<p>Our daughter will be finished with her semester in Costa Rica in early December. We are planning to go down a few days early, stay at a nice resort for a few nights, pick her up and travel together to a few places of her choice (which will probably involve hotels with much smaller carbon footprints than the previous places!)
We have never been there, and know nothing about how hard or easy it is to get around. If you have any experience, can you share your knowledge? Did you rent a car and drive yourself? How much Spanish did you need to drive? Any great resorts you can recommend? Any “must sees”? Did you stay near the airport the first and last nights? Anything you would skip?</p>
<p>Both times we’ve gone to Costa Rica we flew to San Jose, then (the next day) took an itty bitty plane to Puerto Jimenez so we could stay in a lodge in the rain forest on the Osa Peninsula. Driving in Costa Rica is… interesting. The roads aren’t great. I would suggest picking a destination and staying there, rather than trying to travel around.</p>
<p>We can recommend both El Remanso and Luna Lodge, lodges in the Osa. We also liked staying in a little hut underneath the coconut palms at Playa Zancudo.</p>
<p>Oh, and-- bring the binocs. The birds in Costa Rica are amazing even if you don’t care about birds, and the monkeys are fun too.</p>
<p>DH and I went to Costa Rica on our honeymoon. We rented a 4WD SUV and drove to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. If he hadn’t been able to drive stickshift and if I hadn’t been able to speak fluent Spanish, we’d never have made it! It was a great honeymoon bonding experience, and we had a fantastic time. We stayed in the middle of the clouds, and it was just beautiful. Our villa had a little fireplace, and my husband, hopelessly romantic man that he is, was determined to build a roaring fire for his blushing bride… Cloud forests mean wet firewood. It must’ve taken fifteen candles and two hours for the poor guy to get the wood to catch, and in the end, I think we were burning more wax than wood, but by the end, it was clear that I’d just married a sweet, doggedly determined guy. (Skip the roaring fire idea if you go to Monteverde!)</p>
<p>To appease the exhausted-bride side of me, we drove back to San Jose and took a (tiny, tiny) plane to Manuel Antonio and stayed at Makanda-by-the-Sea, in Studio 3, for another four days. From there, we were able to go whitewater rafting, go to the park and snap great pictures of capuchin monkeys, walk into town to shop (we were both so zinged from the wedding insanity that we forgot to pack bathing suits), and hike down the several hundred steps through the forest to the private beach. Quite a climb, but it was fantastic. The pool and restaurant there were fabulous and intimate, and we loved our hosts. The staff were all bilingual, and were equally pleased to let me dust off my Spanish or to give us dining and sightseeing recommendations in English.</p>
<p>Binoculars would’ve been great. I had a fantastic camera and borrowed a few lenses… If you’re at all photographically inclined, it’s a great place to have some good long lenses. The birds are fantastic, even though I’m usually more likely to foosh birds away than to stare at them for a particularly long time.</p>
<p>Have fun! It’s a wonderful country, and such a glorious place to visit.</p>
<p>LOVED Costa Rica. We stayed a few days in the Arenal area (Lost Iguana) and a few days in Manuel Antonio. Costa Rica is the prettiest place I’ve ever been. If you want, pm me your address and I’ll send you the trip report that I posted on another message board.</p>
<p>We hired a driver/van to transport us between locations through our travel agent. As I remember, it was a cost-effective way to transport 8 people. Flew in to San Jose, stayed the night and drove to Arenal the next day. Stayed at the Arenal Observatory in one of the Smithsonian rooms with a picture window and saw the volcano erupt that night. Very cool. Also went to Monte Verde (highlight: zip-lining with the Original Canopy Tour) and Manuel Antonio. I didn’t care for Manuel Antonio, but we live at the beach so I’m a little spoiled.</p>
<p>Flew to San Jose,spent the day and night at a big ol’ hotel, then flew puddle jumper to Tamarindo for a week of surf, eating and sleeping. Spanish was helpful, not required, and decided we didn’t want the hassle of driving there; taxis were a lot more relaxing.</p>
<p>Kei</p>
<p>Flew to San Jose. Spent the night in a small inn in an old colonial building with orchids growing on the walls. Used driver/vans through an adventure package. Minimal HS Spanish got me by fine. </p>
<p>Lots of rafting. Also loved Arenal and Monte Verde. Stayed away from the resorts on the West coast (just not what S and I wanted) and did add a trip to the East coast to see the turtle areas.</p>
<p>Here is a link to an accommodation that is a once in a lifetime experience.</p>
<p>[The</a> Pacuare Jungle Lodge, Costa Rica](<a href=“junglelodgecostarica.com -”>http://www.junglelodgecostarica.com/)</p>
<p>We went to Costa Rica expecting very little, but ended up having a fabulous experience. We stayed in the Guanacaste region and it was truly beautiful. We flew in to an airport in Liberia, which was about a 30 minute drive from our hotel. </p>
<p>The “must do” for us was Borinquen. There are many “zip line” tours advertised - but this was truly something out of the ordinary and not commercial. The Borinquen property is spectacular and about l.5 hours from the main road. We road horses to the top of a beautiful gorge, zip lined down, ate a wonderful lunch, sat in a natural steam house created by the bubbling volcanic mud on the property, watched as the volcanic mud was retrieved and then gave ourselves a mud “treatment” and then washed it off in a natural spring. The experience was truly magical. </p>
<p>One of the other things that we did was to hire a local tour guide. He picked up in the 8 passenger Tourista bus and took us to our locations and stayed with us. Not only was it wonderful to have a bilingual guide (who was extremely inexpensive) but this guide was indicative of the Costa Rican people and was one of the nicest and happiest people I ever met! He drove us to Borinquen and to other places and we were able to experience things off the beaten path. If you want contact information please PM me. We went several years ago, but this vacation was truly one of the best experiences imaginable!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all these ideas! I’ll be busy googling all the resorts.<br>
I like the idea of drivers - H is great with 4x drive on mountain roads, but neither of us speaks Spanish worth a darn.
Aibarr, have deleted “roaring fire” from checklist. That’s a funny story!</p>
<p>We did Costa Rica a number of years ago, so some of my memories are a little dim. Flew into San Jose, spent a night at an inn outside the city, and then had a driver (relative of one of the innkeepers’ employees?) take us to Arenal. Roads are pretty awful – at one point we stopped for a good 30 minutes while some road repairs were being done. While at Arenal, spent an afternoon at Tabacon Springs – pools warmed by the volcano. Rode by horseback over the continental divide to Monteverde – much quicker than going by car, but still a long ride – to say nothing of sore! Did the zipline thing in Monteverde. Finished with a stay at the beach, at a friend’s home. Got by with my rusty Spanish. Loads of fun.</p>
<p>This is a very cool place and not too far from San Juan:</p>
<p>[Peace</a> Lodge - La Paz Waterfall Gardens](<a href=“http://www.waterfallgardens.com/lapaz-peacelodge.html#accommodations]Peace”>http://www.waterfallgardens.com/lapaz-peacelodge.html#accommodations)</p>
<p>The location is awesome and the rooms are amazing. From the web site:</p>
<p>This 800 square foot room has an unbelievable garden bathroom designed for the true nature lover. A seven-foot waterfall comes to life as you soak in the Jacuzzi tub in the garden. There is also a garden shower and enclosed shower. All of this is surrounded by beautiful indoor landscaping and illuminated by a skylight. The room also has a Jacuzzi tub and hammock on the balcony for those picture perfect star gazing nights. A grand gas fireplace to view from the king size canopy bed makes the room complete.</p>
<p>BostonDad2:
Thanks so much for the great link above. It looks like a fabulous place…
Maybe I need to consider this for a big anniversary coming up. Absolutely beautiful.</p>
<p>Ooh… We looked at the Peace Lodge, but it was out of our price range. The Makanda was a little more remote from civilization, and a little bit cheaper. (I thought that the four hundred ninety steps to the beach were charming, not grueling! 
)</p>
<p>We went three summers in a row. Always stayed in an American chain hotel (like Hampton Inn) near the airport in San Jose first and last nights. The Toyota rental place is within walking distance of the airport hotels. Driving around CR is a hoot, but heed the warnings. (Do not speed. Do not speed. Do not speed.) None of us spoke Spanish, although I did some language tapes in my car for a few weeks. It was not a problem. The Ticos are wonderful with tourists.</p>
<p>First trip was longer–visited Monteverde (awesome zip line), Arenal (often a disappointment if the volcano’s socked in, which it was during our visit), Tabacon (a little commercial but biggest hot springs I’ve ever seen). Spent the bulk of our time and the entire next two trips in Nosara. Stayed at a place called Harbor Reef–owned by an American and you can get your own house. The beach there, Playa Guiones, allegedly has the most consistently surfable waves in this hemisphere. Lots of ex-pats in the area, many of whom have set up businesses. A VA Tech hokie owns one of the board rental places. Exquisite french bakery in town (no, really). Food was perfect–fresh fish, chicken, rice, beans, veggies. Hubby and I made a point to drink bottled water but the kids did not and were fine. I’d go again in a heartbeat. . .</p>
<p>These were exceptional trips.</p>
<p>Investigate carefully before you book the Peace Lodge. They sustained damage in the January earthquake but are now open. However it looks like not everything is up and running yet. Try to get an up to the minute update of the status of the improvements.</p>
<p>Thanks for that info, missypie. Forgot all about the earthquake.</p>
<p>The Peace Lodge is the only place I’ve heard about sustaining damage, but that may be because it’s on my radar screen (because I’d like to go there). If I were you I’d investigate any place carefully, just to make sure nothing was damaged or is not open or functional that is important to you.</p>