Costa Rica miiiiight be my favorite country on Earth. TBD. If you have not been, GO! If you’ve been, GO BACK!
Costa Rica Tips:
Get out of San Jose. You should try to spend a very tiny amount of time in San Jose. Get into nature!
They have shuttles that say things like “meet at the Denny’s off x road”—it seems really sketchy, but it’s legit
If you’re looking for a quiet beach vacation with some hiking/waterfall options I highly recommend Playa Hermosa, near Jaco. There are two Playa Hermosas—one in the north and one in the south, so be sure you’re looking at the right one!
Adventures & Ales Top Recommendations—Day trips from San Jose:
Poas Volcano: At 8,800 feet, this volcanic crater is an incredible sight to see. Bring layers and be prepared to freeze your tail off. Amazing when the clouds clear to see the crater and beautiful water inside of it!
La Paz Waterfall: This waterfall is part of a waterfall trail system. It’s a little touristy but it’s a convenient way to see some killer falls
Doka Estate Coffee Tour: See how coffee is made and sample a variety of coffees. The estate is filled with beautiful rainbow eucalyptus trees as well!
La Paz Waterfall
Adventures & Ales Top Recommendations—Playa Hermosa, Jaco
Playa Hermosa is an isolated beach town near the large city of Jaco. It is a large surfing community and very chill
Stay at Tortuga Del Mar: I absolutely loved my beachfront room. The owners are so sweet and it’s nice and small so there’s barely anyone else around. The black sand beach is gorgeous, there are a couple of restaurants and a store within walking distance.
Day trip to Bijagual Waterfall: I did an amazing adventure where I got to actually hike to and hike up 10 different waterfalls. Highly recommend getting to the waterfalls of the region!
Grab a cab into Jaco and explore after spending the day at the beach outside your room
Green Room Cafe: it’s a cute little nature filled bar. They have beer flights here, and I loved the hibiscus saison from Domingo 7.
Surfing: Jaco is a huge surfing destination and lessons are available for beginners, but beware, the rip currents here can be brutal
Playa Samara Sunset
Adventures & Ales Top Recommendations—Playa Samara
Playa Samara is super chill and an amazing little beach town!
Stay at Sunset Chill Out B&B! Francisco and Herman, the hosts, are incredibly nice and so is their dog Josefina who roams the property. Their garden space overlooking the water is incredible! You can also walk to town via the beach which is nice, but it is still off the beaten path and relaxing.
Cocos Mexican Restaurant/2 Gringos Brewing: A brewery within a restaurant in town. They’ve got 13 taps and an open-air setting.
La Dolce Vita: A super cute restaurant on the water with Italian food.
Playa Carillo: A neighboring beach with no hotels or restaurants but lots of locals enjoying the sand and water.
Samara Trails: Hiking with Samara Adventure Company at Werner Sauter Biological Reserve. They offer a morning or afternoon guided hike, I was lucky enough to be the only one on my “tour”! It was incredibly informative as we hiked through various flora and saw several animals as well. The peak of the hike offers a great view of the bay.
Lo Que Hay: A restaurant and bar right on the water, burgers, tacos and frequent specials.
Microbar Samara: A craft beer bar located in town with a slue of options!
Cervecería Independiente
Adventures & Ales Top Recommendations—Playa Flamingo & Playa Potrero
Playa Flamingo is a very Americanized beach town with soft sand and beautiful water. It is touristy but not as built up as nearby Tamarindo or Playa Del Coco.
Neighboring Playa Potrero is a more isolated beach than Flamingo, but the water is definitely murkier than the clear water on the Flamingo side.
Coco Loco: A bar and restaurant right on Flamingo Beach with great views. They have a small selection of craft beers to enjoy.
Cervecería Independiente: A brewery with outside seating and solid craft beers. You can get food delivered and it is next to El Garden and Perlas, two other bar/restaurants in Potrero.
The Beach House: Another bar/restaurant on Potrero with a large menu and a nice place to watch the sunset. They’ve got 3 craft beers on tap.
Las Brisas is a bar and restaurant on Potrero with nice beach views, the food was just okay, so I’d say just grab a drink!
I would NOT recommend booking with Native’s Way for any day trips. There are other companies, go for them or go on your own.
Day trip ideas:
Llanos del Cortés: A pretty, albeit touristy, waterfall that you can swim under
Parque Nacional Volcán Tenorio: Take a short hike to Río Celeste, the popular bright blue river. It’s not always the color that pictures show depending on rainfall
Nicaragua Day Trip (see below)
Adventures & Ales Top Recommendations—Monteverde
Monteverde Cloud Forest: The reason to visit Monteverde! This biological reserve is full of trails to explore. It costs $25 to enter, but you absolutely do not need a guide to hike the cloud forest—the trails are well marked. It wasn’t super cloudy/misty when I visited but it was very peaceful and green which was nice. Pack some bug spray when you visit!
Each trail is a little different, I hiked almost every trail and it took about 3 hours and was about 5 miles.
Sendero Bosque Nubosco to Sendero La Ventana takes about 45 minutes one way and it gets steep closer to the viewpoint. The lookout is at the Continental Divide, this was my favorite trail.
Sendero Camino: It was quite boring, I would recommend going the Roble route instead for a challenge. The swinging bridge is definitely cool!
Sendero Tosi and Quebrada Cuecha lead to a nice waterfall lookout
Monteverde Beer House: A Mediterranean restaurant with craft beer options. They’ve got a great outside seating area
Rio Celeste
Adventures & Ales Top Recommendations—La Fortuna & Arenal
La Fortuna is very touristy and pricey compared to the rest of Costa Rica. I enjoyed the waterfall and volcano, but they were not as epic as other waterfalls and volcanoes in the country, I probably won’t return to this area of Costa Rica.
Stay at Ti-fakara Boutique Hotel & Birding Oasis! It is a ten minute walk from the waterfall, the pool and hot tub are really nice, and some rooms have views of Arenal Volcano.
La Fortuna Waterfall: A large waterfall that is pretty cool to check out. You can sometimes swim under it, depending on the currents. It costs $18 to enter and it is a man-made staircase to get down to the falls.
La Fortuna Pub: 40 craft beers in bottles and two drafts with a nice outdoor patio.
Arenal Volcano: Hike around the volcano in this national park! It costs $15 to enter and takes about 2 hours to hike all the trails. You can have a taxi drop you off and come back to get you if you don’t have a car, they’ll actually come back for you. You absolutely do not need a tour guide/group here—everything is well marked and easy to navigate.
Make sure to go to the lookout to see the volcano and cross over the dried up lava!
Tortuga Del Mar
Another Idea: Day Trip to Nicaragua
Personally I did not love my day trip to Nicaragua, but I might have enjoyed it more with a different company/on my own, so here are some highlights if you decide to check it out:
You can literally walk across the border, it’s pretty wild (for an American)
Granada is a colorful city full of people trying to sell you things unfortunately
Masaya Volcano National Park: A large volcanic crater surrounded by dried lava from the last eruption
Apoyo Volcano & Lake: A little artisan market with benches over looking the volcanic crater that is now a lake
