Our itinerary took us to three different areas of the country, all of which were very different in terms of weather and experiences. We chose to fly in and out of San Jose International Airport, though you can also fly in and/or out of Liberia depending on where you want to explore. There were some Covid forms we needed to fill out, which was a bit of hassle, but once those were complete we met our driver outside for the 3 hour drive to the Arenal area.
La Fortuna - Arenal
We pulled into Mountain Paradise Resort in the wee hours of the night and were taken to our room where we would stay the next three nights. While the rooms were large and it fit our needs, it was our least favorite of the resorts. The key is to stay at a resort that has a hot springs on site, but unfortunately they were all sold out by the time we go to booking. The clouds didn't budge much, but the volcano was right outside our door.
We spent 2 full days in the Arenal area (more specifically in La Fortuna), one of which happened to be my birthday and our first full day in Costa Rica. We didn't have anything planned and wanted to relax, so decided a hot spring was in order. We went with Ecotermales and were not disappointed when we basically had all of the springs to ourselves upon our early arrival. Our ~$70 day pass gave us full access to the series of cascading pools with temps ranging from 105 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and a buffet lunch. We also chose to purchase drinks while reading and relaxing by the springs, it was my birthday after all!
And to continue the birthday celebrations, we took a taxi into La Fortuna town and had a delicious dinner at Tierra Mia and chocolate desserts at Chocolate Fusion.
The next day we had our first official planned activity, a Canyoning Waterfall Rappel tour with Pure Trek. We were picked up from our hotel and taken the short ride down the hill to the main office. There we enjoyed our first of many tour lunches of rice, chicken, vegetables and a tangy sauce that was quite good. We jumped in the van with about eight others and headed down the bumpy roads to the start of our track. There were five different parts of the tour including rappelling down waterfalls, free falls, and a monkey drop. It was a lot of fun and we felt safe with all of the guys there to help us out. We wrapped up the tour with our drive back to the main office and our picture purchase (this was always extra $ for the tours).
The remaining time in La Fortuna was spent relaxing at the hotel or walking around the downtown area in search of food. Luckily the weather held out for the most part and we did get a partial glimpse of the volcano. Overall this portion of the trip was good, but not our favorite due to the town being a little run down and the hotel being average. But we were always greeted with friendly local faces and a lot of "Pura Vida's" upon departure, as would be the case across all of Costa Rica.
To get to our next destination we took a van-ferry-van trip rather than driving the full three hours. Although about the same total time, it was a much smoother ride than taking the bumpy roads.
Monteverde
We stayed two nights at Poco a Poco Hotel and found it to be an improvement from our hotel in La Fortuna. We were greeted with chocolate strawberries to celebrate my birthday week. We found the rooms to be quite comfortable, although the wind was so forceful we thought we might blow over the first night. The pool drinks were delicious and the hotel tub was extremely welcome with the weather being cold and rainy. Also the breakfast was a la carte and not just beans and rice!
Our first night we walked into town to get dinner at the Tree House Restaurante, so named because there's a giant tree in the center of the entire restaurant. The food was mediocre, but it was one of those places you go for the vibe.
Our first full day in Monteverde was spent at Sky Adventures. We started with a two hour hanging bridges tour. Our guide was wonderful and he pointed out many tarantulas along the way. I would highly recommend this section of the tour - even on a rainy day - because the treetops captured most of the rain. So you can stay mostly dry while crossing the 5 bridges of varying distances (one is a half mile long).
The next adventure at Sky Adventures was ziplining. We put on all of our gear and got the safety briefing before taking the cable car up to the tip top of the course. Once there, we waited for the winds to slow down before we began. I like to think the wind died down, but truly it did not. Zip lining is not fun when the wind is howling and rain is whipping you in the face. By the time we went through the first zip line I was ready to call it, but we had many more to go. The last stop was to choose between the free fall or rappelling. Sam and I both went for the freefall in order to get down as quickly as possible. At least the guides were pleasant.
We decided to refuel at Taco Taco Taqueria, a cute taco spot in town. We enjoyed drinks, snacks and tacos in a lovely atmosphere with pleasant service.
Our chocolate and coffee tour was accidentally planned the same day as Sky Adventures. Luckily I was able to send a message to Costa Rican Adventures who quickly and easily rescheduled us for the next day and moved our car transfer. So the next day we set off to learn about growing coffee beans and making chocolate. Our guide was once again very friendly and informative. It was a great way to end our short time in Monteverde. Alas, the beach was waiting!
Our private transfer took us on the long and very windy journey to the beach town of Manuel Antonio. I don't normally get car sick, but the first half of the ride made me so nauseous I had to shut my eyes. Once we hit the beach towns it was smooth sailing.
Manuel Antonio
Manuel Antonio greeted us with sunshine and warm temperatures. We were thrilled after having been in rainy and cold weather the previous five days. It was even more thrilling to see that our third hotel was even better than our first two. We had an ocean view, two pools to choose from, and the best a la carte breakfast of the trip.
We were tired and decided to go right next door for dinner at Rico Tico. The best thing was the shrimp appetizer. It was spicy (the first spice we encountered in Costa Rica) and delicious. I would also recommend Emilio's, a place we met up with my friend Jake (yes the one who planned our trip) and his girlfriend. There were definitely more food options in Manuel Antonio and I wish we had more time to explore.
Our first activity in Manuel Antonio was ATVing with Fourtrax. Our guides were truly amazing and we had so much fun on this tour. It included lunch (you guessed it - rice with chicken), over an hour of ATVing, and a short trek on private land to a waterfall with a swimming area. We also enjoyed snacks along the way and the group on our tour was in for a wedding and purchased the pictures for everyone at the end.
Manuel Antonio is known for the beach and the national park right by town. This park is preserved land that is home to a ton of wildlife like sloths. We booked a tour guide through Airbnb so we wouldn't get bombarded by guides selling their services at the park gate, which I had read happens often. Our guide, Jason, was unbelievable and came equipped with a Swarovski telescope that connected directly to his phone. The pictures were unreal, all of which he shared at the end of the tour. We absolutely loved this experience. Did I mention we saw a SLOTH!?
We were leaving early the following morning so needed to get back to San Jose. Fortunately there was a quick and easy way to do that via the Quepos puddle jumper. We got to the "airport" excessively early and waited for our little plane to arrive. We jumped on and took to the skies for our 45 minutes flight.
San Jose
Now these were Covid times, so we needed to get our Covid test done before checking into the Hampton Inn. Luckily it was a fairly easy process and they emailed the results within a few hours (negative!). We headed to our final hotel, settled in, and then ubered to grab dinner at a cute spot called Street Food. Those uber drivers fly in Costa Rica...in fact all drivers seem to go rather fast.
The next day we woke bright and early to grab breakfast and head to the airport on the free shuttle. After over a week in Costa Rica it was clear we had only scratched the surface. There is plenty more to discover and we can't wait to explore more areas when we head back.
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