We love Costa Rica! It is absolutely one of our favorite trips that we’ve taken. We traveled to Costa Rica in January during the coldest months of winter here in Minnesota. We were seeking warmth, sun, scenery and adventure and found all that we were looking for.
Costa Rica is a Central American country with rain forested interiors and coastlines on both the Caribbean and Pacific. Most people travel to Costa Rica for its beaches, volcanoes, rain forests and wildlife. Over the past 20 years it has become a very popular tourist destination.
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Time and Length of Trip
A popular way to visit Costa Rica is to split your time between the beaches and the rain forest. The experiences are so different and your trip will be most well-rounded if you can see both. To do this often requires two different hotel stays. You can easily stay in one place and take excursions to the other, but the drives are long and the roads in Costa Rica can be rough.
We were able to split our time between a beach location and a rain forest/volcano location within a week. There are endless activities to fill your time, but 3 nights at one location and 4 nights at the other seemed sufficient for us. There is plenty to do if you choose to stay longer, but I would not recommend shorter than a week to get the full experience.
December to April is a great time to visit Costa Rica because it is the dry season in most of the country. This means that you will have warm, sunny and dry days at the beach. However, this is the rainy season at the volcano and rain forest area (the best time to see the volcano in dry conditions is September or October).
We went in January and had wonderfully warm/hot weather at the beach and rainy but very comfortable weather at the volcano. You are going to a rain forest after all, so expect rain! Adventuring in the rain is part of what made the experience fun and unique.
Keep in mind that December through April is also the peak tourist season for the area so things will be more crowded and expensive. However, I would not let that hold you back because I think this is still the best time to go and we were not bothered at all by crowds.
Type of Vacation
Costa Rica has something for everyone. You can have a relaxing, all-inclusive beach vacation or you can have an adventurous and cultural experience. You can even combine both!
In my opinion, Costa Rica is perfect for those who like adventure, trying new things and are not afraid to go outside of their comfort zone. While you can lounge on the beach at an all-inclusive and enjoy tropical weather and scenery, you can do that at many destinations. What makes Costa Rica unique is all the other things that you can do in addition to that.
Costa Rica is great for couples both young and old and also families. I would recommend that if you are traveling with children, that they be older (maybe 8 years old through teenagers) so they can participate in and experience many of the activities. Also, travelers both young and old should be able to handle long and often rough car rides if you explore beyond the beaches.
Where to Stay
There are two main airports to fly into in Costa Rica and both have direct flights from many US cities (this is a great map). There is the capital city of San Jose that has a large airport and is centrally located. The other airport is in Liberia. The Liberia airport is close to the Tamarindo area in the northern part of the country where many of the beach resorts and all-inclusives are located. Both will require a drive to the Arenal Volcano area and many rain forest destinations.
We flew into the Liberia airport because there were direct flights from Minneapolis on Sun Country Airlines. We had a long drive to our first hotel (4-5 hours) but it was worth it. The drive was beautiful and our driver provided so much information that it was like a science and culture lesson during our ride!
Beach Portion
For the beach portion of our trip we chose to stay at the Manuel Antonio area on the central pacific coast at a small, boutique resort called, Si Como No. The resort sits on top of a hillside above Manuel Antonio National Park. Si Como No has lush jungle terraces and gardens that bring the wildlife right to your door! We had monkeys on our balcony and tucans flying through our lobby. It was truly a jungle paradise!
The hotel is small, intimate and includes a wonderful buffet breakfast with incredible sea views. The pool area is large and inviting with a waterslide for kids and a swim-up bar. There is a free-shuttle or a short bus ride down to the public beach at Manuel Antonio which ended up being our kids’ favorite part of our trip. The beach at Manuel Antonio is large and has great waves for wave jumping and surfing. There is also a cute town right by the beach for meals and shopping.
We found the clientele and staff at Si Como No to be friendly and wonderful people to vacation with. The vibe is more laid back, family-friendly and quiet than the large-group party crowd. We loved that vibe and think the people you are around can often make or break your whole trip.
For our family of four we stayed in a honeymoon suite and there was ample space for all of us to sleep. We had a king bed, a roll away and a pull out bed/couch. The best part of this room was the large balcony where we would sit and have coffee in the morning with views of the sea. We could see monkeys, sloths and amazing birds from our balcony. We even had monkeys come on our balcony in the mornings and evenings!
Rain Forest / Volcano Portion
For the second portion of our trip we drove to La Fortuna to stay at the Arenal Springs Resort and Spa. The drive to La Fortuna from Manuel Antonia was long (maybe 4-5 hours?) but beautiful and scenic. Our driver let us stop in the “cloud forest” along the way for views in and above the clouds and to view some crocodiles in the river as we passed.
La Fortuna has many resorts that range from tree houses to 5-star resorts. The Arenal Springs Resort is a 4-star property with spectacular views of the volcano (on a clear day). The hot spring pools are amazing and have swim up bars and even a Japanese restaurants in them. The hotel served a warm buffet breakfast in the morning under a thatched roof.
The concierge at the hotel was very helpful in arranging activities and rides for us. While this is the rain forest and it rained, every day, it did not keep us from doing any of our activities.
Things to Do
The activities and things to do in Costa Rica are endless! Whatever your style and type of vacation your prefer, I’m sure you will find plenty to enjoy. We are an active family and love to explore when we travel. We booked many of our activities ahead of time and had a general itinerary when we went. This helped us to plan our days and ensure we didn’t miss anything we wanted to do.
For the beach portion of our trip we did a guided tour of Manuel Antonio National Park (my favorite), a snorkeling cruise, butterfly gardens and a resort/beach day. I would highly recommend the guided tour of Manuel Antonio National park because the guides are so knowledgeable and they show you things you would never notice or see on your own. We saw birds, monkeys, plants, insects and lizards that I had never seen before. We even saw a boa constrictor!
For the rain forest portion of our trip we did a canopy zip line tour, a river rafting safari and a hanging bridges rain forest hike. It does rain when you are in the rain forest, but that is part of what makes this area fun and beautiful! Just make sure you have a good rain coat and shoes that can get wet and muddy.
All of our experiences in the rain forest were so unique and what made the trip to Costa Rica so special. You see and experience things you don’t get to see in other parts of the world! I would highly recommend the river rafting tour. We saw monkeys, sloths, macaws and other wildlife while slowly floating down the river. This tour also included a stop along the river at a local home where we were treated to coffee, freshly made cheese and stories that inspired and changed all of us.
Planning Resources
I recommend the following resources for planning your trip. For other general vacation planning resources that I suggest, see my main page on vacation planning (found here).
govisitcostarica.com A fantastic resource with maps, destinations, activities, weather, food, hotels, etc. It is a great place to start and get yourself oriented with the country and what it has to offer for a vacation.
entercostarica.com Pacific Trade Winds is the company that made our trip into the amazing vacation that it was. I cannot recommend them highly enough! We arranged everything online through a tour guide named Brock. We told him how much we wanted to spend, what type of hotel we were looking for, what kind of activities we wanted to do and then he made our itinerary for us. Drivers met us at the airport with private transportation, picked us up for each activity and excursion (which was already paid for) and drove us to our hotels. The drivers educated us about the area and everything we saw along the way. Pacific Trade Winds even sent printed travel guides and luggage tags to us prior to our trip.
I’d Love to Hear From You!
Comments or questions about Costa Rica? I’d love to give you my input and help you have a memorable trip to Costa Rica. I also love to hear about your travel experiences. Drop me a note!