Costa Rica travel thread

[wiggs73]

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.

[in48092]

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.

[Punker]

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.

[eviljeff]

[ QUOTE ]
Definately go white water rafting.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, just uhhh be careful

[sam h]

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.

[edfurlong]

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.

[fatgirl_lover]

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.

[goofball]

Where is there good snorkeling and diving?

[Matt Flynn]

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.

[KJS]

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