Costa Rica

[FlamesAddiction]

I was just wondering who, if anyone, from here has been to Costa Rica. I'm going for a couple of weeks in April and was hoping to get advice about things to do or things to watch out for.

And in general, would you recommend Costa Rica? I still have a choice to go back to Santa Cruz, Mexico instead.

[Phanuthier]

I've never been, but I've kept my eye on Costa Rica for a while as the one sunny country I'd like to go for. Amazing rainforests, beautiful beaches, very nice culture.

If it were me, I'd go with Costa Rica.

A link that might be helpful: http://wikitravel.org/en/Costa_Rica

[kermitology]

I'm going to Costa Rica in September.. you'll have to tell me what you do.

[habernac]

Beautiful spot. Went there for my honeymoon 5 years ago. We just took it easy and hung around the resort. From talking to others, I really wish I had gone to the interior and checked out the Arenal volcano and did some of the jungle zip line tours. The Pacific coast was beautiful.

[flamefan74]

Went to Costa Rica in November. I've been to Mexico, Dominican,Jamaica, etc and I thought CR was better. I would go back in a heart beat. We flew into Liberia and stayed in the town of Coco. Did a bunch of tours like the Arenal volcano, Congo Trail canopy tour, Palo Verde Jungle Boat cruise (my favorite because we got to see monkeys stoned on limes!), nature hikes, white water rafting, etc. Honestly, I haven't heard anyone say anything bad about CR. I think you'll have a great time.

[driveway]

The one negative thing I'll say about Costa Rica, as compared to the rest of Central America, is that it is much more 'touristy'. It's gorgeous, extremely safe, stunningly cheap, and the beaches and forests are out-of-this-world, but there's no culture to the place. I had an interesting conversation with some Isralies who ran a falafel shop/internet cafe/laundromat in Mal Pais (extremely awesome surf spot on the south-west coast of the Nicoya peninsula) about the lack of Costa Rican identity or culture.

If you want a relaxing tropical vacation, you can't do better in the Americas than Costa Rica. If you actually want to see something go to Guatemala.

Oh, and don't bother with the malaria pills, just drink about eight gin and tonics a day.

[FurnaceFace]

I've been to an all inclusive on the West coast - Papaguayo (sp) area.

Our focus was on getting our open water cert so we spent a lot of the time diving and also a lot of time on the beach or snorkelling. We did a couple of tours to one of the towns (forget the name) and wandering around.

Coolest thing we did was go down and see leatherback turtles laying their eggs. From where we were the beach was a couple hours away. You show up at night, get an orientation from the park rangers/conservationists and then wait for the turtles to show up and your group to get called. It's one of the coolest experiences I've had.

There are also tours to the rain forest and zip line tours, or walking in the canopy of the trees you can do which sounded cool if you're not afraid of heights. The volcano was also highly touted.

[killer_carlson]

I've been to all 7 continents and Costa Rica is in my top 4 favorites. If you like eco-tourism or adventure travel, this is a great place.

Try to get to Tortugaro National park on the East coast. You do little boat "safaris" where you go by boat through these canals and watch for wildlife. Everything from caimans to monkeys to lizards to toucans to you name it. Awesome experience. We actually got to witness turtle hatchlings busting their butts to get to the ocean one night. One ran across my hand as it was pitch black and you had to put your face inches from the sand to actually see them. Another got held up on a piece of drift wood until I intervened and moved the wood for him to keep going. AWESOME, AWESOME experience.

In the middle is the continental divide which has some crazy rain forest canopy zip line tours. Be sure to take them in.

On the west coast is where we did our R&R at an all inclusive which was also fun.

The only downside is that it takes forever to drive anywhere. The roads are absolutely terrible - some of the worst i've ever seen including the 3rd world. If you can spend a little extra $$$ to fly, do it, because an extra $50 might actually save you 15 hours or so, which is an extra day to do something.

If you want some cool souvenirs that are not nick nacks, then check out Galeria Namu in San Jose. We heard about it in the Lonely Planet book and it was everything that it promised. It is the closest thing you'll get to "Fair Trade" artisan products. check out their website at www.galerianamu.com or check out the write up in the Lonely Planet. I liked it so much that I've kept the business card in my wallet since we were there, which was November of 2005! Anyone who goes to Costa Rica I point them in that direction.

good luck.

[FlamesAddiction]

Thanks for all the info. I read some decent reviews on websites, but it means more coming from the people here.

The Arenal volcano and Manual Antonio park are on the list of things to do. I also want to go to the Parque Nacional Palo Verde as well as do the canopy tour and zipline tours. The Monteverde cloud forest sounds neat too.

I'm definitely going to have to look into the Tortugaro National park. I'm also going to see about the leatherback turtles at Playa Grande.

What were the insect conditions like? I'm assuming that being that close to rainforests, they will be bad. And does it cool off at night? I want to pack light, but I am not sure if I should bring more than a couple long sleeved shirts.

Did anyone go to La Selva biological station? It sounds really cool.

And how about Rincon de la Rigea National Park?

Did anyone go across to Nicaragua while you there? I noticed that some people like to go to the town of Grenada for day excursions. Sounds like it can take several hours to get there though, and I am not sure if it would be worth while.

[woob]

Originally Posted by flamefan74

Went to Costa Rica in November. I've been to Mexico, Dominican,Jamaica, etc and I thought CR was better. I would go back in a heart beat. We flew into Liberia and stayed in the town of Coco. (snip)

How was is it in Coco? Did you just stay in a regular Hotel and eat out, or do they have some kind of All-Inclusive there? When it comes to CR, I get the feeling that it might be the kind of place to by-pass the All-Inclusive and do more of your own thing via hotels, eating out, and seeing the country instead of spending the majority of your time at the resort. Sounds like you had a pretty active stay!

[flamefan74]

Originally Posted by woob

How was is it in Coco? Did you just stay in a regular Hotel and eat out, or do they have some kind of All-Inclusive there? When it comes to CR, I get the feeling that it might be the kind of place to by-pass the All-Inclusive and do more of your own thing via hotels, eating out, and seeing the country instead of spending the majority of your time at the resort. Sounds like you had a pretty active stay!

Coco was great. More of a laid back fishing town(not that you could really tell on the weekends!) than a surfing spot. Surfing was farther south on the peninsula. Never got a chance to, but heard that the snorkeling and diving around Coco was really good. We stayed in a regular hotel, but the room we were in had a kitchenette. Cooked some of our own meals and ate some in town. We went to some of the sodas where the locals ate and the food was awesome. A big plate of food consisting of rice, beans, plantain, your choice of meat, salad and drink was about $3. There are some hotels that are like an all-inclusive (in terms of amenities) in Coco, but they aren't packaged that way.

CR is for sure the place to by-pass the all-inclusive and do your own thing. There is so much to see and do that you don't want to hang around the pool drunk all day.

Also for the OP, it doesn't really cool down at nights on the coast. Mid 20'sC. The volcano's can be cooler at night, so maybe need a long sleeved shirt for that. Mosquitos could be bad in the rainforest if you have no bug dope. I took a very lite coat and wore it maybe once during the 2 weeks I was there.

[Kybosh]

This is hilarious. I'm also going to Costa Rica in August. The plan is to bum around the country during it's "green" (read "rainy") season. Should be a good time.

[habernac]

I was there in August (18-25). Very warm. Huge downpour at about 5pm every day, then it cleared right up.

[driveway]

Oh yeah... if you're going you wanna bring me back some of this stuff they call "Salsa Ingles"? It's like a savoury/spicy sauce that tastes good on everything. Most especially the gallo pinto (rice and beans) that are served with every meal. I fell in love with the stuff, but Costa was the start of my trip and I was sure they'd have it all through Central America.

I can't remember the brand name, just that when you wanted some brought to your table you asked for "salsa ingles".

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by driveway

Oh yeah... if you're going you wanna bring me back some of this stuff they call "Salsa Ingles"? It's like a savoury/spicy sauce that tastes good on everything. Most especially the gallo pinto (rice and beans) that are served with every meal. I fell in love with the stuff, but Costa was the start of my trip and I was sure they'd have it all through Central America.

I can't remember the brand name, just that when you wanted some brought to your table you asked for "salsa ingles".

One Tostito's salsa coming right up. I'll pick some up at Safeway on the way back from the airport .

[Titan]

We went in October. My mom has a place in Coco. I second the idea that it is not the kind of place that you want to sit by the pool all day drinking. Lots to do. I did not feel it was at all touristy. I would second FlameFan74's post above, so much so I wonder if my wife is a secret calgary puck member!!

Definately worth renting a car and exploring. Highly recomend Arenal. The Miradas Arenal has little cabin/rooms with are very nice for 80-90 bucks a night. I guess the volcano had a split on the far side so there is little or no lava action but still neat to see. Arenal was the only rain we saw so i would take a folding poncho there but was not needed at coco.

It was a great trip. We took our 2 and 6 year old girls and they loved it. At the Congo trail if you go in the little zoo they have and show some interest they will let you go in the cage with the monkeys and both of the girls were able to hold snakes. We also held a python. Pretty cool.

[Titan]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

One Tostito's salsa coming right up. I'll pick some up at Safeway on the way back from the airport .

hilarious.

The soda's were awesome and the salsa was amazing.

[Agamemnon]

A buddy of mine just had his trip to Costa Rica moved to Mexico... something about toxic chemicals being released into the ocean right near the beaches at the Costa Rican resort he was scheduled to go to. Not sure if that's an ongoing problem or if it was localized in time/location.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

A buddy of mine just had his trip to Costa Rica moved to Mexico... something about toxic chemicals being released into the ocean right near the beaches at the Costa Rican resort he was scheduled to go to. Not sure if that's an ongoing problem or if it was localized in time/location.

I haven't heard anything about that in Costa Rica, but I know that Mazatlan and Ixtapa in Mexico have a problem with pollution at the beaches.

[Agamemnon]

Originally Posted by fotze

That's probably the Allegro Papagayo. I was looking at it last week because it was unusually chep for "4 stars" then you come across many many very recent reviews saying it has been shut down by the government. No wonder they are going for cheap.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...uanacaste.html

We will probably hit Costa Rica when the kid stops having mid-day naps, then we can do the tours more reasonably.

Yes, I just asked him (he works in my office), it was the Allegro Papagayo.