Costa Rica travel thread
 

Hi guys,

I'm going to Costa Rica this June and will be staying for about a week. I'm actually not sure where I'm staying yet, but according to Wikipedia the entire country is about the size of West Virginia, so I'm assuming anything worth seeing is fairly accessible no matter where we end up.

Fwiw, I'm 23 years old and will be travelling with 3 other people around the same age.

So what I'd like to get going in this thread is a list of things to try to see or do while we're there. And if anyone has any tips on where to say, that would be welcome as well.

So far I've found a few things that look cool.
Arenal Volcano
Hot springs at Tabacon Resort
And I've heard a lot about rain forests, particularly canopy walks and zip lines.

So give me some more ideas folks.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

I wnet with some friends a couple years ago. get out of the San Jose as soon as possible (unless hookers are your thing. Dont make the mistake of basing there and day tripping. Also, it's true the country is fairly small, but the roads are laughably bad, so travel by land takes forever. If youre only there for a week, i'd pick a couple places and ralax.

Definately go white water rafting. We paid some compay like $80 or something for a day long rafting excursion. I'd never rafted before. they brought us to a river, let us practice in calm water for a few minutes and then gave us a guide in our boat and threw us in the river. some level 4 rapids. a little dicey, but fun stuff. cant recomend it enough.

I was there for a couple weeks, did 2 days at volcanos, 2 days in Montaverde? ziplining and the like, then just headed for the coast. There are some really nice beaches on the pacific coast. if you want to party with lots of foreigners go to tamarindo, if you want a more isolated relaxed scene go farther down the coast.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

I live in Costa Rica.

Arenal is nothing spectacular. Tabacon is very nice, but expensive. If you are travelling with a bunch of 23 year olds, I'm guessing you'll probably be looking for good times and partying. I'd suggest spending some time at Jaco beach which is kind of a surf/party area for many young people.

If you're single and want some "companionship" I'd suggest visiting the famous Del Rey in downtown San Jose. Even if you don't want companionship, it's still quite a site to see.

The canopy tours ("zip lines") are much more impressive than the canopy walks. There's any number of excellent ones so I don't really have any particular recommendation.

I will make one other comment about "the entire country is about the size of West Virginia, so I'm assuming anything worth seeing is fairly accessible". The comment about the size is true, but the roads infrastructure is very poor and underdeveloped - don't assume that just because something is 100 miles away that you can drive there in just a couple of hours. You can get any place you want, but it may take you double the time you might expect.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
Definately go white water rafting.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, just uhhh be careful

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

As far as beaches go, Manuel Antonio (which is near Jaco) on the pacific coast and Puerto Viejo on the carribean coast are both awesome. I liked both much more than Tamarindo and the northernwestern peninsula.

The road infrastructure is bad but the country is conducive to some sweet traveling adventures. Renting a car is easy and relatively cheap and its much more fun to just have the freedom to go anywhere rather than dealing with the bus.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

Agree about Manuel Antonio, really chill there. With four of you renting a car is a good idea, you could also just take taxi's, thirty bucks will pretty much get you from san jose to anywhere. Spend a night or two in Jaco if you want to bang hookers, way better than doing it in san jose.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

manuel antonio is a beaitufl tourist becah. rent a scooter. cahuita is the most bueaitufl beach there is, very quiet and different, strong waves and dangerous surf. san jose is great for partying, go dancing.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

Where is there good snorkeling and diving?

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

We went in February. Cool stuff:

San Jose: The Children's Museum is excellent. Obv. I have kids.

Peace Lodge at La Paz Waterfalls. Pretty amazing place except the food BLOWS. With kids, the frog tour is really cool. You can also have a hummingbird land on your hand and see their snake collection and butterfly-arium, and more. The boys got to catch a trout. It's as romantic as it gets. Warning: We spent $660 on one day, although $120 of that was dinner (bring Triscuits and CheeseWhiz, seriously) and $80 was Arturo the massage guru.

Jaco: You absolutely must stay at the Tucan Calvo Hotel. No trip to Costa Rica would be complete without it.

Jaco: Go sailfishing! Quite expensive ($800/day plus tip) but you will get sails and mahi and see dolphin by the hundreds, blue water, pilot whales - great fishing all around. Plus Jaco has 500-1000 no-limit ($1-$2), very easy game, and if you tip a buck a drink the very cute waitress will replace your glass every 10 minutes and lean over you, across you, across your neck, along your back, etc.

Manuel Antonio: didn't make it down this trip, but it's in everyone's top three.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

What is the weather like in October (1st week)? I am taking a week off then and thinking of CR maybe.

Where would you recommend for a very lazy 1 week stay? I am married but no kids and still like to drink like a college kid while on vacation. Not necessary drink WITH the college kids but not hang around with all families either. Ideal would be a modest room with nice beach access, a couple good restaurants and bars to walk to. Will get scooters for daytripping for sure.

KJS

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

I went to CR for my honeymoon the first/second week of October 2004. It's the start(?) of the rainy season. I think every day but once, it was absolutely beautiful all morning and early afternoon, then it'd just pour rain for about an hour around 4:00-5:00. Then, it'd clear up again and be nice.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

what is the differance between coasts

are there any areas that are Americanized (hyatt hotel, starbuck, etc..), ir is it fairly underdeveloped in that sense?

BTW, OP+2, you should make a thread about life in costa rica!

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

I stayed here a few years ago. Nice beach, huge pool, great food, awesome 18 hole championship golf course. Check it out.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

I did this rafting trip on my honeymoon last August: http://www.crica.com/tours/pacuare2.htm. I highly recommend it. The company was great, the food at the lodge was awesome (it is literally inthe middle of the jungle) and the guides were great.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
What is the weather like in October (1st week)?

[/ QUOTE ]

You're right at the tail end of rainy season. As indicated by another poster, the morning and early afternoon are very nice, the rain comes in and pounds for a couple hours, then the evening is nice again.

[ QUOTE ]
Where would you recommend for a very lazy 1 week stay

[/ QUOTE ]

As referenced by other posters, Manuel Antonio is a fantastic relaxation spot. I didn't recommend it to OP as he said he was early 20s, travelling with other early 20s guys, and it might be a little quiet for his taste.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
what is the differance between coasts


[/ QUOTE ]
I usually go to the pacific side as the experience is a bit more "even". On the carribbean side, you either have very "local" types of beaches (such as Limon) or very high end, expensive beaches. I usually go to the beach mostly for relaxation, and prefer Manuel Antonio.

[ QUOTE ]
are there any areas that are Americanized (hyatt hotel, starbuck, etc..), ir is it fairly underdeveloped in that sense?


[/ QUOTE ]

They have Marriotts and Quality Inns and the like. No Starbucks here since no one in Costa Rica will pay $5 for coffee when the coffee grown here is extremely high quality. Major US chains you can find in and around San Jose include McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Hooters, Outback. I usually tell people who ask me that while you're here, you can live a pretty Americanized lifestyle if you want, but it will just cost you more.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

I ate at subway in San Jose and felt really dirty about it. Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are a couple more in san jose. The food in costa rica is pretty blah for the most part, most of the cheapo local spots serve rice and beans and some kind of protein for like a a buck fifty for a big meal. I never got tired of it.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
I ate at subway in San Jose and felt really dirty about it. Taco Bell and Pizza Hut are a couple more in san jose. The food in costa rica is pretty blah for the most part, most of the cheapo local spots serve rice and beans and some kind of protein for like a a buck fifty for a big meal. I never got tired of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I got tired of the rice/beans/meat pretty quick. I loved Costa Rica, but the food was not very good, imo.

Re: Costa Rica travel thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
what is the differance between coasts

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been twice, the first time we flew into San Jose, drove to Arenal, then to the Pacific coast for 2 days, then to the Atlantic Coast for 2 days. The Pacific Coast is pretty comercialized, it reminds me of smaller coastal cities in Mexico. The Atlantic coast however, can be pretty remote. We stayed pretty much as south as you can go on the Atlantic coast, almost in Panama. The waves there are pretty big and there's good surfing, but as somebody used to creature comforts I still prefer the Pacific Side.

Also the country isn't really all that easy to travel, especially heading east from San Jose. Most of the speed limits there are like 50 km/hr, and IIRC there's only one main road running from San Jose to Limon which runs up a mountain in a rain forest, and gets closed pretty regularly from landslides.