Just back from 11 great days in CR!
Jul 15th, 2008 | 01:39 PM
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Just back from 11 great days in CR!
Since I mined so many nuggets of info from this site, I felt obligated to share what I learned on our just completed trip to Costa Rica. It was great – we went for 11 days, 10 nights and I will ‘briefly’ outline what we learned & did.
Overall
There were 4 of us – Mom, dad & 2 boys, 12 & 13. So in Costa Rican ‘speak’ – we were 4 adults - any kid over 7 or 8 is usually an ‘adult’. Our goal was to have a fairly active vacation - see volcanoes, nature & the real Costa Rica – we had no interest in the big cities on this trip .. maybe our next. We started out fairly fast, then slowed at the end & chilled.
We had read about the crime problems, the bug problems, the road problems – and almost psyched ourselves out! I am happy to report, that in our case – none of the problems were as bad as reported.
Crime
Our ‘biggest’ city we went to was Liberia (pronounced Lie- Berry-e-ah). We are not American –bling people. We do not flash gold chains, diamonds, etc. We had no problems of any sort. We never felt worried or concerned, but we were aware.
Bugs
We bought tons of spray in preparation of the attack of the insects... but it didn’t come! We have more mosquitoes in Houston than we saw in CR! I think we sprayed twice during the entire trip!
Roads
We rented a Hyundai Tucson SUV 4 wheel drive – drove about 1100 kilometers (under 700 miles) and never had a problem with the car. Used the 4-wheel drive once, then immediately back to 2-wheel drive. 10%-15% of the roads we were on were 2-lane paved roads. 85%- 90% of the roads were 1.5 - 2 lanes, unpaved, usually rocky roads. Yes, they were bumpy, but they were not as unbelievable bad as I had thought they would be. Most times you could go 40 kph (25 mph) – although sometimes, 5 or 6 mph was as good as it got. I enjoyed driving the bumps and holes .. I probably would not have made a very good passenger, but driving was fun!
Also, of note – I have never seen dirt roads that did not get muddy after hours of hard rain... but CR has them! Only about 1% or 2% of the roads ever had any muddy sections – although it rained almost every day – sometimes hard, most times litely. It was amazing .. I suppose most of the dirt has washed out between the rocks and the stuff that’s left, is so hard packed, it repels the water.
Also be aware that none of the roads have a ‘shoulder’; no roads have sidewalks next to them. All Tico’s walk in the road, bike in the road, walk their goats in the road. They walk with the traffic, facing the traffic – are very trusting that drivers do not run them over. Matter of fact, in 11 days we never saw an accident or injury, no one lost their temper, no honking .. but we did avoid big cities, where I understand that honking is required!
Money
We took about $500 in cash & a debit card. You can always pay in dollars or colones. There are ATM’s in almost every small town, and we always got colones then. The conversion rate is about 500 colones to $1 US. An easy way to quickly convert colones to US $$ is multiply the CR money thousands by 2 and that equals the US dollar – for example, 8,000 colones is $16; 2,500 colonies is $5, etc. The official rate is about 520 colones to $1, but most places we went just rounded it out to around 500. The ATM’s give you the exchange rate of 520 to $1. (PS- the limit at most of the ATM’s is 100,000 colones or $200. Sometimes you can do multiple 100,000 transactions at the same time; sometimes not) Almost all stores have prices in both US $ and colones and you can pick the best currency to get the best deal. Some of the smaller hotels will not charge you the 12-14% sales tax if you pay in colones, rather than charge it .. so you can save some $$ there. We always asked when it was time to pay.
Rental Car
I picked Advantage Rent a Car, mainly because I wanted a national rental company in case of problems. It was handled by Economy Rent a Car – which is the largest CR rental company. In retrospect, I would have no problem dealing with Economy now - they were professional, friendly & good. I reserved the car about 2 weeks ahead – for 10 days it was about $440. The night before we left, I checked rates again and naturally, the rates were cheaper – now about $398. I made a copy of the new rates & took it with me. When we got to the rental car place – I asked for the lower fare ... they said no, but I asked for them to waive the 2nd driver fee ($5 per day = $50 for my trip) and they said OK to that... so it saved some $$$!
Another reason I picked Advantage was their insurance rates seemed lower than most others. The insurance can cost more than the car! Some of the insurance is mandatory. My total after the trip was done (not counting gas) was $740 .. so almost double!
One of my best recommendations is to rent a GPS. Ours was $5/day or $50 for the trip. As I know you have read – address are non-existent; there are few street names. We probably could have done it without the GPS, but the stress level would have been about 7 levels higher .. and we were on vacation!!! There were times when we didn’t believe the GPS, that this could NOT be the way, but 2 or 3 more turns .. and there was our destination! You can have it speak in any language & will locate restaurants, ATM’s, gas stations, etc....WELL WORTH $50!!! The guys at Economy even set up 2 or 3 of our future destinations for us... Getting the GPS was one of the best decisions of our trip!
Gas
Gas was about $1.25-$1.50 a liter or about $5 or $6 a gallon ... almost the same as in the states at $4 per gallon. Gas stations are fairly easy to find (especially with a GPS) – but I always filled up when I was about ½ tank empty.
The Trip
In general, we arrived at the San Jose airport, went to see the volcanoes, to Monteverde, to Rincon, to the beach and left out of Liberia. It cost us an extra $50 for the one-way rental car, but it was a great plan (my wife’s plan!) and well worth it.
Day 1- Tuesday
Arrived at San Jose airport (which is 23 kms away from San Jose); we got our rental SUV and took off to the Poas Volcano Lodge. We arrived at the airport around noon and were at the hotel around 4 pm. We had 2 adjoining rooms because the rooms can’t accommodate 4 people (3 is the max). This is an operating dairy farm and we all loved it when we turned in the drive and there was a herd of cows on the road who just had their afternoon feeding/milking .. and they weren’t moo-ving off the road!! After a few minutes of waiting, almost nudging with the car and many strange looks from the cows .. we finally inched by them. The kids were hysterically laughing and it was the perfect start to the trip!
Someone had written that the Lodge had a dinner but it was $18 and you could get a cheaper meal down the road. We decided to eat at the Lodge anyway. They have a large fireplace with seating around it and I think everyone who was staying at the Lodge decided to eat there. It was the right thing to do! The food was excellent, but even better, for about an hour or so, we sat around the fireplace, drank wine and talked to fellow travelers. There was a newly wed couple from Belgium, a single mom with infant, another mom with 2 kids, a couple other families and we traded suggestions and itineraries and generally had a great time. The best thing was that for the next 8 or 9 days, we kept running across the same folks at different locations everywhere!
Day 2 – Wed - Poas Volcano
We went up to Poas Volcano early in the morning (around 9) since we read that later in the day it gets too cloudy. We got to the top & it was cloudy! We were disappointed and turned around. We stopped at some souvenir stands and after a bit decided to go back up to the top to see what the weather was like. It was still cloudy but looked like it was trying to clear. We decided to go in (cost $10-$15? Per person). We got lucky – by the time we finished the short walk – it had cleared up!! (Folks suggest not to have stuff in the car there – although there is a guard)
Went back to the hotel, checked out and drove La Paz Waterfall garden – (folks said it was OK to have luggage in the car there). Very impressive place – be sure to check out the butterfly area. My kids liked the monkeys the best!
Checked in at Arenal Observatory Lodge. On the road to the Lodge, saw a bunch of cars pulled over taking pictures ... there was family or 2 of Howler monkeys doing their thing! Had a Smithsonian room – very nice, great view of volcano. Unfortunately it was cloudy. Ate there. Food OK
Day 3 – Thur -Arenal
Took advantage of 8:30 am free guided tour of the grounds. Very entertaining guide – saw more monkeys, he spoke ‘monkey talk’ and the monkey’s swung near us! While in the woods, heard a fairly loud eruption, followed by sounds of boulders falling downhill .. but never saw it!
Unfortunately, Lodge did not have room for us for night #2 – so we checked out of the Observatory Lodge and into Volcano Lodge.
The 1st room we checked into at Volcano Lodge had a ‘fishy/moldy’ smell to it. The office tried to fix it by spraying deodorizer in the air .. but then it smelled like deodorized fishy/moldy smell. We moved to another room, which still had the smell, but not as bad. This is a large property and was probably our least favorite of all our hotels.
Made plans to go to Eco-Termales, supposedly the best hot springs in the area. Limited to no more than 100 people at a time (unlike Tabacon who gets bus loads of people) – found the place (thank you GPS!) – it is a totally unmarked brown gate with no address or name.... only a small arrow at an intercom to press. They had no room for us that day, so we made reservation for next day morning).
At night, unfortunately, my wife got sick. Cleared up about 24 hours later, but we cancelled the hot springs... we will do it on the next trip.
Day 4 – Fri - Drive to Monteverde
We had breakfast & started to Monteverde. It was about a 3 – 4 hour drive .. the closer you get to Monteverde, the rougher the road got .. but we got there with no problems. Went to Hotel Belmar for 2 nights, which was very nice.
Day 5 – Sat - Monteverde
Did a morning tour of the Monteverde Cheese Factory – was fun & informative. That night we did a night tour of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve – another fun thing and a different prospective of the Cloud Forest when the insects & animals are out being active.
During the afternoon, we did the canopy tour. We did the Selvatura's Canopy Tour – 15 cables, 18 platforms, a tarzan swing (optional) and an amazing view & experience. One cool thing is that we never went over a road on the zip line – only forest. I took some duct tape along & taped my video camera onto my helmet. It worked great! Now we can relive our screaming fun all the time! We had our hotel book this for us & the company picked us up & brought us back after .. and we are glad we did it that way ... I don’t think our GPS could have gotten us to them! Another good decision.
Day 6 – Sunday - Heading to Rincon de la Vieja National Park
Some departing folks told us about a great hike & water fall they went to .. they said it was the highlight of their trip. So we said “let’s do it”. It was the San Luis waterfalls. None of the guidebooks really talked about it .. but it was GREAT! You drive SE of Monteverde toward San Luis – follow the road until you see the signs for the waterfall. The road eventually dead ends on private property; they have a sign in English for parking. You pay the owners 2000 colones per person ($4), sign a release and start walking. It is a medium hard hike – about 30 – 45 minutes and it dead ends at the falls. About a 50’ waterfall with a great swimming area at the base. It was a great time! I understand that the owners will make you food / sandwiches; they have cold drinks (water, cokes, etc) to buy also. You could spend a leisurely 2, 3 or 4 hours or a whole day. It was definitely worth it!
We drove back to the hotel & checked out by noon and started to Rincon de la Vieja National Park for one last volcano fix. We stayed at Buena Vista Lodge, which is at the edge of the park. Drive was about 3 hours and our GPS lead us right to it! We didn’t ‘love’ the place but it was fine for 1 night. It was raining so we ate there and retreated to our room for a night of cards & games...(we were tired from the hike!)
Day 7 – Mon – to the Park & the Beach
Packed up & went to the Rincon Park. Bad news! Closed on Monday – none of our books had that info! One of the hotels had their Spa that offered volcanic mud baths & thermal waters .. we pulled in & did it. $25 per person. We did a sauna first, then painted on mud, baked in the sun until crusty, showered, then hot springs..it was fun! Kids had big fun!!
Then we headed to Hotel Sugar Beach on Playa Azucar. We really liked the hotel & the location. It has a nice beach & tons of iguanas. It’s fairly secluded from other hotels, but that was fine with us. It had a good restaurant and the people were very friendly. We used this hotel as our ‘home-base’ and did excursions from here.
Days 8 – 11 – Tuesday – Friday
We went to Tamarindo and took surfing lessons from a guy from Argentina who looked exactly like Steven Seagal (in his younger days); ate lunch at a great hole-in-the wall restaurant called “Mama’s Café”. We had 4 different meals & each one was the best of the trip. Checked out Flamingo Beach (it was ‘OK’); Playa Conchal (nice). At Hotel Sugar Beach, we also did an outrigger canoe trip. 6 folks and 2 captains take the gang to an adjoining beach, where everyone embarks on a snorkel trip for about an hour. (They provide snorkels) After the snorkeling, a snack of fruit and a brief explanation of the floral & fauna and millions of hermit crabs. Then a paddle back to the hotel. Takes about 2.5 hours. Another good excursion!
Last day, pack up, head to rental car return. Rental car place shuttles us to the Liberia airport. This airport looks like it is from the 60’s, maybe 50’s (atho it was built in 1995)! The San Jose airport is a state-of-the-art airport comparable to any big city airport. Liberia is a metal building, with fans and walk-on-the-tarmac to the plane kinda place. It was fun tho. There is a $26 per person exit fee per person to leave Costa Rica. They only take cash or Visa card. After going through security, there is a souvenir shop and there was a guy grilling shish-ka-bobs on a bar-b-que grill in the terminal and for $3 it was a bargain & very tasty!!
Overall, the trip was terrific. We felt we got a good sampling of the places we went. Next time the Caribbean coast, South-Central, Golfo Dulce, the Osa Peninsula.... can’t wait!!
Overall
There were 4 of us – Mom, dad & 2 boys, 12 & 13. So in Costa Rican ‘speak’ – we were 4 adults - any kid over 7 or 8 is usually an ‘adult’. Our goal was to have a fairly active vacation - see volcanoes, nature & the real Costa Rica – we had no interest in the big cities on this trip .. maybe our next. We started out fairly fast, then slowed at the end & chilled.
We had read about the crime problems, the bug problems, the road problems – and almost psyched ourselves out! I am happy to report, that in our case – none of the problems were as bad as reported.
Crime
Our ‘biggest’ city we went to was Liberia (pronounced Lie- Berry-e-ah). We are not American –bling people. We do not flash gold chains, diamonds, etc. We had no problems of any sort. We never felt worried or concerned, but we were aware.
Bugs
We bought tons of spray in preparation of the attack of the insects... but it didn’t come! We have more mosquitoes in Houston than we saw in CR! I think we sprayed twice during the entire trip!
Roads
We rented a Hyundai Tucson SUV 4 wheel drive – drove about 1100 kilometers (under 700 miles) and never had a problem with the car. Used the 4-wheel drive once, then immediately back to 2-wheel drive. 10%-15% of the roads we were on were 2-lane paved roads. 85%- 90% of the roads were 1.5 - 2 lanes, unpaved, usually rocky roads. Yes, they were bumpy, but they were not as unbelievable bad as I had thought they would be. Most times you could go 40 kph (25 mph) – although sometimes, 5 or 6 mph was as good as it got. I enjoyed driving the bumps and holes .. I probably would not have made a very good passenger, but driving was fun!
Also, of note – I have never seen dirt roads that did not get muddy after hours of hard rain... but CR has them! Only about 1% or 2% of the roads ever had any muddy sections – although it rained almost every day – sometimes hard, most times litely. It was amazing .. I suppose most of the dirt has washed out between the rocks and the stuff that’s left, is so hard packed, it repels the water.
Also be aware that none of the roads have a ‘shoulder’; no roads have sidewalks next to them. All Tico’s walk in the road, bike in the road, walk their goats in the road. They walk with the traffic, facing the traffic – are very trusting that drivers do not run them over. Matter of fact, in 11 days we never saw an accident or injury, no one lost their temper, no honking .. but we did avoid big cities, where I understand that honking is required!
Money
We took about $500 in cash & a debit card. You can always pay in dollars or colones. There are ATM’s in almost every small town, and we always got colones then. The conversion rate is about 500 colones to $1 US. An easy way to quickly convert colones to US $$ is multiply the CR money thousands by 2 and that equals the US dollar – for example, 8,000 colones is $16; 2,500 colonies is $5, etc. The official rate is about 520 colones to $1, but most places we went just rounded it out to around 500. The ATM’s give you the exchange rate of 520 to $1. (PS- the limit at most of the ATM’s is 100,000 colones or $200. Sometimes you can do multiple 100,000 transactions at the same time; sometimes not) Almost all stores have prices in both US $ and colones and you can pick the best currency to get the best deal. Some of the smaller hotels will not charge you the 12-14% sales tax if you pay in colones, rather than charge it .. so you can save some $$ there. We always asked when it was time to pay.
Rental Car
I picked Advantage Rent a Car, mainly because I wanted a national rental company in case of problems. It was handled by Economy Rent a Car – which is the largest CR rental company. In retrospect, I would have no problem dealing with Economy now - they were professional, friendly & good. I reserved the car about 2 weeks ahead – for 10 days it was about $440. The night before we left, I checked rates again and naturally, the rates were cheaper – now about $398. I made a copy of the new rates & took it with me. When we got to the rental car place – I asked for the lower fare ... they said no, but I asked for them to waive the 2nd driver fee ($5 per day = $50 for my trip) and they said OK to that... so it saved some $$$!
Another reason I picked Advantage was their insurance rates seemed lower than most others. The insurance can cost more than the car! Some of the insurance is mandatory. My total after the trip was done (not counting gas) was $740 .. so almost double!
One of my best recommendations is to rent a GPS. Ours was $5/day or $50 for the trip. As I know you have read – address are non-existent; there are few street names. We probably could have done it without the GPS, but the stress level would have been about 7 levels higher .. and we were on vacation!!! There were times when we didn’t believe the GPS, that this could NOT be the way, but 2 or 3 more turns .. and there was our destination! You can have it speak in any language & will locate restaurants, ATM’s, gas stations, etc....WELL WORTH $50!!! The guys at Economy even set up 2 or 3 of our future destinations for us... Getting the GPS was one of the best decisions of our trip!
Gas
Gas was about $1.25-$1.50 a liter or about $5 or $6 a gallon ... almost the same as in the states at $4 per gallon. Gas stations are fairly easy to find (especially with a GPS) – but I always filled up when I was about ½ tank empty.
The Trip
In general, we arrived at the San Jose airport, went to see the volcanoes, to Monteverde, to Rincon, to the beach and left out of Liberia. It cost us an extra $50 for the one-way rental car, but it was a great plan (my wife’s plan!) and well worth it.
Day 1- Tuesday
Arrived at San Jose airport (which is 23 kms away from San Jose); we got our rental SUV and took off to the Poas Volcano Lodge. We arrived at the airport around noon and were at the hotel around 4 pm. We had 2 adjoining rooms because the rooms can’t accommodate 4 people (3 is the max). This is an operating dairy farm and we all loved it when we turned in the drive and there was a herd of cows on the road who just had their afternoon feeding/milking .. and they weren’t moo-ving off the road!! After a few minutes of waiting, almost nudging with the car and many strange looks from the cows .. we finally inched by them. The kids were hysterically laughing and it was the perfect start to the trip!
Someone had written that the Lodge had a dinner but it was $18 and you could get a cheaper meal down the road. We decided to eat at the Lodge anyway. They have a large fireplace with seating around it and I think everyone who was staying at the Lodge decided to eat there. It was the right thing to do! The food was excellent, but even better, for about an hour or so, we sat around the fireplace, drank wine and talked to fellow travelers. There was a newly wed couple from Belgium, a single mom with infant, another mom with 2 kids, a couple other families and we traded suggestions and itineraries and generally had a great time. The best thing was that for the next 8 or 9 days, we kept running across the same folks at different locations everywhere!
Day 2 – Wed - Poas Volcano
We went up to Poas Volcano early in the morning (around 9) since we read that later in the day it gets too cloudy. We got to the top & it was cloudy! We were disappointed and turned around. We stopped at some souvenir stands and after a bit decided to go back up to the top to see what the weather was like. It was still cloudy but looked like it was trying to clear. We decided to go in (cost $10-$15? Per person). We got lucky – by the time we finished the short walk – it had cleared up!! (Folks suggest not to have stuff in the car there – although there is a guard)
Went back to the hotel, checked out and drove La Paz Waterfall garden – (folks said it was OK to have luggage in the car there). Very impressive place – be sure to check out the butterfly area. My kids liked the monkeys the best!
Checked in at Arenal Observatory Lodge. On the road to the Lodge, saw a bunch of cars pulled over taking pictures ... there was family or 2 of Howler monkeys doing their thing! Had a Smithsonian room – very nice, great view of volcano. Unfortunately it was cloudy. Ate there. Food OK
Day 3 – Thur -Arenal
Took advantage of 8:30 am free guided tour of the grounds. Very entertaining guide – saw more monkeys, he spoke ‘monkey talk’ and the monkey’s swung near us! While in the woods, heard a fairly loud eruption, followed by sounds of boulders falling downhill .. but never saw it!
Unfortunately, Lodge did not have room for us for night #2 – so we checked out of the Observatory Lodge and into Volcano Lodge.
The 1st room we checked into at Volcano Lodge had a ‘fishy/moldy’ smell to it. The office tried to fix it by spraying deodorizer in the air .. but then it smelled like deodorized fishy/moldy smell. We moved to another room, which still had the smell, but not as bad. This is a large property and was probably our least favorite of all our hotels.
Made plans to go to Eco-Termales, supposedly the best hot springs in the area. Limited to no more than 100 people at a time (unlike Tabacon who gets bus loads of people) – found the place (thank you GPS!) – it is a totally unmarked brown gate with no address or name.... only a small arrow at an intercom to press. They had no room for us that day, so we made reservation for next day morning).
At night, unfortunately, my wife got sick. Cleared up about 24 hours later, but we cancelled the hot springs... we will do it on the next trip.
Day 4 – Fri - Drive to Monteverde
We had breakfast & started to Monteverde. It was about a 3 – 4 hour drive .. the closer you get to Monteverde, the rougher the road got .. but we got there with no problems. Went to Hotel Belmar for 2 nights, which was very nice.
Day 5 – Sat - Monteverde
Did a morning tour of the Monteverde Cheese Factory – was fun & informative. That night we did a night tour of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve – another fun thing and a different prospective of the Cloud Forest when the insects & animals are out being active.
During the afternoon, we did the canopy tour. We did the Selvatura's Canopy Tour – 15 cables, 18 platforms, a tarzan swing (optional) and an amazing view & experience. One cool thing is that we never went over a road on the zip line – only forest. I took some duct tape along & taped my video camera onto my helmet. It worked great! Now we can relive our screaming fun all the time! We had our hotel book this for us & the company picked us up & brought us back after .. and we are glad we did it that way ... I don’t think our GPS could have gotten us to them! Another good decision.
Day 6 – Sunday - Heading to Rincon de la Vieja National Park
Some departing folks told us about a great hike & water fall they went to .. they said it was the highlight of their trip. So we said “let’s do it”. It was the San Luis waterfalls. None of the guidebooks really talked about it .. but it was GREAT! You drive SE of Monteverde toward San Luis – follow the road until you see the signs for the waterfall. The road eventually dead ends on private property; they have a sign in English for parking. You pay the owners 2000 colones per person ($4), sign a release and start walking. It is a medium hard hike – about 30 – 45 minutes and it dead ends at the falls. About a 50’ waterfall with a great swimming area at the base. It was a great time! I understand that the owners will make you food / sandwiches; they have cold drinks (water, cokes, etc) to buy also. You could spend a leisurely 2, 3 or 4 hours or a whole day. It was definitely worth it!
We drove back to the hotel & checked out by noon and started to Rincon de la Vieja National Park for one last volcano fix. We stayed at Buena Vista Lodge, which is at the edge of the park. Drive was about 3 hours and our GPS lead us right to it! We didn’t ‘love’ the place but it was fine for 1 night. It was raining so we ate there and retreated to our room for a night of cards & games...(we were tired from the hike!)
Day 7 – Mon – to the Park & the Beach
Packed up & went to the Rincon Park. Bad news! Closed on Monday – none of our books had that info! One of the hotels had their Spa that offered volcanic mud baths & thermal waters .. we pulled in & did it. $25 per person. We did a sauna first, then painted on mud, baked in the sun until crusty, showered, then hot springs..it was fun! Kids had big fun!!
Then we headed to Hotel Sugar Beach on Playa Azucar. We really liked the hotel & the location. It has a nice beach & tons of iguanas. It’s fairly secluded from other hotels, but that was fine with us. It had a good restaurant and the people were very friendly. We used this hotel as our ‘home-base’ and did excursions from here.
Days 8 – 11 – Tuesday – Friday
We went to Tamarindo and took surfing lessons from a guy from Argentina who looked exactly like Steven Seagal (in his younger days); ate lunch at a great hole-in-the wall restaurant called “Mama’s Café”. We had 4 different meals & each one was the best of the trip. Checked out Flamingo Beach (it was ‘OK’); Playa Conchal (nice). At Hotel Sugar Beach, we also did an outrigger canoe trip. 6 folks and 2 captains take the gang to an adjoining beach, where everyone embarks on a snorkel trip for about an hour. (They provide snorkels) After the snorkeling, a snack of fruit and a brief explanation of the floral & fauna and millions of hermit crabs. Then a paddle back to the hotel. Takes about 2.5 hours. Another good excursion!
Last day, pack up, head to rental car return. Rental car place shuttles us to the Liberia airport. This airport looks like it is from the 60’s, maybe 50’s (atho it was built in 1995)! The San Jose airport is a state-of-the-art airport comparable to any big city airport. Liberia is a metal building, with fans and walk-on-the-tarmac to the plane kinda place. It was fun tho. There is a $26 per person exit fee per person to leave Costa Rica. They only take cash or Visa card. After going through security, there is a souvenir shop and there was a guy grilling shish-ka-bobs on a bar-b-que grill in the terminal and for $3 it was a bargain & very tasty!!
Overall, the trip was terrific. We felt we got a good sampling of the places we went. Next time the Caribbean coast, South-Central, Golfo Dulce, the Osa Peninsula.... can’t wait!!
Jul 15th, 2008 | 03:51 PM
#5
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
Good report. Thanks for the helpful details about the mechanics of driving and money and such, about which I have begun to obsess in advance of my trip next week (woo-ho!). Sounds like you had fun. I was looking forward to your report on Rincon de la Viejo because I sooo wanted to get there on my first trip to hike in the park, but it was too far away. The Monday off thing really bites, tho, and it hit me too. I will be in San Jose on a Mon, and was hoping to visit a museum or two. But they're closed, so I'll just have to wing it.
Jul 15th, 2008 | 08:09 PM
#6
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 80
Likes: 0
Thanks so much for the report JT. If I am not mistaken Liberia is pronounced Lee-behr-EE-ah,in Spanish. Sorry, can't help myself...I'm a Spanish teacher. I have heard people pronounce it like the country...Lie-BEER-ee-ah. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong! (and I know you will)
I'm going to CR in a few weeks0(my fourth trip!) and am renting a car just for a two day trip to Poas and Poas Volcano Lodge. I have heard the food is expensive there and that's one of the reasons I thought to rent a car for just a few days, so I could find food elsewhere and not be stuck there or paying someone to take me to another dining establishment. $18 doesn't sound that bad though. Sounds like you had some good company. Any tips on driving and if you had to pick up your car at the airport? Which rental agency did you rent the car from?
Thanks for any info!
belle
I'm going to CR in a few weeks0(my fourth trip!) and am renting a car just for a two day trip to Poas and Poas Volcano Lodge. I have heard the food is expensive there and that's one of the reasons I thought to rent a car for just a few days, so I could find food elsewhere and not be stuck there or paying someone to take me to another dining establishment. $18 doesn't sound that bad though. Sounds like you had some good company. Any tips on driving and if you had to pick up your car at the airport? Which rental agency did you rent the car from?
Thanks for any info!
belle
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Jul 16th, 2008 | 07:01 AM
#9
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,085
Likes: 0
JimboTx,
What a great report - sounds like your family had a super time. Thanks for sharing.
Belle, you are correct - Liberia is pronounced Lee-behr-EE-ah. We were homehosted there for five days with local Tico families who showed us all around the area. We went to the annual fiesta and listened to the marimba and cimarron bands in Central Parque, watched the great dancers, went to the bullfight (they only tease the bull) and got to see el tope - the horse parade with the hundreds of sabaneros highstepping down the main street. It was definitely an experience that most tourists don't have, so we felt very fortunate to experience it all with Tico friends!
What a great report - sounds like your family had a super time. Thanks for sharing.
Belle, you are correct - Liberia is pronounced Lee-behr-EE-ah. We were homehosted there for five days with local Tico families who showed us all around the area. We went to the annual fiesta and listened to the marimba and cimarron bands in Central Parque, watched the great dancers, went to the bullfight (they only tease the bull) and got to see el tope - the horse parade with the hundreds of sabaneros highstepping down the main street. It was definitely an experience that most tourists don't have, so we felt very fortunate to experience it all with Tico friends!
Jul 16th, 2008 | 02:07 PM
#10
Original Poster
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 6
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belle - I used Advantage Rent a car but it was serviced by Economy Rent a car. I would price out both & go with the cheapest. I would highly reccomend the GPS ... it was $5/day. I flew into San Jose and both Advantage & Economy has a desk in the airport .. but you actually pick up the car off-airport.. at a hotel about 2 or 3 minutes away (can't recall name). I had read that if you get the car off-airport, you don't have to pay the airport fee/tax ($15..$25 or so)..but I ended up paying it anyway. They will probably provide a shuttle bus for you..but we took the hotel shuttle bus and walked across the street to the rental car place. The drive from the airport to the hotel was about 2.5-3 hours. But we stopped on the way at a grocery store & bought waters & stuff.
Jul 16th, 2008 | 02:11 PM
#11
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 6
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LA_FadeAway -
Hotel Sugar Beach was about 2.5 hours from the Liberia airport (and that included a couple stops at last minute souvenir stands!) The car rental place is actually past the airport, but the return went well and we had no problems.
Hotel Sugar Beach was about 2.5 hours from the Liberia airport (and that included a couple stops at last minute souvenir stands!) The car rental place is actually past the airport, but the return went well and we had no problems.
Jul 16th, 2008 | 02:14 PM
#12
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 6
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volcanogirl
Re - water clarity - it was OK to pretty good. Not Bahamas/swimming pool clear but pretty good. Once you got away from the crashing surf you could see 5 or 6 or 7 feet - we saw octopus, blow fish, puffer fish - ton's of coral and other fun stuff!
Re - water clarity - it was OK to pretty good. Not Bahamas/swimming pool clear but pretty good. Once you got away from the crashing surf you could see 5 or 6 or 7 feet - we saw octopus, blow fish, puffer fish - ton's of coral and other fun stuff!
Jul 16th, 2008 | 06:22 PM
#15
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 80
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JT! I had scribbled the names Advantage/Economy down to check for prices...I must have derived that from your OP! So sorry you had to repeat yourself! (I'll go stand in the corner now...) But, the big question you answered was that you CAN pick up the car at a hotel nearby. I'm flying into SJ after Tortuguero from a different airport, Tobias Bolanos, spending the night in Alajuela, and didn't want to go back to the airport next morning, and especially didn't want to pay the airport tax. If you picked up somewhere other than the airport, why did they say you had to pay it? Because you had just arrived?
Could you possibly remember the name of the hotel and were you a guest there?
You are so kind for answering my queries. Un abrazo! Belle
Could you possibly remember the name of the hotel and were you a guest there?
You are so kind for answering my queries. Un abrazo! Belle
Jul 16th, 2008 | 08:19 PM
#16
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 10,212
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LA, if you take the dirt road (called Monkey Trail) from Playa Potrero (near Hotel Sugar Beach), 4 wheel drive, it takes about an hour and 15 min. to the airport. Much quicker than the longer way around on highway 21. We've driven that road many times (the dirt one) and never had a problem navigating on it. . . .
Jul 24th, 2008 | 10:02 AM
#19
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 124
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Hi Jimbo
Loved your report! Leaving July 31 and very interested in your hike to the waterfall when you were leaving Monteverde. How far was it from the main road ( inter american hwy). We are driving from Alajuela to Playa Flamingo. Monteverde itself is not doable as a sidetrip that day. Thought the waterfall might be not to far out of our way
Loved your report! Leaving July 31 and very interested in your hike to the waterfall when you were leaving Monteverde. How far was it from the main road ( inter american hwy). We are driving from Alajuela to Playa Flamingo. Monteverde itself is not doable as a sidetrip that day. Thought the waterfall might be not to far out of our way
Jul 30th, 2008 | 05:16 PM
#20
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 873
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Great report Jimbo, and thanks for all of the wonderful tips. I, too, mine many nuggets of information from this site. I'm always glad to see people give back (which I will also do with a trip report in the near future).
I'm glad you hung around to see Poas. Unfortunately during my recent trip it was socked in by fog the entire time.
Too bad your wife got sick, but glad it lasted only 24 hours. So, you have a reason to return to Costa Rica...to go to the hot springs. That's as good a reason as any.
I would love to see your videos of zip lining. Will you post them on You Tube? What a great way to remember the experience!
We missed the cheese factory in Monteverde. The original cheesemakers were draft dodgers from Alabama (I live in AL now). I did eat alot of cheese in Monteverde, though, and it was very good.
I'm glad you had such a good time. Costa Rica is such a beautiful country.
I'm glad you hung around to see Poas. Unfortunately during my recent trip it was socked in by fog the entire time.
Too bad your wife got sick, but glad it lasted only 24 hours. So, you have a reason to return to Costa Rica...to go to the hot springs. That's as good a reason as any.
I would love to see your videos of zip lining. Will you post them on You Tube? What a great way to remember the experience!
We missed the cheese factory in Monteverde. The original cheesemakers were draft dodgers from Alabama (I live in AL now). I did eat alot of cheese in Monteverde, though, and it was very good.
I'm glad you had such a good time. Costa Rica is such a beautiful country.
