Costa Rica in August

[Stokey]

Has anyone been to Costa Rica in August? We're thinking two weeks, dds are 9 & 7.

Do you have an itinerary you would recommend?

Thanks!

[Nateismine]

We went last August- 2ds, age 6 and 10. Was amazing- was our first ' adventurous, family holiday. Went for 3 weeks, hired a car and moved from place to place booking a few days in advance.
It's low season so quiet and cheaper. We did get a fair bit of rain but it didn't spoil the holiday. We went Tortuguero, Arenal, Monteverde, Montezuma, Curu, then back to Saraquipi. A few places we couldn't get to due to bad road conditions.
Loved everything, highlights were kayaking in Tortuguero, joining the locals in the free hot springs in Arenal, seeing the kids doing the zipwires with no fear, Montezuma and staying overnight at Curu. Saw wildlife everywhere and a humpback whale.
Very easy country to travel in a no hassle or bad experiences. Food is very average and a bit samey but lots of lovely fruit. It is not a cheap country- most things you do you pay approx 30-40usd pp so it really adds up. We spent £8k inclusive of flights and car hire for 3 weeks but we ate cheaply and stayed in budget places. Hope that helps.

[Stokey]

Wow, sounds amazing Nateismine and good to hear. It will be our first holiday outside Europe with the kids too, think they're a good age for it.
At the moment I'm thinking of doing Arenal, Tortugero & somewhere else on Caribbean coast, but maybe we should do Pacific instead. Thought Caribbean might be drier. Do you think Monteverde is a must-see or do you see much the same in Arenal? Sounds like it may be a bit cold, wet and hard to access, so considering giving it a miss as we don't have that much time.

Interesting that you just booked a few days in advance, good way to do it. Thanks!

[bestbefore]

We went in August a couple of years ago, loved it! We went on an organised trip with exodus - small group trip: was excellent - we had some lovely people in our group and an amazingly knowledgeable tour guide. He had hawk like eyes for wildlife and def took us off the beaten track. Went to all those places you mentioned.
Highlights; white water rafting, after dark trip to the beach where we saw a turtle egg laying and then returning to the ocean (under close supervision), swimming in the sea after a coastal hike, boat trip on the Pacific to spot turtles, dolphins etc and swimming in the tropical sea (slides off the boat!) etc - so much! We had comfortable accommodation but it was all lovely and people v friendly.

[SJane45S]

We went in August 3 years ago and had a fantastic time! We did San Jose, Arenal and Manuel Antonio. We didn't go to the Caribbean side but Americans we met who are regular Costa Rican visitors said that the Pacific side was nicer - their opinion obviously as we didn't go! Arenal was interesting but the volcano isn't smoking anymore, the hot springs are concrete (nice but not as natural as I had in my head!) and it wasn't quite as great as I had in my head. Lots to do in that area though in terms of hiking/riding/zip lining though. We didn't go to Monteverde but people who have do rave about the Cloud Forest and I wish we'd gone there! Manuel Antonio was great - we stayed at a place called Tulemar which has it's own beach, extensive jungle grounds and sloth institute. The national park there too was really interesting and the beaches were beautiful! The weather in San Jose when we went was about 25/26 but Manuel Antonio was more like 28/30 and Arenal was hot too. As you already know, it's rainy season and we had one thumping heavy rain/thunderstorm a day typically, usually in the afternoon or evening. It certainly didn't ruin our trip and according the the Americans we met, it's usually cheaper and greener in August. San Jose isn't pretty although felt relatively safeish - we did a day tour which was interesting from a background to CR point of view but it wasn't the highlight of our trip and certainly not somewhere I'd ever bother to go back to. We arranged a driver in advance which was cheap and reliable - I know a lot of people do hire cars but personally I'm glad we didn't as some of the driving was a bit hairy (but not worse than you'd get in say Italy). Have a great time! We booked BA flights to SJ - the flight prices increased by over a grand by the time we left so I'm not sure about booking last thing if you plan to do a non package, you'd also have less choice of accomadation - however that's just my opinion!

[Stokey]

Thanks so much SJane & Bestbefore - it's the BA flights that are drawing me in. We went to Honduras about 10 years ago and it took so long to get there (change in Houston), definitely wouldn't want to do that with kids.

Best before which Pacific beach did you go to? Thanks for flagging Exodus too, I'll check them out.

[bestbefore]

@Stokey we stayed in Dominical - it was lovely: that was where we did the fun boat trips. They were party boats but great fun for all. We dropped some crumbs into the sea and the fish were amazing. Honestly we enjoyed it so much, and even though it's expensive I do think that it you still think about it years later, it's not bad value for money!
The BA flight was good too; straight to San Jose, some others went via Spain or Houston and I think they regretted it. Explore holidays also go there on a similar trip

[sunlove]

I went with my family about 5 years ago and it was without a doubt the best holiday we ever had. So much so I don’t think I’d go back in case it ruined the memories!

We started in San Jose, personally I wasn’t a massive fan but it’s worth going for a few days just to look around. Then flew on the tiniest plane with about 10 people on (including the pilot and co pilot!) to Tamarindo. That in itself was an experience - especially when you could see people ushering cows off the tiny runway in Tamarindo before we landed!

It’s was the most beautiful beach town with lots of kid friendly adventure options, think whitewater rafting, zip lining etc. and a few restaurants, mainly casual beach bars. If you’re in Tamarindo I’d recommend taking the kids to Surf Shack Burgers & Wings for the best grilled cheese burgers & milkshakes!

[bestbefore]

@sunlove - agree - I wouldn't want to go back as it wouldn't be the same...I have seen some truly luxurious hotels there but we stayed in fairly basic accommodation and, whilst normally I love my home comforts, it wouldn't seem right to stay somewhere posh there...we also had an amazing guide and group and I am scared to go on a similar holiday elsewhere in case they aren't as good...!

[SJane45S]

Hotels (except in our case at Tulemar in Manuel Antonio which was about £800 for 5 nights) are not expensive though so if you did want to not do basic then it's not going to cost an arm and a leg. We went for our 10th wedding anniversary and we really don't usually do posh resorts (I'm cheap and don't like resorts much either!), Tulemar was really properly magical and I won't forget lying in a hammock on the balcony, big glass of wine in my hand looking down over the jungle to the beach while monkeys played in the trees in a hurry! Posh in this instance was really, really good!

[Stokey]

I was just looking at Tulemar and thinking it would be a nice luxurious stay at the end of our break! It does look lovely. Good to know there's decent budget options too though.

[SJane45S]

Yes - we were in the cheapest accommodation but was a definite range! Because it's spread across a huge space, it all feels pretty private still. We saw as much wildlife in Tulemar as in the national park & the private beach was gorgeous (they have kayaks & boogie boards you can use for free). There is a restaurant in site but there are mini markets outside Tulemar 5 minutes in both directions as well as bars & restaurants (cheaper than the on-site one) on the stretch of road outsids. Because of its size, it never felt crowded in the least & quite often we had the family infinity pool to ourselves, it is on a hillside - if you don't want to walk up slopes (and we did as we like walking) you can call a jeep to pick you up for free. There are 4 pools, all of which are really nice. The on-site sloth institute was really interesting too. Great great place & I'd love to go back!

[SJane45S]

Wow - check those typo's!!

[weegiemum]

Wow all that sounds wonderful! Have done Guatemala and Honduras (with dc) and Nicaragua (without) so think CR will have to go on the list of things to do!

[midsomermurderess]

But did you see sloths?

[sansou]

Not August but this past Christmas for just over a fortnight.

I found Manuel Antonio really commercial when we visited this past Christmas although we stayed in a pocket of oasis in a holiday let (AirBnb) which had its own private pool where we were visited by spider monkeys, iguanas and sloths in the surrounding rainforest.

Besides hiking within the Manuel Antonio National Park itself, I would recommend a DIY visit to Los Campesinos to escape the crowds. You can hike to swim at some waterfalls as well as crossing a single file hanging/swinging bridge! The travel there & back is an adventure in itself - do it in a 4x4! Kayaking amongst the Damas mangroves was another highlight.

The region around Arenal and our stay here and here were definite highlights. Los Lagos had fabulous geo thermally fed pools and nice grounds to walk around where we saw plenty of wildlife. We took a horse ride from the hotel stables to an observatory point of the Arenal Volcano here.

At the rainforest ecolodge hotel, we did the most amazing night walk, a farm tour as well as hiking the property's trails ourselves. We loved our stay here, the DC loved the superb wi-fi and the family bungalows had plenty of space.

In La Fortuna, I definitely recommend visiting the Bogarin Trail where we saw numerous sloths, frogs and birds - more so than anywhere else during our holiday.

We decided not to bother with the La Fortuna waterfall after the fabulous ones at Los Campesinos.

Ziplining - Do the combo package at Sky Adventures which includes a 3 hr walk through the rainforest over wide/safe suspension bridges (compared to the one at Los Campesinos!), a tram ride up the mountain to the start of the ziplines. My DC were 11 & 15 but there were 7 & 8 yr olds in our group. All very safe but fast and thrilling!

We didn't visit Monteverde because we felt that we had scheduled enough driving for a fortnight's holiday and didn't want to feel too rushed or whistle stop toury and besides, we wanted to relax a little which is why we rented an airbnb for Christmas week.

HTH

[SJane45S]

From what we were told (and going on the prices too!), August sees fewer visitor numbers as it's rainy season. We didn't experience any crowds. Would agree Samsou that the road approaching the national park is commercial with hotels, bars & restaurants either side. Where we were staying (Tulemar)though had over 30 acres of jungle so felt cut off from that. Totally agree hiking in the park was great & the beach in the park was wonderful. Misummernurderess, hard to go to CR & not see a sloth I'd imagine!

[Stokey]

Thanks for the info about hotels and ziplining Sansou. The places you stayed look great.

I'm torn between doing the Caribbean coast as the weather should be better but it will mean long journeys. Thinking Puerto Viejo, Arenal and MANP but that means three 4.5 hr journeys which feels a bit much.

Maybe we should ditch the Caribbean and just doing Arenal & MANP/ Dominical. All looks amazing.

[CelticPromise]

We went in January a few years back, but just wanted to recommend Global Family Adventures who organised our trip. We don't bother with organised usually but we had a guide/driver just for us and it was really very cost effective. We did Monteverde, Arenal, Sarapiqui and Caribbean coast and I would say definitely don't miss the middle two.

[CelticPromise]

It was a loooong drive to the airport from the Caribbean coast, although it was beautiful there and we saw some amazing wildlife.

[Rainydays200]

I’m also thinking of Costa Rica for a family holiday. Can I ask about the food? Everyone seems a bit underwhelmed, so what kind of choices are there, and can you get kid friendly options easily? Pasta, burgers and chips? My two will try other things, but would prefer to have pasta/burgers some of the time. Thanks

[SJane45S]

Can't speak for others but we found the food ok - nothing special but not Cuban horrible either! I'm a vegetarian and my daughter (then 8) is really, really fussy. Costa Rican food was alright, wouldn't buy the cookbook but most places had a number of international offerings (burgers, chips, pasta etc) on the menu. There were Italian restaurants, falafel shacks, American burger bars etc. I don't think you'll find it hard to find things to eat, you just probably won't have the gastronomic experience of your life!

[Rainydays200]

Thanks SJane, that sounds fine

[PenguinPandas]

We did 2 weeks in Costa Rica in August 2017 arriving on 15th, a great day to arrive as it was Mother's Day there so lots of roses and special cocktails at hotel. We went AI at RUI Guanacaste via TUI, fly to Liberia on pacific coast. Food at hotel was pretty amazing for AI, 3 course meals served by waiters and even DS got steaks which covered whole plate, outside hotel only had one meal, it was OK but I have 1 veggie and 1 ASD so the AI having options including pasta, burgers etc worked well there.

Weather around 27C to 29C each day and sunny apart from about an hour of rain at about 4pm each day, one thunderstorm in the two weeks. Rain didn't affect anything, trips go 6am (11am our time so no need to adjust) back at 4pm and watching rain in rainforest is great.

Great trip - saw sloths, raccoons, toucan, monkeys, coati, gecko in wild, some everyday. Would recommend trip that combines water slide through jungle, horseriding, zipline and hotsprings, trip to see rainforest and sloth via Gecko Tours, Diamante is good for zipline and next to RUI, also did Blue River Tour and Arenal tour, both excellent but not as good as first three so if can't budget for that, do first three. Did kayaking at hotel in pacific ocean and has its own beach. Would strongly recommend Costa Rica. We may have been lucky with rain but rain in a rainforest is great, our hotel was in one.

[PenguinPandas]

We didn't do Monteverde as DD is scared of heights, bridges are quite high, ziplines can be incredibly high too and have age restrictions. My DS is ASD so he happily goes off from a few hundred metres in air but adults are screaming. The trip I did them on they were lower which suited me and you were same height as monkeys, maybe 30 metres up. Kids preferred higher ones.

[PenguinPandas]

DD is scared of hanging bridges not ziplines, I don't get it either. 😎