Costa Rica Help!!!

Re: Costa Rica Help!!!

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  callieotto

  

  August 2013

  We are headed to Costa Rica for our honeymoon after we get married in 6 weeks! It depends what time of the year you are going. Where we chose to stay was completely dictated by the rainy season and what areas would be driest. When do you want to travel?

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  allispain member

  

  August 2013

  I would suggest going to the area around either A) La Fortuna/Arenal or Santa Elena / Monteverde.

  
  

  The first has a volcano and hot springs. You can hike to an inactive crater, book tours to go canoeing (and see monkeys), visit a local Eco-reserve where they're trying to help combat deforestation, etc.

  
  

  The second is in the cloud forest and has some great hiking options as well as zip-lining (both the low-key type where you go slowly through the trees and the high adrenaline type where you're literally going mountain to mountain). 

  
  

  I was last there a couple years ago, so if you'd like some specific references for activities, PM me. I was on a budget trip, though, so I can't give good hotel recommendations :-)

  
  

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  Molly&Andy member

  

  September 2013

  We went to the Arenal area for our honeymoon.  We stayed at Nayara Hotel and loved it.  We booked their adventure package.  It is four nights and has four excursions.  It also includes breakfast (which is included in the room anyway) and dinner.  It doesn't say it on the website, but we were able to switch out one of the excursions and just pay the additional cost. (We did the canyoning over the rafting.)  

  
  

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  [Deleted User] member

  

  September 2013 edited September 2013

  Check out the Peace Lodge and Waterfall Gardens.  You'll be able to check off manythings on your list in one go.  We fed hummingbirds by hand, and walked along the crater of an old volcano, and they have a large animal rescue/preserve centre. If you only have 4 days, its perfect as it is only 1 hours drive from San Jose.  http://www.waterfallgardens.com/.  We absolutely loved every minute.

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  PetKatSold2011 member

  

  September 2013

  Costa Rica is beautiful, great choice.  

  
  

  I do second Arenal/La Fortuna.  You'll have a nice veiw of the volcano depending where you stay and at what altitude since it can get pretty foggy sometimes (it wasn't active when we went last Sept, no lava anything.  We didn't opt for any volcano hike excursions since they didn't allow you to actually go that close from what it seemed).  It is pretty relaxing, not much night life if that is of any importance. If your staying 4 nights and want to contantly be active you may be too tired to notice, lol. There we stayed at The Arenal Lodge, more economical and also The Springs Resort that is very highend (we wanted a little bit of everything).  

  
  

  The Arenal Lodge was very cost effective (we knew we wanted to be out and about anyway, not stay in a room).  They had a butterfly house (I didn't go in lol) and have a parot that flys around through the lodge and you may find on your porch. When we stayed there they had a desk in which you can book activities (I'm sure like many other hotels in the area) and booked an ATVing excursion.  It was awesome! Got to drive around through town, saw locals, and ate at an organic farm where we had a late lunch. Traditional CR meal. Delicious. Decent, fairly big portion, but never felt sluggish because it was all so healthy.  The guide took us to a lake/creek that was shallow but you got to go into the most refreshing mountain water.  Another stop was to a lake that had deeper water where they had a tarzan rope/jump. The guide then took us to see one of their tallest waterfalls from a distance (observatory desk).  We stayed in Arenal for 3 nights.

  
  

  Next we drove 4 hours to go to Guancaste.  There we had booked in advance an all day excursion of horse back riding, zip lining, then got to slide on a stone slide that was very long.  Kinda scary but exciting.  Guanacaste is where a few all inclusives are.  Problem is that if you go to that area you have to drive farther to get to where the activities are.  There was a beach around there with shops, probably a 20 min ride.  It was okay, nothing to extrodinary. 

  
  

  Other areas are known for their surfing but more for professionals since I heard the surf in those parts can get pretty dangerous.   

  
  

  Overall Arenal seems great minus any crazy night life but you didn't list that so maybe it might not be a big deal. If you want to be at one with nature, not have to drive super far to get to the action. Go to Arenal. As we drove we saw so many other hotels.  Alot of choices. BTW when we went to the big water fall we could see there were zipline cords....needless to say, you will not have a problem finding some excitement!   

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