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Costa Rica

michelle221michelle221 member
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in New Jersey
Has anyone traveled to Costa Rica and want to share their experience/advice? Thinking about it for an August honeymoon! Thanks!
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Re: Costa Rica

  • ohmrs2014ohmrs2014 mod
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    I would try posting this on the Honeymoon board.
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
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    I was there for about 9 days (not for my honeymoon).  I would suggest going to Los Suenos & stay at the Marriott there.  It is like a Ritz Carlton in CR w/o paying too much. :)  I want to say it was under $200/nt when we stayed there.  Jaco is the next town which is nice too.  We stayed at the Best Western there (it is like our Marriotts here), I think it was around $85/nt here.  There is more to do in Jaco, nightclubs, shopping, restaurants & the beach is softer like the Jersey shore.  When we were in CR we saw many towns including Manuel Antonio which has the National Park which is about 3-4 hr drive south of Jaco (these towns are on the west coast).   We rented a car & drove all over the place.  The capital city where you will fly into - San Juan I believe - be careful,  There is theft there, like NYC has.  They will pick pocket your backpack & stuff.  We only stayed here the day we landed & the day before leaving.

    We drove down to Dominical after Manuel Antonio - this area is where the surfers go.  The beaches here are like home.  Finding a nice hotel there won't happen, so I would probably not go here for your honeymoon.  Marriott Los Suenos would be my suggestion & rent a car :) 

    I hear the east coast sometimes has a sulfer smell - so I stayed away from that side of the country.

    By the way, you must learn some basic spanish to get around when you leave the capital city.  I went w/ an old BF who was Peruvian & bilingual, so very easy for us.  My 2 yrs back in HS would not have got me around.  GL
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
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    By the way, I went to CR about 7 yrs ago, so prices may have changed a little.

    The drive from the capital over to Jaco or Los Suenos is very hilly - but roads are paved.  The roads to Manuel Antonio National Park from Jaco - one section (about 45 mins of the ride) was not a paved road & very bumpy.  It may be paved by now - hopefully :) 

    CR is for ppl who enjoy being active, it is not a place you are going to just sit at the beach & lounge around every day.  I tried ziplining for the first time there.

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  • sh228955sh228955 member
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    We went there on our honeymoon in December and loved it! We spent 4 days in Arenal at the Nayara Hotel. It was close to all of the activities like zip lining, hanging bridges tour through the rainforest, volcano hikes etc. Then we spent another 4 days on the Pacific coast at the Westin Playa Conchal where we relaxed on the beach and by the pool. We thought it was the perfect combination of activity and relaxation. Although the roads are paved, it takes a long time to travel between places. Arenal is about 3 and a half hours from Liberia Airport and the hotels were about 4 hours apart. Let me know if you have any specific questions!
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  • bereasonable2bereasonable2 member
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    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_new-jersey_costa-rica-2?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:90Discussion:6b603b38-3504-46b6-b86b-982d131b4dedPost:aa78f686-e8ef-4de2-b9d4-2fcef1a3bba2">Re: Costa Rica</a>:
    [QUOTE]I was there for about 9 days (not for my honeymoon).  I would suggest going to Los Suenos & stay at the Marriott there.  It is like a Ritz Carlton in CR w/o paying too much. :)  I want to say it was under $200/nt when we stayed there.  Jaco is the next town which is nice too.  We stayed at the Best Western there (it is like our Marriotts here), I think it was around $85/nt here.  There is more to do in Jaco, nightclubs, shopping, restaurants & the beach is softer like the Jersey shore.  When we were in CR we saw many towns including Manuel Antonio which has the National Park which is about 3-4 hr drive south of Jaco (these towns are on the west coast).   We rented a car & drove all over the place.  The capital city where you will fly into - San Juan I believe - be careful,  There is theft there, like NYC has.  They will pick pocket your backpack & stuff.  We only stayed here the day we landed & the day before leaving. We drove down to Dominical after Manuel Antonio - this area is where the surfers go.  The beaches here are like home.  Finding a nice hotel there won't happen, so I would probably not go here for your honeymoon.  Marriott Los Suenos would be my suggestion & rent a car :)  I hear the east coast sometimes has a sulfer smell - so I stayed away from that side of the country. By the way, you must learn some basic spanish to get around when you leave the capital city.  I went w/ an old BF who was Peruvian & bilingual, so very easy for us.  My 2 yrs back in HS would not have got me around.  GL
    Posted by Qzees[/QUOTE]<div>
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  • DelprisaDelprisa member
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    Check out Nayara near Arenal Volcano! It was an amazing amazing place. I would go there again in a heartbeat!! I felt very safe, especially with all the excursions we did. I also stayed at Riu Guanacaste and HATED it. Too many kids (and drunk 18 year olds). Could not relax there at all.
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  • PetKatSold2011PetKatSold2011 member
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    Ok so maybe I shouldn't be positing this buttttttt....

    I had gone to Costa Rica for about a week with my then boyfriend now fiance....IT IS GORGEOUS THERE...has a bit of everything, heat but cool when you go higher in altitude.  So many things to do and see.  Around the Arenal Volcano and La Fortuna area has the best views.  We had gone ATVing there.  To have a little bit of everything we stayed in a more natural lodge type place for a couple nights, not luxiourious but seriously, our balcony was huge...the first morning we stepped out and there was a parrot just hanging out on one of the ledges.  At the Arenal Lodge it was only I think like $80 a night (the food was kinda bad though).  We did want to treat ourselves so we ended up going to a veeeery ritzy hotel called The Springs Resort and Spa.  Will Smith had stayed there a few weeks before us. For close to $500 a night we couldn't stay there long (obviously, lol).  Arenal is very calm, you can get your romantic setting there but also get some fun excursions like ATVing.  We had gone ATVing and the guy took us to this organic resturant that was great.  Not a party type place as far as I saw.

    Then from there we drove 4 hours to Guanacaste to the Riu.  This was our budget part since it's all inclusive for a great price.  We had gone when kids were pretty much back at school BUT it is very packed.  Seemed nice though so we were like egh whatever.  It was ocean front so what the hay.  We went ziplining and knew we were scheduled for white water rafting so we'd have our time outside to get the real side of Costa Rica (at the Rui it feels like your closed off...if you just want to stay in a resort, then this would be your place, I on the other hand like to explore.....) 

    BUTTTTTT this is the part I may not really want to say but feel it's important.  There was an earthquake while I was there.  It was 7.4 and the Rui suffered damage (even though they won't tell their customers that).  They started construction pretty quickly though.  Other than that they were super unprofessional.  None of the guest could get an actual Rui rep to talk to us to update us on what was going on...(there had been a tsunami alert for a few hours, terrifying to say the least).  Someone else (not the hotel rep) advised us we had to sign a waiver to stay in our rooms because they didn't want to be liable, understood, so we ended up sleeping in the lobbies...and yet they still had the audacity to tell our travel agent nothing was affected and all was fine.  The funny thing about it is that the Rui was the only one to suffer damage.  The other hotels were fine.  We made friends with a couple that was on their honeymoon that opted to leave the Rui after the damage and they were so happy they did.  

    I hope this doesn't scare you because anything can happen anywhere.  My point is...if your not too much on a tight budget, DO NOT do the Rui.  They have no idea how to handle crisis situations.  And yes, I know its a different country and not the US but they did not tend to us AT ALL and pretended nothing happened.  I would like to think at least some care is universal. Also, I agree with Del, you'll see alot of drunk yougins since it's all inclusive.  Not a romantic scene. Also, Guanacaste is a bit of a drive to the rain forest or excursion type things. 

    Sorry for the long post.  I really hope you go.  We went in September and rained after the quake but was still a super beautiful place.  They have alot of animals too. Also, I've been to other countries.  Costa Rica is the safest I've been in, aside from natural disasters which I don't think happen to often. Sorry this was so long.  I hope you have a great time whatever you decide. 
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