Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Just back on Aug 5

Just back from beautiful Costa Rica on Aug 5. I used Costa Rica Transfers for hotel and tour booking. They're professional,helpful and always saving me a few bucks. I didnt have an adventurous itinerary to share, but I do hope that my experiences may be somewhat useful to the 1st timers.

About hotels:
1.Centro Colon Hotel, San Jose ? Located about 15-20 minutes drive from the airport, this hotel provides airport shuttle service at USD4 per person. We paid a discount rate of USD65 (breakfast and tax included) for a standard room, which is very basic (no hairdryer, no fridge, no coffee maker). As we took San Jose as our travel base, we checked in and out the hotel a couple of times and, fortunate enough, we were upgraded to a better room every time due to all standard rooms were occupied. One time our room was on 9th floor overlooking mountains and had 2 king sized beds. The hotel is a bit old but clean, and the front desk staffs are very friendly ad helpful. A supermarket (Mas x menos) with a food court is located within 10 min walk. We had dinners in the food court a couple of times. The food was cheap but not bad. It?s very convenient to take a bus to downtown. The bus fare is 80 colones per person.

2.Arenal Paraiso ?The bed sheet didn?t fit the mattress but at least it was clean. The pipe grunted but there?s plenty of hot water. The blanket was smelly but thank God there?s a cover. Don?t expect too much and you?ll find the room more than satisfaction. We didn?t have luck on the volcano view, only had a glimpse of some red spots, but sitting on the rocking chairs in the porch amid the darkness and listening to the sound of nature was a great experience.

3.Laguna Lodge, Tortuguero ? A little disappointing. I didn?t mind a rustic place but the room was dirty. There?re stains on the towels, the bed sheets and the walls. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are buffet-styled with a server allocating your portion of meat. Picky eaters should be prepared that the food choice is really limit. Only one kind of meat is served in each meal and the portion is small. Do arrive at the restaurant early. I went to dinner at 7:15 and there was already a long lineup. I waited 10 minutes to get a small portion of fish and, when I tried to get another round of food, I found that everything was gone. At 8pm the staff was already cleaning up the kitchen.

About Tours:
1.Canopy Tour- I did the canopy tour by Arenal Paraiso. Not as frightening as I expected but still an experience. There were about 20 people in our group. We?re supposed to slide from one platform to another platform, following the signal of the guide to ?brake? and land on the next platform smoothly. In the beginning, most of us stopped a few feet earlier and had to pull ourselves to the next platform by hands. The tour guides seemed quite inpatient about that. One of them even muttered to disqualify anyone who made two mistakes. Fortunately, after a few more platforms everyone seemed to get the skill. After the tour you can buy a CD with your photos for USD30. Both my friend and I were interested in buying the CD but we found that the photographers might not be interested in Asian faces. There?re only 2 or 3 shots for each of us. Even the group photo in the beginning skipped our faces (we?re standing by the side of the group). So we saved our USD60. One of my friends did another canopy tour near San Jose. She only paid USD10 for the CD. She was surprised to learn that we needed to pull ourselves back to the platform by hands because, in their tour, when people didn?t make it to the platform, the guide would come to ?rescue? them.

2.Tortuguero Tour by Fran and Modesto ? The 3 hour boat ride to and from Tortuguero was a highlight itself. We had a rainstorm and the animals were hiding away, but I still enjoyed the boat ride very much because the lush green jungle was a feast to the eyes. Fran is very gentle and caring, and Modesto is very knowledgeable about the jungle. While I had to check the animals out with a pair of binoculars, Modesto spotted the wound on the left shoulder of a spider monkey without his own eyes. We did the turtle walk at night. It was experience of a lifetime.

3. Other local tours ? We joined the 4 in 1 Highlights Tour as well as the Arenal by Night Tour (we arranged a drop off at Arenal Paraiso in the end of the tour) organized by Expedition Tropicals. There?re more than 40 people in each tour. Both tours spent as much as an hour picking up people from various locations. And there?re people showing up 10 or 20 minutes late without an apology. The tourist bus was very comfortable. The tour guides were professional, though not attentive enough. For those who don?t drive, I highly recommend these tours.

Other thoughts:
Tabacon Hot Spring ? Beautiful but overcrowded. There?re no hot or warm water in the shower rooms, and the soap dispensers were empty. A bit disappointing for a 5-star hotel premises like this.

Fortuna ? The front desk of Arenal Paraiso helped us call a taxi. The taxi fare from Arenal Paraiso to Fortuna was about 1300 colones. We had lunch at a decent restaurant named Neve. My Seafood chowder had shrimps, fish and even a small crab and cost only 1600 colones. However, the weather was too hot to enjoy a meal comfortably without A/C. We?re soaked wet by our own sweat. On the return trip, the meter showed 1370 colones. I gave the taxi driver USD5. He gave me back 500 colones only (should be 830 according to the exchange rate) and kept saying ?OK? OK?? Maybe he wanted us to tip him.

Tipping ?I always think that North Americans are used to tipping, especially for people in the States. However, as far as I noticed, my friend and I were among the very few who tipped the tour guides and drivers.

Interbus ? I took Interbus from Areanl to San Jose. It was convenient but not very comfortable. We had 3 adults jamming on the front passenger row. The driver spoke almost no English but tried to be helpful.

Things I wish I had packed ? A pair of flip-flop for the Tabacon Hot Spring because the floor of the changing room was wet and muddy.

Things I packed but never/rarely used:
Facial and body moisturizers- I have dry skin. My lips and heels cracked all year round at home. In Costa Rica, my heels have never been so smooth and I never felt the need of any moisturizers.
Poncho and umbrella ? It rained only lightly and always while we?re indoors. During the boat ride to Tortuguero, Modesto provided heavy-duty ponchos to keep us dry.
Long-sleeved T-shirts ? A lightweight windbreaker was all I needed.
Medicine ? I drank frescos at sodas. I used tap water to make ice cube. Didn?t get any stomach problems.
Insect repellent ? I thought I?d be eaten alive by mosquitoes but it turned out that I only used insect repellent once for the turtle walk at night. During my 9-day trip in Costa Rica I didn?t see any mosquitoes. In the Laguna Lodge, the window screen of our room had a hole. I slept without applying insect repellent but I didn?t get any mosquito bites.