Costa Rica Experience

The Beautiful Girl and the Penis Bowl

Advantages: Good weather. And some different ice creams.
Disadvantages: Not much else

...tag a few days in San Jose onto the beginning and end of my Costa Rican tour. In total I spent 6 nights there, but only really 4 days due to flight times and travelling towards Arenal and back from the beach. This is still about 3 and a half days more than most people told me I would need, but I ignored them nonetheless, convinced that any capital city would have a fair few things to keep me entertained. GETTING THERE AND AROUND I arrived at 1am ...
...a public bus back to San Jose from the beach resort of Quepos, and arrived at the Coca Cola Bus Terminal. Yep, that's really its name. This is just to the west of town, and only a few dollars in a taxi to most hotels. Unfortunately the 5 hour trip had not gone well - mid way, during a break for toilets / food, two of the group's backpacks were stolen, meaning they lost their cameras and all the photos of the trip. Luckily there were no passports ...

zoe_page 25.01.2009 · Read full review
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Review of San José (Costa Rica)

The Fortunate Few

Advantages: Pretty town, not too far from San Jose, with good weather
Disadvantages: Not a lot to see in town, and tours can be pricy

La Fortuna is a town about 80 miles from the Costa Rican capital of San Jose. You can visit as a day trip, but many people chose to stay a night or two, to take advantage of the many activities on offer in the area. We spent 2 days and 2 nights there, having Christmas Eve afternoon, all day Christmas Day, and Boxing Day morning in the town. To be honest, anywhere where you have 30oC weather over Christmas is going to get a thumbs up from me, but ...
...trip from San Jose takes about 3 hours, but there are a number of interesting places to stop along the way. For example, we took a slight detour to Zarcero, to stretch our legs in Parque Francisco Alvardo, known for its interesting topiary. Reminiscent of Leven's Hall in the Lake District, this was well worth a 15 minute break, and the bakery and supermarket right across the street were an added bonus. One of the main attractions of the town is its ...

zoe_page 30.01.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Volcán Arenal National Park (Costa Rica)

Tamarindo and Montezuma

Advantages: Sun, sea, sand, shopping, nightlife, beautiful scenery, friendly people
Disadvantages: Sunburn, variation in hostel quality, travel is hard work, dengue fever

...(or anywhere not on the Pacific coast) it involves a ferry trip from Puntarenas. We managed to mess this up with buses and ended up hitchhiking in the back of a farmer's truck -all good fun! In Montezuma there are enough restaurants to keep you going for about 5 days, beyond that you'll get bored. During the day (if you aren't just lying on the beach) you can hike to the waterfalls. The hike was pretty scary in the wet season, it involved crossing ...
...its really not suitable for kids or anyone who isn't 100% fit. You can also do the typical stuff like ATV rides, or going out for a day's fishing. If you have the money - I didnt! Tamarindo is 7 hours from San Jose by bus, but I can't recommened the public buses enough. They're clean, run on time and very good value for money. Its sometimes hard to get a seat, so make sure you're there in plenty of time. Tamarindo has lots of shops, restuarants, ...

kittykatty31 15.09.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Pacific Coast (Costa Rica)

I See Trees of Green, A Quetzal or Two...

Advantages: Unusual Cloud Forest & Quaker ice cream to boot...
Disadvantages: Time spent on rickety roads in rickety minibusses

In 2007, Costa Ricans voted Monteverde (literally 'Green mountain') one of Costa Rica's Seven Wonders, though to be fair there's not all that much to choose from in such a tiny country. That said, I have visited this place as well as two of the other entries on the list (the Arenal and Poas Volcanoes) and I think the country folk made the right choice. Located in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica, Monteverde is a destination often teamed with ...
...areas was stunning and immediate. Monteverde is known for its Cloud Forest reserves, and sits at an altitude of 1400m which is still almost 1000m lower than Mexico City. We stayed in Santa Elena, which is the most established village in the area and is sweet in a rustic kind of way. Accommodations are numerous and varied, but names are not always an accurate prediction of what you'll get - we stayed in the Sun and Moon cabins and ended up with nothing ...

zoe_page 26.01.2009 · Read full review
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Review of Monteverde (Costa Rica)

My First Untouristy Holiday

Advantages: Fantastic wildlife, gorgeous scenery, friendly people
Disadvantages: Rain, spiders, heat

...situated in Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast. We arranged with the hotel they would hold our luggage while we went on the 3 day trip. We were told the only way to get to Tortuguero was by bus and boat or by plane. We opted for the bus and boat as this was much cheaper and we would also get to see some of the surroundings. The coach picked us up at 6.30 am the next day and we started the long journey to Tortuguero. We took a drive through Braulio ...
...and a visit to the Caribbean Conservation Corporation. The townspeople were very friendly and from the CCC we learned about how the turtles were becoming endangered and what the locals wer doing to preserve them. The hadicraft shops were quaint selling all sorts of nick nacks from bracelets to little wagons, an emblem of Costa Rica. We spent our second and last night in the bar with our hosts and other travellers comparing what we had seen and how ...

minitheminx 17.07.2004 · Read full review
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Review of Caribbean Coast (Costa Rica)