once. The other times, we hung around while guests of ours toured. It's a relaxing place to hang for awhile and you can wonder around to your heart's content. Good photo ops. . .The tour is very interesting, though.

The gift shop will ship coffee for you, I think. You can't buy their coffee at the airport or in stores, although you can order it online. It's definitely more expensive than other coffees and I'm not sure that much better.

Thanks Shill, that's what we'll do, relax in the am then stop at Doka on our way to the airport!

Less than 2 weeks, can't wait!!!!

Just got back yesterday, and surprise! There's a new store at the airport that actually isn't owned by Britt. They have Doka coffee, and some other new brands (Naranjo is one.) Lots of changes with the airport expansion finally getting underway.

Marcia, How long before departure do you recommend arriving at the Airport?

I refuse to get there 3 hours ahead of time!

It really varies depending on when your plane is leaving. I can only speak for our flight, which always leaves at 9:30 - 10:30 am, and the airport is almost empty and everything goes really smoothly. But a few years ago we left later in the day and it was a zoo. I would think you'd be safe with 2 hours. The good thing is there are a lot of shops to go through after you get through customs.

You might ask your front desk staff what they would advise. We usually get told to arrive 2 hrs before our flight. From our experience, that's been way early but who can predict.

When we flew out of LIR in November, we got there several hours before they opened. Everyone just kept forming lines hoping workers would soon arrive. Once the sun started to rise and the local buses started running, here they came. We got up in the middle of the night and scrambled out of our resort thinking we barely had enough time.