Looking for "hidden gems" in Costa Rica
 

My husband and I will be in Costa Rica for 15 days in late July early August, our 6th trip. This time we will be concentrating on finding the smaller "hidden gem" type places/beaches. We're planning on visiting Playa Avellanas and Lola's bar as an example. Looking for other similar suggestions. We'll be everywhere from Arenal to Playa del Cocoa and down to the Dominical area, and everywhere in between.

Looking forward to your ideas.

The Lost Iguana is a great place to stay in Arenal. They have a Groupon deal running. Some of our favorite things are the waterfall hike, the Hanging Bridges, Sky Trek zipline, Proyecto Asis animal center, Penas Blancas river float, the Cano Negro tour, hiking by the lake, Luna Nueva organic farm, and Eco Termales natural hot springs. Don Rufino is a good place to eat; we also like La Choza de Laurel and Soda la Parada.

If we told you, they wouldn't be hidden anymore!
But, if you're down toward Dominical/Uvita, the sea caves at Playas Ventanas and the beautiful beach are wonderful.
The waterfall and catarata uvita restaurant are also great: http://www.enuvita.com/catarata.html

Check out Shelter from the Storm which is helfway between Dominical and Uvita. shelterfromthestormvillas.com

Helfway indeed. The road up the hill is definitely hellish.

I assume you have been to San Gerardo de Dota. If not I would try that.

I'll never tell.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have written them down and will attempt to find them.

One of my best memories from Arenal is hiking around the small area in the park right before sunset back when the volcano was active. Nobody was there and we weren't seeing much of anything so we thought "why are we doing this?" We stopped at a shelter to put on bug spay and suddenly people started appearing with coolers and cameras and we ended up staying there about 3 hours watching the light show from the volcano, chatting with people from all over the world, and drinking rum and cokes with all our new found friends. Priceless.

Lonely Planet considers the Coyote area to be one of the last hidden gems of Costa Rica. The San Miguel and Coyote stretch of beach is completely undeveloped and on an average day..the beach is empty spare a few local guys catching a fresh catch for dinner or surfer catching a few waves. The small surrounding towns are totally typical of Costa Rica they way it used to be. Not too many bars/nightlife but soccer games, dances, fishing tournaments to raise money for schools...it's a really cool part of the country and very authentic. An amazing private retreat that I know of personally is Cristal Azul, owners are a US/Tico coulple...lots of fun, knowledgeable of area and things to do.

That sounds awesome, kaye! Have you made it to the Osa yet?

If you really want to feel you are far away from the maddening crowd, you should head to Montezuma...it's out there. Stay in a geodesic dome on the beach. eat vegetarian if you want. apple-computer cafe in town...but otherwise very removed from the world as you know it. there is a small rainforest nearby, boat trips to island. the beach is not great because of rocks, but if you are into nature, you won't regret this out of the way trip, the domes are wonderfully and privately nestled in the most amazing garden...the crash of the waves at night, howler monkeys,,, Ylang Ylang Resort - 3 days would be fine. A bit difficult to get to,,,but like I said, it's out there. and away. and beautiful. they own a restaurant in town also, you can walk to town from the hotel. they show movies at night sometimes.

http://www.ylangylangbeachresort.com...modations.html

P.S. Samara has the best swimming beach in CR, imho...paved road all the way there. small town w/enough expat Italians to feed you properly..no bank or atm, but the town of Nicoya is not far away-you can hop on a bus to get there.

Volcanogirl, no we haven't been to Osa proper yet. Last year we drove down to Sierpe and did a mangrove tour. Maybe one day. Back to Cano Negro, do you know if there are any cabinas nearby. We are considering driving to Cano Negro, find a tour on our own, then continuing on to the Pacific the following day.

Travelessence, we ran across Samara on our first trip and we return there for a few days each year. Love it. Montezuma is on our possibility list but you're correct, that area is hard to get to. We went close to there several years ago but it seemed like it took forever. We are renting a Jimney and flying out of SJO so we would have to do the ferry again. Will there be rivers to cross in early August?

I know there's a place called Hotel de Campo Cano Negro if you want to do a search for it. The Cano Negro area is amazing, lots of wildlife.

You can fly Sansa from SJO (when you exit the terminal, walk down to your left to the Sansa terminal) to TAMBOR and take a taxi from Tambor to Montezuma (maybe $60). or if you grab a van. the plane lands in what looks like an overgrown football field, and no station to speak of, a little hut w/a bench...sat there for about 15 minutes thinking to myself, wth...a cab showed up, we had severarl detours (due to road washouts) but made it. someone said to me "a taxi will show up" and it did. however, a few fans from resorts in Mal Pais/St. Teresa showed up to cart off surfers who had flown over w/their boards...but would not share the ride. that freaking ferry takes forever, SJO to the ferry, ferry to the otherside, otherside bus to Montezuma you're talking an entire day...that takes forever.

Ylang Ylang was the furthest from civilization i had ever been, despite the apple-computer cafe in town. like i said, it's out there.

If you want the surfing, go to Mal Pais/Santa Teresa! Best surf and the nicest and peaceful scenic beauty in the Nicoya! Just south of Guanacaste. The May/June Season is sublime (and don't be disuaded). The weather is much better as it rains about 1/2 hour a day and washed away the dust. This area has great beaches, canopy tours, waterfalls, surfing, horsebacking riding on the beach.... and go to Casa Blanca. We did and had a private home of our dream for our family that was sublime.

See the article in SU CASA at:
http://www.revistasucasa.com/conteni...uteginas1.html

Home Away Rentals
http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p255627

Chapel-in-the-Clouds:

http://frontiercostarica.com/Chapel-in-the-Clouds.htm

Aguilla De Osa ecolodge near Corcovado.

I've only been to Costa Rica once (and had lots of help in planning my trip from volcano girl-hi!), went to the Arenal area and then to the Osa Peninsula. We stayed at a lodge called El Remanso. I would definitely consider both the lodge and that entire peninsula a hidden gem. We flew there from San Jose as we didn't want to drive so far but it was worth it. Gorgeous, remote and small. The food at the resort was excellent, the beach totally deserted and the guide (Gerardo, I think?) was great.

Hi, J! :)