We are leaving on Thursday morning for a 10-day trip to Costa Rica. We are spending three nights in La Fortuna and then the rest at Playa Carrillo. Can anyone suggest good restaurants (any budget is fine) for La Fortuna and Playa Carrillo/Samara? Thank you!

In La Fortuna, I recommend El Novillo. It is an outdoor steakhouse, although they do serve non-beef entrees as well. The food is good, and the prices (all entrees below $9) and view are hard to beat.

We also ate at Luigi's Pizza. It was a decent meal, but nothing special. It cost us $25 for a large pizza, an appetizer, and wine.

Playa Carillo (the beach at least) is beautiful. But it is in a tiny town with not much else to do. If you have a car, you'll be able to explore the area. But if you don't, you might consider staying in Samara. In any event, we ate at the Mirador in Carillo. The food was good (not great), but the portions were enormous. There were mostly locals there on the night we went. Spring for a lobster, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks for your suggestions. We chose Carrillo precisely for the fact that it is tiny and secluded. We leave in less than 24 hours. Can't wait!

In Fortuna, El Novillo is very good and cheap and we also really enjoyed Les Nes downtown-they have everything but a lot of seafood.