How is this trip report organized?
There is post for each day of our trip. To navigate through the blog simply open the Archives on the left-hand side of the page and choose where you want to go, or return to the home page to see posts listed at the bottom.
Who was traveling?
There were four people in our group: my husband and me from Vancouver, Canada, and two of our good friends from Vancouver Island. Three of us were celebrating turning 60. We had already canceled two previously planned birthday celebrations in Hawaii because of COVID and were elated to finally get to travel outside of Canada
How long was the trip?
March 4 (2) - March 21, 2022. Our friends arrived a couple of days earlier and stayed at Playa Hermosa until meeting up with us at the Liberia airport.
Where did we go?
Click on the "more options" link on the map to open Google maps in your browser
How did we plan?
We wanted an active, outdoor holiday with lots of walking, as well as animal and bird-watching. We also like to spend time at beaches and in the water.
This was my husband's and my third trip to CR and our friend's first. We wanted to see a lot of the country and so rented a car, visiting both coasts, as well as inland locations.
Planning and researching holidays is one of my favorite activities. We booked all of our accommodations in advance as we were traveling during high season and wanted to make sure we got our first choices. We booked directly through the hotels, except where we used Airbnb.
What about transportation?
We rented an intermediate SUV (2019 Suzuki ) from Vamos with full insurance. Once I saw the vehicle, I wanted to upgrade, but there were no other cars available. It was a base model, but the A/C worked and there was room for all of our carry-on luggage. The cost for 18 days was a whopping $2,026 USD.
Aside from the frustration of traveling on 2-lane highways with unexpected potholes and being frequently stuck behind slow-moving trucks, we find driving in Costa Rica just fine.
What about guides and tours?
Good guides are amazing at spotting wildlife and seeing things that you would just never notice; like a tiny brown rainforest frog half-buried buried under a pile of brown leaves.
The downside of guides and tours is they are expensive and you are on someone else's schedule. We have mostly done guided tours on private reserves like La Selva Biological Research Station and Tapir Valley Nature Reserve, as well boat tours in Tortuguero National Park. If you have your own transportation you will rarely “need” a tour to a national park or a guide.
We also did two boat tours out of Playa Hermosa on this trip.
L-R - Steve, Krista, Andree & Dave at Rio Celeste
L-R - Dave, Andree, Krista & Steve at Rio Negro Hot Springs
