Seattleite

Help, my mom wants to go to Costa Rica for her 80th birthday for 6-8 days. She is in shape put cannot walk great distances. My wife and I will be traveling with her. We are trying to figure out what are the must-sees in the way of natural beauty and history.

Percy

Where are you planning to stay.?

Are you going to rent a car or stay in one place and do day tours.?

Percy

Jessie_

The Arenal Paraiso is a lovely place with lots of flowers and the walking around the cabinas is pretty easy. It is also one of the best views of Arenal volcano. A nice effortless day trip would be to Cano Negro. The sight seeing is by boat and there is tons to see.

La Quinta de Sarapiqui is a nice place with lovely gardens also. Poison arrow frogs abound here. You will also be able to take a nice slow boat ride along the Rio Sarapiqui to see monkeys and lots of other wildlife. Just up the road there are some burial grounds. A small place but interesting.

One place that we go where natural beauty is everywhere including tons of beautiful birds and monkeys is Bosque del Cabo down on the lower Osa Peninsula. It is absolutely beautiful there and with no effort at all you can see all manner of wildlife. It would involve a short in country flight and about 45mins on a bumpy unpaved road but it is well worth the effort.

You didn't mention what type of accomodations such as lux or middle of the road.

Many of the optional day tours from San Jose will involve some walking but there are still a few places that are not too bad. The Basilica in Cartago is very nice and right near by are Lankester Gardens.

Would you like to hire a private driver for the time you will be there or are you planning on driving yourselves?

One option to investigate would be some elder hostel trips. Not for yourselves particularly but to get an idea of places and tours geared for the older person. We have seen lots of elder hostel groups in CR. Some places, like Manuel Antonio area are built on cliffs or the sides of mountains and could be difficult to do much sight seeing.

What time of year?

Seattleite

Thanks all for your replies that will help get us started. We are going toward the end of February or early March. We will probably rent a car. I sure my wife would love luxury but mom is fine with very nice moderate accommodations. She did say she want to do some guided touring although not quote my style.

Jessie_

Not my style either but one or two might not hurt. Most people do take some of the tours. The two hotels I mentioned are very nice but moderately priced.

Another option for something to do would be to go to the Hanging Bridges. Your mother would probably be happy with the amazing views near the entrance while you and your wife did the walk. That will be a good time of year for volcano viewing and it should be just beautiful.

Some time spent soaking in the hot springs would be wonderful for the whole family.

lvk

Take a look at costaricapackage.com. It gives you a good overview of the country.

We took my 70-yr-old mother-in-law to CR in August. She really enjoyed LaPaz waterfalls and butterfly gardens, Arenal Paraiso, hanging bridges, Tabacon hot springs, Safari float on the Penas Blancas River, Turubari Park with their skytram, horseback riding and naturalist guide.

She has not stopped talking about her trip. She absolutely loved the natural beauty of Costa Rica.

Have a great time!