OUR COSTA RICA TRIP: (I am writing all of our budgeting tips as well)
First I want to say that I would totally reccomend this place to anyone who likes nature and adventure. If you want to go to a relaxing chill place, I would say go to Hawaii, you would miss all the cool stuff if you did that here. The weather is super humid but perfect temperature in the mid to high 70’s in January. The jungle is gorgeous and we didn’t see any bugs which surprised me because everyone is talking about the zika virus. No bug bites, nothing.
Transportation: Tyler and I used flyer miles to get our flights and we went pretty cheap with two layovers which actually wasn’t worth whatever we saved on the flights. We decided next time, we pay for the more expensive ones. We ended up having to get a hotel one night plus the food for those extra meals probably equaled the amount we saved. #travelfail Next time right.
You WILL need a car. I wouldn’t even consider buses and whatnot or you will be wasting precious time that you could be hiking, ziplining or eating at cool restaurants. Its pretty rocky and mostly dirt roads which is something I am not used to at all but we got a small car and just paid the extra insurance and it was totally fine. SUV’s are almost double the price and we literally went everywhere so they aren’t neccessary unless you really want one or have a family. Abode car services is who we went through. They picked us up at the airport and then took us to the rental shop to get our car. Even if you don’t book ahead, if you see the van at the airport, hop on and they will still take you.
LODGING: So we kind of did this both ways, the poor college student way and the balla shockcolla way. We went to cheaper hotels/airbnb’s ($115-$130) and then we stayed at a nicer place at the end ($225) we found a deal online for $150 and they let us keep adding nights for the same price 🙂
LA FORTUNA: We first went to La Fortuna (the volcano Arenal), we stayed in Arenal Lodge and it got really good reviews but it was literally a 40 year old motel. It was very clean and the grounds were amazing with breakfast included but I wasn’t that sold for 120 a night. What I learned though is that nothing is actually nice there unless you are going to a 250+ a night place so considering that, we had a great place to stay. The restaurant there was not good and overpriced so we went into town and tried all the cool places to eat.
When going into town to eat, ask the locals where the good places are. Almost all of their recommendations were great. Mostly everything there was priced the same as Utah pricing with food, housing, clothing. Its not like Mexico where you can get some suvenier for a buck. The cheap food, places labeled “soda” is around 10 dollars a person and the normal places labeled “restaurant” were more like $15-30 a plate. Also, bottled water is more expensive than soda pop so you may as well get a smoothie or coke with every meal 🙂
Our favourite meal in La Fortuna was actually at one of the fancy hotels called Tabacon, it was super nice and very fine dining. The food and service was amazing! It cost about $100 for both of us with a dessert to share.
Activities: La Fortuna was my favourite for activities. Everything about it was so beautiful! We hiked through the jungle to a waterfall and went to the free hot springs everyday. They are right by the Tabacon, right off the road. The town was also cooler to explore than any of the others so we shopped a little there.
MONTE VERDE: We stayed at the airbnb which was pretty nice on the inside but litteraly looked like an abandon shack with garbage and holes on the outside, it was around $110. Laughable but always an adventure. The drive there was a 2.5 hr one on a one-way dirt road on the mountain tops with windmills and farms and seriously breathtaking views. I loved that drive. The town wasn’t anything special but the zipline was AMAZING! We found the best priced zipline that also picked you up at your house and it was run by an american so we didn’t have any language barrier issues since neither Tyler nor I speak Spanish. (you gotta know whats going on when you are about to jump of a mile long cliff!!!)
The food, well we found the most delicious hidden gem there and ended up eating at it twice. It was called TACO TACO. Its gourmet Mexican food with so much flavor and very good pricing. Picture a hipster bar with pictures of Freida and hand woven throws on each chair. Seriously so cool!
MANUEL ANTONIA: We stayed in the Shana hotel and absolutely loved it! We found a deal online for $150 a night and lived it up. We kept adding nights and just making day trips instead of staying other places. They included a delicious breakfast to order with monkeys and the jungle on a balcony. It was a tropical dream! The pool was equipped with a DJ and smoothies all day and it was a five minute walk down to their private beach. The room was super nice and huge so we were in costa rica heaven.
The food was pretty descent. We mostly ate at the hotel which was about $20 a plate, but it came with lots of food so something we would just share a meal if we weren’t that hungry. We also found this awesome gem called Falafel Love in town and loved the cool environment as well as the food. Their smoothies were the best we had experienced the whole trip so we each got two everytime we went there.
Activities: We went to two different beaches, the private one with our resort and the reserve beach that is about a mile walk. They try and get you to do the $15 per person animal tour on your walk which we ended up paying for and then leaving two minutes in. We had already seen all of the animals by this point and we just wanted to get to the beach. It closes at four so leave early. We also did a day trip to Esterillos and hiked to the Nauyaca falls which was AMAZING!!!! This is a must see. Also you MUST pay for the truck to drive you to it. It is all up hill and takes 3 hours to hike. The people looked like they were dying when they arrived at the falls and I felt so bad for the kids that had no idea what they were getting into. Its super humid and sunny so…just pay for the truck. The falls has two different sections, and there is a place for brave people to jump off (super dangerous), but cool. We saw toucans and all kinds of animals. It was amazing!
Overall the trip was a great success. We took tons of needed naps and ate a big variety of food and got the adventure that we were dying for. The most important thing was that we got to spend time with just us. It had been almost a year and a half since we were alone and it was nice to be married again haha. Sadly most of the pictures are of me because my babe didn’t want to pose for anything.
If you have any questions about where to go or eat or whatever, feel free to ask them below!
