Has anybody traveled to Costa Rica?

[I Luv Bulldogs]

Bucket list trip . . . . two weeks in Costa Rica in March . This is especially looking good since its been freezing and foggy in Vancouver this past week.

We are flying in and out of San Jose and have a house booked in Manuel Antonio for a week where we will meet up with my sister and her family. The rest of my trip is still up in the air. So many choices, so little time.

Has anybody ever been and would like to share their experiences or offer tips?

 

[Ania]

We just came back a few days ago! We traveled with young kids so we barely scratched the surface of all one can see and do in Costa Rica. I decided that it's one of a few places we will return to (the world is so big and I have seen just a fraction of it, so I tend to prefer new locations to ones we've been to before; Costa Rica turned out to be one of the few exceptions to this rule for me). The highlights of our trip were: visit to Manuel Antonio, day sailing trip, zip lining (my husband and the older daughter did it, I'll have to do it with the younger one when she is old enough), gorgeous sunsets (we were on the Pacific side), watching scarlet macaws in the almond trees by our house. I gorged on ceviche every single day.
I wish we had time to go parasailing right by Manuel Antonio, but kids were wiped out after the visit to the park and it was a bit too far to drive there again.
This company has fantastic reviews and they were stellar in communicating with me by e-mail (I was sad to cancel our booking but they were very understanding and nice about it).
A useful tip I read online and it came handy: nearly all businesses take US dollars, so there is no need to exchange currency (unless you will be driving and need money for tolls, in that case just exchange $25 worth). They'll take US dollars and give you change in colones, so in a few days you will have plenty of local currency.
Are your renting a car? If so I could give some additional info.
In two weeks you will probably have time to do and see so much! Enjoy your trip, it sounds fantastic.

 

[vesperholly]

I went for a week with my family two years ago; we stayed near Tamarindo (flew in and out of Liberia). It was mostly a "thaw and relax" vacation, but we took one day to do a boating/snorkeling tour and another to an all-day package of zip lining, horseback riding and tubing. Other than that, I sat by a pool or on a beach and read my Kindle. Heaven

 

[I Luv Bulldogs]

We just came back a few days ago! We traveled with young kids so we barely scratched the surface of all one can see and do in Costa Rica. I decided that it's one of a few places we will return to (the world is so big and I have seen just a fraction of it, so I tend to prefer new locations to ones we've been to before; Costa Rica turned out to be one of the few exceptions to this rule for me). The highlights of our trip were: visit to Manuel Antonio, day sailing trip, zip lining (my husband and the older daughter did it, I'll have to do it with the younger one when she is old enough), gorgeous sunsets (we were on the Pacific side), watching scarlet macaws in the almond trees by our house. I gorged on ceviche every single day.
I wish we had time to go parasailing right by Manuel Antonio, but kids were wiped out after the visit to the park and it was a bit too far to drive there again.
This company has fantastic reviews and they were stellar in communicating with me by e-mail (I was sad to cancel our booking but they were very understanding and nice about it).
A useful tip I read online and it came handy: nearly all businesses take US dollars, so there is no need to exchange currency (unless you will be driving and need money for tolls, in that case just exchange $25 worth). They'll take US dollars and give you change in colones, so in a few days you will have plenty of local currency.
Are your renting a car? If so I could give some additional info.
In two weeks you will probably have time to do and see so much! Enjoy your trip, it sounds fantastic.

I'm in Canada so I will have to exchange some money to either colones or USD. Our Canadian dollar is hurting bad against the USD right now. I need to look into this and see whats a better deal.

Yes, we have rented an SUV through National.

Thanks for the info

 

[pat c]

Yes, we were there last year. Loved it. We were on the pacific side and we're beach/water people altho we did some touring around, ziplining etc.

We'll go back again sometime.

 

[alexikeguchi]

I have been twice, one time to Guanacaste for the usual beach experience and another to La Fortuna, near the Arenal volcano. Since you have two weeks, you could do both. The interior is very rainy (hence the spectacular rainforest), but if you have a few days, you should be able to see the summit of Arenal at least once. There are hot springs in the area too, which make up for the rain. There is a nice nature walk over hanging bridges, a butterfly garden featuring the morpho and heliconius, and the river safari was beautiful too.