In a couple weeks my family will be traveling to Costa Rica for a week. We will be flying into San Jose then driving to Arenal and then to Guanacasta (Jaco to be precise)
So what should we see and do in those areas? We are planning on spending 2 nights in Arenal and San Jose and 3 nights in Jaco. We will have a 4 wheel drive car and are willing to drive.
I’d love to do a zip line tour, but we are travelling with our 3 year old daughter and none of the tours I saw will let her on at that age.
Also one of the two nights in San Jose will be my birthday so I am looking for a good restaurant.
So dopers what should we do? What shouldn’t be missed? What tourist traps can safely be skipped?
I just spent a week in Arenal in May. Where are you staying? We then spent a week in Playa Conchal.
To bad about the zip line. That was fun. Perhaps just do it on at a time, and one of you can watch your daughter? The one we did was over 600 feet in the air. Surprised me.
White water rafting was great too. But may also present a problem. I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of suggestions that you could take a 3 yo with. But you’ll have fun I’m sure.
Stop in Grecia on the way to Arenal area. It is a very cool town. For food, make sure you stop at the little local places and get gallo pinto.
My wife and I enjoyed the Vanado Caveswhen we were near Arenal last November. It was a rainy day, so it didn’t matter that we were soaked and muddy after the caves. It was just the two of us plus the guide/photographer. He took some really great shots and we got the CD for about $25.
We did the hanging bridgesand saw some howler monkeys and a trails of leaf cutter ants.
When we were there, there had been and earthquake a few days before that stopped the lava, so we didn’t get to see that. It was also cloudy until the very last day, so we never even saw the volcano except for about ten minutes when the clouds cleared.
Costa Rica is awesome except for the insane drivers everywhere. Be careful in school zones, the police like to set up speed traps for the tourists. We got stopped and threatened with a $600 fine, but of course he was just looking for a bribe.
In Arenal they have a reserve tour that is a combination of a Gondola Ride up the mountain and the zip line down. The reserve also has a butterfly garden and serpent area. That may be the best bet for the family as everyone can take the gondola ride (including the 3 year old) and when other people are enjoying the zipline, someone can take the little one to look at the butterflies and other neat things!
My favorite restaurant is at the Hotel Grano de Oro in San Jose. The food is amazing, (the Grano de Oro Pie is yummy yummy yummy) and it has a wonderful atmosphere. I’ve stopped there for dinner every time that I’ve been in country.
As far as Jaco, it’s not my favorite part of the country, especially with a little one. In general the town of Jaco is geared towards the young, single, party type. The beaches are great for surfing, but not as good for just swimming or lazing about as the currents / waves can be slightly difficult for a young kid. I would say do the drive approximately 1 hour up to Manuel Antonio. I enjoyed the national park immensely and saw a TON of sloth, monkey and even the Jesus Christ Lizard. It was awesome. And the trail is moderate enough that I think that even the 3 year old would be able to walk it without too much difficulty.
Have a WONDERFUL Time!! I love Costa Rica and have been many time. The people there are the most wonderful people you will ever meet. Say hi to the Sloth for me. (SQUEE!!)
Was in the Arenal area last year, and it was wonderful fun. I hope that your rental car has GPS, as I don’t think there are many road signs in the country. I would recommend using a guide for most of the nature hikes. I think it was the hanging bridges where my guide picked out a ton of stuff that I would have never seen if I was alone. At one point, he heard something, stopped us, looked closely in plant life just off of the trail and showed us a couple of poison dart frogs. He did similar things a few other times. Well worth the money.
Barra Honda is Dry Tropical Forest (jungle, but very different from the “wet jungle” we’re used to thinking of) and has some gorgeous caves. I loved the visit despite an attack of “I-hate-being-tied-phobia” (you have to wear a safety harness while climbing the ladder down into and up out of the caves) which left me dizzy for the rest of the day.
Thanks for all the tips. We had a great time in Costa Rica. The Hanging Bridges were gorgeous even if we learned first hand why it’s called a rain forest. Unfortunately we didn’t see any monkeys there, only heard the howlers. We also made it to Manuel Antonio, it was beautiful and had a gorgeous beach. My 3 year old did get to go zip lining with us outside Jaco, we had to pay an extra $20 for a guide to escort just her, but she loved it and so did we.
While in Arenal (we stayed outside La Fortuna, we saw the volcano erupt 3 times in one day. The explosions were enough to rattle windows and that was on the opposite side of the mountain from the active crater. Made me realize just how powerful the earth is.