Arenal

The Arenal Volcano is exactly how I always imagined volcanoes to be - a perfect cone with lava spewing out the top. The only other volcano I've been to is the one on the Big Island of Hawaii - but Arenal was much more impressive and scenic.

The main town in the area is La Fortuna - located just East of the volcano. Most of the lodging (and some of the restaurants) in the area are located on the road between La Fortuna and the Lake Arenal Dam.

A quick note on Lake Arenal: it's really big and the tour books all mention that it's a prime windsurfing spot. Oddly, we didn't see anyone, not even a single boat on the lake, when we were there. The water also didn't look too inviting or of swimming quality (think volcanic, sulphuric runoff). So don't worry about activities on the water, I didn't hear of any being offered anyway. The lake seems to serve mainly as scenery.

Volcano Watching. Although the volcano is impressive to see during the day, the real show begins at night when you can actually see the glowing lava coming down the sides of the volcano. Although the flow patterns change, they change very slowly and when we were there the lava was flowing down the Northern side of the volcano - perfect for viewing practically all the way from Tabacon to La Fortuna. Check out some video of the volcano during day and night:

[CLICK here to watch video of the Arenal Volcano]

Tabacon Resort and Hot Springs. We stayed at the Tabacon Resort, one of the nicest (and priciest) placest in town, solely for one reason: to gain free admission to their hot springs. Volcanically heated natural hot springs are one of the prime attractions in Arenal and Tabacon has the biggest, baddest one of them all. Tabacon charges an eye-popping, Disneyland-esque $45 per person for admission ($35 after 6pm - also when it's the most crowded) - see price chart to the right. We probably wouldn't have visited the Tabacon Springs if we hadn't stayed at their resort.

Was it worth it? Yes. The resort itself is very nice. There is a great volcano view where the resort's pool is.
The service is excellent and the activities desk is top-notch and not too overpriced. There is also a free breakfast buffet, although I understand they will be doing away with this perk around Winter of 2006.

A free, on-call shuttle takes you from your room at the Tabacon Resort to the Hot Springs and back, just 1 km away. The hot springs are fun. Go in the morning if you want privacy. Even if you go in the evening (when it's the most crowded), the place is so big that you can probably find a waterfall (but maybe only a small one) all to yourself. I recommend wearing sandals or other waterproof shoes in the water because the ground is made up of gravel and black rocks that you cannot see - which can hurt your feet when walking around in the pools. Couple other notes: different pools are different temperatures, some are quite hot. Also, we didn't try the food (buffets) at the Hot Springs but it looked pretty extensive (and expensive). And like I said, if we had to pay $45 to get in we probably wouldn't have gone at all (there are cheaper imitations). Here's a FilmLoop of photos from the Tabacon Resort and Hot Springs:

Driving from Monteverde to Arenal

The two most publicized ways to get between Monteverde and Arenal are the "jeep-boat-jeep" tour (supposedly 3 hours) or similar horseback ride-boat-jeep tour (5.5 hours). If you don't have a rental car, by all means go for one of these options and have some fun. But if you have a rental car, by going on one of these tours you'd incur an additional expense for someone to drive your car to your destination - plus you wouldn't save any time. By all means forego the tours and drive yourself! It took us 3 hours to drive from Monteverde to the Tabacon Resort in Arenal (budget between 3-4 hrs). How bad was it? Not bad! The road out of Monteverde to Arenal is no worse than the road leading in, and once you're out of the mountains you don't even need a 4x4 to get to Arenal.

Here's how to do it (the directions are very simple):

• Leaving Monteverde you want to head for Tilaran. (It's a dirt road all the way to Tilaran.) The route is marked in RED on this map here:
• Note: On your way you'll encounter a fork in the road - going left takes you through San Miguel, going right takes you through Chiripa. The road signs direct you to the left, but the road on the right actually looks like smoother road. I wish I had tried it instead. Maybe someone can try it and post some feedback regarding how it is.
  
• After you reach Tilaran the road is paved all the way to Arenal, except for a few very short sections of dirt road. This section is a really easy drive and you definitely wouldn't need a 4x4 for it! Here's a map showing the road around Lake Arenal.

You'll find road signs along the way and not a lot of turnoffs to get lost on. See, wasn't that an easy drive?

Monteverde

Monteverde, set 4,500 feet above sea level, is a cool and heavily forested region. The downtown area is actually the city of Santa Elena. The Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, located about 3.5 miles east of Santa Elena, is just one of the options to see a cloud forest in person.

(see the map above to get oriented)

We had a wonderful time in Monteverde. We were surprised at how many fun things there were to do and also pleased with the dining choices in the area. Here are some of the highlights.

Monteverde Lodge and Gardens. We stayed 2 nights here. I heard it was the nicest place to stay in town and after having been there I would have to agree. Visitors are welcomed with a brief but very helpful "orientation session" where you are given a list of activities and overview of the area. The reception staff is also very knowledgeable and acts as a local concierge. The large indoor jacuzzi next to the lobby is a highlight of this property. Just one warning: Do not stay in the "Garden Rooms" if you are at all sensitive to noise - these are small rooms below the dining area that are unusually noisy - they are subject to noise from the kitchen early in the morning and also late at night.

Selvatura Canopy Tour. We chose this zipline adventure because many considered it the best one for the following reasons: it has the most lines, the platforms are actually attached to trees and in the cloud forest (as opposed to way above the forest like SkyTrek), it is reasonably priced and shuttles will pick you up from your hotel and drop you off afterwards. This adventure was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Warning: wear clothes you would just as soon discard because you may get very dirty - the cables are oiled and most people get oil splattered on them over the course of the tour. [Check out some video highlights of the experience here]

Ecological Farm (formerly called Finca Ecologica). For $15 you can get a 2 hour guided night hike (starts at 5:30pm) where you can see a variety of creatues in the wild. We saw: leaf cutter ants, a sloth, owls, insects, a frog, a porcupine and a snake. If you stay at the Monteverde Lodge, you can get here by taking a 15 minute long trail. However, you probably won't want to walk back afterwards in the dark. No worries, there is a shuttle that will take you home for a couple dollars - or drive yourself like we did. [Check out some of the video highlights of this excursion here]

Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (and neighboring Hummingbird Pavillion). Just outside of the entrance to the Monteverde Reserve is the Hummingbird Pavillion: a small gift shop/art gallery with a bunch of hummingbird feeders outside. There is no admissions charge and it's worth a look to see all of the hummingbirds that are attracted to the feeders.

When buying your admissions ticket to the Monteverde Reserve, the attendant can give you a map and suggested hiking route (for if you're not on a guided tour). We did a loop that took about 2 hours. Most of the trails are paved with cinder blocks, which makes for easy hiking. There are some elevation changes - which can be a bit strenuous.

[Check out the video highlights of the Hummingbird Pavillion and the Monteverde Reserve]

Driving from Tamarindo to Monteverde

Driving Directions from Tamarindo to Monteverde: The fastest, most direct route is to get to the Pan American Highway by crossing the Tempisque River via the El Puente La Amistad (Friendship Bridge). You could also get to the Pan American Highway by going through Liberia - this route is longer so don't take it! Toucan Guides has a pretty good FREE map you can download to see the route. And here are step-by-step directions.

1. Leaving Tamarindo, follow the signs East to Santa Cruz (27km away) - there will be some flat stretches of dirt road w/potholes before you get to Santa Cruz, but it's not very bad (see video below).
2. From Santa Cruz, head SE towards Nicoya (20km away).
3. Follow signs to the Puente La Amistad bridge (30km away). Stay to the left when you see a fork in the road for "ferries." You will reach the bridge a couple kilometers later.
4. Turn Right on the Pan American Highway.
5. Turn left onto the dirt road to Monteverde (known as the second left to Monteverde) just after you cross the small bridge over the Rio Lagarto (Lagarto River). Here is a map showing this turnoff:

And finally, here are some video highlights of the drive. The dirt road to Monteverde is not bad at all - although people may tell you it's treacherous. This is not true at all! It is a fairly smooth dirt road with no sharp turns, severe grades and definitely no switchbacks. See the video for yourself...

Beach Reviews

We were amazed by the variety of different beaches Costa Rica has to offer - and we only visited a few on the Pacific Coast. We found that even beaches that were right next to each other could vary dramatically in terms of sand color and composition, presence of rocks, water clarity, wave conditions and vegetation. As a result, it's worthwhile to visit more than one beach because you can count on a dramatically different experience.

We found that it was a good idea to stay in Tamarindo and make it our "home base" while doing the beach thing due to the town's wide (and ever growing) selection of lodging, restaurants, shopping and services. If you get tired of Tamarindo, there are several nearby beaches that are worth exploring (and many that are not). Here is a quick rundown of the beaches we visited, starting of course with Tamarindo and Langosta and then moving North (we didn't go South because those beaches were further away). Keep in mind there are generally no public restrooms or showers at any of the beaches - it's usually not an issue though. The only services would be restaurants or stores nearby, which I will mention if they exist.

Beach Reviews
Tamarindo: On the fence. Fine light brown sand beach. Mainly a place where people learn how to surf on the gentle waves. Conveniently located next to the main street in town - making food and services easily accessible. A few parts of the beach have large rock formations in the water, but these areas are obvious and easily avoided (just follow the crowds). If you like surfing and people watching, this is a good place to go and the most crowded beach you will find in the area. But the beach itself really isn't that great nor is the water clarity very good.

Langosta: Not worth it. This beach is adjacent to Tamarindo on the South side but separated from it by a rocky outcropping. The beach itself is not that nice. The beach is narrow, has quite a slope to it and the sand is coarse and there are many rock formations all over the place. Combine all this with rough waters and this is not a beach for playing in the water.

Perhaps the only attraction is on the South end of the beach, where it ends at an estuary. People occasionally kayak up the river and at low tide there were locals fishing shellfish out of the tidepools in the rocks. The estuary can also make for some big waves, but the resulting longshore current is very strong and when I was there the waves were closing out - not a good place to surf or bodyboard.

Playa Conchal: Worth visiting. This picturesque beach is made up of eroding white seashells. It's long enough that you could find some seclusion if you wanted. The water is usually pretty clear and calm, and a rock outcropping at the North end of the beach makes for good snorkeling.

Getting here can be confusing though. From Tamarindo, drive past the mega-resort Paradisus Playa Conchal (they won't let you access the beach through their resort anyway - unless you want to pay their ~$80 resort fee!). Stay to the left and look for a small dirt road that runs South right along the beach. Lining this road are several rinky dink looking outdoor restaurants - it probably won't look like you're going the right way, don't worry. Keep going and you can actually drive onto the beach, across a nearly dry estuary, over a small rocky hill (you'll likely need 4x4 to make it due to ground clearance issues), and voila! There is a rather impromptu parking area under the trees right in front of the North end of beautiful Playa Conchal! The beach is very secluded and there are no businesses except for those restuarants you passed a ways back.

There are also local vendors present renting snorkeling gear. The snorkeling isn't all that great, you'll see some fish but that's probably about it. It's certainly not as colorful as snorkeling in the Caribbean. Still, I love white sand, turqoise water and snorkeling, so this beach made for a worthwhile stop.

Playa Brasilito: On the fence. If you go North from Conchal and continue on the road running along the beach, you will pass through a small neighborhood of homes and find deserted Playa Brasilito on the other side. You can drive right onto the beach (and all over it if you really like). The sand is very fine and almost black (so it's very hot) and it continues on for quite a ways. Not a store or vendor in sight and the water is very calm like Conchal. I didn't go in the water though because it didn't look as clear or inviting as Conchal and there were no rock formations in sight for snorkeling. If you go to Conchal you might want to stop by and have a look, but it's not worth a separate visit just to go see this beach.

Playa Flamingo: Worth visiting. This was my favorite beach. This pristine beach is very long and wide. It has cotton candy soft white sand, turqoise water and playful waves. It was also practically deserted.

To get here, follow the signs to Playa Flamingo and then you must drive South of the town of Flamingo - that's the one prominently perched atop the rocky outcropping (can't miss it - look for tall condos and hotels). Don't be fooled into thinking that the black sand beach with calm waters to the North of town (where all the boats are harbored) is Playa Flamingo - it's nothing like it. There is a dirt road running alongside the beach where you can park (I wonder if development is planned for this beautiful beach).

The waves made for great bodyboarding or bodysurfing. The sand was also so soft that it didn't matter if you wiped out and hit bottom. No facilities or stores nearby except for the town of Flamingo on the hill.

Playa Ocotal: Avoid. This beach feels dirty. You have to drive a couple miles through a residential area to reach this teeny weeny black sand beach. Once you arrive the road basically dead ends and there is some impromptu parking available. You are greeted by a big trash can and probably a nice rotting smell too. Watch out for mosquitoes too near the parking area. Walk across dirt (it will probably be a little muddy) and the ground transitions into black sand - whose muddy consistency and dark color doesn't help the dirty feeling you get.

The water is calm. There is a large rock formation at the North end of the beach which makes for wonderful snorkeling. I actually saw a big eagle ray here. However, I would rather snorkel at Conchal than this dirty-feeling beach.

Playas Del Coco: Avoid. This is actually a big town, perhaps rivalling Tamarindo in size. However, it feels very old and dilapidated (think Tamarindo in 30 years). I got the feeling that the place was wasting away. Street vendors easily outnumbered the tourists we saw - although we did go in July which is low season. I understand the main tourist draw here is fishing and diving trips. We took one look at the beach and turned around. Not even worth a visit.

Playa Hermosa: Avoid. This is a very long and wide beach with calm water and boats anchored offshore. The sand is dark and fine. We walked up and down the beach a bit and noticed that locals outnumbered the tourists. This beach was the most crowded next to Tamarindo. The water did not look inviting so we didn't go in. We got a similar "old and dilapidated feeling" as we had about the town of Del Coco. We took a peek at one of the hotels right on the beach, supposedly one of the nicer places to stay in Hermosa. We were greeted by an army of dragonflies (an impressive sight) patrolling the front of the hotel - which is both a good and a bad sign (bad since it implies the presence of lots of mosquitoes). The hotel itself was "old and dilapidated" looking and made us feel good that we had chosen to stay in Tamarindo.

Tamarindo

Tamarindo Roads Report. As you enter Tamarindo you will be on the main (and only) street into town, which is paved and in fairly poor repair. It runs along the coast and dead-ends in a little roundabout. All the side and backstreets are dirt, and are in very poor condition (lots of potholes).

With all the development going on in Tamarindo, I was amazed that road infrastructure was not more of a priority. Here's the scoop (from a local): Tamarindo needs a sewage system installed, which won't happen for another 2-3 years! In the meantime the government isn't going to pave the roads (since they would just have to be dug up to install the sewer lines). In addition, Tamarindo falls under the jurisdiction of nearby Santa Cruz, which is supposed to periodically send road graters to smooth out all the dirt roads. But due to politics and money, this rarely happens. Thus the local roads in Tamarindo are left to languish.

Here is a video of driving through Tamarindo. The yellow arrow on the map is the route shown in the video.

[CLICK here to view the video]

The worst condition road that we encountered throughout our entire Costa Rica trip was actually the backroads connecting Tamarindo to its adjacent neighbor to the west - Playa Langosta, where we stayed at the Sueno Del Mar B&B. The two towns are only about 1km apart, but you have to drive really slow on the dirt road connecting them due to the number of potholes. Here is a video of that road as we drive from the Sueno Del Mar B&B, past the Hotel Capitan Suizo, and into the backroads of Tamarindo. Once again, refer to the yellow arrow on the map to see exactly where it is:

(Warning: Video not for the faint of heart, may cause motion sickness!)

[CLICK here to view the video]

Transportation in Costa Rica

When my wife and I go on vacation, we usually rent a car. We love the freedom and flexibility that having our own car affords us. However, we were very worried about driving ourselves around in Costa Rica due to the numerous warnings we heard about: the terrible roads, the dangerous nighttime driving, the criminals targeting foreign drivers...etc. We were so freaked out that we looked at other options such as public transportation and going through a tour company for private transfers. (FYI: After our trip, we felt very strongly that the 80/20 rule applied: the driving horror stories we heard probably came from the minority, or 20% of the visitors to Costa Rica. The majority of visitors don't encounter such problems. So, don't be afraid to rent a car!) In terms of transportation costs, flying into Liberia and getting us to our three destinations: Tamarindo, Monteverde and the Arenal Volcano, this is what we found:

1 week car rental from Hertz = ~$270
Public transportation (Interbus) = ~$200
Semi-private buses (Fantasy Bus) = ~$250
Private transfers between all destinations = ~$500

Buses. Taking buses can be cheaper, but it wasn't worth it for us considering we would have to tailor our precious vacation time to the limited bus schedules. Also, the buses routinely took 2-3x as long due to all the stops it made. Not for us!

Private transfers. What? It costs almost double to hire a driver? We'd also have no wheels while staying in our three destinations? No thanks!

Rental car. This is what we chose to do, although we were still somewhat scared about driving ourselves around! The best rate I could find was from Hertz ($270USD/week for the smallest SUV they had), which surprised me because Hertz is usually one of the most expensive companies to rent from in the U.S. And yes this rate was all-inclusive, and even included the mandatory third party liability insurance that can be as high as $20/day in Costa Rica. I declined the CDW (collision-damage waiver) because my credit card covered it. The car we got was a Daihatsu Terios, and it looked exactly like this:

It was a stick-shift, didn't have power anything, but did have push button on-the-fly 4WD and AC - the essentials!

(FYI: After driving the Terios around Costa Rica for a week and seeing what other people were driving, I can guarantee you that this is the smallest, dinkiest, most tin-can like SUV available in Costa Rica - but is also perfectly sufficient to travel all the roads safely. That's actually good news, sort of! If you want a smoother ride - and thus the ability to drive faster on dirt roads - look for a larger SUV.)

Q: How bad are the roads in Costa Rica?
This is a question that many people have. After hearing the horror stories about how bad the roads are, how much worse they get when it rains and how it's suicide to drive at night, you're probably expecting something like this:

To drive a road like this, you would need a 4x4 vehicle with decent
ground clearance - and you'd still have to drive real slow.

Is this why people don't recommend driving in Costa Rica?

A: You probably won't encounter anything like in the photos above and the roads are not as bad as you think.

Here's the scoop. Not everyone that lives in Costa Rica drives an SUV. Most probably own inexpensive compact sedans - and they drive them everywhere, even on the "worst" roads. The fact that a small sedan can drive on the worst of roads should give you an idea how bad the road conditions are (not that bad). Of course, if you go looking for trouble on that back-country 4x4 trail then you will find it. However, the roads that take you between cities and tourist destinations are well-traveled by: locals in compact sedans, big delivery trucks, public buses and vans, and yes your crappy rental Terios. It can hardly even be considered "off-roading."

Driving at Night. People generally don't recommend driving at night. The only night driving we did was upon our arrival. We drove from Liberia to Tamarindo at around 7:45pm. It took us a little over an hour. There were other cars on the road and we felt completely safe. The rental car agent also reaffirmed the directions I'd found on the web. We didn't try driving at night on some of the more remote drives (for example Monteverde to Arenal) - but after having done it, if push came to shove we probably could have done it at night.

Road conditions. I took video of various roads we travelled. You can see exactly what the roads look like instead of having to rely on other people's subjective descriptions, including mine! The videos can be found in the post I will make for each location.

Planning the Trip

We decided to use our frequent flyer miles on Continental to get us to and from Costa Rica. We booked tickets just two months in advance (low season) and flew in and out of the relatively new Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia (Guanacaste Province). (FYI: Our flights ended up being only about half full!) We would arrive around 7:30pm July 4th, and leave around 7am July 11th - basically 7 days and 7 nights. That was the easy part! The next part was planning where to go in Costa Rica - a daunting proposition!

The airport in Liberia - it's small and mostly outdoors, but it gets the job done.

There are so many different places to visit in Costa Rica that it makes it difficult to plan an itinerary. You can choose from beaches, idyllic surfing breaks, volcanoes, the big city (San Jose), cloud forests and more! Then you have to figure out how to get everywhere. Again there are many choices including renting a car, taking public transportation, taking private buses, hiring a private driver, hiring a tour company and taking in-country flights. It's enough to make your head spin!

After much deliberation and painstaking research, we ended up choosing to visit three places: Tamarindo for the beaches, Monteverde for the cloud forest and Arenal for the volcano. After much more deliberation and painstaking research, we also chose to rent a car and do all the driving ourselves. (FYI: In the end everything turned out great and our trip was wonderful!)
Here is our final itinerary:

• Day 1: Fly into Liberia (evening). Drive to Tamarando. Stay at Sueno Del Mar.
• Day 2: Beach day. Stay at Sueno Del Mar.
• Day 3: Beach day. Stay at Sueno Del Mar.
• Day 4: Drive to Monteverde in the morning. Stay at Monteverde Lodge and Gardens.
• Day 5: Cloud forest activities. Stay at Monteverde Lodge and Gardens.
• Day 6: Drive to Arenal Volcano in the morning. Stay at Tabacon Resort.
• Day 7: Drive to Liberia, Guanacaste beaches in the afternoon. Lodging TBD.
• Day 8: Morning flight back home.

I would recommend visiting these places in such an order as we did to avoid having to do any backtracking.

Welcome! (Read Me First)

My wife and I spent a week vacationing in Costa Rica in July, 2006. Despite being fairly well-traveled, we found planning our trip to be especially difficult. Part of the problem is that there are so many different things to do and places to see in Costa Rica. Accurate information also seemed difficult to find.

So, I created this blog to provide tips, advice and insight mainly for prospective visitors of Costa Rica - people who were in my shoes before I went on this trip. Of course anyone is welcome to come and see here what Costa Rica has to offer. This is essentially a trip report chock full of helpful info!

I will add information to this blog as I have time. My end goal is to detail our entire trip to give a firsthand account of what you have to look forward to (and perhaps don't) in Costa Rica! You can read the entries backwards (last to most recent) to follow the adventure chronologically, or look at the posting titles to jump to specific topics of interest. Enjoy!