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If you had three unscheduled days in Costa Rica, what would you do? Would you consider a flight from San Jose to Panama City or somewhere else? Or, would you stay and explore Costa Rica more, hitting a different area or go back to already explored areas?
Background: surprise birthday trip for my husband....3 nights in Arenal Volcano/Rainforest area for jungle activities, 3 nights in Southern Guanacaste area for beach activities/diving, 1 night in San Jose...then I have 3 additional nights/days (Saturday, Sunday, Monday with our flight out of San Jose for Tuesday morning) with nothing booked. I left these days open so we could decide at that time where we wanted to go (since this is all a total surprise, with absolutely NO input from my husband!)...and we will have a rental car, if we decide to go elsewhere.
I've always wanted to see the Panama Canal so I thought about that, but I don't know that it would be a prudent use of our time.
We went to the Osa Peninsula. Casa Corcovado Jungle Lodge. One of the single best travel experiences we've ever had (and we've travelled extensively). Getting there (to THIS lodge) was half the fun.
The Osa is an amazing place. Spectacular.
I'd also recommend using a good TA for this part of the trip. Pat Hewitt is US based, pretty much exclusively does CR arrangements for about 30 years, and is dead honest. The Osa is very remote and can be challenging for transportation arrangements; hence, my recommendation for TA (I rarely use them), and in this case, we saved money thru Pat. Osa Peninsula Costa Rica
Background: surprise birthday trip for my husband....3 nights in Arenal Volcano/Rainforest area for jungle activities, 3 nights in Southern Guanacaste area for beach activities/diving, 1 night in San Jose...
My husband and I are going to Costa Rica next week for our 3rd trip in the past 7 years and we are splitting our time as you mentioned above- Central Valley/Arenal/Monteverde Cloud Forest and then Guanacaste. We are flying in/out of Liberia and renting a car and doing a lot of driving ourselves. My husband also lived there (in San Jose) for a semester abroad in college in the 90's, so I have always deferred to him on itineraries. I know on our first trip we spent only one night and full day in San Jose and were glad that was all.
We have also spent time in the Central Pacific-Manuel Antonio National Park area and are skipping it on this trip. I know that area is very popular and there's been a lot of development over the past decade or so, but my husband was very disappointed when we went there last in 2010 and lamented that it seems like all that development and $$ was not put back into improving the park itself. He said it looked the same as when he lived there in 1992. Again, though, that editorial aside, a lot of people love it there.
I have never been to the Caribbean side, Limon etc. My husband did not enjoy it that much when he lived there (granted, that was 25 years ago for him), so I have never visited.
Last edited by Texas Ag 93; 04-15-2016 at 06:00 PM..
If it were me, I'd consider Tortugero and exploring the areas south of Limon.
I second this. I spent two nights in Tortuguero and enjoyed it immensely. I was there during turtle nesting season. I don't know where turtles are currently nesting, but if you get a chance to see that, definitely worth it.
I spent 5 days/4 nights between Arenal and Monteverde and didn't run out of things to do...
You only need one day for San Jose city - I recommend a walking tour and then hitting the gold/jade museums. Also a quick tour of the teatro nacional, absolutely beautiful!!
Unless you are flying between the cities (which I do recommend as pleasant experiences) please do factor in plenty of travel time. The country is the size of West Virginia, but it can take the better part of a day to cross it.
You could go to Nicaragua for an overnight trip, which is easy to do from Guanacaste. You could also fly to Bocas Del Toro in Panama or Panama City. The canal is amazing, and we lived it. We stayed at the Gamboa resort, which is right on the canal's River. The lake in the middle of the canal is wonderful.
That being said, there is so much to do in CR. You will never run out of things to do. You could go to the Sarapiqui region and go rafting, although it's very rustic. Fun and wildlife filled, but very basic accommodations.
If you want upscale, you could stay at the Peace Lodge/La Paz Waterfall gardens. It's very expensive, but lovely. It's centrally located for easy excursions and it's not too far to the airport.
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