Wife has milestone b’day late Jan and wants to go to CR. looking for place to stay as follows
Villa or small resort she’s been looking at places with 11 bungalows and such. Large hotel with many room is a no go. May just be the 2 of us or possibly some friends and family. So villa would work, but so would small resort where everyone just gets their own reservation.
Beachfront. Or at least extremely easy access. No drive or walk over say .25 mile. I know some beaches there are rocky. Beach needs to be at least fairly user friendly, clean, scenic.
Nicely appointed. If the words basic, dated, or spartan could apply, it’s out.
Does not need to have a lot of amenities. On site restaurant a plus, spa nice but not required, night club or golf probably a negative.
I know that sounds picky, but I know the parameters I’m expected to work within, so why fight it.
Chad - Location is key in CR. Where do you want to be… Pacific side, Caribbean side? Do you need to be near one of the big/parks volcanoes. How do you want to spend your time? Are you flying in and out of San Jose or Liberia? Driving in CR is not the easiest and it can take a long time to get from point A to point B. There are some beautiful villas with full staff etc that are very reasonable but you need to sort of have a location in mind that works for what you want to do while you are there.
We think we want Pacific side and were looking north or south rather than central. Considering Dominical or somewhere around Santa Teresa (which I note has been discussed a bit here in the past). Though we are open to other suggestions.
Flying from ATL, we can do direct to San Jose, which is nice. But not opposed to puddle jumping or connecting to get to Liberia or elsewhere.
We certainly want to experience some of the country, probably more jungle/rain forest than volcano,oriented. But must admit that we tend to spend most of our time crashed by the pool or on the beach, so ability to day trip out is not of supreme importance.
I have visited a variety of travel sites, guidebooks and search history here. Can easily identify beautiful and fairly secluded beaches, as well as great villas or boutique hotels. Just haven’t yet found the eureka combo that puts them all together.
Thanks again for any guidance.
Do understand the Country is beautiful and the people are very nice but the roads to get around are not highways and some are quite rustic. Getting around will take you a bit longer but definitely well worth it.
So here’s current thinking…
Fly to San Jose and drive a fairly short trip to Finace Rosa Blanca coffee plantation for 3 nights. Day trip out to Poas volcano, cloud forest, etc.
Leave there and drive to ferry which crosses the bay to the Nicoya Peninsula, ending up at Milarepa Hotel in Santa Teresa/Malpais. Mostly hang out on beach and maybe pop over to Cabo Blanco Nature Preserve. Apparently there’s also one forest canopy tour somewhere nearby. 5 nights then back to San Jose and home.
What say ye? Driving distance/times posted on hotel sites and in Google maps don’t look terrible.
That is a lot of driving. Your trip to the airport for your flight home is most likely a half a day at least. Plus the trip and ferry out to the Nicoya peninsula is a long one.
We stayed at the four seasons on the Nicoya penisula which is about 45 minutes from Liberia airport. Phenomenally beautiful a bit isolated but that is OK for me. We day tripped out a few days to zipline an go to the Volcano. The resort handles all of this. The resort is a huge property and it never felt crowded we had a suite on the hillside probably a 10 min walk from the main building which was great for us as it was very private. It had it’s own small swimming pool which was amazing. The property itself is phenomenal the best resort I have ever stayed at.
I used to go to Quepos a lot as I had friends with a charter fishing boat and a bar there. The flight from San Jose was TERRIFYING…45 minutes in the sort of plane that dropped soldiers in the bush in 'Nam with hellacious turbulence from mountain updrafts. That was 20 years ago, I’m assuming they have nice planes now?
The airport in Liberia is beautiful. Brand new just opened in December. We flew a brand new 737 home last time. I think it was the plane’s second or third trip. Very nice!
My wife and I spent a long weekend at the Four Seasons (Papagayo, in Guanacaste) this past spring with a suite that had a plunge pool and it was amazing in every way. The service was impeccable. It felt very secluded, and the beaches did not seem crowded. The restaurants were okay. BYOB is allowed, by the way.
I spent 8 days in Santa Teresa this july and loved it. The beaches are nicer towards the hermosa side of things. Try koji for fresh sushi. Habenero is a great place for a beachside beer and lobster taco. Brisa del mar has great views Take a side trip to montezuma, see the falls (zip line there, too), then go into town and eat at Playa del las Artistas. Fabulous.
We spent 3 nights in each Arenal, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio.
Arenal / La Fortuna - beautiful place and amazing resort at Arenal Springs looking up at the volcano. We hung out at the largest swim up bar I’ve been to with a sushi bar and warm hot springs filled pool. Went to the butterfly sanctuary which was very cool. Then hiking at the Hanging Bridges, excellent adventure. Hit up the chocolate tour, fun but not earth shaking. Then hiked to the waterfall and swam in the river at the base of the pool. Food was very good, ate at a couple of the local joints like Soda Visquez for the local flair.
Monteverde - stayed at a decent place but I could pass because there is just the Cloud Forest which was nice but there are many places to hike in CR. The drive up the back side around the lake and through the coffee fields was fun on wild dirt roads. Driving down the front side on the dirt is an adventure too.
Manuel Antonio - loved this place. Lots of nice restaurants and super hotel, La Mariposa, with tons of monkeys and birds running around the property. The MA reserve is a MUST and get a guide because they make the experience 10x better. We saw deer, lizards, iguana, viper, monkeys, toucan, raccoon and lots of birds and insects. The beach is beautiful in the park.
A few random thoughts. Get 4x4, we did and used it a few times because if you’re doing anything adventurous then you’ll be driving on dirt roads. Driving in CR is easy, it’s just slow going and there are NO signs so a GPS is a good idea. Renting a car is a serious financial transaction and after driving I understand why all the insurance requirements. The cars get beat up and it’s very easy to smash it up if you’re not paying attention.
The wildlife is stunning, it’s everywhere. If you’re a photog then you’ll be in heaven and take a good zoom lens.
It can really rain, I mean REALLY rain, but we were fortunate that it didn’t wash out any of our days but we broke out the rain gear a number of times. Weather is warm and the humidity is high so packing bottled water all the time is a good idea.
The Tico people are very nice. Friendly, engaging, and very helpful considering how many tourist are swarming around. I never felt threatened but we were carful and never left the luggage in the car unattended.
There are lots of places for zip lining, rafting, etc. it’s about getting out of the hotel and doing stuff but it’ll cost you. The activities are not cheap.
If you enjoy Hawaii and Mexico but looking for a more rural experience then you’ll love CR. We did.
