Costa Rica

[kjack]

We are thinking of extending our family holiday to include Costa Rica for 8days in August..

Which area would you recommend as the best for adventure?wildlife? Ziplining, Canyoning, White Water Rafting, Tropical walks etc. We won't have a car so would like to go to one or two places that are easy to organise day trips from via hotel or private companies that do pick ups.

I know that 8 days is probably too short and we should hire our own car etc etc but we can't... and I still really want to go so any advice would be awesome!!

Wildlife - Carribbean coast (Tortuguero for turtle nesting, Cahuita NP for wildlife).
Explorerdores do a transfer from Cahuita to San Jose with white water rafting on the Pacuare River which saves wasting a day just travelling. Other pick up and drop off locations too. Very much recommended.
They also do a 2 night trip too. And regular transfers between various locations.

La Fortuna or Monteverde for zip lining and forest - I'd probably go for Monteverde and cloud forest.
People recommend Manuel Antonio for wildlife too. That would be closer to San Jose I think.

Can you do more than 8 days? What are you tagging it on to? We filled 3 weeks easily!

Thank you so much for this!

We’d love to do more than 8 but have a wedding in the US and I know the kids would love to do this and it may be our only opportunity for a while!

@kjack that makes sense - more like a flight to Europe then distance wise.
Be prepared for costs - very few free activities!
We loved it.

We flew into Liberia rather than San Jose and around there its
Buena Vista - ziplines through rainforest with toucans and monkeys, horseriding, hot springs, active volcanoes and a waterslide through jungle plus meal.
Diamante - has a 60mph zipline to the ocean around 300 metres in the air as well as a wildlife park.
Carribean coast had sloths in the wild and rainforest.
Hotel had kayaking, windsurfing, monkeys, raccoons, coati, gecko, beach etc
Arenal has the volcano and a lot of activities
Monteverde has the hanging bridges
We also did Blue River which was botanical garden, waterfalls etc

I'd go to La Fortuna and Rincon de la Vieja. La Fortuna for the zip lining, hot springs and volcano. We saw monkeys, armadillos, sloths and all sorts of birds when we were there last year. Rincon de la Vieja for the river tubing, mud baths and riding.

That could work so well for us as I’d love to visit 2 places and we could fly in to Daniel Oduber airport and out of San Jose - I think.

Do you have any hotel recommendations at all??
thanks!

In Rincon de la Vieja we stayed at Hacienda Guachipelin, which is a short-ish drive from the airport in Liberia. It has all the activities on site and a very nice restaurant with a la carte and buffet options.

We stayed outside La Fortuna, at Arenal Springs Resort . I can't say enough good things about this hotel. The rooms all have great views of the volcano and there are hot springs on site. We had hummingbirds on our veranda each morning. The activities are all outside La Fortuna anyway so there are lots of tour operators, taxis etc. Many activity providers will pick you up from your hotel.

Another poster recommended Tortuguero. It depends on the time of year you go, but we saw a gigantic turtle laying her eggs on the beach at night, with the rainforest backlit by sheet lightning. Absolutely awe-inspiring. Definitely worth it if you can squeeze in a 2 or 3-night trip. We stayed at Evergreen Lodge.

Amazing. Thank you!

I am now nearly there with my booking and just wondered where you stayed in Buena Vista (we have booked flights into Liberia)
thanks!!