Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Questions on how we spend our money and our time - consumer goods and services, home and vehicle, leisure and recreational activities
Post Reply
User avatar
Topic Author
Hector
Posts: 1879
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 1:21 pm
Contact:

Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by Hector »

I understand that this is not the forum related to travel, but I saw some posts in the pasts and found some people are helpful in suggestions related to travel. So I decided to write travel related question here.

Wife and are in early 30s and visiting Costa Rica for a week in the first month of August. We are not looking to do to many things during the week. The idea is to find just one accommodation, relax and visit nearby places. We are flying into San Jose.

We love experiencing local culture, good coffee places and local places to eat. We enjoy nature. Love hiking and running, but appreciate low key activities when vacationing.
none of us know how to swim well. We often go near water/beach, but don’t swim or surf. As far as the water/beach is concerned, lying down and doing nothing sounds appealing. Walking/hiking near water sounds appealing too
I heard that zip lines are famous in costa rica. We would be looking into it. May be looking into bungee as well. Hot spring is another thing that we should look into from the readings I have done.
We enjoy vacation rentals over hotels.

Where should we find accommodation?

Where should we plan to visit?
CrossOverGuy
Posts: 422
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 2:19 pm

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by CrossOverGuy »

Lots of wonderful places to visit in Costa Rica. I'd say near Manuel Antonio Park, the closest town being Quepos might be a possibility. It's very beautiful with lots monkeys, bird-watching, beaches, and there is sailing nearby, horseback riding; I think you can make arrangements for ziplines and other activities as well. Near Arenal is another area of the country, near the town of Fortuna, near the volcano where you can bathe in the hot springs is another great place. First time I went to Costa Rica, I took a tour by caravan.com -- they cover a lot of ground, which I understand you don't want to do -- but if you look at their and other itineraries of other travel companies, you might get some idea of what there is to do and where you might like to be. It's a very beautiful country. August is rainy season in Costa Rica, so be prepared for some rain and have some insect repellant with you, btw. But I think you'll enjoy your trip.
texasdiver
Posts: 3937
Joined: Thu Jun 25, 2009 12:50 am
Location: Vancouver WA

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by texasdiver »

Tripadvisor is your go to forum for all things Costa Rica. I suggest you explore this forum. There are various Americans in the Costa Rican tourism industry there who will give lots of good and unbiased advice:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g2 ... _Rica.html

As for where to go specifically. You can read my trip report but we were traveling with kids and so had somewhat different priorities. Nevertheless, the Leaves and Lizards resort was great. Here was my trip report

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g2 ... _Rica.html

For a week's time I'd suggest picking whether you want to be in the mountains or on the beach and then work from there.
retired recently
Posts: 582
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:09 pm

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by retired recently »

My wife, son and I spent a month in CR in February. Nice country although quite a bit overpriced I thought. I agree with previous posters you can get specific advice on TripAdvisor although we found some of it can be false as it is written by owners and their friends.

Manuel Antonio is very nice, we stayed right by the park entrance at a small bed and breakfast.

Arenal was probably amazing a few years ago before the volcano went dormant, now not so much.

I understand it is too far for many to travel to, but we thought Thailand was a much better vacation spot than CR. Obviously, the flights are expensive.

Apparently, the Caribbean side has some violence as one of the locals who was helping protect the turtles was recently murdered.

We enjoyed the Pacific side, but be careful if you cannot swim. Pretty fierce waves sometimes.
User avatar
Watty
Posts: 28860
Joined: Wed Oct 10, 2007 3:55 pm

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by Watty »

We just got back from a trip there in late April which was the end of their dry season.

From what I have read August is in the middle of the rainy season which lots of people apparently enjoy but many of the roads there were pretty marginal even in the dry season so they would be very difficult in the rainy season so be sure to research that well especially if you are going into the mountains.

The waves and currents on the pacific side can be pretty rough but you should be ok if you stay on the beach.

They say you can drink the tap water and we did. My wife did fine but I got some stomach crud, possibly from the tap water in one of the parks when I refilled a water bottle. I would use bottled water at least when you are out of the developed areas.

The food there is not inexpensive so having a hotel that provides a good breakfast is worth looking for. Even in the grocery stores the food selection was somewhat limited, except in the largest stores, and some things are very expensive so be sure to read the price tags closely.

We were there for three weeks and basically went to Manuel Antonio, La Fortuna/ Arenal, Santa Elena Monteverde , and Samara on the Pacific coast. They all had their appeal so it really depends on what you are looking for. We flew into San Jose and out of Liberia and both of the airports seemed pretty good.

A few random notes;

Manuel Antonio: The town of Quepos isn't all that nice of place so stay closer to the park even though it will cost more. We had a condo that we got through VRBO that was a long walk on the beach from the park. There is a good inexpensive bus that goes from the park to Quepos about every 20 minutes and we did fine without a car. At the park they will first offer you a private tour but they have group tours that are much less expensive. Either way it is well worth taking a guided tour since you will see a lot more wildlife. Go very early in the morning to see the most wildlife and it will be cooler. Take your swimming suit, there is a wonderful beach in the park.

La Fortuna/ Arenal. There are a number of hot springs there that go from being basically a waterpark to a very expensive resorts. We only went to one that was very nice and quiet, Eco Termales Hot Springs. I would have to look up the prices but as I recall it only cost about half of what the big expensive one costs. It is smaller and not advertised as much and someone clued us into it and we were very happy with it. We took a taxi from town and back, I forget what it cost but the taxi was very reasonable and much better than trying to go with a tour group.

Santa Elena Monteverde . Be sure to check out the roads in that area. I suspect that they will be very challenging in the Rainey season.

Samara. Small beach town. We did not have a car which limited what we could do there but that was OK since we were mainly looking for beach time. The Guanacaste coast tended to have better roads, which is still not saying good roads, but that area would not be real convenient to San Jose so if you have already booked tickets that might not be the best area for you.
User avatar
curiouskitty
Posts: 261
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:40 am

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by curiouskitty »

retired recently wrote:Arenal was probably amazing a few years ago before the volcano went dormant, now not so much.
Exactly. We were like "why did we come here?" and we left rather quickly. La Fortuna still seemed to be trying to make money off the now dormant volcano and wasn't very interesting IMO. I'd only recommend it if you want to do the hot springs or possibly as a base for hiking, rafting, etc. (we weren't in the mood at that point as we had already spent several days in Monteverde and I was feeling a bit sick)
Watty wrote:They say you can drink the tap water and we did. My wife did fine but I got some stomach crud, possibly from the tap water in one of the parks when I refilled a water bottle. I would use bottled water at least when you are out of the developed areas.
Yes I was also told tap water was fine. I only took one sip from a water fountain at the Curi-Cancha Reserve near Monteverde (because our guide had not brought water but the hotel had indicated he would...) and then felt terrible for several days!
User avatar
curiouskitty
Posts: 261
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 1:40 am

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by curiouskitty »

Montezuma, Nosara, and Monteverde were the highlights for our group. If I planned the trip again, I might have spent more time in Montezuma as the vibe was great. Playa de los Artistas was very memorable (especially the whole snapper!)
TRC
Posts: 1969
Joined: Sat Dec 20, 2008 4:38 pm

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by TRC »

The surf town of tamarindo is really good. My most memorable meal from the trip wast a small restaurant called firefly.

Zip lines were fun. Try to find one that goes near / over waterfalls.

Off all the tropical places I've been to, cost rica has had the nicest locals.
User avatar
MIARay
Posts: 168
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:15 pm

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by MIARay »

Look no further: http://fincalunanuevalodge.com/index.php

Their blog: http://fincalunanueva.com/

Click on the "Tours" section and it has everything you asked for. The Arenal area is nice and chill. Enjoy your vacation!
realm
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2012 3:54 pm

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by realm »

My wife and I visited Costa Rica in July 2011 and loved it. I would highly recommend staying a night or two at the Marriott in San Jose, it was a beautiful hotel on a coffee plantation. The downside of San Jose is that it is in the heart of the country and it will require some travel to get to the beaches.

It does not sound like you and your wife are water people but I would look into rafting the Sarapiquí River. It is a National Geographic top 10 white water rafting river, and was the highlight of our trip. It is an easy rafting trip even with little/no experience.

We wanted to see the volcanos as well, but being that it's rainy season it may be too foggy to get good views while you are there. Best of luck!
abrash
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Mar 24, 2007 8:42 am

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by abrash »

I visited Costa Rica with my family last April for nine days. We split our trip between La Fortuna and and Nuevo Arenal and enjoyed both locations.

For La Fortuna, I would recommend doing the Cerro Chatto crater hike. It is an all-day hike. It likely will be muddy when you go, but will be well worth the effort. There also is good canyoneering and rafting in the area. Desafio is a good outfitter. As for hot springs, there is a great place nearby Tabacon where the locals go bathing in hot springs for free. We went there and had a fantastic time and we felt an authentic, local experience.

We went to Nuevo Arenal for its great windsurfing, but this activity will be closed during the rainy season. Aside from the windsurfing we enjoyed the small-town, costal feel (it's not on a coast, but Lake Arenal is huge) and great eats in the area. From Nuevo Arenal we undertook a day trip to the Tenorio Volcano/Rio Celeste area. It was a challenging trip that required a 4x4 and might be even more difficult in the rainy season, but hiking Rio Celeste and exploring the neighboring towns such as Upala really made us feel like we were off the beaten track.

Overall, given the length of your trip, I would avoid the temptation of trying to hit too many places. Short travel distances in Costa Rica seem to belie long travel times. I would seek to visit one and no more than two locations. Of the two locations we visited, I would recommend La Fortuna, but I cannot compare these areas to parts of the country I did not experience. Given your desire for a low-key trip, I would recommend avoiding staying in downtown areas or major hotels. We did our whole trip in local rentals and B&Bs and cannot recommend this approach highly enough. We also rented a car and highly enjoyed the experience of driving around the country and the additional freedom it gave us. I would highly recommend this over taxis/shuttles. See below for links and recommendations:

La Fortuna

Villa Hermosa B&B. Highly recommended. The one downside is it is 15 minutes out of town on a bumpy road. On the flip side, the drive is supremely fun for the adventurous.
http://www.thevillahermosa.com/reservations.html

Cerro Chatto crater lake hike
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_R ... juela.html

La Fortuna Hot Springs (free)
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_R ... rk_Pr.html

Desafio. Great, dependable outfitter
http://www.desafiocostarica.com/

Nuevo Arenal

La Casita. We stayed here and loved it.
http://www.flipkey.com/nuevo-arenal-vac ... s/p307461/

Good eats in Nuevo Arenal:
Moya's Place, Gingerbread, and Cafe y Macadamia

Rental Car
We used the local company Vamos and enjoyed it. They picked us up at the airport and prices were reasonable. Would highly recommend getting a GPS!
http://vamos4x4.com/vamos/
User avatar
Topic Author
Hector
Posts: 1879
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 1:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by Hector »

thanks for your responses. We are reading more about it.
would you recommend renting car or not? my wife speaks spanish which would be useful in public transportation, but we want to know whether is it safe or not
jayjayc
Posts: 641
Joined: Tue Jun 25, 2013 11:38 pm

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by jayjayc »

Hector wrote:thanks for your responses. We are reading more about it.
would you recommend renting car or not? my wife speaks spanish which would be useful in public transportation, but we want to know whether is it safe or not
We opted to forgo the car rental. Instead we used the GrayLine shuttles to get from one area to another. If you go to Arenal, pack some dramamine. There's lots of crazy curvy roads that us woozy.

The biggest tip I could give is to contact the hotel and negotiate a cash discount. I got some steep discounts b/c I paid cash. The best part is...they accept USD so it was really easy.
retired recently
Posts: 582
Joined: Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:09 pm

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by retired recently »

driving is easy there just be sure you get a GPS. We rented from Alamo and it was v expensive, tried to use Vamos but their office always had an "away for lunch" sign on the door.
TRC wrote:Off all the tropical places I've been to, cost rica has had the nicest locals.
Give Thailand a try...
carolc
Posts: 302
Joined: Thu Mar 22, 2007 11:45 am
Location: New Hampshire seacoast

Re: Visiting Costa Rica for a week in August

Post by carolc »

We traveled to Costa Rica several years ago and the highlight of our stay was at La Paloma on the Osa Peninsula. Flew in a small plane from San Jose, then a boat ride to La Paloma. All meals were included because there isn't much there. Quite a paradise.

carolc
Post Reply