Costa Rica Travel Planning Articles

Comments

1. Julie M. says

   April 29, 2024

   Hi Yeison & Samantha,

   Your website is great! I heard about it on Amateur Traveler. We would like to travel to CR for the first time next January and February for a longer term trip (6-8 weeks). We’re a group of adults (60’s and 70’s, with our 30-ish kids visiting for a week or two). Would like to spend 4 or 6 weeks in an AirBnB in one location for R&R, very close to the beach. Can’t decide if we should be focusing on Caribbean side or Pacific side? We will rent a car. Would mostly like to swim, snorkel, take in nature (birds, monkeys, natural/national parks) with some shorter trips to cloud forest and more touristy activities sprinkled in. Will go out for dinner sometimes, but would like access to grocery stores to do our own cooking. What area or region can you suggest that would be an ideal base for a longer term stay? Thank you so much!

   Reply

   • Sammi says

     May 1, 2024

     Hi Julie, you can check our blog posts to help you.

     Costa Rica itineraries
     Differences between Pacific and Caribbean
     Best places in Costa Rica
     January in Costa Rica
     February in Costa Rica

     Reply

2. Jeff Taker says

   April 17, 2024

   Hi Sammi!
   First…thank you for the wealth of knowledge and tips!!!
   I am visiting May 18 for 8 nights! I am travelling solo and want to see as much as possible without feeling like I’m hopping locations daily!! This is my first time in Costa Rica so I want to experience
   1- the surf/nightlife of Tamarindo
   2- either Monteverde cloud forests or Arenal/La Fortuna
   3- Manuel Antonio
   I fly in and out of LIB and will not be renting a vehicle.
   I’m hoping you could help me with which order/direction would make most sense? And help/insight into adventure connection tours that may work for this trip?
   Ideally I would like 3 nights in both Tamarindo and Manuel Antonio, 1 night in Monteverde/Arenal and my last night in Liberia as I fly out early morning.
   Thank you!!
   Jeff

   Reply

   • Sammi says

     April 18, 2024

     Hi Jeff, for just 8 nights, I’d pick two destinations only. Either Tamarindo and Monteverde or Tamarindo and La Fortuna. There are no adventure connections included for those destinations, you can ask the tour company to drop you off at a different location but usually they can’t do it for only one person or it’ll be super expensive. You’ll need to take one full day dedicated to travel between destinations if going by bus only. If you go to Manuel Antonio, it is a lot farther to Guanacaste Airport than San Jose International Airport you’d have to spend a whole day on a bus anyways the day before your flight out but at least from Manuel Antonio and Quepos, there is a direct bus to San Jose whereas there is not a direct bus from Liberia.

     Reply

3. Laura says

   June 28, 2022

   Hi there,
   Thank you for your brilliant website, I have found it really helpful.
   Please could I ask for your advice about tipping in Costa Rica.
   We have some preplanned excursions and transfers booked. Would you normally tip the drivers?/ tour guides? and how about staff in hotels?
   Also – thinking about cash – how easy is it to locate cash points and are both dollars and local currency usually accepted? and Do most restaurants etc accept credit cards?
   Thank you

   Reply

   • Sammi says

     June 28, 2022

     Hi Laura, please check the following posts to answer your questions

     Handling money in Costa Rica
     how much to tip in Costa Rica

     Reply

4. Bryan Buss says

   May 17, 2021

   Adobe states that their Jaco location is closed. Best alernative? I would greatly appreciate some help.

   Reply

   • Sammi says

     May 17, 2021

     Hi Bryan, their Jaco office is closed but they offer free delivery and car pick up to Jaco still. You can select San Jose and then write in the comments the hotel you’re at in Jaco and what time you’d like the car delivered or picked up (830 AM to 430 PM).

     Reply

5. Yugo Takahashi says

   December 25, 2020

   What a fantastic site! An extensive amount of useful information for someone like me who has always been interested in visiting Costa Rica. I do have one question…How bad are the mosquito? I am trying to plan a family vacation with my wife and toddler son to Guanacasta this August and my wife is very concerned. She is often the target of mosquito bites. Any suggestion other than bringing bug repellent?

   Reply

   • Sammi says

     December 26, 2020

     Hello Yugo, I’m glad you find the site helpful 🙂

     August is right in the middle of our rainy season and mosquitoes are worse during that time of year. Honestly, the best protection is bug repellent and wearing long layers. Unfortunately there isn’t much escaping the mosquitoes since they’re everywhere. Whenever we go out at night, I will always bring a long scarf to cover my legs or wear a long dress/skirt. Then I use insect repellent.

     Reply

     • Yugo Takahashi says

       December 27, 2020

       Hello Sammi,

       Thank you for the quick response and suggestions. I look forward to continuing to explore you site.

       Reply

6. Sarah Stevenson says

   July 1, 2019

   Just wanted to say thank you so much for all the information on your blog!! It was incredibly useful as we were planning our honeymoon. We just got back and had a wonderful time!

   Reply

   • Sammi says

     July 2, 2019

     Hi Sarah! I’m so glad to hear that and that you had a nice honeymoon! Thank you for reading our blog!

     Reply

7. Liz says

   April 14, 2019

   This is wonderful! So excited for my trip to Monteverde next month 🙂

   Reply