Looking to go to CR for approx. 10 days. We definitely want to go to Drake Bay (approx 4 -5 days) for Dolphin / whale encounter & canopy zip line (correct me if this is not available in that area). My questions are as follows:
1. Is the Delfin Amour the best choice for lodging on/around Drake (knowing we have kids)?
2. For the second half of the trip, we were wanting to go a beach area and kick-back or what ever. Is the Jaco area a good place to hang out at the beach? If so, where's a good place to stay and if not, what's a better alternative.
3. Should we absolutely rule out going during the "Green season"? We were looking at June (if months matter).

As always, your help/tips is appreciated!

Can't help you with question number one.

Q#2: I would go for Manuel Antonio rather than Jaco, which is a fairly rambunctious snip of a town populated primarily by college-age rowdies. There's more to entertain kids, I believe, in the Manuel Antonio area. Please be aware that NONE of the Costa Rica beaches on the Pacific side are particularly good for kids to swim in. There are some very bad rip currents and undertows everywhere and not a lifeguard anywhere!

Q#3: By all means go in the "green season." What's a little rain when you're in a tropical rainforest? Nothing but a welcomed refresher from the heat. The kids will love tromping around in the rain and mud, and you'll love the lower prices and smaller crowds of tourists.

I totally agree with Barbarian. (I also can't help you with question #1). We just returned from a 2-week trip, June 12 to 24. Had an amazing time. We had lunch in Jaco and were extremely glad we were not staying there. It is a very commercial area (in fact, we saw our first American chain restaurant, Subway, there). Reminded us a lot of Daytona Beach. Good for college kids. However, I think there are probably nice places in Jaco on the outskirts that we passed on our way to and from Manuel Antonio. Manuel Antonio is amazing and think it is a much better choice than Jaco. Since it is located in the mountains next to the Pacific, the views are incredible. We saw tons of monkeys from our hotel room. We absolutely loved it and plan to return.
As for rainy season, this was no problem for us at all. Of the two weeks, we had only one evening where it was a heavy rain and we had to order room service for dinner. (Would have ventured out that night but there was a lot of lightning). Other than that, we barely had any rain at all. The country was so uncrowded with tourists, we often ate at restaurants with only 2 or 3 other tables filled. Also, the scenery and landscaping is so lush and green. I would definitely go again in rainy season. Have fun!!

We spent three nights at Aguila de Osa a year or so ago. Our kids are grown, but there were several families there with children. Good hiking, decent snorkeling. Aguila is at the mouth of a river, so people were taking kayaks and heading up the river. There's even a very small town, one small store and a couple of bar/restaurants.

The food was good, and it certainly was fun getting there. Flew to Palmar Sur, then a taxi ride to Sierpe, then onto a boat down the river and out through the surf and down the coast to Aguila de Osa. Fun trip.

I'd certainly recommend Manual Antonio over Jaco as well. We were able to fly directly from Palmar Sur to Quepos, no return to San Jose which was great. It's not a listed flight (or at least wasn't when we went), but was arrange by our travel agent.

There are zip lines in Manual Antonio, I don't know of any in the Osa.

jean

Don't know anything about Delfin Amour in Drake Bay. Can say we liked Casa Corcovado down there very much -- great setting, path to Corcovado Natl Park right from property. Great guides. Nice cabanas. Beautiful grounds. Nice people. Nice jungle walks on their own property as well. No zip line/swim with dolphins offered around Drake to my knowledge though.