Off the beaten path Costa Rica
 

Trying to figure out some less travelled non-touristy things to do and see in Costa Rica.
All suggestions welcome!

Try posting in the Latin America forum {and do a search} for more responses and ideas.

Go to Epinions.com and look on your lefthand side and scroll down until you see "destinations". Click on and then you will be directed on how to go into where you want to go. You will have numerous ideas from travelers who have been to your destinations. Just click on their heading and it will open up to a report on their trip.

Go to Corcovado!! It is amazing. Although some tourists do visit this area, you can't drive to it and you have to take a puddle jumper plane from a dirt road to get there. From there, you will take a boat down the Sierpe River and into the ocean to reach your resort. It is completely exotic and all of the resorts are literally in the middle of the jungle. I stayed at Corcovado Jungle Lodge and although it was rustic (keep in mind, you're in the middle of the jungle and there are no alarm clocks, only the wake up call of howler monkeys at 6AM), I really enjoyed it. Our guides were amazing, the food was great and I would do it all over again. I went to Costa Rica a couple of years ago and stayed in Arenal, Manuel Antonio and Corcovado/Osa Peninsula. Corcovado was my favorite because it was off the beaten path. There are other resorts in Corcovado that are more "luxury" if that's what you're looking for...Also, if you do visit this area, take a day trip to Cano Island. We snorkeled there and saw the most amazing fish. There are also some white tip reef sharks in this area which we saw and they didn't bother us at all. It was very cool...On the boat trip back to the mainland, we saw tons of dolphins that followed our boat and played in the waves...If you're looking for off the beaten path, go to Corcovado!!

RHR, I agree you might have better luck on the L.A. forum, but since you are here, let me suggest one of our favorite Costa Rican memories, Vista del Valle. A citrus and coffee plantation owned by ex-Californians overlooking a nature preserve. I described in my trip report here on Fodors about 5 years ago. Here is the website:

http://www.vistadelvalle.com/