Manuel Antonio National Park is the smallest national park in Costa Rica but don’t let the size fool you. It has been rated as one of 12 most beautiful national parks by Forbes in 2011 and is one of the most visited parks in the country. Additionally, it is one of the best places in Costa Rica for first time visitors. If you’re planning on visiting, read our guide to help plan your trip.
This post was updated March 2019.
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- Location and Directions
- Hours and fee
- National Park Map
- Beaches
- Wildlife
- Guided vs self guided tour
- Hotels
- Tips for visiting
- Best Time to Visit/Weather
- What to Wear
Location
Manuel Antonio National Park Costa Rica Map.
How to get to Manuel Antonio National Park
Driving
Manuel Antonio is about a 2.5 hour drive from San Jose. You’ll first get on the Route 27 West and exit at the Jaco exit to get on the Costanera Sur. From there, you’ll drive straight south for about 1.5 hours. This is all on a well paved highway and a high car is not necessary.
Once you get to Quepos, drive through town to go up the Manuel Antonio hill. Once at the beach, you can take a left and drive towards the national park entrance to park in the parking lots there.
Bus
There is a direct bus from San Jose to Manuel Antonio. There is a daily direct bus from Calle 5, Ave 18/20 with Terminal Transportes Tracopa at 6, 9 (Mon-Sat), 12 PM, 2:30 PM (Mon-Sat), 6 PM and 7:30 PM. This takes about 4 hours and costs around 4500 colones (~$8). There is also a colectivo bus (makes a lot of stops) from San Jose (same terminal) at 7, 10, 2 PM, 4 PM and 5 PM (Mon-Fri)
From the Quepos bus station, there are buses go the national park entrance every half an hour or so.
From Jaco, take the bus to Quepos and then the national park. You can find more information on bus schedules in this guide to taking the bus from Jaco to Manuel Antonio.
From Tamarindo/Coco, you must first take the bus to Liberia, then Puntarenas and then Manuel Antonio. There is a bus from Liberia to Puntarenas at 5, 745, 830, 930, 1030, 1230, 2:40 PM and 3:30 PM every day. Then Puntarenas to Manuel Antonio is at 5, 7, 9, 11, 1:30 PM, 2:30 PM, 4:30 PM and 5:30 PM every day.
Shuttle
You can take private or shared shuttles to Manuel Antonio. A private shuttle from San Jose is around $200 and from Guanacaste, around $250-300.
A shared shuttle from San Jose and Liberia to Manuel Antonio is $55 with Interbus.
Flying
Quepos has its own local airport. It’s about a 10 minute flight from San Jose and costs around $75 one way with SkywayCR (get 10% discount and extra 10 lbs of luggage). The local airport is 5 minutes outside of Quepos.
Manuel Antonio Entrance Fee and Operating Hours
Manuel Antonio National Park operation hours are Tuesday – Sunday, 7AM – 4 PM.
The national park entrance fee is $16 for foreigners. I suggest paying in cash since there is a fee for using credit card and they take dollars. The office is about close to the park entrance on the left hand side from the national park entrance.
National Park Map
Here is a map of the park so you can see the hiking trails, different beaches and viewpoints on it.
They normally give you the Manuel Antonio National Park map when you buy tickets but don’t worry if you don’t get one. There are a lot of billboards and signs in the national park with this exact map.
Safety tip: If someone tries to charge you for it, don’t buy it! The maps are free from the ticket office. If you don’t get one, just take a photo of the board in the park or save our photo.
The Main Beaches in Manuel Antonio
The main beaches in Manuel Antonio are Manuel Antonio, Gemelas, Puerto Escondido, Espadilla Sur and Espadilla Norte. The most visited beaches are Espadilla Norte and Playa Manuel Antonio in the national park.
Manuel Antonio beach is a short walk from the entrance of the park. It has a lot of trees for shade, fairly calm waters and beautiful views.
In my experience, it’s generally the most crowded beach in the national park. A lot of white face monkeys and raccoons pass through here so people love seeing them jump and play around on the beach. No wonder people stay at this beach the longest!
On the other side of Manuel Antonio beach is Playa Espadilla Sur. I personally love this beach more because there isn’t as many people and you get a wonderful view of Manuel Antonio hill and Espadilla norte.
The other beaches, Gemelas and Puerto Escondido can by reached by the trails. Gemelas is a smaller beach that is also suitable for swimming.
When I stopped by Gemelas beach, there were only 6 people and tons of iguanas. Nice place to get away from the crowds!
And lastly, there is Playa Espadilla Norte which is right outside the park entrance. Since it is not in the park, it’s free.
You can go parasailing, jet skiing, surfing and swimming at this beach.
Aerial Video
See what Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, the national park and beaches look like in our aerial video.
Animals in Manuel Antonio
If you want to get up close with wildlife in Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio National Park is the best one to go to for that experience. Since the small national park is home to over 100 species of mammals and 180 species of birds, you can see a lot of wildlife.
Some of the most common animals in Manuel Antonio are 2 and 3 fingered sloths, white face, howler and squirrel monkeys, raccoons, agoutis and frogs.
As if it’s not enough to just see the animals, you can see some pretty wild things. Our first time at the park, we saw a white face monkey hunt down and eat a huge iguana right in front of us!
You can watch in the video below our experience at Manuel Antonio.
Guided vs Self Guided Tours
We recommend taking a guided tours in Manuel Antonio National Park park if you want to see wildlife. The guides have binoculars or telescopes so they can find animals for you. You can also use their telescopes to take pictures of the animals up close.
However, if you’re not that dead set on seeing wildlife, you can perfectly do a self guided hike at Manuel Antonio National Park. Signage is excellent, trails are well maintained and not too difficult so a self guided hike is definitely doable.
Hiking in the Park
Although most people like to stay at Playa Manuel Antonio, we highly recommend hiking a few of the trails in the park. Here’s why – Not as many people go to Punta Serrucho, Punta Catedral or Congo trails.
If you feel like the park is crowded, you won’t if you venture away from the beach area. When I hiked up to Punta Serrucho, I was the only one for a good amount of time even though there was a huge line. I even saw monkeys and sloths all by myself!
If you want to hike the park, read our complete guide to hiking Manuel Antonio Park.
***As of February 2018, the park has opened a brand new universal trail! It goes for about 1 kilometer from the park entrance down to Playa Manuel Antonio so that people with disabilities or wheelchair can go on it.***
Manuel Antonio Hotel Recommendations
There are no shortages of hostels, resorts, apartments and hotels in Manuel Antonio. If you’re here for a romantic getaway or luxury vacation, you have many 5 star resorts to choose from. Likewise, there are plenty of budget, mid range and hostels.
Here are our recommendations for hotels in Manuel Antonio.
- Hotel La Mariposa, an upscale hotel with a great view of the national park.
- La Mansion Inn, a luxury boutique hotel also with an amazing view.
- El Faro Beach Hotel and Hotel San Bada for the closest location to the national park.
- Vista Serena, a hostel not too far from the national park with a great view.
- Jungle Beach Hotel, a comfortable “rustic” hotel right by the beach.
- Tres Banderas, a newly refurbished hotel with a restaurant and bar.
- Selina Hostel, a new hostel chain in Costa Rica. Has its own yoga deck and restaurant. Great backpacker atmosphere.
- Tulemar, a luxury vacation rental that has its own beach and offers an exclusive sloth walk to guests.
Things You Need to Know About Visiting
- You can’t bring food like chips or peanuts in. Park rangers will check your backpack at the entrance and take them.
- There are bathrooms, showers and changing stations.
- They only let in a certain amount of people a day so if you leave the park and want to go back in later, you can enter again if there are enough space.
- Do NOT feed the animals!
- Do not walk off the trails.
- If you drive, park at the lot by the roundabout, it’s free. The parking lot by the entrance charges 3,000 colones.
- If you hire a guide, make sure he is certified by the ICT (Instituto Costarricense de Turismo). Some guides pretend to be certified and try to charge you a ton of money. Or book one through a tour company as they have certified guides.
- For guides outside the entrance, always bargain. They offered me $40 for a guide for 3 hours, 1 person.
- There is a lot of other things to do in Manuel Antonio besides the national park.
Best Time to Visit Manuel Antonio Costa Rica
You will be able to see wildlife and hike the trails any time of the year. However, there are a few things to keep in mind about visiting this national park.
Weather
The weather at Manuel Antonio is hot and humid with temperatures in the 90’s and high humidity. This area experiences typical tropical weather so you have the normal dry season from roughly beginning of December – end of April and rainy season from beginning of May to end of November.
Number of People
It is very crowded end of December – end of April. This is high season and this park gets very crowded Weekends and holidays (New Years, Christmas and Holy Week) are very busy. July is also a busy month.
September – November are best times for less people: I visited once mid November and there weren’t very many people. However, these are the peak rainy months. Make sure to go as early as possible in the morning for less people and more wildlife.
What to Wear and Bring
- Bring your swimsuit (there are changing stations) if you don’t want to wear it in, towels, water, sunscreen and mosquito repellent.
- If you’re visiting in rainy season, make sure you have a waterproof backpack or backpack cover.
- You can walk the trails with flip flops but hiking sandals are the best if you want to hike and go in the water.
- You don’t need to wear long hiking pants or shirts, the trails are nicely made with platforms. I always wear shorts and a tank top because it’s so hot there. Just make sure to use mosquito repellent.
- For photographers or wildlife lovers, bring binoculars or a camera with good zoom lens (at least 250 mm) for photographing wildlife.
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Read about other national parks in Costa Rica!
Rincon de la Vieja National Park
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Kelly says
June 10, 2019 at 8:11 PMThanks for all those info! Just a few questions and clarifications if you could help please!
1. There’s an entrance fee to the park. Is there one for the beach?
2. If you only go to the beach, is there an entrance fee?
3. How long do you need to visit the park?
4. Are the restaurants/ bars on the beach?
Sammi says
June 11, 2019 at 7:39 AMThere is a public free beach outside the national park, that’s free. If you want to go to the beaches inside the national park, then you need to pay the national park fee. There are restaurants/bars by the beach outside the park, none inside. You could spend anywhere from 1 hour to all day at the national park, it just depends on what you want to do (hike, relax, beach)
Kelly says
June 12, 2019 at 10:14 PMThanks so much! Your blog is so helpful! I keep reading about monkey stealing! Are there lockers or a place we can leave our bag filled with extra clothes. What about important belongings like passports etc.
Sammi says
June 13, 2019 at 8:41 AMThere aren’t any lockers or storage areas in the park. Don’t bring your passports, leave those in a safe place in your hotel room, you won’t need your passports for the park (unless you are driving, then the driver must have their original passport with them when they are driving).
Hinika Harpavat says
April 20, 2019 at 8:11 AMHi,
Love your site, it is so helpful in planning our trip. Couple of questions:
We only have 6 days, we are going to Arenal Volcano National Park.
1) Would you recommend going to Monteverde Cloud reserve or Playa Hermosa.
2) How crowded will it be to visit Manuel Antonio National Park around May 14th?
Sammi says
April 20, 2019 at 10:22 AMIf you want to go to a beach, then Hermosa. Monteverde is a cloud forest so has good hiking, birdwatching etc. May is generally not too busy of a month so shouldn’t be as packed.
Sammi says
March 25, 2019 at 10:29 AMHi Kara, I don’t think so. Even though there’s a hill going from Quepos to the national park, you don’t see the cliffs or anything because it’s not super high and there are a bunch of buildings on both sides of the road so you’ll see just forest and buildings. Then when you get down to the national park, it is all flat.
Kara A Sherk says
March 25, 2019 at 10:27 AMI am extremely afraid (phobia) of driving on steep roads with a lot of cliffs, but not walking on them. Do you think I will panic on the road into the park? Thanks.
Barbara Hale says
March 7, 2019 at 5:57 PMYou were 100% correct on hiring a guide for Manuel Antonio for seeing wildlife. I joined a group just before going in (after checking that he was certified). There were 4 of us with one guide. It costs me $25. He did a great job finding animals, birds and insects. He even took my iPhone and took amazing photos and videos through his scope. I saw several people with huge cameras trying to figure out what we were looking at without any luck. I had been debating whether to hike a tour guide and your blog helped me make the right decision. Thank you.
Sammi says
March 8, 2019 at 8:37 AMI’m glad to hear that Barbara! Some people think they can find the animals on their own and don’t want to pay extra but without trained eyes (and those guides do it everyday!) it’s incredibly difficult to see unless it’s right in front of you. We always recommend a guide for anyone who wants to see animals and I’m glad you did and had a great experience!
Diane says
February 3, 2019 at 4:56 AMHi,
Great post ! Question, is 40 usd for a certified guide with round trip transportation reasonable ? Seems a but steep to me. Thanks !
Sammi says
February 3, 2019 at 11:10 AMIs it per person? I just checked with Iguana Tours and they charge $59 per person with transportation but it also does include the national park fee which is $16 per adult.
J.R. says
February 2, 2019 at 12:23 PMHey Sammi! My wife and I are going to Costa Rica next month and we couldn’t be happier that we found your blog, it has been so incredibly helpful as we prepare. And your rental discount was awesome!
We were wondering for the guides at the park, how can you tell who is actually certified and who isn’t? And what is a fair price for the 2 of us to bargain for with someone who is certified? Lastly, are there some guides to book with inside the park or is it just outside?
Thanks again!!
Sammi says
February 2, 2019 at 12:58 PMHi JR!
They should have their badge with them that is ICT certified to be a guide, so you can ask them to show it to you. As for 2 people for a guided tour, last time I was there they offered my friends and I $20 or 30 (Can’t remember exactly) per person for a 2 hour guided walk I believe but we went in September so the price may be different for March as it is our peak travel season. There are only guides outside the park.
Cynthia says
October 23, 2018 at 10:43 AMWhat are the options and prices from Jaco in November to Manuel Antonio?
Sammi says
October 23, 2018 at 11:11 AMYou can take the bus, drive or a shuttle/tour. Here is our post on taking the bus: Jaco to Manuel Antonio bus
Dane Moore says
October 14, 2018 at 2:25 PMDo you know if one member of a party can show up early to buy tickets for everyone and then come back with them a little bit later and go directly in? Or does everyone have to be present at the time of purchase for immediate entry? Thank you!
Sammi says
October 14, 2018 at 3:44 PMHi Dane, I’m pretty sure you don’t all need to be there, only if there is a Costa Rican citizen because then they will need to show their ID.
Christine says
July 24, 2018 at 8:14 PMHi. First of: love your blog!!! We want to come to CR march 2019 for two Weeks my haubans,me and my two kids. I want to do Cahuita, Monteverde and after that is it better to go to Manuel Antonio or in Guanacaste ??
Thanks!!!
Sammi says
July 25, 2018 at 11:07 AMHi Christine, if you’re flying out of San Jose Airport, I would recommend Manuel Antonio as it’s closer.
Christine says
July 25, 2018 at 7:22 PMThanks guys!!!!
Wayne says
July 2, 2018 at 12:41 PMI have enjoyed your blog and it’s really getting us excited for our upcoming trip! We are taking our 9 and 10 years old to M.A. Great info and I’m looking forward to seeing more of your adventures.
@sd_wayne
Steven Delforce says
June 6, 2018 at 12:46 AMHello,
First and foremost, you guys have a great blog and instagram page with loads of informations and recommendations :-).
In February we are coming to Costa Rica for 3 weeks. We will be driving a 4X4 car with rooftop tent from Nomad America. Do you know a good campground or camping near Manuel Antonio National Park?
Kind regards from Belgium
Steven
Sammi says
June 6, 2018 at 10:06 AMHi guys, thanks for the nice words! Regarding campsites, I recommend downloading the iOverlander app and I see on there that you can camp at Beach Packers, Kacha Hostel and you can also check out the day time parking lots.
Randy says
April 1, 2018 at 8:00 PMHi Sammi,
My kids (ages 7 and 9) and I are going the area in early May. Is it possible to get a private tour of the park? Thirty people in a group sounds like a lot for them (and my weak ears). Thanks! Randy
Sammi says
April 2, 2018 at 8:26 AMHi Randy! Yes you can definitely get a private tour. I recommend booking one beforehand and you can book one through tour companies like Jacamar. You can also wait until you get to the park and hire a guide, but just make sure they are ICT certified naturalist guides (there are some people who try to pass off as guides and charge a ton of money).
Jackie says
October 25, 2018 at 12:39 PMThe guides that are onsite are awesome! They each will carry a telescope and can look up into the trees to show you up-close the animals they see. Our guide was super helpful in taking pictures thru his lens from your phone camera so you can actually look back and see what you spotted high in the trees! Well worth the few $ to get a guide! This is a MUST if you’re heading to Costa Rica…Manuel Antonia is such a beautiful park, but the ‘end’ of the tour is breathtaking!!
Jen Hollandsworth says
January 24, 2018 at 5:40 PMI will be arriving from La Fortuna by bus at 115pm. I will need to check in to room first and would like to head over immediately to see the guided tour of the National Park. Will we be able to get a guided tour around that time? Or will it be too late? Only have one other day and want to do the beach. Thanks!
Sammi says
January 25, 2018 at 10:58 AMHi Jen, the park closes at 4 PM so you won’t have a lot of time in the park. You can probably still get a guided tour but it won’t be very long. There are beaches inside the national park so you can do a beach/hike day at the park because a couple hours at the park won’t really be enough.
Amy says
January 16, 2018 at 5:52 AMHello! We will be visiting Manuel Antonio NP early May this year. I was wondering if you can get in and out the park with your ticket the same day? Let’s say we want to go at 7am to watch the wildlife, then go out for lunch and come back to enjoy the beach the rest of the afternoon.. is this possible? I read somewhere that you can if you leave through the main entrance/exit and the rangers sees your ID. Not sure how reliable this information is though…
Do you know?
Thank you for your help!
Amy
Sammi says
January 17, 2018 at 3:39 PMHi Amy! I believe you can, I would let the ranger know when you enter the park (the one who checks your bags) and keep your ticket. I am not positive in May though since during high season, they will only let people go in as they go out and there’s always a long line during the busy months. May is still busy but not quite as crazy as February – April but I would let the ranger know, and ask the person who you buy the ticket from if they have a stamp or can initial and date your ticket to show when you go back in.
Johanna says
June 30, 2017 at 4:31 PMHi Sammi!
My husband and I are going to Costa Rica the first part of July, and we’re hoping to visit Manuel Antonio National Park, but we have a question about food. You mentioned that things like sandwiches and fruit are okay, but foods like peanuts and chips are not allowed into the park. Does that include all nuts? Can we bring trail mix? What about beef jerky or power bars, or other bite-sized foods? Are there any places near the park to buy appropriate, but packable lunch food?
Thank you!
Sammi says
June 30, 2017 at 4:57 PMHi Johanna, any kind of snack food like chips aren’t allowed, I brought in granola bars before and they said they were fine but I don’t recommend bringing trail mix since that has nuts and raisins and bite size things too. There are a lot of restaurants around the national park entrance and lots of convenience stores/snack stands to buy food.
Shelley Williams says
July 31, 2017 at 9:01 PMI have a question and can’t seem to find where I can type my own question. Sorry I have invaded your post!
Are the trails accessible for someone using a walker? We are wanting to travel with my mother in law who needs a walker some. How accessible is the park?
Sammi says
August 1, 2017 at 1:55 PMHi Shelley! I have a post about the trails in this national park here: Hiking Manuel Antonio National Park with pictures. Most of the trails are gravel/dirt, there is only the sloth trail that is on platforms and the small section down to Playa Manuel Antonio from the bathrooms has a concrete sidewalk. Unfortunately most of the national parks in Costa Rica are not very handicap friendly but if she can walk on her own to the platform sloth trail, she can use the walker there and then on the concrete sidewalk down to the beach. It is maybe like… a quarter of a mile from the park entrance to the sloth trail platform.
Millie says
June 14, 2017 at 7:09 PMWe just visited today, and your guide was so helpful! We were especially glad to know about the scam parking guys. They were actually out in the road, stopping traffic and waving us into their lot. I would have been so angry to realize that they are nowhere near the park entrance. The real parking near the entrance wasn’t free, though. It was 3000 colones.
It’s rainy season, so it was hard to see any wildlife and we got drenched. I was glad you had recommended the guide, because we would have seen absolutely nothing without him.
Sammi says
June 15, 2017 at 9:27 AMHi Millie! Glad the guide was useful! Yeah this year’s rainy season has been very strong so far so good idea to get a guide to see wildlife! If you guys park by the roundabout by Playa Espadill Norte, that parking is actually free. I learned that the hard way too since I parked by the entrance by the park entrance which was 3,000 and then found out the roundabout parking was free.
Ryan Biddulph says
June 3, 2017 at 8:30 AMGreat review guys! Those monkeys ARE feisty LOL although they did not mess with me too much. I did see them pester other tourists. This is one of my favorite spots in Costa Rica because it is small and easy to cover yet wildlife is everywhere. We even saw a caiman which was super sneakily hiding just below the surface. Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Samta Varia says
May 28, 2017 at 12:52 PMSuch useful info! I’m here in Manuel Antonio NOW, at San Bada and love this property! The rooftop bar has excellent views of the beach and the howler monkeys treated us with a visit during lunch test and woke up to one on our balcony this morning! Thanks again for such a great blog!
Sammi says
May 12, 2017 at 10:44 AMIt’ll still be very hot and probably pretty humid since the rains have started but you can still wear shorts and hiking sandals 🙂 The trails won’t be muddy since they are well laid out and aren’t on dirt, they have platforms. You can see what the hiking trails are like in this post: Hiking Manuel Antonio National Park
Kathy says
May 12, 2017 at 10:21 AMThank you for all the great info. We’re arriving next week, and the forecast calls for rain. Will the trails be muddy? Are shorts and hiking sandals still recommended during the rainy season?
Kim says
February 8, 2017 at 7:05 PMHello, since the park closes at 4pm do they kick you out or can you get stuck there? Or do they just stop letting people in at 4pm?
Sammi says
February 8, 2017 at 9:07 PMThey won’t let people in past 4 and will start ushering people out. You won’t get stuck there – they’ll make sure everyone is out.
Ben says
December 29, 2016 at 5:15 PMThanks for the awesome site. We will be visiting Manuel Antonio in April. Are there any lockers available at the park? I would like to bring our nice DSLR to photograph wildlife but I’m hesitant to just leave it in a bag on the beach when we go swimming. Also, if you go in and walk around for a while and decide to hire a guide later can you do that without leaving the park or do you only find guides outside the park entrance? Thanks!
Sammi says
December 29, 2016 at 6:13 PMHi Ben, there aren’t any lockers in the park. Whenever we go, we always have one person watching our things, it’s annoying but it’s better that way to prevent any theft since there isn’t anywhere secure to put your belongings. You can hire a guide later, and there are always groups walking around so you may be able to join in on one at the entrance or ask the rangers at the entrance office if there are any guides for around.
Jes says
September 2, 2016 at 11:18 AMThank you for a great post. One question, you state that your not allowed to bring in items like chips or peanuts. I take it this is because they dont want you feeding the animals.
But then you say in your tips to bring water and snacks. Can you give us a list of what is and isn’t allowed in? We are visiting with a 6 year old so we need to ensure she has snacks she’ll eat.
Sammi says
September 2, 2016 at 4:02 PMHi Jes, yes they don’t allow snacks like peanuts and chips because they don’t want visitors to feed the animals which is what most people give them. You can bring food like sandwiches and fruit. Just make sure to zip them up in a bag and always close your backpack because those monkeys are smart and know where the food is!
Fer says
August 5, 2016 at 3:16 PMVery expensive if you will visit from other Latin American countries… 🙁 16 usd is a lot of Mexican pesos.
And how much is bus fare from San José? Which bus and parada?
Sammi says
August 5, 2016 at 5:58 PMYes I totally agree, the entrance fee for foreigners to national parks in CR is very expensive :/
I don’t know how much the bus far is from San Jose, but here is the bus info:
San José, calle 5, Av. 18/20 Terminal Transportes Tracopa: Todos los días, directo, 6:00, 9:00 (L-S), 12:00, 14:30 (L-S), 18:00, 19:30.
4:00 (L-S), 6:00, 9:30, 12:00, 14:30, 17:00, D 6:00, 9:30, 12:00, 15:00, 17:00
3:45 hrs. 200 km.
San José, calle 5, Av. 18/20 Terminal Transportes Tracopa: Todos los días, Colectivo, 7:00, 10:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00 (L-V)
5:00, 10:00, 14:00, 16:45 4:30 hrs, 200km
Leigh Anne says
July 16, 2016 at 9:36 AMWe just arrived in Manuel Antonio. Excited to explore.
Sammi says
July 17, 2016 at 2:17 PMHave a great time!!
Evelymn says
November 18, 2015 at 11:51 AMHow much is the entrance fee?
Sammi says
November 18, 2015 at 12:20 PM$16 for foreigners. Cash only, they do take dollars
Cata says
March 6, 2015 at 6:21 PMGreat post! Thank you!
Do you happen to know about night life in Manuel Antonio? Like nice bars and restaurants to go to?
Sammi says
March 8, 2015 at 9:36 AMHi Cata! It’s not a huge party town but when you drive through Quepos and Manuel Antonio you’ll see restaurants and bars all around.
Phoebe @ Lou Messugo says
March 11, 2014 at 8:08 AMOh how I’d LOVE to go to Costa RIca and your photos have only made the longing stronger! Thanks for sharing this experience.
Sammi says
March 11, 2014 at 10:09 AMThanks Phoebe! Hope you make it here one day 🙂
Nina says
March 11, 2014 at 5:47 AMOw boy, we so need to go to Costa Rica! I’m reading this while haven a luch break at work and I know this park will be on top of my mind all afternoon.Love the little monkey’s! 🙂
Sammi says
March 11, 2014 at 10:09 AMhehe you guys should!!
budget jan says
March 10, 2014 at 11:02 PMYour first photo says it all for me. I could happily use that photo to gaze at all day and dream.
Sammi says
March 11, 2014 at 10:08 AMMe too, that view was simply stunning!
noel says
March 10, 2014 at 3:39 PMYes tourism raises it’s ugly head when businesses start popping up and it ends up becoming a big tourist zone just outside some park or attraction, but the economy depends on it so hopefully it’s done in a sustainable fashion.
Sammi says
March 11, 2014 at 10:08 AMCosta Rica has many laws regarding environmental protection and conservation. There’s always more that could be done but as far as it’s come, they’ve done a good job it seems
The Dessert Engineer says
March 10, 2014 at 1:30 PMYour posts are really, really tempting me to visit Costa Rica soon… Since my husband and I hardly speak a word of Spanish, how easy would it be for us to get around CR?
Sammi says
March 11, 2014 at 10:07 AMIn the tourist areas, most of the locals speak some degree of English so you will be able to find someone who speaks English by asking around. It does help to know a few basic phrases though just in case!
Sand In My Suitcase says
March 10, 2014 at 10:30 AMWe’ve heard many good things about Manuel Antonio National Park – and that it’s a true highlight of a visit to Costa Rica. We so want to visit one day…
Sammi says
March 10, 2014 at 11:22 AMIt’s touristy but gorgeous and definitely worth a visit. One of the gems of Costa Rica!
Bob R says
March 10, 2014 at 10:19 AMI was there last July, a return visit after 15 years. The change in the immediate area was quite dramatic but certainly expected. The beach was still very nice. 🙂
Sammi says
March 10, 2014 at 10:35 AMI would have loved to see what it was like 15 years ago. I’m sure it was every bit as beautiful as it is today. The beaches are amazing!
Corinne says
March 10, 2014 at 10:16 AMSuch a good post…amazing photos and practical info. I still have to get to Costa Rica…and tussle with those pesky monkeys!!!
Sammi says
March 10, 2014 at 10:34 AMThanks Corinne! haha careful, those monkeys are quite feisty!