<p>If you had to pick a place to go for vacation in late June early July. Where would you go?</p>
<p>I won’t go to any country for leisure travel if it is not safe. Costa Rica sounds pretty bad:</p>
<p>[Costa</a> Rica](<a href=“404 - Page Not Found”>404 - Page Not Found)</p>
<p>There is an interesting map here:</p>
<p>[Where</a> in the world is it safe to travel?](<a href=“Where in the world is it safe to travel?”>Where in the world is it safe to travel?)</p>
<p>Outside of San Jose, Costa Rica is one of the safest places in the world. You face the same threats there as London, and any big city for that matter.</p>
<p>I’ve been to both and highly recommend Costa Rica.</p>
<p>I would definitely love to go to Costa Rica. I have heard it is a very popular retirement spot for indigent Americans :D. I have been to London but never to CR. If I had never been to either place it would be hard to decide because the sites, sights, and attractions are so vastly different.</p>
<p>@romanigypsyeyes that’s where I’m looking to stay outside of the San Jose Area. Btw I live in the Midwest and I know London’s whether can be a little cooler than I would like that time of year.</p>
<p>@njres I’ve never been to either. But I have a teenager that wants to be on the beach and a college student studying in London this summer.</p>
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<p>This is simply not true, a little realism is necessary. All places ‘frequented by tourists’ are high risk, even outside San Jose.</p>
<p>‘Safest places in the world’ might include the likes of Iceland or Japan, not any part of Costa Rica.</p>
<p>London. As Woody Allen said, “I am at two with nature.”</p>
<p>But I understand that Costa Rica is beautiful.</p>
<p>Beautiful and then some. Look at Nature Adventures Costa Rica. Son and I spent 10 days in the summer of 2008. This group put together a personal itinerary.</p>
<p>Consider the weather and daylight hours. Summer, when the temperatures are warmer and there is a lot of daylight, is ideal for London, as we did years ago. We did a great 10 day tour of Costa Rica one February- a great break from our then up north location. Costa Rica is great- no standing army since the 1940’s (tells you how politics is stable), high literacy, etc. Both places are good to see- figure out what is happening in each place at the proposed visit time. Both are expensive.</p>
<p>Rockee, at that time of the year, the coasts are going to be very, very warm but the inner valleys are very pleasant (70s). </p>
<p>Airfare to CR is much cheaper than London… at least it was when I went. </p>
<p>I can really plug for CR because you can literally have just about any type of climate you want there. No snow though. You can go from rain forest to beach in literally a few minutes if you go to Puerto Viejo. Or there’s the cloudforests but those tend to be much cooler. Plus volcanoes lol. </p>
<p>Many parts of the country speak English very well so you generally won’t have an issue with that unless you’re in a very remote area.</p>
<p>London in a heartbeat. I was there last July and the weather was perfect IMO.</p>
<p>Costa Rica - but mainly because I live about 2 hours away from London, but have never been to Costa Rica, though I would love to go</p>
<p>I agree. Costa Rica. It not only is one of the safest places in the world, but the one of most literate. Younger D who had wanted to go to London since she was about 5, went there for a few weeks on her way home from India & was really disappointed.
She did like Costa Rica however & she loved the opportunity to go surfing on both coasts as well as using a zipline to get around the jungle.
Older D was there as a high school senior.
[Take</a> A Trip To The “Happiest Country On Earth” - Forbes](<a href=“http://www.forbes.com/sites/traceygreenstein/2012/10/01/take-a-trip-to-the-happiest-country-on-earth/]Take”>Take A Trip To The "Happiest Country On Earth")</p>
<p>San Jose is a big city and as in any big city, visitors should be alert, as they should be while visiting LA, or Chicago, or Philadelphia, Wa DC…</p>
<p>sor, I don’t know what your thing is against CR but it really is a very safe and beautiful country outside of SJ. It’s an incredibly hospitable, welcoming place. I know several people that live there- including many retired Americans who have nothing but pleasant things to say.</p>
<p>Europe in Summer is always busy and expensive…but I love it.
Costa Rica: have not been in summer months, but Loved it! Felt quite safe. English spoken by most, heck, many, many places took our dollars! Highly educated population. Very Eco minded country. Lots of ex-pat Americans there. Did not feel nearly as expensive as London. </p>
<p>fwiw…</p>
<p>London, hands down. But I’m an Anglophile.</p>
<p>Very different experiences. London is… urban! Costa Rica is… jungles/mountains/beach – everything BUT urban! So you need to ask yourself what kind of a trip you want: nature/beach or urban/artsy/pounding the pavement. Both have their appeal.</p>
<p>You do not need advice like this in ‘one of the safest places in the world’:</p>
<p>[Costa</a> Rica: Crime and Safety - TripAdvisor](<a href=“http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g291982-c162840/Costa-Rica:Crime.And.Safety.html]Costa”>http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g291982-c162840/Costa-Rica:Crime.And.Safety.html)</p>
<p>I have nothing special against Costa Rica, just against paying for leisure time in a country where people are fairly likely to steal my stuff, and the police are inept.</p>
<p>I actually planned a trip to Ecuador too, then read similar things and thought why bother.</p>
<p>With respect to the tips on the TripAdvisor link above…
those tips could apply to many places around the world…even London and many areas in the US…</p>