Seeking advice-Costa Rica vacation this June

[duketaylor]

Considering a vacation to celebrate graduation of our kids. Looking for help. Thanks in advance.

[Tripping William]

Considering a vacation to celebrate graduation of our kids. Looking for help. Thanks in advance.

I have never been, and know nothing first hand. BUT, I always look closely at where US Kids Golf holds its championships (Innisbrook; Jekyll Island; etc.). Their Latin American Championship event is being held at Reserva Conchal Golf Club. A Robert Trent Jones II design. May be worth exploring.

[duketaylor]

I have never been, and know nothing first hand. BUT, I always look closely at where US Kids Golf holds its championships (Innisbrook; Jekyll Island; etc.). Their Latin American Championship event is being held at Reserva Conchal Golf Club. A Robert Trent Jones II design. May be worth exploring.

Can always explore

Better have some good beer down there!!

[Rich]

Considering a vacation to celebrate graduation of our kids. Looking for help. Thanks in advance.

First of all, great choice! I took my family to CR on Spring Break a few years ago and it was one of the best choices we made. Costa Rica is really split into two vacation sections - the dry area by the ocean and the wet area by the Arenal volcano, which is the largest volcano in the country. Many people spend some time in each but we spent our entire vacation by the ocean. Depending on the time of year, you should check because certain times of year you will have a good amount of rain at Arenal. By land size, CR has the most volcanoes of any country in the world so even if you stay by the ocean there are excursions to small volcanoes.

We stayed in Guanacaste at the all-inclusive Hotel Riu Palace Costa Rica. Great staff, wonderful hotel, and I highly recommend it. Note that it sits right next to the Hotel Riu Guanacaste, which is owned by the same company, but I heard is a bit run down, although I did not see inside so I can't confirm. Don't be confused - they are two distinct hotels even though the names are so similar.

No matter which part of CR you stay, or if you decide to spend a few days in each, the benefit of the country are all of the excursions you can do. We left the hotel a few times to do horseback riding, ATV riding, zip lines, natural hot springs and mud baths, and even went to a place where they rescue monkeys. One excursion had a water slide down a volcano that took about 15 minutes to walk up and a good 3-5 minutes to go down. My kids (at the time 12 and 15) loved it.

Every day at about 3pm at the hotel the entertainment staff came out and tried to get kids involved with different games and tournaments (ping pong, pool volleyball, etc.). My son can be a challenge and gets bored easily, but between the excursions and the pool activities, he was always occupied and by bed time he was exhausted. The hotel also has several restaurants that you need to make reservations for for dinner, as well as the main buffet. I thought the food was fine, but not winning any awards. Pretty much what you'd expect from an all inclusive. There's also evening entertainment every night, but we were mostly too tired and went to bed.

Ping me directly if you want more info. As you can tell, I highly recommend the country and the vacation.

[Reisen]

Breaking Costa Rica down:

- You have Guanacaste Province, in the North West. Liberia is a major airport with direct flights to the US. There are many high end resorts, including Andaz Peninsula Papagayo, Four Seasons Peninsula Papagayo, etc. Great golf, and good beaches. We spent a week here back in 2006 and enjoyed it.

- You have the center of the country, including San Jose, Arenal, Monteverde cloud forest, etc. You can read about some of the things to do here, but they mainly revolved around volcanos, cloud forests, zip lining, waterfalls, and jungle tracking. We spent another week here, and it was the most active part of our vacation.

- In the far south, almost to the border of Panama, you have the Osa Peninsula. You would most likely want to fly here, as the roads are bad and the drive would take a long time. However, you get the best jungles and beaches here, and the best nature. Expect small eco-lodges. Again, we spent another week here, and it was probably our favorite part of the country.

- In the east is the Caribbean side, including Limon. We did not visit here, nor do I know many people who have. Most people stay inland or on the pacific side of the country.

[bluedag]

I can fill in on Limon. We didn't stay in Limon, but we did enjoy Tortuguero National Park which is north of Limon. That area is amazing mainly because it is an undeveloped rain forest and a national park. You drive near Limon and then you take a boat north to your eco-hotel. The boat will often stop for iguanas, sloth, crocodiles, and other wild life spotted during the tour. When I studied abroad there we stayed at the Tortuga Lodge which was near a village. This was fun to see and meet the people in the village. Also, we took the boat out and saw poisonous frogs, lizards, an other wildlife. Fishing is a fun activity and if you are there at the right time you can watch turtles nesting on the beach.

It's been over 10 years since I went so I would expect some change, which from the looks of the lodge they have made some nice upgrades

[wavedukefan70s]

La carolina lodge is nice also.ill pm you .

[FadedTackyShirt]

You would most likely want to fly here, as the roads are bad and the drive would take a long time.

Several friends have been to Costa Rica and all rave about it, but driving in Costa Rica gets universally panned. Crappy roads make it an unpleasant experience.

[duketaylor]

Flew into Liberia and had an hour and 40 minute to Dreams Las Mareas, just outside La Cruz on the Pacific side, close to Nicaragua. Overall an excellent vacation, all inclusive and safe. Not perfect, we had some minor issues and glitches, but VG overall. Las Mareas is very secluded, offers nice amenities, excellent food. Limited beer selection and strange restaurant hours for offering someone at all hours. No sports on tv except in room, largely is Spanish, but not so much. Main bar, which doesn't open til 6pm has no tv. Would've thought at least one tv with futbol, or another sport. Most employees speak at least decent English and are quite young. Checking in took too long, like almost an hour. We were tired and just wanted to get into our room.

Wife and daughter visited Nicaragua one day, excursion lasted 13 hours. They did love it. Friday last, my wife, daughter and twin boys went on an excursion which included horseback riding, ATVs, hiking and Zip-lining. I chartered an in-shore fishing boat that day. They had plenty of fun.

I caught 5 roosterfish, lost 4. My arms are still sore; smallest about 25 lbs. Biggest about 50. One we lost might've been 60+.

Catching a red-eye home was brutal; left Liberia at 11:40 Saturday night, got home yesterday at 11AM. Won't do that again.

Great experience!! Tired and recovering!!

Thanks for all the advice before our trip!!

[sagegrouse]

Chuck - I've been to Costa Rica 5-6 times. Guancaste is a dry deciduous forest. Much, much hotter than rest of the country when I did a two+ week bird trip in March (long time ago). May not be as much difference in July-Aug, but the hot season in most of CR is Jan and Feb.I would call the roads "crappy" if and only if you have never visited other places in Latin America.

Osa peninsula is the most easily accessible wild rain forest I know, although it is in a remote part of CR. But it is small lodges. Chance of seeing a jaguar?

In Rome now. May add more later or you can PM me.

Sage