I have wanted to go to Costa Rica for as long as I can remember. The lush vegetation, picturesque beaches, wild animals, jungle, rainforest, volcanos, hot springs are just a few of the things that come to mind when thinking about Costa Rica. We were finally able to make it happen this year. It was our first international trip since Covid and, needless to say, we were a bit nervous about flying with the kids and possibly having to deal with getting sick while in a different country. But after two years of not leaving the US and after realizing that Covid is a reality we’ll have to deal with for a long time, we were no longer willing to postpone traveling abroad. So I packed our backpacks full of sanitizing wipes, enough to wipe down all the chairs in the airports in Columbus, Houston and San Jose and off we went to Costa Rica.
For a detailed account of our budget, tips for planning your trip, and facts about Costa Rica, please check out our post Costa Rica budget and tips
Areas we visited: MANUEL ANTONIO and LA FORTUNA (ARENAL)
TABLE OF CONTENT:
Day 1 –RENTING A CAR
Day 2 – MANUEL ANTONIO NATIONAL PARK
Day 3 – PLAYA ESPADILLA
Day 4 – PARASAILING
Day 5 – MANUEL ANTONIO TO ARENAL
Day 6 – LA FORTUNA WATERFALL AND BALDI HOT SPRINGS RESORT
Day 7 – ZIPLINING AND TARZAN SWING WITH ECOGLIDE
Day 8 – PROYECTO ASIS
Day 9 –ATV TOUR
Day 10 – ARENAL – SAN JOSE AIRPORT
DAY 1 – RENTING A CAR AND DRIVING TO MANUEL ANTONIO
One of the biggest decisions that you need to make for your trip is whether you want to rent a car or pay for private transportation from one place to another. We decided to rent a car, so we could be more independent in our plans and avoid shared rides. After extensive research, we ended up renting a car from Adobe. We got a 10% discount booking it through ”My tan feet”, a blog that focuses on Costa Rica travel. Our experience with the company was great and we would recommend them. We rented a 2-wheel drive Hyundai Accent that worked perfectly for our needs. The roads between San Jose – Manuel Antonio – La Fortuna – back to San Jose were all paved, so there was no sense in getting a more expensive, 4-wheel car. An Adobe representative waited for us outside of the airport and guided us to the shuttle that took us to their office. After signing the papers, we embarked on our 3 hr drive to Manuel Antonio.
EL CASTILLO DE AMBER – AIRBNB IN MANUEL ANTONIO
In Manuel Antonio, we booked an apartment through AirBnb. The apartment (”El Titi) occupies the second floor in a villa called ”El Castillo de Amber”. There are 3 other apartments in the villa and they all share a pool. The AirBnb itself was one of the highlights of our trip. We loved starting our days by having breakfast and coffee on the balcony overlooking the pool, jungle and ocean. Every morning, there were monkeys hanging out in the trees by the villas and, occasionally, parrots and other colorful birds would fly by. We also saw lots of geckos and even a couple of sloths by our villa. The apartment had a king bedroom, a living room and a kitchen that had everything we needed to cook some of our meals.
DAY 2 – MANUEL ANTONIO NATIONAL PARK
On our first day in Manuel Antonio we decided to go to Manuel Antonio National Park. The entrance was $42 for all of us ($16/adult, $5/child). They do not sell tickets at the entrance to the park – you need to purchase them online in advance. There are parking spots available on both the right and the left side of the road, right in front of the park, for 4000 colones. About half a mile before you reach the park, you will be ”approached” by the some people who will literally jump in front of your car, wave their arms around and try to convince you that their parking lot is the one for the national park. They can be a bit intimidating and seem to have no fear of cars, but they are actually pretty far away from the entrance. Slowly drive past them and tell them you are not interested. One way to know for sure you are getting the closest to the entrance as possible is to set up your GPS destination for Hotel San Bada. The hotel is right next door to the park.
We chose not to do a guided tour in Manuel Antonio National Park, as we were all still very tired from traveling and wanted to walk the park at our own pace. We chose a short trail that took us to the closest beach in the park and we got to see some monkeys and lizards on the way there.
The beach, Playa Espadilla Sur, is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. We spent a few hours splashing in the water and exploring the beach and nearby rocks for shells and wild life.
There are two other private beaches inside the park, but we did not go to those ones. We also didn’t explore any more of the park, as the kids were getting hungry and we needed to leave the park and find a restaurant. They do not allow snacks to be brought in and they don’t allow reentry into the park once you are out, so the only option to spend the whole day in the park is to eat at the cafe on site. My husband really wanted some good sea food, so we decided to leave and spend the afternoon enjoying the pool at our AirBnB. In hindsight, I wish we had gone to the national park on a different day, maybe the second or the third day we were there, so we could have been more rested and could have explored the park a bit more.
DAY 3 – PLAYA ESPADILLA
On day 3, we decided to check out the main beach in Manuel Antonio, Playa Espadilla. We drove down from our rental place and found a parking spot for 2000 colones. There are a lot of people around who will insist to watch your car in their parking spots for 3000 colones, but we were approached by a guy who offered to do it for 2000 colones, so we went with that. We spent the whole day enjoying the beach and the waves and even after 7 hours of playing, we struggled to get our kids to leave. We rented a surf board for $20 /day and two boogie boards for $10/day each. We were also told that they had the option of surfing lesson + all day surf board rental for $40. The boys loved trying to surf with their dad and fighting the waves. Speaking of waves, they are very rough (perfect for surfing ) and we sacrificed a water shoe, a pair of goggles and an earring to the ocean god that day.
We also got to try authentic Argentine ceviche, grilled fish and coconut water from people who were pushing their carts around the beach, selling food and drinks. The ceviche wasn’t my favorite (a bit too heavy on the lime), but the grilled fish was to die for. If you see the old guy grilling meat on a mobile cart on the beach, definitely purchase some food from him. When I went to get ours, the only meat he had left was fish, but I would have tried different ones had he had more options.
DAY 4 – PARASAILING
On day 4, we went back to Playa Espadilla for more beach time and parasailing. I initially looked at making reservations with Aguas Azules, but I ended up not pre-booking any of the activities too far in advance, because we wanted to go with the flow a little bit and follow our kids’ pace. I tend to over plan our days usually, because I get excited about doing it all!! I am happy I didn’t pre-pay for parasailing though, because when we were at the beach on day 2, we so happened to sit by a company that was doing parasailing right next to us. I went and I asked about their prices and not only that they were $10 cheaper/person than Aguas Azules, but they also advised me to pay in cash to avoid the 13% credit card fees. So instead of paying $312, we ended up paying $260 for two tandem flights, 20 minutes in the air. They also offered for all four of us to go up at once for $220, but we chose to do it two by two, so our littlest one could watch his dad and his big brother do it first. He was a bit unsure about parasailing in the beginning, but all his concerns were gone by the time it was our turn to do it. Both my kids ended up loving the experience and, together with zip lining, it was one of their favorite activities in Costa Rica. They loved that they got to ride jet skies to get out of the water and the guys even let them ”drive” the jet skies! The name of the company was ”Manuel Antonio Parasailing” and they can be found towards the left side of the beach, close to the lifeguards’ tent. They have no age restriction and they were really good at what they were doing. We felt like the experience was worth the money. Unfortunately, that morning, the guy who usually takes pictures with his drone was not there, so we don’t have any cool pictures of us in the air.
For other activities in the area, I recommend checking out ”My tan feet”, a travel blog focused on Costa Rica. I used the blog extensively to plan our trip. They are partnered with a local company and offer discounted tours for kayaking, horseback riding, jungle night walk, surf lessons etc.
RESTAURANTS IN MANUEL ANTONIO
You guys, there is an actual airplane in the structure of this restaurant and you can actually climb into the cockpit! This is the one restaurant you can’t miss in Manuel Antonio, whether you travel with kids or not. The view is also spectacular!
The food was up to par too. We had the fried seafood platter for an appetizer and it was very good (I loved the calamari). My husband had the mahi mahi with mushroom sauce and that was delicious! We also tried the fried rice with shrimp and while that was very tasty too, the mahi mahi with mushroom sauce was a surprisingly good combination that stood out from the other meals we ate. I highly recommend trying it!
El Wagon is owned by the same company that runs ”El Avion” and this one has a train wagon as part of the structure. You need reservations to be seated inside the actual train wagon, so we ate in the main, open air area. That worked out great for us, since that’s where they were cooking the pizzas and our kids were entertained for quite a bit. The pizzas were really good (we especially loved the Four Seasons). Our waiter was also very sweet in providing our kids with an activity to do while waiting. I had forgotten our backpack with their drawing pads at the AirBnb that night and I asked the waiter if they had paper and crayons for the kids. He initially said no, but a few minutes later he came back with two printed pictured of the wagon, so the kids could color them in. I thought it was such a sweet, thoughtful gesture!
Soda Angel is another place we dined at and we were NOT very thrilled with the food. The “batidos” (fruit and milk smoothies) were good, but the food was bland and the pork in the casado was dry and flavorless.
DAY 5: TRAVELING FROM MANUEL ANTONIO TO LA FORTUNA
The trip from Manuel Antonio to La Fortuna takes about 5 hours and the views during the drive are awesome. We made one major stop at the Crocodile Bridge and we were able to see 14 crocodiles swimming in the water or basking in the sun. We also saw a couple of basilisks, playing around by the crocodiles. We decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants by the bridge, Hacienda Nosavar, and I am so happy we did, because we had the best meal of our trip there. We got fish with veggies and potatoes and everything was perfectly seasoned and cooked. They also had a small playground on site, perfect for two little boys who really needed to burn some energy. And, to top it, we got to see a bunch of iguanas around.
A couple of pieces of advice for this road trip: if your car doesn’t have sun shades for the windows, have some towels or shirts close by to cover your legs and arms while driving. The sun burns badly through the windows and my kids got very uncomfortable. We had to pull over somewhere along the way and get towels from the trunk to cover them. Also, about an hour and a half into the drive (after the Crocodile Bridge), you start going up the mountains and the road becomes VERY curvy. Our youngest son, who had never been stomach sick before, ended up vomiting…badly. Needless to say, we were not prepared for this. We were on this stretch of road, with no place to pull over and he kept on throwing up. I was trying to comfort him from the front, but there wasn’t much I could do. Eventually, my husband was able to pull over in front of a small, family owned store that was miraculously placed on the side of the road. The store had a hand washing station and the young lady who worked there was very nice and allowed me to use it to clean my son, change his clothes, wash his seat and the car. It took us about an hour to get it done. I won’t go into many details, but one thing I learned is that we will never drive on roads like that with the kids, without having plastic bags readily available. So my advice is to have bags and towels ready for use and, if possible, for one adult to sit in the back with the kids, to help them and comfort them in case they get stomach sick.
We made it to La Fortuna around 6:30 pm and the first thing we did was to find a laundry place. There were a couple of options in town and we decided to go to Las Burbujas. I felt horrible walking in there with a trash bag full of pukey clothes and car seat cover, but the ladies who work there were very kind and understanding of the situation and they reassured me they had had to deal with worse cases (yikes!). We also had another trash bag full of dirty clothes from Manuel Antonio that we dropped off. They told us to go back any time after 6 am the next day. They did an awesome job cleaning and folding the clothes for us and the total cost was around $28. I highly recommend the place!
After dinner in town, our last stop was the resort we stayed at, Baldi Hot Springs Resort. It looked very beautiful and appealing with the Christmas decorations out and all the steaming hot springs, but we were all very tired and decided to call it a day.
DAY 6 – LA FORTUNA WATERFALL AND BALDI HOT SPRINGS
We started day 6 by having complementary breakfast at the resort. The breakfast options did not change much in the 5 mornings we were there. They had scrambled eggs and huevos rancheros, gallo pinto (beans and rice), plantains, toast, sausages, pancakes and fruit, cereal and yogurt and an omelette station. Our kids usually had fruit and toast with eggs and Ted and I tried pretty much everything. We both felt like the food was just ok, but that is usually something to expect from complementary breakfasts at resorts.
After breakfast, we drove into town to pick up our laundry and decided to make a stop at La Fortuna Waterfall ($18/adults, $5/children). We bought our tickets on site and after they took our temperature, we ventured down the trail by ourselves. We didn’t do a guided tour and I really don’t think that’s necessary for the waterfall. There is a beautiful view of the waterfall from the top and then you have to go down 500 steps to get to the bottom of it. Once there, you cannot get in the water by the waterfall because of the strong current, but you can swim in the river that forms from it. It was too chilly for a full body water immersion for us (but there were some people swimming in it). However, our kids had a blast splashing in the river, climbing the rocks and playing in the mud. We were there for about an hour and then we walked the 500 steps back up. We mostly had to carry our kids going up, so we made frequent stops, but it still took us only about 15 min to reach the top and it didn’t feel too strenuous.
We spent the rest of the day at our resort. Baldi Hot Springs Resort has 25 pools on site, with temperatures varying from cold to very hot. The higher you go up the hill, the hotter the springs are, but by every hot pool, there is also a cold one, so people can cool off. I loved the lay out of the place and I thought the resort was very clean and beautiful, with lush vegetation everywhere. They have an area dedicated to young kids (we spent very little time there) and three slides that go into one of the main pools. Our boys loved that pool the most, because it was the perfect temperature for them. They were also able to go on two of the three slides based on their height. We all had a blast at the pools and I recommend the resort to families with young and older kids. Baldi also has to option of just purchasing day passes, for people who stay elsewhere. The entrance only is $37/adults and $27/kids, entrance with one meal (lunch or dinner) is $57/adult and $41/kids and entrance with both lunch and dinner is $77/adults and $55/kids. I personally found the food at Baldi to be mediocre, so I don’t think it’s worth the money for meals. I recommend getting just the day entrance and going there between lunch and dinner. There are other restaurants in La Fortuna, with better food, for less money.
For dinner that evening, we chose to eat on site. After playing in the pools for 6 hours, we were too tired to get the kids ready and go back to La Fortuna. Baldi has two options for dinner: one a la carte restaurant and one buffet style. We opted for the buffet style, so we could eat fast and go back to the pools for another hour before bedtime (swimming in the hot springs at night was one of our favorite activities, especially since they have a ”natural sauna” that is like a cave, with ”secret” rooms and color changing lights). The buffet was $20/adult and we didn’t have to pay for our kids (who are 5 and 3). Again, we both agreed that the food was not worth the money. We ate there two nights and the food options were exactly the same: fried rice with pork, plantains, pasta and noodles with white or red sauce, and three different meat options. The meats very dry and overcooked and the fried rice did not taste fresh. They also had fruit, bread, soup and a couple of dessert options. After the second night eating there, we both decided we were done with the buffet for the rest of the trip.
DAY 7 – ECOGLIDE ZIP LINING AND TARZAN SWING
On day 7, we got to do one of the activities we were most looking forward to – ziplining. It was the first time zip lining for all of us and it was something we all ended up loving. We were a bit bummed out that it rained, because we couldn’t really see much around us and we missed out on the beautiful views that we could have had on a clear day. We also made the mistake of leaving our rain jackets behind when we were gearing up. It had stopped raining for a few minutes and it looked like it was going to clear up, but we would find out later on that weather is very unpredictable in the rainforest, even in the dry season. It started raining again when we were midway through our adventure and by the time we were done with all of the zip lines, we were all wet and cold. So do not leave your rain jackets behind!
Another thing that we did while zip lining with Ecoglide was swinging on a Tarzan swing. The cost for both activities was $75/person. Ziplining itself was $50 and the Tarzan Swing was $30, but if you chose a combo, you got a little discount. We showed our kids videos of the tarzan swing when we were home and they were both very excited about it, until we got there and they saw the actual drop. It was intimidating and they decided they were not ready for it. My husband and I did it though and what an adrenaline rush! We both loved it and wished we could do it all over again.
We had two guides with us the whole time: one would zipline ahead of us to help us out on the next platform and one would stay behind, to help us get started. We felt very safe the whole time. The youngest of our kids was a bit too light at 42 lbs to go all the way to the end on some of those lines, and in those cases, one of the guides went with him. We also chose to do the photo package and it was $50 for all of us (approximately 20 pictures/person and a few videos).
One fun fact we learned while we were ziplining was how they clear the jungle for the zip lines. My husband, who is a forester, was really interested in that, since it seemed like a really hard job. We were told that the guy who does it basically hangs on the zip lines and clears everything in his path with a machete. How cool is that?
After the zip lining tour, we went back to our resort to take a shower and change. I was hoping we were going to do a coffee and chocolate tour with Don Olivo in the afternoon. However, as soon as we got back to our room, I started spiking a fever with chills and feeling really nauseated. Both me and our littlest one ended up having a stomach bug that lasted for a few days. Needless to say, I spent the rest of that day in bed, sleeping on and off and I was barely able to eat for the next few days. My son had milder symptoms than me though, and he was able to continue eating and playing. We don’t believe it was food poisoning, because we all ate and drank the same things, and it was only me and Roby that got sick. That made the rest of the trip a little less enjoyable for me, but I was determined not to let it ruin all the fun. I was very happy I had brought Covid tests with us, as I able to take one of them and discard Covid as the reason I was feeling sick.
DAY 8 – PROYECTO ASIS
On day 8, we got to do the most interesting and educational activity in Costa Rica. Proyecto Asis ($58/adult, $35/children 5 and older) is a wildlife rescue center that focuses on rehabilitating and releasing animals back into the wild, whenever possible – unfortunately, some animals are too wounded to be able to survive in the wild. The cool thing about Proyecto Asis is that they offer the option to book a volunteering tour in which you can prepare food for the animals and “hide” it inside “toys”, then watch them take the toys apart to get to the food. The purpose of hiding the food is to train animals to work for it. Since they will eventually be released back into the wild, they need to learn how to get their own food, rather than have it handed to them directly.
Some interesting facts we learned on our tour:
-some animals do get hurt while roaming freely (car accidents, power lines etc), but sadly most animals at the rescue center come from people who own them as pets and either can’t handle them down the road, because of smells, noises, size etc or they don’t offer them appropriate living conditions (very small cages, unfit food)
– although it is widely believed that monkeys love bananas, that is actually not true in the wild. Bananas don’t grow wildly in the jungle – they need to be planted by humans. Therefore, deep in the jungle, monkeys don’t come across bananas and it’s only when they live by people that they learn to eat them
– monkeys don’t eat a lot of sweet fruit in the wild. When in captivity, people need to give them a balanced diet of fruit and veggies, so the animals don’t get obese or get diabetes and lose their teeth
– diet is one of the reasons the macaws have the bright feather colors. When people feed them food that is not fit for them (rice, beans etc) the color of the feathers is not as vibrant anymore.
– people cross breed Scarlet Macaws and Great Green Macaws (something that would never happen naturally in the wild), because the hybrids are multicolor and look very pretty. However, they are sterile and can’t reproduce.
– White- faced Capuchin monkeys are famous across Costa Rica for throwing feces at people. This fact got a lot of giggles from our kids
DAY 9 – ATV TOUR and NIGHT TOUR AT MISTICO HANGING BRIDGES
ATV TOUR ($120/tandem ATV + $30/photo package)
On our last full day in Costa Rica, we decided to do two tours. Because I had been sick the previous two days, we’d had to cut down on the tours we’d planned to do. However, the last day I was feeling better and wanted to pack as much fun as possible into the day. We started our morning with an ATV tour we had booked the previous day through Ecoglide. Because we zip lined with them, we were offered a 15% discount for an ATV tour with a company they are partnered with, and ended up paying $240 for two tandem ATVs. We also chose to get the photo package for $30. The tour lasted for about two hours and it included riding our ATVs on some jungle trails, stopping by a river, riding on paved roads and having a short stop for a Maleku tribe demonstration in a hut. A couple of native women talked about the way the Maleku tribe used to dress and they showed us the instruments they used to play. Then, we finished our tour with a quick ceremonial dance around the fire. The demonstration was interesting and it brought a smile to our faces. By that time (halfway through the tour), we were all wet from riding in the rain and the stop was nice.
The trails we rode in the jungle were steep and uneven with huge rocks, which made the tour adrenaline filled for me. I was riding the ATV with my oldest son (who is 5) and he did an amazing job holding on the whole time. Neither of my kids enjoyed the tour as much as we had expected though, because it poured down pretty much the whole time we rode the ATVs.
We had three guides with us during the tour – one rode in the front, one in the middle and one at the very back. They were very stern about telling people to follow the instructions (for everybody’s safety) and they didn’t mind reinforcing those rules when needed. One guy in our tour kept going into the other lane when we were riding on the paved street, in spite of all the cars coming from the other directions unexpectedly. One of the guides approached him and gave him a warning that if he kept on doing that, he would not be allowed to do the tour anymore. Please, don’t be that guy! I was riding right behind him with my son and got nervous a couple of times that his “acrobatics” would get us all into an accident.
All in all, this one was the only tour we felt it was not worth the money. This was a spur of the moment decision that we made when we were offered the discount at Ecoglide after inquiring about the tour. In hindsight, I wish I had done more research and chosen an ATV tour that would have taken us around the volcano. This definitely didn’t feel like a tour, as we didn’t get to see or learn anything about our surroundings, but more like we rented some ATVs and rode them around for a couple of hours.
MISTICO HANGING BRIDGES ($100/tour)
Now this is a tour I completely messed up. I kept waiting for the weather to clear up, as I wanted us to be able to see the views and the jungle while walking the trails on the hanging bridges at Mistico. However, given that it constantly rained the whole time we were in La Fortuna, we decided to do a night jungle tour instead. I looked up our options for Mistico and there were two: a night tour and twilight tour. For the night tour, the website specifically stated that only kids 10+ can join the tour, but for the twilight tour it said that “18 and younger need to be accompanied by an adult”, so I assumed we could bring our 5 and 3 year olds. Well, it turns out I was wrong. They don’t allow young kids on this tour either. We were lucky that our guide, Gabriel, talked to the receptionist there and convinced her to agree to a shorter tour (for as long as we had daylight). Gabriel chose a short trail for us to walk and we were lucky enough to spot the red-eyed tree frog, some spiders (including a couple of black widows), lots of hummingbirds (including a sleeping one) and some peccaries (who, by the way, smell awful) during our short walk. Gabriel was very knowledgeable and you could tell he was passionate about his job. Part of our tour ended up being in the dark and our kids loved that they could use their flashlights to spot wildlife. The tour was about an hour shorter than it would have been if our kids were older, but it was still worth it. I wish we had gone to Mistico during the day too, as it seemed like such an amazing place, brimming with wildlife. This is definitely one place we will return to next time we go to Costa Rica.
An important detail to remember if you plan a tour at Mistico is that they require fully enclosed shoes (boots, sneakers etc). Our kids were wearing their water shoes, but Ted and I were wearing our hiking sandals, which cover our toes, but not the heels. Gabriel pointed out that they require enclosed shoes because of the snakes that one might encounter on the tour.
RESTAURANTS IN LA FORTUNA
1. Pollo Fortuneno – according to reviews, this restaurant is one of the most popular ones in town, especially for families with kids. We stopped there the day we drove from Manuel Antonio. The chicken was really good and we tried pickled plantain salad for the first time and really liked it. The service was very slow though and they forgot to bring the ribs we ordered. It wasn’t a restaurant I would necessarily go back too, but I have to admit we dined there after a long and stressful day and we were all running on very little energy and patience.
2. Latina Pizza – we got pizzas to go from this restaurant twice and we really liked them. We chose the Hawaiian, Pollo and La Brasilena and they were all very good.
3. Chipotle’s Tex Mex – this restaurant had great reviews, but I personally couldn’t vouch for it, because we went there one evening when I was still suffering from the stomach bug. I ordered a soup (Sopa Azteca) and I could only eat a few spoons, but my husband ate it and said it was really good, However, he didn’t really like the tacos he had (I think they were the smoked chipotle ones and he thought the smoke taste was overpowering). For the kids, we ordered cheeseburgers and French fries. The only cheeseburger option they had was this cheeseburger loaded with guacamole, eggs and veggies that looked awesome to me…but my kids wanted something simple. The waiter was very accommodating and placed an order for regular cheeseburgers with tomato and lettuce. When we got our bill, we were surprised to see that they charged us less than the menu price for the cheeseburgers, because they didn’t use all the ingredients, although we never even asked for it.
4. Street bakeries – there were a few different street bakeries in La Fortuna and we tried a couple of them. They both had delicious rolls. We got some for lunch one day and some for breakfast the day we drove to San Jose.
OTHER ACTIVITIES IN LA FORTUNA: There are so many activities to do in this area that it can actually feel overwhelming to chose from. There were a couple of activities that were on our lists that we didn’t get to do because I got sick, but it will give us something to look forward to on our next trip to Costa Rica. Some of those activities are: chocolate and coffee tour, horseback riding, tour of the volcano, Cano Negro boat tour, the Bogarin trail, white water rafting, canyoning down a waterfall and exploring the jungle more.
DAY 10 – DRIVING TO SAN JOSE, COVID TESTS AND FLYING BACK HOME
On our last day in Costa Rica, we woke up early and left La Fortuna around 6:30 am. Our flight was at 2 pm, but we had our appointments to get the Covid tests done at the airport at 10 am. The previous day, we had bought some ham +cheese and sweet bread rolls from a bakery in town and we had breakfast on the go, in the car. The drive was about 3 hrs and we got to the airport at 9;30. The tent in which they do the tests was very easy to find. When you get to the airport, you will see International on your left. Continue going on the road that curves to the right and then curves to the left, keep on going straight for just a little bit and you will see the Covid testing sign). They have a parking lot right there, so it was very convenient for us. We were advised by other people to return our rental first and then go to the airport for Covid testing, but after thinking about it, I realized that driving to the airport first actually saved us time. Had we had to return the rental first, we would have had to be in San Jose around 8:30 am at the least, to have time for inspection of the rental, then being shuttled to the airport, then finding the shuttle that takes people to the testing site, then taking the shuttle back, all while dragging our luggagge and kids. So take advantage of your rental car until the last moment!
As for the tests, the process was very fast and efficient. We went in at 9:40 and were out by 10;15, so under 10 minutes/person. We got the results 15 min later. They swabbed the adults’ noses and the kids’ throats. My kids didn’t mind it at all and came out giggling, saying it felt tickly. They had two lines – one for those with schedules appointments and one for walk-ins. I saw one person in the walk – in line while we were there and she was tested just as quick as we were. Having said that, I would make an appointment if you travel with a bigger group or family, to avoid any kind of complications.
Returning the car and being shuttled to the airport took about another hour. The check in and going through security moved pretty fast, so we had about 2 1/2 hrs in the airport, plenty time for us to use the bathroom and eat lunch.
FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR COSTA RICAN VACATION
Looking back at it now, there are a few things I wished I had planned differently. Because I drive so much of my energy from the sun, I wish we had gone to La Fortuna first and to Manuel Antonio second. That way, we would have ended our vacation with sunny days before returning back to gloomy, cold Ohio. So if you are like me and weather influences your mood a lot, consider doing a beach destination at the end of your trip, in case you get unlucky with the weather like we did in La Fortuna.
Also, I wish we had gone to Manuel Antonio National Park on a day when we were feeling a bit more energized, so we could have done a guided tour. I feel like we missed out on that one. One other place I feel like we didn’t explore enough was Mistico Hanging Bridges. I am looking forward to going back to Costa Rica one day and taking more time in these two areas.
Also, although we really enjoyed our stay at Baldi, this was another trip that proved to me that we really aren’t hotel or resort people. We like staying in Airbnb’s, having more space, more privacy and being able to cook some of our meals. Our boys also prefer ”houses” because they can move around more, they have more space to play and they can be a bit louder than in a hotel.
All in all, we really liked Costa Rica. It was the perfect cocktail of natural beauty, adrenaline and peacefulness and I hope life will take us back there again some day.
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Hey there great blog! Does running a blog such as this take a large amount of work? I have no expertise in programming however I had been hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyways, should you have any recommendations or techniques for new blog owners please share. I understand this is off subject nevertheless I just wanted to ask. Cheers!
Hi, Michale! Sorry for the late reply! We have been on the road for a while and I am just now catching up to the blog. I started thinking about writing a blog last year. I purchased a domain in November and it took me a couple of weeks just to work on the name, theme, logo, layout etc. Then I started by writing one post per week (about 5-6 hrs/week in total). I would say you should plan on writing at least a post/week, so Google can see that your blog is active. That being said, I’ve only written one post in the past month, because we moved and then we started our 1 year around the world travel. I am hoping to get into a better schedule, where I can write at least a couple of posts per week. I am just starting blogging too, so I don’t have a lot of expertise in the field. I’ve taught myself everything so far. That’s what’s been the most time consuming for me.