Sbrub

My family and I are planning a trip for sometime next year when my daughter will be between 8-11 months old. We are looking into Costa Rica, and I'm curious if others have had positive experiences taking babies or small children here. I'm primarily concerned with safety and availability of emergency medical care if needed. Any advice? Any specific places in CR to check out or avoid?

volcanogirl

Manuel Antonio is really popular with young families. Costa Ricans seem like they really love babies - very sweet and googly over them. Check out Tulemar Bungalows and Buena Vista Villas to see if they're your kind of spot.

shillmac

Very baby/child friendly country. You'll have everything you'll need in the supermarkets. We've been taking our little granddaughter since she was 5 months (her mom, too, of course). Never a problem. All the popular spots, like Arenal, Manuel Antonio, Guanacaste, Southern Caribbean, Monteverde, and others--all would be just fine. We've even taken her to an emergency care place when visiting the province of Guanacaste and were very pleased with the care that she received. No worries!

Shooie

The only bad thing is that everything takes longer because the Costa Ricans love to ooh and aah over babies.

sclubb

just got back with my 3 1/2 yr old, 2 1/2 yr old and 8 month old baby. we had a house in atenas for a week and a house in dominical for a week. we took her pack & play along since we couldnt find any place to rent them. we also took a small umbrella stroller which we ended up using as her high chair in most restaurants. those that had high chairs didn't have any safety belts and so we either used my husband's belt to strap her in securely or just kept her in the stroller. also took a sturdy backpack carrier for her for the hikes we did - and she loved that. fortunately, we didn't need any medical assistance anywhere. the biggest issue we had was that i chose to drink the amazing coffee (i drink decaf at home) and had a crawling zombie for a few days who didnt nap or sleep at night! i didn't even put two & two together for some time (i'm still nursing...) it was great having the rental homes for more space and privacy than a hotel room. we did a ton of stuff even with our young kids....i'll try to post a report soon! oh, one more thing....the car seats were difficult to arrange and even those we ended up getting we far from ideal...but they worked. we didn't take ours b/c we had to lug 3 along...maybe you will take your own since you'll just be taking 1. if that's the case, you'll be glad you did. if not, we rented through www.vamos4x4.com and were happy with them and their attention to detail - just wish they would have had newer and better installed car seats! but, they went above and beyond making sure all three of mine fit in the vehicle and faced the appropriate way. have fun!

Anna_Wilson

I know that this is a few years back but Sclubb I was wondering if you could share any tips on travelling with an 8 month old in Costa Rica.
We are hoping to travel there in Dec with our 8 month old daughter and have thought your idea of staying in villas was perfect to avoid to much moving around.
If you've written a report,pls could you direct me to it and any must know, wish you had known tips would be greatly appreciated!

TeddyHorn

Funny how I stumbled across your post. I was in CR with my grandchildren in June and we stayed at the Hilton Papagayo, an all inclusive. It's about 30 minutes from the Liberia airport. While there I drank something called a Dirty Monkey and was looking up the recipe for the drink and somehow ran across your post regarding infants in CR. My grandson was 2 1\2 in June. Not an infant, but I get the picture.

I noticed that someone said something about the Arenal. We stayed at the Arenal Springs Resort and Spa for a few nights too before we went to the coast. The Arenal is in the bush; beautiful, but remote.

The Hilton was great for my grand kids. Beautiful infant\toddler pool, nice beach. We only left the property once to drive down the coast a ways. If I were taking an infant, I'd stay away from the interior. Finding services (eg. medical) for an infant can be a little difficult there. On the coast, not so much as you are generally within short haul of a town.

Having spent a great deal of time in Isla Mujeres (Mexico) and the Bahamas, I can truthfully say that the Costa Ricans are a much nicer people. The motto there is "Pura Vida". Have a good time.