iheartscience
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2007
- Messages
- 12,111
Okay, here is a long, long review of my Costa Rica trip. Pictures will follow! I went with my fiancé, twin sister and 2 friends of ours. We did it on the cheap-quite a bit cheaper than I wanted to-because our 2 friends and my sister were worried about money. So we mostly stayed in hostels, which I did not enjoy at all. The hostels in Costa Rica are nowhere near as nice as the hostels in Europe, plus at 26, I feel like I’m too old for hostels now! Mini-vent aside, I had a great time, so here is my detailed account for those who are interested!
We got into San Jose around 3 pm and had to stay there because there wasn’t a bus to our first destination until the next morning. We stayed very close to the main square there, but overall San Jose was pretty dirty and apparently is quite sketchy. We asked the guy at the front desk how to get to the bus station, and he told us to take a cab even though it was broad daylight because that area was “funny.” He also said to take a cab anywhere after about 8 p,m. So needless to say, we did not stay out late there! We got food at a little restaurant in the main square, then we hung out at the main square for a little bit, and then we walked back to the hotel before 8 p.m.
The next day, we got up early and took a public bus to La Fortuna, which is a little town near La Arenal volcano. The public bus was crazy cheap, like $4, and because we took it early in the morning, it wasn’t too crowded or hot. However, people do get on and stand in the aisles, so if you do take a public bus somewhere, be prepared to feel crowded! We got to La Fortuna that afternoon and it was a cute town. We stayed in a pretty nice hostel there called Backpackers Resort. It had really pretty landscaping and had a nice pool, hammocks, and a good little restaurant.
We did the most touristy activities while we were in La Fortuna. We rode horses to the big waterfall there, we went up to the volcano at night to see lava, we took a river tour to Cano Negro to see wildlife, we went to Baldi hot springs, and we did an awesome zip line canopy tour. All of those activities were a lot of fun.
The zip line was just insane-it was my favorite! So scary and fun. I think the company we used was called Mundo Aventura. (I asked my sister and she said she thought that was the company, too.) We also rode horses to the waterfall with the same company and that was also fun. Baldi hot springs was cool, too-we went at night so it wasn’t that crowded. There are tons of different temperature pools there and they get crazy hot. Apparently there’s also another hot springs place that’s nicer but it was further away, so we just went to Baldi. We booked the river tour through Desafio Adventures, and that was really good. On the river tour we saw tons of birds, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, lizards, caymans, bats (so cool!) and more.
From La Fortuna we went to Montezuma, and getting to Montezuma was kind of a nightmare. I wanted to fly there with this airline called Nature Air for about $120, but no one else did because of money, so we used Interbus, which has little private vans. It was about $45 a person. We took a van to Puntarenas, then a ferry to someplace near Montezuma, then another van to Montezuma. The kicker was that the one day we were traveling to Montezuma, the main ferry was not running because they were doing maintenance on it, so we ended up taking a “private” ferry. We got to Puntarenas and had to wait for 2 hours at a disgusting dock for the private ferry to come. It ended up taking us about 7 or 8 hours to get there, and I hate wasting time traveling when I’m on vacation, so I would definitely recommend flying between places in Costa Rica!
Montezuma was awesome and we stayed in these great little cabins called Casa Colores. They were about $40 a night each and each cabin had a kitchen. Plus there was a cute little pool. It’s about 1km away from town and the beach, and you have to walk down a steep hill to get there, but it wasn’t that hard to get a taxi back up at night. The beaches here were amazing-really a tropical paradise. We went to the beach to the left of the town and found a freshwater lagoon that was just gorgeous. We mostly hung out here and went to the beach, but we did hike to the waterfalls, which was fun. It’s kind of a hard hike, though, so be prepared! We just went to the first one, but you can climb up to more waterfalls and jump down from them. The hike is apparently extremely difficult, though, and we were getting hungry so we just went to the first one. We loved Montezuma, and had the most delicious meals at a restaurant called Cocolores.
From Montezuma we went to Manuel Antonio. We took a speedboat to Jaco and then another bus to Manuel Antonio. We stayed at a hostel called Vista Serena and it was pretty gross. Amazing views, nice owners, but not nice at all! We thought about moving to a nicer hotel, so we asked around, and The Hotel California was pretty nice, according to some people we met. The Hotel La Mariposa is supposed to be one of the nicest hotels there, though. When we were there we hiked in the national park and saw all sorts of wildlife, which was fun, and we mostly just hung out on the beach. We also went snorkeling when were there, which was pretty cool. The main free beach is very touristy, but the beaches in the national park were really nice. There were still people there, but it was a lot less crowded. Manuel Antonio was actually my least favorite place we went, but I’m still glad we went because the national park was great. We went from Manuel Antonia straight to the airport, and we had to take a taxi because the day we left was the first day of Santa Semana, so all the buses were booked up.
I think I sound kind of negative about the trip because of the hostel/transport issues, but I really did have a great time! I would just highly recommend flying between places and staying at the nicest hotels you can afford! However, all the activities we did were awesome, the locals were all super friendly and the food was delicious. So over all I had a great time and I would definitely recommend going!
We got into San Jose around 3 pm and had to stay there because there wasn’t a bus to our first destination until the next morning. We stayed very close to the main square there, but overall San Jose was pretty dirty and apparently is quite sketchy. We asked the guy at the front desk how to get to the bus station, and he told us to take a cab even though it was broad daylight because that area was “funny.” He also said to take a cab anywhere after about 8 p,m. So needless to say, we did not stay out late there! We got food at a little restaurant in the main square, then we hung out at the main square for a little bit, and then we walked back to the hotel before 8 p.m.
The next day, we got up early and took a public bus to La Fortuna, which is a little town near La Arenal volcano. The public bus was crazy cheap, like $4, and because we took it early in the morning, it wasn’t too crowded or hot. However, people do get on and stand in the aisles, so if you do take a public bus somewhere, be prepared to feel crowded! We got to La Fortuna that afternoon and it was a cute town. We stayed in a pretty nice hostel there called Backpackers Resort. It had really pretty landscaping and had a nice pool, hammocks, and a good little restaurant.
We did the most touristy activities while we were in La Fortuna. We rode horses to the big waterfall there, we went up to the volcano at night to see lava, we took a river tour to Cano Negro to see wildlife, we went to Baldi hot springs, and we did an awesome zip line canopy tour. All of those activities were a lot of fun.
The zip line was just insane-it was my favorite! So scary and fun. I think the company we used was called Mundo Aventura. (I asked my sister and she said she thought that was the company, too.) We also rode horses to the waterfall with the same company and that was also fun. Baldi hot springs was cool, too-we went at night so it wasn’t that crowded. There are tons of different temperature pools there and they get crazy hot. Apparently there’s also another hot springs place that’s nicer but it was further away, so we just went to Baldi. We booked the river tour through Desafio Adventures, and that was really good. On the river tour we saw tons of birds, howler monkeys, spider monkeys, lizards, caymans, bats (so cool!) and more.
From La Fortuna we went to Montezuma, and getting to Montezuma was kind of a nightmare. I wanted to fly there with this airline called Nature Air for about $120, but no one else did because of money, so we used Interbus, which has little private vans. It was about $45 a person. We took a van to Puntarenas, then a ferry to someplace near Montezuma, then another van to Montezuma. The kicker was that the one day we were traveling to Montezuma, the main ferry was not running because they were doing maintenance on it, so we ended up taking a “private” ferry. We got to Puntarenas and had to wait for 2 hours at a disgusting dock for the private ferry to come. It ended up taking us about 7 or 8 hours to get there, and I hate wasting time traveling when I’m on vacation, so I would definitely recommend flying between places in Costa Rica!
Montezuma was awesome and we stayed in these great little cabins called Casa Colores. They were about $40 a night each and each cabin had a kitchen. Plus there was a cute little pool. It’s about 1km away from town and the beach, and you have to walk down a steep hill to get there, but it wasn’t that hard to get a taxi back up at night. The beaches here were amazing-really a tropical paradise. We went to the beach to the left of the town and found a freshwater lagoon that was just gorgeous. We mostly hung out here and went to the beach, but we did hike to the waterfalls, which was fun. It’s kind of a hard hike, though, so be prepared! We just went to the first one, but you can climb up to more waterfalls and jump down from them. The hike is apparently extremely difficult, though, and we were getting hungry so we just went to the first one. We loved Montezuma, and had the most delicious meals at a restaurant called Cocolores.
From Montezuma we went to Manuel Antonio. We took a speedboat to Jaco and then another bus to Manuel Antonio. We stayed at a hostel called Vista Serena and it was pretty gross. Amazing views, nice owners, but not nice at all! We thought about moving to a nicer hotel, so we asked around, and The Hotel California was pretty nice, according to some people we met. The Hotel La Mariposa is supposed to be one of the nicest hotels there, though. When we were there we hiked in the national park and saw all sorts of wildlife, which was fun, and we mostly just hung out on the beach. We also went snorkeling when were there, which was pretty cool. The main free beach is very touristy, but the beaches in the national park were really nice. There were still people there, but it was a lot less crowded. Manuel Antonio was actually my least favorite place we went, but I’m still glad we went because the national park was great. We went from Manuel Antonia straight to the airport, and we had to take a taxi because the day we left was the first day of Santa Semana, so all the buses were booked up.
I think I sound kind of negative about the trip because of the hostel/transport issues, but I really did have a great time! I would just highly recommend flying between places and staying at the nicest hotels you can afford! However, all the activities we did were awesome, the locals were all super friendly and the food was delicious. So over all I had a great time and I would definitely recommend going!
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