Costa Rica - Pacific or Carribean Coast?

[TodayIsTheBestDay]

We're going to Costa Rica in December for 2 weeks - DH, DD(6) and me . I've got most of the itinerary planned in the centre and Northwest - seeing nature reserves, volcanos, hot springs, waterfalls, chocolate plantations and Canopy adventures. Can't wait!

But I still have 5 days to play with, and I'd like to add some beach time, to have some r&r and experience a different aspect of Costa Rica. We're more into having interesting experiences than spending lots of time on the beach, but we do want a mix - and DD loves swimming and snorkeling.

I can't decide whether it would be better to visit the northern Pacific coast or the southern Carribean Coast. Could any of you lovely people who have been there give me your recommendation?

My thoughts are:

Carribean Coast (Cahuita):

• very different, Carribean feel
• gentler sea, better for snorkeling and swimming (might try surfing but we are beginners)
• interesting tours to visit indigenous communities

Pacific Coast(Northern Nicoya or Santa Rosa) :

• less driving (adds 4 hours to our current itinerary rather than 9 hours for Cahuita)
• more likely to have good weather
• slight possibility of seeing turtles, but not likely enough to sway us

Where would you go? Thanks!

We went to Pacific Coast and briefly saw Carribean side but not coast.

Where we where on Pacific Coast the beaches were on the wild side rather than sun bathing beaches. So perfectly usable but discoloured sand from volcanoes and monkeys running around ours. Coati and a raccoons appeared very close by but didn't see on beach. The ocean was more from watersports than swimming - if you are a strong swimmer you can swim - I did but there are jet skis/boats etc going around and current was reasonably strong. No lifeguard unless hotel provides. Fine for a six year old to paddle in and play on sand - swimming one or both of you would need to watch very closely and be able to rescue. Mine were 9 and 10, both strong swimmers and could swim in first 5 metres or so but quickly got stronger and jet skis whizzing about at speed bit further out. There was beach volleyball on beach which 6 year could join in at.

Where we were you had to be 18 to windsurf, 12 to do SUP, mine could kayak but with me in a double kayak. Not sure what age that starts from but probably OK. Seeing turtles would be amazing. Other thing is hotels are quite different on two sides - Pacific coast is more developed and has all the bigger hotels with more facilities though mainly rainforest still, Caribbean has more smaller hotels with less facilities. So if you have a strong preference for one or other it may dictate which side. At our Pacific side on it was more teenage and people in 20s, not many 5s and under.

You could do cultural tours on Pacific side but they are not the default tour - default is very much wildlife / rainforest /action sports. Many ziplines have age restrictions - some go from extremely high so check age restrictions and height and safety record.

Amazing place - you will have a great time. Would imagine either side would be nice. If I could see turtles I would definitely go on Pacific side but don't know what chances are and we love animals.

Either side fabulous.
I saw in Costa Rica something I’ve never seen before, namely hundred of miles of beaches without any litter. We were encouraged to pick up any plastic we saw and the ds found an old plastic sack and I found the remains of a lighter.
I don’t know why it’s like that but it’s marvellous.
Have a great time op, it was the best holiday we’ve ever had.

Manuel Antonio might be a good shout! It's beautiful.

The beaches in the north in the Pacific side are absolutely breathtaking but not ideal for swimming- better for surfing etc but you get the most beautiful sunsets.

Caribbean side is equally as amazing and better if you want to do snorkelling etc. Either way you're going to have an amazing time. I lived there for 7months and it was the best time of my life.

Actually tell a lie. I think you'd be better off going to the northern Pacific coast, just remembered we did punta arenas, nicoya, samara, nosara santa teresa, montezuma, some of the most gorgeous beaches, and on that trip we got a boat to Isla Tortuga. I can't remember where we got it from but it was just a day trip. It was the most incredible snorkelling!!

Wahh I want to go back!! Can I come with you??

Not been to the Carribean side only the Pacific so speaking with more ignorance than PPs who've done both! We went to Manuel Antonio on the Pacific side and it was beautiful and we swam in the sea with a six year old without any big issues. We stayed at Tulemar (www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g309274-d611938-Reviews-Tulemar_Resort-Manuel_Antonio_Province_of_Puntarenas.html) which was gorgeous, has it's own beach and plenty of people were using the free to use kayaks and boogie boards. We met some Americans who visit CR regularly and in their opinion (and it's only their opinion) the Pacific coast was better. A friend has been to Guanacaste recently and from her Facebook pictures, where we were was prettier. Manuel Antonio is one of the more popular national parks and the road leading to the park has hotels/bars/restaurants/tat shops both sides of the road so is more developed than some of the remoter National Parks. On the plus side, that does mean there is a good choice for here to eat out of an evening! The Beach in the national park is absolutely stunning and it's ok to wander without a guide.

Oh dear, the decision is even harder now, with recommendations for both and then Manuel Antonio thrown into the mix too! I'd discounted Manuel Antonio because it sounded a bit busy and developed - which we're not so keen on - but looking at photos, it does look absolutely stunning

I think we're edging towards visiting the Caribbean side, but that may well have changed by tomorrow (to any of the 3) I'm getting even more excited about the trip now

One thing which I was wondering is how bad the roads are/how accurate Google distances are? In particular, Google suggests 4.5 hours to get from San Juan to Cahuita. Is that roughly realistic?

Thank you so much for the advice

If you want less developed I would go with Caribbean side though it was predominately rainforest/ countryside where we were on Pacific side (95%) with maybe 5% buildings roughly but bigger resort type hotels.

Roads some were dirt tracks - some better. Worth asking on TripAdviser Costa Rica forum as locals on there.

Sorry I can't help but would be really interested in who you have booked through?

The roads we went on (and we used a local transport firm) from San Jose to Arenal and then onto Manuel Antonio were all fine, not the dirt tracks there are in some very remote areas. While the Costa Rican driving style wasn’t the dancing with destiny style that scares the living crap out of me in some countries, it’s sub ours with drivers on their phones a lot of the time and a bit of risk taking.

Thanks for the help, everyone! We've decided on the Caribbean coast, which looks lovely. We've booked most of the accommodation now, so it's feeling much more real which is very exciting

windmill - we've organised it ourselves rather than book a tour. We booked flights and hotels, and will hire a car. Activities seem pretty easy to book ahead of time too, and we`ll hire a guide locally for visiting national parks (hotels are good at helping organise that).

Our itinerary is:
1 night San Isidro de Heredia (since we arrive quite late). Next morning Sibu chocolate tour

4 nights Cahuita. Snorkeling, swimming. Might have a surfing lesson (never done it before). Sloth sanctuary. Bribri cultural visit. Or maybe not all of these, if we fancy some chill time!

4 nights Arenal, staying at Arenal Observatory Lodge. Almost certainly do Ecoglide Canopy tour (DD is only 6, and so we are limited: thank you penguins for warning me! Also a night walk at Ecocentro Danaus. Then one or two of: nature walk/visit, Arenal hot springs, Penas Blancas River float safari. Won't climb the Volcano, but will enjoy looking at it!

3 nights Tenorio national Park, at a working farm. Plan to spend one day doing a walk in the national park (seeing Rio Celeste and the waterfall) and maybe on the 2nd day drive across to volcanic mud and hot springs at Miravalles (if we have a 4WD). Would have liked to visit Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja but can't fit it in.

4 nights in Monteverde. We will almost certainly do more Canopy adventures, because we really like that kind of thing. Probably a full day at Selvatura doing the Canopy walk, hanging Bridges, hummingbird and butterfly gardens and maybe tree climbing for all of us. Possibly also the speedy SkyTrek one for DH while DD and I do more chocolate and cheese based visits! We'll do some more nature visits too.

There seems to be so much to see and do there. I can't wait

Shameless place marking as I'm in the process of organising for next summer - it does look amazing.

4 nights at Arenal might be a bit long I think. There’s definitely lots of activities to do in the area as it’s been attracting tourists for a while but the volcano isn’t smoking anymore so by way of comparison it’s less interesting than say Etna. I was really looking forward to the hot springs but while they were pretty, they were a series of man made concrete swimming pools that got increasingly hotter the higher you went. I think I was expecting something more natural! I wouldn’t say don’t go but for me while it was interesting it wasn’t ‘wow’