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Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Costa Rica summer 2021

13 replies

SeasonallySnowyPeasant · 21/06/2020 20:37

I know it’s not dry season; not too bothered about that.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a good family tour? The DC will be 8 and 11 and we’re a pretty active family. I like the look of the Intrepid one but want to see some other options too. TUI do an all-inclusive 10 night tour that looks perfect except it only departs on 8th July Confused

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SJaneS48 · 22/06/2020 11:58

Why not book it yourself? Much cheaper and you get to plan things your way? We went 4 years ago in August and I planned the trip myself and hired a transport firm I found recommended on TripAdvisor (happy to pass on their details) to take us between destinations. It does take a bit more research but does save a lot and you get something truly bespoke!

Hope that’s not v unhelpful, horses for courses and I know some people much prefer a set tour. We loved Costa Rica - the weather wasn’t really an issue, we’d have one thunderstorm a day for about an hour which wasn’t that big a deal and the country is so lush and green at that time of year!

SeasonallySnowyPeasant · 22/06/2020 22:32

Thanks @SJaneS48. I usually plan my own itinerary (with a humongous spreadsheet) but I’m a bit nervous about next year as travel insurance is a bit sketchy on coronavirus. I’ll have a look though - yes please to the transport details if you wouldn’t mind?

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Ajahd · 22/06/2020 23:23

We had our honeymoon in Costa Rica through Trailfinders, travelling around and it was a brilliant experience. Although in hindsight it would've been so much cheaper planning and booking it ourselves! Our route was San Jose - Torteguero - Arenal Volcano - Monteverde - Manuel Antonio. All travel was by bus/minibus with the occasional water boat which was nice! Whole trip was just over 2 weeks but I remember at the time they had a shorter tour.

We went in November 2017, and from what I remember I wasn't too hopeful about the weather but we were very lucky and on the times we did get caught in the rain we were very thankful as it was so cooling!

San Jose wasn't my kind of place, but we don't like cities and didn't feel entirely safe in the evening, glad we only booked the one night to get some sleep before our journey.

Torteguero was lovely, we stayed in a rainforest lodge on the river. We woke up in the morning to howler monkeys (which was something else! ). There were plenty of excursions within the compound, although we decided to take a trip to the town of Torteguero. It was quite upsetting to see how the locals lived, but everyone was very helpful and pleasant. It did however make us realise how lucky we are to live as we do. Very hot and humid, what we expected from a rainforest.

Arenal was an incredible experience, lots of activities such as hanging bridges through the forests, zip lines and we had an amazing horse trek down to a waterfall called La Fortuna. The hotel pools had hot springs as most of them did, which was amazing. Still quite humid but nowhere near as bad as Torteguero.

Around this point I developed an awful flu as we travelled to Monteverde, so I wish I could say more about this place but I can't :( it was a beautiful place, very green but quite a bit colder as you're so high up. There was an animal sanctuary that was really enjoyable!

Manuel Antonio was incredible. Beautiful beaches, squirrel monkeys everywhere and just a beautiful place to finish off and relax for a few days after lots of adventures! There was a national park that we visited on our last full day that had the most incredible beach. Wish we found it when we first arrived as we would've spent every day there. You had to pay something equivalent to 10 dollars but it was so worth it.

Also, we read online that although their currency is the colone, American dollars are widely used. While this was the case it felt like such an effort to use dollars and we wished we just taken all colones instead. If you pay in dollars, your change is in colones, so we'd fins that we had enough money at times, just not in the right currency of that makes sense.

It's such a beautiful country, I think you'll love it no matter where you go! Hope that helps. Give you some ideas!

SJaneS48 · 23/06/2020 10:41

We used www.supershuttlecr.com for our transport between destinations and had a private small shuttle bus. They turned up on time, the vans were new and had air con and they drive safely. Happy to recommend!

Second Manuel Antonio as a destination. It gets more tourists than some of the other National Parks so isn’t everyone’s favourite but is hardly overcrowded by any means. The beach in the park is beautiful and there are changing rooms nearby. It’s easy to navigate on your own but there are lots of guides outside if you want one. I was less impressed by Arenal -the volcano isn’t smoking anymore and the natural hot springs were man made - it’s an attractive area though with lots of adventure activities. San Jose is a bit of a whole but a day there does give you an intro to their history, culture and politics.

Would also agree, take Colones! Many places take dollars but give you Colones change back and use unfavourable exchange rates. Would also recommend taking lots of deer and packing practical rather than fancy clothes - Costa Ricans don’t really dress up.

I think I’ve had an email from Trailfinders re Covid 19 Travel Insurance. Will see if I can find the details.

SJaneS48 · 23/06/2020 10:43

Hole not whole (re San Jose above!).

www.trailfinders.com/insurance#/step1

SJaneS48 · 23/06/2020 10:44

And take deet not deer 😁!

SeasonallySnowyPeasant · 23/06/2020 13:13

Amazing! Thankyou!

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geogteach · 23/06/2020 13:18

Haven't been to Costa Rica but used Stubborn Mule to plan a family trip to Vietnam last year and it was great ( we too would generally sort everything ourselves). Would definitely use them again for this sort of trip

PunkAssMoFo · 11/07/2020 14:24

Looking for a similar trip, so if any would be willing to pm their Itinerary/recommendations I would be extremely grateful.

bestbefore · 17/07/2020 17:14

We went with exodus and whilst it was more expensive than DIY I do think we got a lot out of the trip as the guide was local and the bus driver stayed with us all the time - they were both excellent.
The accommodation was basic but TBH just added to the experience. My kids will never forget the guide getting them to try termites - they taste like peanut butter apparently! And doing a zip line that went on forever.
The other thing with booking with a company is that you get cover/ help if things go wrong pre departure....there's something to be said for that now, rather than having to sort it all yourself. Sad
www.exodus.co.uk/costa-rica-holidays/family/costa-rica-adventure-family-holiday/fnr
Explore do trips toowww.explore.co.uk/search?countries=6034&experiences=11&withflights=true

KoalasandRabbit · 06/08/2020 21:35

We went a few years ago in August when the kids were a similar age to yours - we went with TUI and it was fine. We didn't do the tour though, we stayed at one of the hotels and did the day tours but on the day tours we met people do the whole tour who said it was great and only 4 of them on it.

I would imagine TUI may add more dates later or maybe contact them if you are interested in their tour. I agree its safer to book something ATOL protected in this climate. We booked direct this year and it's had to be cancelled due to covid / both countries banning us from entry and insurance will pay out nothing as FCO advice is can travel. Thankfully a lot of places did refund and was only £1,600 which hasn't so far but if we'ld booked with TUI the whole value would have been moved to next year.

Irish1 · 11/08/2020 18:27

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SJaneS48 · 16/08/2020 15:49

Out of interest, have you been to Costa Rica @Irish1?

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