Costa Rica mid July - madness of where else?

[Iggybluesky]

I've been before so know the ropes, but that was in May.

I just can't imagine a school summer holiday without a 2 week holiday and, with not much annual leave, we are looking for good long haul destinations on the BA network as we fly with avios points.

We are swithering between
Costa Rica ( first choice)
J'burg then up to Botswana
Singapore - koh samui- Bangkok

I fully appreciate this is a very good problem to have but, we have the miles because I deal with alot alone during the year, so it is crazy not to use them. I've early teens.

Just back from Costa Rica, it was great what are your concerns about going?

Did safari in Botswana a couple of years back in July, that was great too is a little basic.

Also been to Singapore and Thailand in July, although not on the same trip. Wouldn't go back to Thailand in the rainy season as the swell in the sea meant you couldn't swim and anyway I didn't particularly enjoy the trip. Singapore is good for a week tops and very hot and steamy but well air conditioned.

What do you teens like doing?

Costa Rica- everything online says it is wet and thundery everyday. Worried weather will be wet.

Just back from Mexico ( hardly any rain) - self drive round Cozomel and Yucatan with mainly AI ( 3 locations).

We like small resorts/ independent travel - hated the mega resort we stayed in as our last hotel and would have gone mad if we didn't have the freedom of our car.

We like a mix of days out and days at the beach/ pool. Would get bored if it was beach / pool everyday but happy for some lazy days. Into nature and culture but not obsessively.

With Botswana I think might get animal fatigue.

Thanks Fairy - was it not wet and stormy every day.

There is a 3 to four week mini dry season in Costa Rica that falls in July/early August. If you go mid to late July, it shouldn’t be so rainy.
It’s called the “veranillo”

We went in August to Guanacaste in CR for 2 weeks and every day was around 27C and sunny until 4pm then after that there was some rain, one thunderstorm in 2 weeks. Personally we liked having rain in rainforest. We may have been lucky. The beaches were quite wild - useable but not the perfect beach. Lots of nature / wildlife / adventure sports like watersports and ziplining, not so much culture.

If you go on Tripadviser Costa Rica forum there's locals on there who may have better advice on weather. We adjusted our days around it so up/out 6am to 4pm which also meant don't have to adjust to timezone as that's 11am to 9pm here. If you don't want any rain then you need to go elsewhere. Not really a sunbathing destination. We loved it but are very into wildlife, rainforest and adventure sport.

We went in early August for 2 weeks - the forecasted weather looked bloody awful but just as Penguins has said, the weather pattern was dry warm mornings and a thunderstorm in the afternoon or evening that lasted about an hour. No biggie & it was very green! We were Pacific side.

What about Borneo?
Weather is decent in our summer. Can easily be combined with Singapore or KL?

Is it for this summer? I’d be very surprised if you would find space in Botswana if that’s the case. Generally for peak season people book 12+ months in advance. Bots also combines well with Vic Falls to mix up the safari experience for future reference.

I'ld be surprised if you could get space for this July anywhere, as we are in August now.

I imagine as the OP is planning to use avios this will be next year - 355 days out is the day to get flights!

I would do Botswana and move around. There’s the Okavango Delta, Moremi and Chobe as well as the Kalahari Desert and Vic Falls in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Yes it’s mostly a safari destination but it’s varied if you move around.

We are currently in Chile and used Avios. Have you considered there? You cannot go south, but central and north are fine. We have also been to SA at this time of year and Brazil would work too.