I know nothing about Costa Rica, but I'm starting to consider it for a March get away. We'd like a very nice hotel or eco-resort on or very near a beautiful beach. We want to just relax, hang on the beach, do a little birding, maybe a jungle outing one day. Budget is somewhere around $500/night (although less would be good), excluding food of course. Where do I begin? Do you have favorite beach areas? Where are they and where do you fly into? Thanks!!!

There are many beautiful beaches in Costa Rica and also so many hotels of all types. In my personal opinion, my favorite beaches in Costa Rica are Santa Teresa (off the beaten path) and Flamingo.
For hotel I would recommend Hotel Tropico Latino (www.hoteltropicolatino.com) in Santa Teresa area, in there you can find some activities, and the beach is absolutely amazing!
As for Flamingo I like Bahia del Sol and the beach is also very beautiful.
Here are some helpful websites for you to get general info about this country:
www.visitcostarica.com
www.nicoyapeninsula.com
www.arenal.net

Manuel Antonio is a really popular beach area. The most common trip for first timers is to combine MA with the Arenal area so you get beach time and volcano time. MA has a beautiful beach inside the park, and easy access to wildlife. Lots of good hotel and restaurant choices in these areas. In MA, check out Mango Moon, Si Como No, and Tulemar Bungalows and Buena Vista Villas. If you want volcano time too, check out The Lost Iguana or Nayara. Lots of other good options as well. If you want to be really adventurous, fly to the Osa. Here's a link to a popular spot. Check out the video. You'd have to hike to the beach here, but there are other places with easier beach access. Excellent wildlife spotting on the Osa.

http://bosquedelcabo.com/home/index.html

Not sure if you've considered it, but Belize is amazing too. We did Chaa Creek and Victoria House and loved both. Belize has prettier beaches and water in general, and the snorkeling is amazing.

We always fly into the SJO airport near San Jose, but if you want the northern beaches, you could check into flying into Liberia. For in country flights, you can use Sansa and Nature Air.

Thank you!

Volcanogirl - So you think Belize has better beaches? I hadn't considered that. I'll check it out.

I think in general they're prettier there. Very few CR beaches have that white sand, pretty blue water combo that people like. Belize tends to have sea grass in the water, so that's kind of a tradeoff. Both places have great things to offer. Poke around a little and see which one appeals to you more. CR definitely has better wildlife, and it has neat volcanoes and great hiking; we think Belize has better food and cool ruins and also some neat caving experiences. People in both countries are very friendly. Belize definitely has better snorkeling, the best we've ever done. That's a big part of the beach experience for us.

You have a large budget and could afford almost anywhere with that amount of dollars. We just rented a home in Tarcoles. Beaches are not beautiful but get prettier as you go south towards Manuel Antonio, which is very touristy and food not so good. With home, we were able to cook our own food. A beautiful hotel we went to for a beer and light bite and had beautiful views was Villa Caletas. Since you mentioned Birding; there are lots to see, we even had resident Macaws and Tucans. Hotel Villa Lapas also, great food, Artisans Village....bird sightings. Carara Biological Reserve National Park as well. Manuel Antonio didn't have anything we didn't already have on property except monkeys and in my opinion they can keep them in Manuel Antonio....they smell so bad!! I'd really do a check for Villa Caletas, they have spa and resturant and many more places to go near there without the tourist effect.

Ylang Ylang Beach resort in Montezuma. Also try Drake Bay--several high end places with access to the beach.

www.fourseasons.com only true 5 star

Brad and angelina HMed there.

www.hotelvillacaletas.com

www.arenasdelmar.com

www.bosquedelcabo.com

my top 4 pick one winter best for less rain.

visitcostarica.com

Victoria House Xanadu or www.robertsgrove.com best in Belize

Costa Rica browner beaches but www.arenal.net Volcanoes

www.thespringscostarica.com or www.tabacon.com

Nice to visit around the Volcano for a few nights.

Costa Rica is beautiful but not out of the beaten path anymore.
If you are looking into an area that has beautoful beaches but not many tourist , I recommend Golfito area or the Osa Peninsula. manuel Antonio is georgeous but crowded.
Have you considered other countries, Nicaragua?, Panama perhaps?

Arenas del Mar in Manuel Antonio, but it's a grey sand beach and really for swimming the Playitas not as good as Espadilla even better inside the park but $10 admission pp each time you enter.

Thanks everybody, I really appreciate your thoughts. My husband seems to want to go back to St. John, so we're up in the air.

We liked St. John too - really beautiful beaches there.

St John was wonderful, loved it. Costa Rica was also a great trip (we did the typical Manuel Antonio/Arenal split). We found the people to be really friendly, the scenery beautiful and the wildlife interesting. It would be hard to choose between the two after doing both... we loved both for different reasons! Good luck!

St John has the best beaches maho.org caneelbay.com

Gallows Point and The Westin great deals on betterbidding.com

Might check that out CR is nice for wildlife nature volcano

St John for whitest beach and great diving... smaller though

more intimate I like both...

I think St. John needs monkeys!

it has donkeys!