Back in March 2020 we were all set for our big adventure trip around Costa Rica, our flights were booked, bags packed, hotels reserved and Matt had all the route mapped out and set. With just one week to go all changed, as Covid hit the world and countries started to lock down; we soon swapped learning to zipline for learning to complete the rubics cube in under 5 minutes (under 1 min for Lyssa), swapping the flora and fauna of the tropics for the geese, ducks and sea gulls of the Netherlands, breakfast of gallo pinto was replaced with bread and Hagelslag…at least the cocktails continued to flow!

Fast forward four years, almost to the day, and in March 2024 we were finally stepping on the flight that was to take us to San Jose for this long awaited trip. Matt had been able to resurrect a lot of the plans, even reserving some of the hotels that we were meant to stay at all those years ago. Air France were able to get us an upgrade to Business class, so the holiday started right from the airport and the wonderful crew immediately got us into the holiday mood.

When, Where and How?

March to April is a good time to visit this part of the world, as the rainy season is yet to start and days are full of blue skies and sun (for the most part!), we arrived for the long easter weekend, which means San Jose will be abnormally quiet, so if you do put the capital city on your visit then it will be at its most peaceful!

Costa Rica needs more than just two weeks to visit everything, so unless you are staying longer than this you will need to make some choices on where you visit. We followed a very loose spiral route that started in San Jose, circled south to the central pacific coast followed that up and around into the Nicoya Peninsula and then curving back into the mainland of the Northwest, into the Northern Lowlands and finishing in the Central Valley to finish where we started.

This route will get you to the majority of the must do places, the incredible national parks, cloud forests, rain forests, volcanos, toucans, sloths, monkeys, quetzals, ziplines, canyons, tropical beaches, perfect surf waves…all to the chant of pura vida! That’s not to say there isn’t more to do and see, especially along the Caribbean coast and the Osa Peninsula, but that will be our next trip!

Getting around has to be by 4 wheel drive car, the country is just made for it, being both safe and easy. Good primary roads, exciting diversions through rivers, mountain climbs, dusty secondary roads with potholes you can park a small car in! Busses and transfers are also possible, but a car will give you the freedom to explore everything at your leisure.

Picking up our hire car Matt was somewhat bemused when told to be careful when driving through rivers, positive in the knowledge that we would not be doing that as the roads we had seen so far around the capital could have been in any European country…fast forward 2 hours and we were putting that advice into practice having to divert of the highway, into fields and of course through a river! Another reason to visit in the dry season! Do give yourself time to get to places whilst driving, average speeds will end up around 30km/ph and there will often be diversions for many reasons.

So, let’s get into the wonderful places and all the awesome things to do:

• The Capital – San Jose
• The Central Pacific Coast – Manuel Antonio National Park & the crocodiles of Rio Tarcoles
• Northwestern Costa Rica – Monteverde Cloud Forest, Rincon de la Vieja ziplining and canyoning,
• The Nicoya Peninsula – Samara, Nosara, Surf’s up!
• Arenal & the Northern Lowlands – La Fortuna, Arenal volcano, Hot springs and hanging bridges
• The Highlands – Catarata del Toro, La Paz Waterfalls, Poas volcano

San Jose 🏠

You will most probably fly into San Jose to start your trip. If pushed for time you can easily skip the capital and get straight to the nature, but we had a few days spare to aclimatise and to get a feel for the country and its capital city. As it was coming up to easter the city was blissfully quiet in terms of traffic, and our Hotel Presidente was perfectly placed in the centre, just behind the National theatre.

San Jose is safe enough by day to wander around on foot and to see the sights. We did get warnings not to walk around at night, but taxis and uber are plentiful and easy, so you can always get around very easily. The city’s sites can be covered in a full day, starting with a free walking tour that will give you the stories and main sights – starting in Morazán Park, past the Metallic School (not a school of metals, but rather a school made from metal!), the Parque España with it’s tropical plants and fruits

around the Ministerio de Cultura y Juventud that used to be the local distillery and where, at the back a curious sundial was built that did not get the sun after midday, and even when it does the time it tells is wrong and you have to use inbuilt correction calculations! To the colourful National Museum of Costa Rica, that used to be an army barracks until the country’s whole military was disbanded over 70 years ago. Outside the museum is a space for the curious Esfera de Piedra, a huge stone sphere that was one of hundreds found in the south of the country – no one knows why they are there, but there are lots of theories, naturally any alien theory is probably the right one!

The tour finishes up at the National Theatre, where you can get a quirky tour inside. It starts off as a normal tour before actors take over and transport you back to the end of the 19th century to meet the architect of the theatre and the president of the country! The theatre has an interesting floor that can be cleared of its seats and raised up with an age old mechanism to the height of the stage to create a ballroom; plus a rather fanciful ceiling painting to represent Costa Rica, that, whilst beautiful has many factual inconsistencies about the country as it was painted by an artist who never came here…the Costa Ricans were so proud of this that they put it on their banknotes!

A top spot for lunch is in the Escalante district and the food court of Jardín de Lolita, where you can try the local specialties of gallo pinto (rice), patacones (fried plantain), ceviche and tacos.

Spend the afternoon with a wander around the Central Market, a nice mix of both local and touristy. To get there is a pleasant wander down the busy pedestrianised avenue 1.

The Metropolitan Cathedral is also worth a look, especially if you arrive during a major celebration like Easter, as we had.

Our evenings were spent on the rooftop of our hotel that had an excellent restaurant with a pretty garden to enjoy the fresh evenings and the skyline of the city.

The Central Pacific Coast 🏠

Our destination along this coast was the Manuel Antonio National Park, around 3 hours from San Jose (plus a little extra for delays and diversions). Just past the town of Quepos, accommodation is strung out along a winding hilly road bordering on the edges of the national park, so a lot of places will already have a bit of the park in their back yard. We stayed at the Falls Resort, that looked quite unassuming from the road, but the toucans yapping to one another in the trees out front already gave away the tropic setting that the hotel was set in and it had it’s own mini jungle to explore as its gardens.

The Falls are also well located for restaurants and drinks at a walkable distance. The iconic El Avion bar and restaurant, a CIA contra plane that had been abandoned back in the 80s and was transported to one of the best viewpoints in the region, overlooking the sea and the sunset. The food is a bit touristy, but the view is the reason to come and to encounter the local wildlife…it was here that we got our first sloth encounter, a 2 toed very lively sloth that was eating just metres from us. Our first evening in the nature and we’d already encountered toucans and sloths that we felt it would be an everyday occurrence…but seemingly not and we had been very lucky!

The park can be extremely popular, so it is best to reserve your slots on the national park website for Costa Rica (you’ll need this for multiple parks), alternatively you can book a guided tour at your hotel the night before that will also get you the entrance included (nb. the park is closed on Tuesdays!). Even if you get the tickets yourself a guide is essential, has contrary to our previous nights experience most of the animals will not be running up to you and waving at you, but rather they will be 10s of metres up in the dense tree foliage, only to be spotted by the eagle eyed guides and their high powered telescopes.

Our guided tour lasted 2.5 hours and we got our first experience of the unique tropical vibe of Costa Rica. We’ve been to many tropical countries and CR takes it to a next level of lushness of its flora and the sheer sights and sounds of the birds, animals and insects that are tucked away in the surrounding forests, it is truly magical. Get ready for Sloths (both 2 and 3 toed), toucans, squirrel monkeys, howler monkeys and the mischievous capuchin monkeys, the Jesus lizard that can walk on water and the camouflaged stick bird that pretends to be part of the branch of a tree.

The tour will typically cover the main path up to the cafeteria (where people get to experience being in a cage whilst the animals are on the outside) and then down to the beach; but there is still more of the park to explore, and you can head up to the viewpoints where if you look carefully you’ll find more monkeys for sure.

Heading back down to the beachside of the Park, it is supposed to be one of the most secluded beaches in the area, but on the day we visited it was pretty busy, so we skipped the sunbathing and instead marveled at the Capuchins and their tricks.

Once you’ve covered the park, head out of the main gates towards the beach and find some lunch to reward yourself for all the morning’s walking, Baldi’s Fresh Restaurant makes great nachos and fish tacos to enjoy.

The sounds of the jungle by day are nothing compared to the cacophony that gets underway once the sun goes down. If you want to explore the jungle at night then get on a tour to the Rainmaker conservation park. The national Park closes after dark, but Rainmaker continues the exploration and with a guide you’ll be spotting all manner of frogs – the famous red eyed frog, log snout frog, bull toads all making the music of the night.

Trekking through the forest at night brings its hazards but luckily the guides will be there to navigate you through safely, sleeping toucans, scary looking tail-less scorpions, a Fer de Lance viper that was getting ready to strike and a Kinkaju up above, that is a cat like animal that jumps around like a monkey and is prone to pooping on people from a height when it takes a dislike to you!

Travelling to and from Quepos to the north means you will cross the Rio Tarcoles and it is here that you’ll find a bridge that is surrounded by huge saltwater crocodiles lounging by the banks of the river below. You won’t miss it as there is a big tourist colony here and traffic jams will start many kilometers before the bridge. You may even see the remains of previous tourist cars that have tried to ford this river!

Northwestern Costa Rica 🏠

Monteverde

We traversed the northwest in two stages, first heading to Monteverde on our way to the Peninsula and then back again to Rincon de la Vieja as we headed back to the centre of the country. Starting with Monteverde where eco-tourism and adventure meet in commercial heaven! Santa Elena is the main town of the area, with a bit of a hippy vibe of hostels and trendy little eateries. We stayed just outside town at the lovely Casitas Del Bosque where we had our own little forest house with hosts that were so friendly…afternoon tea of natural herbs, enjoying breakfast on the porch with the hummingbirds and nocturnal armadillos snuffling around the woods in front!

The main attraction of Monteverde is its cloud forest reserve. Our hosts were able to organise us a tour with a guide named Javier, who it seems is quite selective in his tours, ensuring the group size is kept to a minimum. It’s another early start for the tour, as always, but it is worth waking up for…and our weather was probably one of the few days when there was not a cloud in the sky!

Javier warmed us up with some howler monkeys but very quickly had us on a run through the forest as he had heard the call of a Resplendent Quetzal. We are not ardent twichers, but the sight and sound of this vivid bird will make you want to buy your own high powered binoculars and travel the world for such beauty. Named after its long tail feather the quetzal is the national bird of Guatemala, but is mainly found here in Monteverde.

The reserve is definitely more for birds and Javier was able to find us a hummingbird nest – only 3 metres in front of us but so tiny we still had to use the telescope to see it properly! White throated robins and an ornate hawk eagle as well as countless other birds that made up the tropical sound of the forest.

The reserve has a flexible entry / exit policy, so once you buy your ticket you can come and go as you please for the whole day. So after the guiding we treated ourselves to some cake and coffee in the hummingbird garden, being strafed by all types of these super speeding birds.

When done exploring, have a late lunch with some of Cost Rica’s best seafood at Manolo’s, where the portions are both excellent and plentiful!

As dusk fell it was back out into the forest to do some night tours, as in Quepos the night tours are not in the national park but rather on private property bordering the reserve. The tour of Don Rodolfo seems more like a city farm rather than a remote, wild forest as you’ll hear police sirens and dogs barking, but nonetheless even this close to civilisation you can come across armadillos, scorpions and a variety of exotics birds sleeping in the trees.

Selvatura Adventure Park

As well as some unique nature Monteverde is also one of the adventure capitals of CR. There are a variety of different operations that you can go with in order to fly through and above the canopies of the cloud forests. Selvatura Adventure Park is one of the bigger outfits that sits on the edge of the Santa Elena cloud forest, offering multiple activities from zip lining, tarzan swings, suspension bridges, sloth encounters, butterflies and reptiles; with a pick up service that makes it easy to visit, it is a very slick, Disney-esque experience that delivers on the adventure and the nature (but also including the prices, queues and the merchandise!).

There are a dizzying array of options and packages that you can book, so take a little time on their website to see what you want to do and see. We wanted to do the zip lining and hanging bridges plus a chance to get a bit closer to our friends the sloths, and with an early 8am start we were able to fit all of this in before lunchtime. The ziplines surely delivered on the adrenaline rush and the queues and number of people (we were about 60 people in our group) dissipate quickly as you are speedily and efficiently dispatched along the 13 cables, 15 platforms, and 3km of flight.  If you are a couple, then the tandem ziplines are a very nice way to hurtle above the canopy below.

The hanging bridges give you a chance to enjoy a bit more of the nature at a more genteel pace…although you’ll still have the sounds and screams of the zip-liners hurtling above you! The nature is as beautiful as Monteverde cloud reserve, but perhaps with all the commotion (and us not having a guide) meant that we saw far fewer birds and animals on our exploration.

The sloth encounter was a chance to get up close to these lovely mammals that have been rescued from the effects of poaching and habitat destruction but that would no longer survive in the outside world on their own. This means that you will see them in positions that you may never see in the wild – mainly sleeping, but perhaps on the ground or under a bush, looking as if they had drunk too much the night before and were now sleeping off a bit of a hangover!

Rincon de la Vieja – Hacienda Guachipelin

We came back through the northwestern states on the return leg of our journey around CR, this time passing more northwards and stopping over in Rincon de la Vieja. It could be done as a day trip from the beaches of Nicoya but we strongly recommend to stay at least one night in order to enjoy the many things to do here. There really is only one place you should be staying at – Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin & Adventure Center. It is a bit of a tourist hub, but the nice spacious rooms, along with plentiful good food are complimented by a full roster of adventure activities along with free access to the many waterfalls and hot springs that surround the area.

If you arrive in the afternoon, then make sure you get straight out to visit the waterfalls and hot springs…first to the Oropendola Waterfall that after a short walk descend into a network of hanging bridges / stairs that wind there way down to the falls and a refreshing pool to have a bit of a dip in.

The waterfalls of Rio Negro are actually around 5 cascades that you can trek alongside for 30 mins or so.

Opposite to the Rio Negro falls are the hot springs, where hotel guests have free access, you can pick up a towel from the entrance, hike through the forest in your swimming gear and enjoy the natural pools alongside the river. Mud is also on hand to give your skin a bit of dirty treatment!

A full day here should be given over to adrenalin escapades…zip lining, canyoning, river tubing and horse riding. As with many of the adventure outfits in CR the activities are bundled up into various packages, so as we wanted to do it all we took the one day adventure pass with added canyoning…a long day from 8am to 5pm, including lunch.

First off with canyoning, that was more orientated to rappelling rather than jumping…with some nice twists of mid-rappel drops and waterfall dunks!

River tubing saw a horde of tourists clinging on for dear life whilst dropping down cascades and over rapids, a fun mixture of excitement and relaxation!

Zip lining was less of the factory approach than at Selvatura, giving the guides a chance to play with us a bit more, allowing spiderman, superman and any other manner of superhero zips! What was also unique about this tour was that you can zipline and tarzan swing through a canyon that brought a different level oof excitement to flying through the air.

Horse riding was our bonus activity that came for ‘free’ with the rest of the days events…I would like to say it was a relaxing canter amongst the forests but our lack of horsemanship had us bouncing in the saddles as soon as the horses went quicker than a mild amble. But the destination was a paradise, to the Chorreras waterfall that we had all to ourselves to float in the crystal clear waters.

Rincon de la Vieja National Park

The namesake of this area is the national park. Tickets need to be booked beforehand on the national parks website as you can not but tickets on the door…even if there are multiple folks on the door doing nothing!

The park is really nice, not so much a destination for the animals, although you will see plenty of birds; the main draw is the volcanic activity of the parks, venting fumeroles, boiling water and bubbling mud, spread over a very nice 3km circuit route through the park.

The Nicoya Peninsula 🏠

On the western side of the country, jutting out into the Pacific you’ll find the Nicoya Peninsula, home of multiple surfing beaches that each bring a different level of skill in catching the waves. We opted for the beginner / intermediate waves of Samara to spend a few days of holiday within the holiday!

Samara is a nice mix of not too touristy, but still with great beach access and a good set of places to eat and drink. We stayed at the wonderful Villas Kalimba, perfectly placed just across the road from the beach, with self contained bungalows where you can choose to make your own meals if you need a break from restaurant life.

The surf schools here all seem to have a pretty good deal that if you take a lesson then you’ll get free board rental for up to 5 days after. So our first day of surf was a bit of refresher training with the excellent Pato’s Surf School. The waves were perfect for us, so our 3 days were mainly spent toasting the back of our legs and noses and getting the occasional perfect wave!

When not surfing you can explore some of the environs, again the driving principles of CR should be followed in giving yourself time to get to places as the roads can quickly become dusty, pot-holed nightmares as soon as you venture off the tarmac. Nosara is the true home of surf in this part of the world and a boho surf village adjoins the beach where you can get your perfect cocktails and kambucha after a hard day of surfing.

A special lunch / dinner can be had at Sabor de la Montaña, that is well off the beaten track up dusty roads in the mountains that will reward you will fabulous food and stunning views of the coastline below.

Arenal & the Northern Lowlands 🏠

Arenal is the home of iconic Costa Rica, dominated by the Arenal volcano and low lying clouds that add to the moodiness of the place, where hanging bridges are the means of conveyance and zip lining is the fast track. Our trip was built around this destination as the Hotel Arenal Kioro Suites & Spa was a hotel that had kept our booking from 2020 up until now! Grab a picture if you see the volcano, as clouds will come in quick!

As the name says, the hotel is comprised of all suites that look onto views of the volcano…now if the volcano is shrouded in cloud is a different matter! The suites are set apart by blocks, so try to get one of the far flung blocks (11 or 12) as although it will mean a longer walk to the hotels and facilities you will also be right on the edge of the forest and closer to all the wonderful nature that is to be had here, alll to enjoy from your personal jacuzzi.

The hotel also has one of the best hot springs in the area, with cascading pools of beautifully hot water to wash away all your cares and worries at all hours of the day!

Místico Arenal Hanging Bridges

There is plenty to keep you occupied whist in Arenal, and as we had already got our fill of zip-lining elsewhere in CR we decided to stick with nature. The hanging bridges of Mistico Park are a perfect mix of hiking, high wire act and nature.

To fully enjoy, make sure you get a guide as you will see so much more, plus warnings on what insects not to touch! Our guide, Edgar was a perfect introduction to the area and managed to guide us by sight, sound and smell to find spider monkeys, the ‘blue jeans’ frog (don’t touch!), vipers, wild pigs and the national bird of CR, the Yigüirro (clay-coloured thrush).

Once done, you’ll probably have a bit of an appetite, so the perfect lunch stop is in the main town of La Fortuna and Soda la Hormiga where if you are lucky you can grab a seat to enjoy the muy rica local cuisine.

La Fortuna Waterfall

With all the publicity you’ll be forgiven for thinking that La Fortuna has the only waterfall to visit in Costa Rica! And at 75 metres high, nestled amongst the tropical green foliage and a bubbling green pool at its base just waiting for you and your instagram then it is definitely worth a visit. But at 20 USD per person and every other tourist having the same idea it may not quite be the tropical paradise you envisage!

Sloth’s Territory

To the east of La Fortuna is a small habitat that is home to a large number of sloths – aptly named Sloth’s Territory. It’s a natural reserve where the animals are not fenced in or contained, they just seem to enjoy being here; but as such it means that you are not going to have a sloth in your arms and will have to go searching to find them.

We entered into the forest heralded by our lucky wildlife spotting talisman – toucans, and within minutes our guide had spotted a ball of brown fluff way up in the branches…and then a juvenile that was slowly making its way through the treetops.

Fixated on the juvenile we didn’t even notice a little 3 toed sloth almost climbing on top of our heads, quite happily making its way down and across the branches just above us.

Venturing further into the forest we came across a mother and her baby making their way up into the canopy above. All in all a really nice little place to visit and get up close (with a bit of luck) to these lovely sloths.

The Highlands 🏠

Almost the last leg of our CR circuit and finishing with a fluid bang and the waterfalls of the highlands! Coming from Arenal you can make a detour alongside the eastern edge of the Parque Nacional Juan Castro Blanco to visit the Catarata del Toro. A nice little hike (around 1.5-2hrs) into the lush crater of an extinct volcano.

From seeing the falls from high above, you can descend hundreds of steps into the crater to get up close and feel the breeze of all that rushing water…this does mean that you have to ascend those hundreds of steps too, but it is worth it. Unlike La Fortuna you will most probably have this waterfall all to yourself!

Continuing further to Vara Blanca we had our last night of the trip at the extremely cute Horstensias Chalets, where each room is its own little cabin set amongst a little green garden of hortensia flowers. The view of the nearby Poas volcano is reputedly stunning…unfortunately this was when the weather finally decided to turn foggy and cloudy. Still, being ensconced in a nice warm little chalet whilst a wintry scene descends outside is a very cosy feeling! The Lodge also has a very fine italian restaurant that gave us an excellent last dinner of the trip.

If you have an evening flight home, then you will still have a full day of adventure to enjoy, and the Poas area is just 50 minutes from the airport (even with the notorious traffic) so you can enjoy the sights almost right up to departure time! For our last day we got tickets to visit the Poas volcano (at the usual NP website), so active that it can often be closed due to the emissions, you need to take a safety briefing and wear a hard hat before taking the short trek up.

Sadly for us we could only imagine what the crater looked like as thick fog coated the summit, but the threat was still there where holes from previous ejections from the crater were marked all around us, and the ominous eruption shelters made us wonder if we would really be protected from incineration!

With the day being a bit wet and grey, a visit to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens was a good option. Reportedly the number one nature tour in Costa Rica, and indeed very good and diverse to visit. A bit of forest, a bit of a zoo and a lot of waterfalls! Matt got his wish to get up close with his favourite birds – the toucans and he had to be dragged out of the aviary to continue the visit.

Taking the waterfalls in descending order you’ll get to experience them from all angles, zigging and zagging along the verdant paths and walkways to the park’s namesake the La Paz waterfall. The route is quite civilised as once you reach the end, you just have to wait 5 minutes to get picked up by a bus and whisked back up to the main entrance.

We just had time for one last local lunch at the Soda El Poás where Lyssa had her favourite soup of Olla de Carne. A little coffee stop on the edge of the city…at the plantation of Starbucks and then we were set for the journey home, waving a fond farewell to this tropical delight.

We hope you don’t have to wait as long as we did to get here, but if there is one place that it is worth the wait for then Costa Rica is it, disfruta!