Butterfly conservatory and Hanging Bridges - perfect day trip together
Barry is correct but then maybe you are the kind of people that love to spend hours on winding roads. Personally, I would focus on a more compact area with less driving. There will be plenty of driving even if you do. The Golfo Dulce area is a trip unto itself.
On the south side of the country, this is what we are looking at:
Day trips are feasible from Manual Antonio National Park to the north, Corcovado National Park to the south (via boat from Uvita), or north into the mountains/cloud forests/Quetzales National Park almost back to San Jose.
We will plan on scuba diving one day to Cano Island National Park; anyone that wants to snorkel can come on the same boat, generally leaves 6-7am and gets back mid-afternoon. You get to hike around and explore the island or hang on the beach there too, cost is about $130-175 pp. Most boat trips in this region are on smaller boats that launch from the beach in active surf, so we’ll need to keep an eye on tide/swell/storm forecasts and pick the calmest day, which right now may be Monday.
I also found a boat tour offered to Corcovado National Park on the remote Osa peninsula, which is one of the most densely bio-diverse areas on earth and has tons of wildlife and rainforest. It is the most special park in the country and very rugged/remote/restricted. Usually you have to stay more nearby, hire a guide, and spend several days camping to see the park, but I discovered we can take a boat from nearby Uvita (possibly whale watching along the way, but not high season for that) directly to one of the ranger stations in the park, and then it’s a daylong hike and boat back the same day, with guide included (required for that park). It’s pretty rugged terrain, and will be hot/humid/buggy…That cost $145 pp. More info at Corcovado National Park Tour - Costa Rica Dive and Surf Let me know who’s up for that and I’ll try to book a reservation in advance.
On tuesday mornings, one of the nearby mountain towns Tinamaste has a farmers market (“feria”), so that might be a good day to head up into the mountains on the “highway of death” and check out some cloud forests, hikes, maybe do some birdwatching in Quetzales national park or San Gerardo de Dota. There’s lots of other hiking areas and activities to check out other days, awesome beaches, waterfalls, the Marena Ballena seashore national park and whale’s tail, Hacienda Baru nature preserve, coffee/cocoa tours, etc. General info on the region here: The Costa Ballena: Uvita, Dominical, and Ojochal - Two Weeks in Costa Rica
The best restaurants are clustered in the Ojochal area, about 30-40 minutes away. I’ll probably put in some placeholder reservations for 3 I have on the map; we can always cancel/change - Citrus, Exotica, and Ylang-Ylang.
Other things that have peaked my interest include:
Arco Beach
Remote, rustic hangout with a waterfall
El Avion
Restaurant
Eco Chontales Waterfall
Topolandia
Catarata del Toro
Waterfall and canyon
There is a little roadside bar/gathering place/restaurant in the middle of the jungle between Puerto Jimenez and Matapolo, Martine’s. Cool spot, highly recommended.
Thank you all for the great suggestions. I had my heart set on the kayaking with the bioluminescent plankton, but we’re realizing it might be even better in a few years when the kiddo is just a little bit older. We’re poring over all the options to focus the trip with 4-6 nights in Arenal/La Fortuna area and then the rest in a northern beach area. We’re still considering Manuel Antonio, but that does add a lot more driving. I will report back when we have a new plan. I really appreciate all the feedback!
Food at avion was good. Get a table on the deck looking out.
Thanks. Yesterday we spent most of the day at Villa Caletas Hotel and Restaurant. It looked like some of the great villas in Ravello. Great cocktails and restaurant if ever near Jaco:
Hi Poppy - IMHO, your trip involves too much driving and the roads and drive times are much different than in LA. My suggestion, if you’re flying into Liberia is to stay in that area. You can visit the Volcano park Rincon de la Vieja. We stayed at Hotel Rincon de la Vieja Lodge (all inclusive: meals & room). The rooms and food are practical, but not luxurious. They have a ton of activities that are family oriented. And the bird life in the hotel area is astounding. We saw toucans among the several birds in the area. There’s a butterfly reserve, an in house walk that displays various reptiles and tons of hiking. If you like rafting and zip-lines, that’s also available. It’s a good place for younger kids. I would spend a few days here. You don’t need a car. You can take a van from the airport to the hotel and back. Then you can rent a car and go west to one of the many great beach areas near Playa Hermosa. I was in the Nosara area which is great, but a much longer drive. In any case, Cost Rica is amazing and you can’t go wrong. Pura Vida!
Having just returned from nine days in Costa Rica, I’ll also suggest limited driving as the roads are not great and you’d be going at the heart of the rainy season. Certainly some areas will be off limits as a result. For instance, the lodge I stayed at in the Osa Peninsula essentially closes a few months out of the year as you just can’t drive through the rivers that swell at that time.
Arenal is one of the places I wanted to get to this trip, but the Arenal Observatory Lodge & Spa didn’t have the dates I wanted, so we stayed 1:45 east of there at the Selva Verde Lodge, which is also one of the best birding lodges there.
Not sure if birding is much of a focus on your trip, Costa Rica is regarded as one of the best places to bird, but if you want any reccos in that regard, happy to help.
The southern Pacific coast and Osa Peninsula receive the most rain during the rainy season. The rainiest months tend to be September and October but the season is May to November. The further south you go, the more likely you are to have washed out roads, giant potholes, washouts, landslides, and low water crossings you can’t or shouldn’t try to cross. It will probably rain all day as well. Guanacaste is the driest region and it has the shortest rainy season. In Guanacaste, the rainy season often means a late afternoon or evening rain shower.
If you are still there, check out my friend Jazmin’s restaurant! It is amazing!
It’s on a very rough road near Uvita, but it is totally worth it!
OK, new plan! We’ve booked the flights, now we need to book the rooms.
Fly into Liberia and arrive at 3pm. Rent a 4x4 at the airport and stay somewhere within 30 minutes of the airport (any suggestions?).
The next day we drive to La Fortuna and stay at the Manta House airbnb which we linked to above.
5 nights in La Fortuna.
Then drive to Finca Amistad Cacao Lodge and do one night there and do a cacao farm tour.
Then drive to the beach - either Playa Hermosa or Ocotal Bay. We’re considering these two places for 9 nights. Which one would you choose:
or
Nine nights at the beach, then fly out of Liberia.
Also, with regards to the car rental…do we need a car at the beach? It sounds like taxis are an option if we want to go to different towns for restaurants and such. Are taxis expensive? Otherwise, we’re looking at $1,000 for 16 days of a car and that’s hard to swallow.
Thanks!
If you do have any intention to do anything birding/nature related, while you’re in La Fortuna you’ll be relatively close to the Arenal Observatory Lodge & Spa, which is one of the premier birding spots in the country. They offer a range of birding walks on their property. Here’s a link. You’ll want to inquire about pricing. Enjoy Bird Watching Tours at Costa Rica’s Birding Hotpot - Arenal Observatory Lodge & Spa Just note that there aren’t as many birds around in July as the migrants have gone to their nesting sites out of the country. That said, there are a lot of birds around. Here’s a list on ebird of the species that have been historically spotted at the Arenal Observatory Lodge in July: https://ebird.org/hotspot/L436229/all/7
I’d also suggest a guided night walk to see the nocturnal species that are around.
Taxis were $20- $35 for modest one ways (say 15-30 minutes)
I liked the Marriott Hacienda de Belen (which is 15 minutes from the airport) for an airport stay . If you have a Marriott credit card, one of those free night certificates that are hard to use there are good here.
+1
this was a great thread, was wondering if trip is still on?
I was reading in another forum a post by a guy who has a rental on the beach somewhere in CR, and seems like the country is doing well in fighting coronavirus, but is more or less closed to visitors until at least mid June.
Here is his post (forgive the poor grammar):
I live is Costa Rica and own a hotel- totally rely on tourism… Costa Rica has done one of the best jobs with corona of any country… but they killed everything… severe driving limitations, closed everything… and fine you if you break the law. No driving after 7 am… the entire country… I can drive 4 days of the week… for food and banking… not after 7… it was 5 pm… they extended it to 7. Too many workers were getting jack for legit reason. Most of the country is not working especially if the work in tourism…
My two cents…
Flying… depends on where you go and whether that country is shut down / borders are open / airports. In CR… the borders are closed… you cant come in… and you cant get out. If you are doing multicountry… the borders may be closed in the country you want to travel to… I was supposed to leave the country to do a border run in May… nope… govt extending it to July … yesterday til August. People who did not get out in March are stuck here… June 15 they will make the decision about the border… and flying…
Tourism… if your tourism revolves seeing things or places where people get together … probably will remain closed. Even if people can get to Costa Rica… Beaches are closed… Police fine you. Restuarants, shops, parks, all the cool tourism places closed… SHIT IS CLOSED. My hotel is right on the beach and the beach is completely empty… nada… couple kids play soccer in the evening until the popo sees them and they scatter… starting in a couple days. The beach will open M-F from 5 am - 8am… for fishing…
Just because you can get somewhere doesnt mean you can go on a tour of your favorite tourist attractions. With so many things closed… very limiting on things you can do…
Unfortunately, we canceled all travel plans. We won’t consider getting on an airplane until there is a significant breakthrough in medication or there is a vaccine.
We got all deposits back on VRBO/Airbnb/car rental. Hopefully, our flights will be canceled so we can get our money back.
That stinks but better safe than sorry . Glad you’re getting deposits back.