Two weeks in Costa Rica with two children

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Nov 17th, 2019 | 01:14 PM

njsherlock

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Joined: Nov 2019

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Two weeks in Costa Rica with two children

Hi all, I’m in the early stages of planning a two week family trip to Costa Rica (for December 2020) and would be really grateful for some advice on the itinerary. I’ll be travelling with my wife, daughter (7) and son (4) and it’ll be the first time for everyone other than me (I went for a week around 15 years ago). Both children are used to travelling, enjoy the outdoors, have plenty of energy and love animals. We’d like to avoid spending too much time on the road, are happy to fly to cut out long stretches, and in terms of budget, ideally no more than $15k total.

These are the two routes that I have in mind from some provisional research:

ROUTE 1:

1, 2: La Paz (Peace Lodge)
3,4,5,6: Arenal (Springs Resort)
7,8,9: Cabo Matapalo (Bosque del Cabo) (fly, Puerto Jimenez)
10,11,12: Drake Bay (Copa de Arbol) (by road, 3hrs?)
13: Finca Rosa Blanca (fly, Drake Bay to San Jose)
14: Flight out of San Jose

ROUTE 2:

1, 2: La Paz (Peace Lodge)
3,4,5,6: Arenal (Springs Resort)
7,8,9,10: Manual Antonio (Tulemar) (by road, 5 hours?)
11,12: Uvita (?) (by road)
13: Finca Rosa Blanca (by road)
14: Flight out of San Jose

I’d really appreciate any thoughts / advice on the above.

Many thanks!

Nov 17th, 2019 | 04:18 PM

volcanogirl

Joined: May 2007

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We've been to a lot of the places that interest you. Love the Springs Resort and Spa and the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. Have also stayed at both Bosque del Cabo and Tulemar and loved those. I'd go with Tulemar if you're interested in having nice beach time, doing other activities like sailing, guided tour of the park, etc. Also if you want comfort and amenities like air conditioning. I'd go with Bosque del Cabo if you want a more off the grid experience and are interested primarily in hiking; they have a great trail system, but the area is really isolated and not even enough power to run a blow dryer. We loved it, but it's not that common to go there with young children, might be better when they're a little older. Both areas have wonderful wildlife, but in Manuel Antonio they'll be very used to people; the wildlife at Bosque del Cabo is more wild.