Costa Rica

[KittyMcKitty]

After originally not planning to go away this summer we have changed our minds so are looking now to book something for tge school holidays (2 adults and 2 teens).

Basically we’re after all inclusive- nice pool, beach, kayaking, snorkelling etc somewhere where we can hire a car and get out and see the country a bit. We’re after nice scenery and an easy relaxing time.

We’ve done all inclusive in tge Caribbean before (Antigua and St Lucia) but dh is keen in Costa Rica. I know it’s the wrong time of year!

Has anyone been in our summer? How wet was it?

Or any other suggestions? Dh doesn’t want o go to Mexico. Not really wanting to spend more then £10k.

Thank you.

We went 2 years ago this August. It is as you say rainy season and we were a bit worried about this, landing in the middle of a big thunderstorm in the afternoon didn't exactly get things off to a great start either! However, in reality it was absolutely fine. We had a big thunderstorm daily, this was always in the afternoon or evening and lasted about an hour and wasn't really a biggy. In fact it was quite nice sitting on our balcony overlooking the jungle and ocean to watch the whole spectacle! Temps are cooler than in the dry season (our experince was highs of 25 degrees in San Jose and about 28 everywhere else) which was nice and bearable! It's also greener at this time of year! Just go prepared and carry waterproofs and umbrella's on the offchance. Take trips out in the mornings as well. There are more mozzies at this time of year - I was pretty paranoid about zika (it was in the news a lot at the time!) and used child 'friendly' deet, anti mozzie bracelets etc - my 8 year old DD didn't get a single bite and we only had a couple!
Costa Rica isn't really big on AI - I think TUI have a few places in the North and on the Caribbean side but they weren't really where we wanted to be as they weren't supposed to be the most interesting. We had a couple of days in San Jose (not the prettiest place) and used a private transfer firm to get to Arenal and then Manual Antonio. Where we stayed in Manuel Antonio ticks all your boxes bar the AI bit - we spent 5 nights at Tulemar which was an incredibly beautiful resort spread out across the jungle with multiple pools, its own beach, free kayaks and a Sloth Institute on site. We stayed in the cheapest accomadation but there are some very nice (and pricey!) villa's too. The road outside the resort was full of restaurants and hardly a struggle to get too so personally, didn't mind it being not AI at all.
All in, it was a really really fantastic holiday and I'd go back in a heartbeat! My DD really fondly remembers the monkeys playing in the hammock on our balcony and there is lots to do. People do frequently hire cars - we didn't and personally (and I'm a bit of a scardedy cat!) I was glad of that as some of the drivers were 'interesting' - no worse though than what you see in Italy.
In terms of other tips - take the local currency not dollars (they do take dollars but give you change in the local currency at rubbish exchange rates) and be aware some eateries add 20% service charges on to the bill. Hope some of this helps!

We went AI to Costa Rica in August last year - weather was lovely, around 25 to 30 degrees everyday, maybe an hour of rain most days but always in afternoon. We stayed via TUI at RUI Guanacaste - beautiful beach, free kayaks and watersports - 6,300 for 4 of US for flights and AI for 2 weeks. Food was excellent and arrived on their mothers day so given lots of red roses. At the hotel there are monkeys nearby, a family of raccoons including babies would come to the steakhouse, also saw a coati there and geckos and a pelican.

Hotel was lively though, lovely accommodation, but entertainment loud and some drunk people who took over pool area. We stuck to beach. We did trips including cuddling a sloth / visiting rainforest via tour company on beach, ziplining at Diamante, Buena Vista, Blue River and another one but included hot springs, ziplines through jungle, active volcanoes, rainforest, horseriding etc. Amazing time. Flying into Liberia is good and they have trips to all main places. Car hire isn't recommended there as no road signs - bus drove through rivers going over roads. Trips were around 400 per trip for family of 4 but amazing. If you do RUI book trips via Gecko Tours on beach, rather than Thompson - hardly anyone else on tours and they take you behind scenes. Would strongly recommend Costa Rica.

TUI also do multi centre Costa Rica trips though think these book up way in advance. Met someone who did that and they said it was just them on the first 4 days. Only thing is then you do all the trips at the start whereas we prefer day at hotel trip day at hotel.

We are also doing 2.5 weeks in Australia this summer and that's 10k for everything flights, food (allowed 100 per day), hotels, car hire and trips including snorkeling in Great Barrier Reef, staying with tree kangaroos, whale watching, koala cuddling etc. It's 27C by GBR and around 18 in Sydney. Obviously very long flight - flying to Sydney then later up to Cairns. Beaches can have crocodiles. Direct flights now to Perth. We booked flights a while back so prices may have risen.

We couldn't find AI in Australia - been told it exists but only at the seriously expensive end of things and we are spending 40 to 200 pounds per night on hotels.

Thank you so much - looks like Costa Rica could tick all our boxes (can live without AI) - will look at the places mentioned.

catandpanda 10k for Australia- wow!! Will investigate Australia for next year (ds doing GCSEs so would be fab to have an extra special holiday).

Our budget was a lot less than catandpanda (though to be completely fair, meals, booze and transfers were all on top!). We flew BA direct from Gatwick to San Jose - with hotels on top we spent about £3600 for the 3 of us. This is Tulemar - really recommend it! We were in the cheapest accommodation (about £809 for 5 nights) but there’s a real range of accomadation, some with private pools & personal chefs if you want to really blow the budget! www.tulemarresort.com

Australia is coming in around 10K - we booked flights in Jan BA sale - need to book multi centre flights as discounts second flight - that was London Sydney 15 days in Australia (plus 2 days on flights) going for a week to Cairns in the middle. Flights for 4 of us came to £4,400. I've allowed £100 per day for food /drinks etc. Car hire incl petrol etc will be c£1200 for 15 days. First going to Port Stephens - place called Treescape which is getting a koala sanctuary in December that's only £40 per night for deluxe apartment. Trips from there to see koalas in Tilberry only 15 for family, whalewatching and sandboarding £150 for all of us. Then night in airport hotel £100 before flight to Cairns. 3 nights in Airbnb (£300) Billabong Island from where we will do GBR tour including snorkelling, scuba diving x 1, swimming with turtles, glass bottom boat tour (£450), trip to cuddle koalas and see cassowaries and crocodile boat ride (£120 for all of us) then 4 nights at £200 a night staying in treehouse Canopy in rainforest and then with a lady that looks after tree kangaroos, Lumholtz Lodge. Both these places have loads of wildlife tree kangaroos, possums, platypus etc some of which you can feed.

Then fly back to Sydney going to Blue Mountains Sofitel (300) for 2 nights and Sydney Watsons Bay Hotel (350) 2 nights - are meeting friends from NZ there and will spend about 200 on trips. Watsons Bay has free bikes and Sofitel has bowling and 25m pool.