Help me plan 2 weeks in Costa Rica

[Chocbuttonsandredwine]

February.

Dp and I, for a big birthday.

nice hotels, beaches, food, wild life, a few adventure type things..rafting/high wire. Animals. All the animals.

can’t decide whether to do self drive/ organised tour or fry and do it public transport/flying etc

DH and I took the DC for two weeks earlier this year and had an amazing time. We went on a group tour to Rincon de la Vieja, Arenal, Sarapiqui, Tortuguero, San Jose and La Cruz on the Pacific coast. The only dodgy roads we found were between La Cruz and our hotel. Otherwise, they were completely fine and I'd be happy to drive myself.

If we were to go back for a second visit, we'd return to Rincon de la Vieja and Arenal. There was so much to do in both locations that we only just scratched the surface during our trip. We stayed at Hacienda Guachipelin and Arenal Springs. Hacienda Guachipelin is more basic but comfortable and has a lot of activities on site. The river tubing was brilliant! Arenal Springs was very nice.

I'd also love to stay at Pacquare Lodge (adults only). You can arrive by white water rafting 😁

One of the reasons we priced it up ourselves was that in addition to being a lot more expensive, one of our main criteria was not to share a bedroom with DS who would have been 14 at the time, so something with a lounge or similar- but travel agents only use a narrow range of accommodation options so it didn't work out with them.

For what it's worth OP, here's the rough itinerary I planned:

• First couple of nights hotel outside san Jose https://villasanignacio.com/ using taxi to get there. There appeared to be a waterfall and some coffee plantations that we could visit by taking a taxi

• We were going to get trip to Tortuguero to see the turtles and stay for a couple of nights but it was wrong time of year for them

• 4 nights at the Lost Iguana resort Arenal - I think I had planned that we would get there through an organised rafting trip and just pay a bit extra for hotel pick ups and drop offs at each end. Then most of the activity trips will also ferry you to and from your hotel

• from there to monteverde - its possible to organise a taxi boat taxi .

• Then to manuel antonio for the last few days at Tulemar - thought we might hire a car for that bit as drive to airport is around 3 hrs

Obviously we didn't do the trip so it may not be perfect. But I don't think there were any long drives or major travelling apart from going back to the airport. I booked most of the hotels through booking.com and in fact the only thing I lost was non refundable deposit for Tulemar resort - I probably could have argued more with both them and the insurance company about it but lost my mojo during lockdown.

I was really looking forward to it - I'm not sure if we'll do it now unless DS really wanted to join us as there were a lot of intrepid activities that I'd planned to sit out and can't see DH doing them on his own.

A half way house would be to book an internal tour company , something like this https://exploradoresoutdoors.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwkt6aBhDKARIsAAyeLJ2DYztVwCezkeYtclTrKQRm5ihemgTF6JA27G9V9AN8LIduQbIo5caAvB8EALww_wcB and get flights separately.

Sorry one thing I forgot to mention, a number of the Tortuguero hotels will arrange a package where they pick you up from San Jose hotel and at the end of the stay will transport you to your hotel in Arenal.

We’re going in Feb. This company are great at tailor made & were recommended to us. www.wayfairertravel.com/

if you want to avoid school holidays you’ll have to go early Feb. We go 10th for our school hols but half of the children we know are off school from 17th onwards.

We're going on December with our 5 year old. We've planned it ourselves as we are experienced travellers in the region. Our itinerary is Samara (Pacific Coast) >Monteverde > Arenal > Cahuita (Caribbean coast). We have already been to Manuel Antonio as scruffy backpackers years ago but do recommend it.

Car hire is pricey and full of hidden charges so we will only have one for a bit and use shared shuttles. Activities and attractions are priced for their main tourist market of Americans, state of the £ currently doesn't help as everything is priced in $.

Luckily, we are happy with nature walks and beaches/waterfalls and don't plan to zipline everywhere. Can't wait

We're heading out in just over 2 weeks for our honeymoon. We are self driving and have booked our hotels but no tours as of yet. Here's the itinerary:

LHR-Houston flight, hotel for 1 night in Houston, TX.
Houston - San Jose flight. Drive from airport up to La Fortuna

Hotel 1: Arenal Manoa Resort & Hot Springs, La Fortuna - 3 nights
Hotel 2: Casitas del Bosque, Monteverde - 2 nights
Hotel 3: Tamarindo Bay Boutique Hotel, Tamarindo - 3 nights
Hotel 4: Selina, Nosara - 3 nights

Fly back again via Houston with 1 full day to explore the city.

We haven't booked any kind of activities or tours yet, so any recommendations for things to do in those areas would be brilliant. Loving the info so far, thanks all!

Try Exoticca - they have a trip I’m just went
on Magical Night of the Sea Turtles. I saw turtles laying their eggs, other turtles mating, whales and so many toucans, monkeys . It was definitely one of my favourite holidays

Ziplining over the Monteverde cloud forest is an experience I’ll never forget

just chipping in fir what it's worth.
we booked with BA there is an option to book a hotel for only part of the trip which makes it into a package holiday but with out the restrictions.
It was a wonderful holiday.
we did the well worn itinerary for first timers!
stayed in a v cheap hotel near the airport first night.
Then to Arenal at the royal corin hotel was fab
then monteverde stayed at poco a poco. basic clean and in a great location. Actual real life toucans in the garden.
then we went to Ulvita hoping to see whales which we did amazing to see a whale and her calf unforgettable.
our last stop was manuel antonio at la mariposa it was fabulous saw scarlet macaws flying in every evening.
we used a company called two weeks in costa rica for all the transport which was less expensive than hiring a car and was efficient and individual.
it's easy to arrange all the trips from the hotels when you get there.
it was a very reasonable cost in the end . you. will have a great time . i'd love to back and will be taking note of all the great surges here!!

I didn't know you could book a hotel for part of a trip @cruchieaddict - that's really useful to know, as often part of the reason I don't do set holidays is I'm not particularly keen on their choice of hotels.

We had our honeymoon there. It was fantastic, one of the few places on our must-return list.

We had a final few days in a naice hotel on the pacific coast which we weren't expecting to love after the cloud forests etc but it was wonderful. And we saw whales. Enjoy.

@dontknowwhatisbest Could I please get your itinerary as well?

I haven't been but when I do I definitely want to go down to the Osa peninsula and Corcavado National Park as it's supposed to be the best for wildlife. Very jealous! Certainly wouldn't spend 14k on it though as would do it more backpacker style - minus the dorm rooms.

Hi, we booked 2.5 weeks in April about 10 weeks ago, private/small group tour.
Just came on to say so many hotels and trips etc were already full then! So move fast! We are doing 4 bases...all the big name sites, nothing that requires internal flights. All in costing 11k for 4 of us. Only one 3 hotel, the rest 3+ All shared rooms. All activities included. Lots of playing around with dates as so many flights were full. We couldn't make it work to go earlier in the year with regards price and availability.

We are off to Costa Rica in a couple of weeks time, visiting La Fortuna, Monteverde and Uvita. Then getting to the Osa peninsular by a tiny plane and visiting Corcovado NP, and Cano Island for the snorkeling. Its taken a lot of planning, but can't wait!

@Cloverforever would you mind sharing your itinerary and how you are travelling?

I'd so love to go, watching this thread with interest!

@dontknowwhatisbest please can i have your itinerary too? thank you !

@dontknowwhatisbest Would you please message me your trip itinerary please? Thanks