🇨🇷 COSTA RICA

My latest destination was Costa Rica in December 2018. To be honest I didn’t know what to expect and I was pleasantly surprised by the Pura Vida destination! In this post I will give you details about the accommodation we’ve booked, the food I loved and a list of activities we did while we were in the Province of Guanacaste.

WHERE TO STAY?

Costa Rica was my first big group trip as a family. There was 10 of us! So needless to say, we had to find a place that could host all of us for a period of 10 days. Thanks to my sister-in-law, she found Vista Ocotal Rentals less than 30 mins away from Liberia Airport. You can check their website by clicking here.

To be honest, it was perfect! We had two villas like the one you can see on the following picture. They each had three bedrooms and complete bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. They were fully equipped and also had a dishwasher, a washing machine and a dryer, which is great when you’re staying for more than a week. There was also a great pool and a common BBQ space we used at least four times! The villas were located less than a minute walk from the beach and from Father Rooster Bar & Grill if you don’t feel like cooking!  In terms of pricing, we ended up paying $400 CAD per person for our rental, pretty decent if you ask me!

HOW TO GET AROUND?

It was an easy decision for us, we ended up renting vehicles from Enterprise that we’d booked in advance from Expedia. We got picked-up by a shuttle at Liberia Airport and after a 5-7 mins drive we arrived to the car rentals. My suggestion is to get a 4X4 SUV, the roads in Costa Rica are not the best! And damages on rentals can get hefty! 

So we had a total of three vehicles, and after splitting the costs of the rentals, insurances and gas, it came down to $120 CAD per person.

ACTIVITIES

1- Rincón de la Vieja Volcano

No way was I going to visit Costa Rica and not go to an active Volcano! Rincón de la Vieja is located about 23km from Liberia and its last eruption was in 2011. Its name means “The Old Woman’s Corner”, a reference to a local legend about a girl whose lover was thrown into the crater by her father; she became a recluse living on the mountain, and was credited with powers of healing (thank you Wikipedia!) Unfortunately, as of September 22, 2011, access to the crater is no longer available due to the last eruption but there are so many cool things to see still! Such as wildlife, great fauna, waterfalls, fumaroles, hot springs and mud pits. It took us two hours to walk the 3,5km Las Pailas Trail and it was very accessible. You might want to bring a rain jacket since it is raining on and off up the volcano.

2 – Tio Leo Coffee Tour

Another great activity in Liberia is Tio Leo’s Coffee Tour! I suggest making a reservation. We just drove by the day prior and we were told that a minimum of six persons was required for the tour, so four of us joined two other tourists that had already booked for the next day. The tours are usually at 08h00 and ours lasted about 4h. Tio Leo is incredibly knowledgeable, we learned so many things, not only on coffee but on everything he grows, Rhum, and we cooked empanadas and drank passion fruit juice. We extracted and drank the juice of sugar canes and wore a typical outfit to harvest coffee beans! The price for the tour is $25 USD which is pretty cheap compared to the other tours offered. According to Tio Leo’s wife, they kept the tour prices low so that the kids in the community could come and learn. How nice is that? I also had my best meal from the whole trip there. When you arrive in the morning let them know what you want to eat, they give you a few choices of Casados (typical meals) and they make it so it’s ready once your tour is over. I personally had the Pollo con salsa and it was Y-U-M-M-Y! For more details click here.

3 – Diamante Eco Adventure Park

Another amazing activity in the Guanacaste area is the Diamante Eco Adventure Park. It is a 20 mins drive from Playa Ocotal to get there. There is so much to do, it was great to go as a family. We got the Adventure Pass (which costs 118$ USD per adult) and every penny was worth it. It gave us access to the zip-lining, some of us were actually able to switch if for an ATV tour. On their website they don’t tell you you can do it but we tried and it worked! The ATV tour on its own is usually $68 USD, so yay for us! The pass also gave us access to the animal sanctuary where we got to see a bunch of monkeys, sloths, pumas, jaguars, turtles, birds, reptiles and crocodiles. Also included is access to the Botanical Garden, the Butterfly Observatory and water activities by the beach such as paddle boarding, kayaking and snorkeling. Furthermore, the lunch was included as a buffet format and once again it was delicious! One thing we haven’t done is Horseback riding (not included in Adventure Pass).

If you’re traveling on a budget don’t worry as they offer different passes. For more info consult their website.

4 – Panderosa Adventure Park (Africa Safari)

The last activity we did is the Africa Safari located about 10 mins away from Liberia. We had a fun time but had a little adventure to begin with. Let me explain, since I usually like to plan ahead, I decided to book our tickets online the night prior through Tour Guanacaste. So far so good. The thing is that when we got there, the cashier told us that the third party, Tour Guanacaste, had not sent our reservation to them. So we lost about an hour trying to figure things out since we had already given a deposit. In the end it all worked out but it took us a while to resolve the issue. I was also disappointed because I asked if we could get complimentary carrots to feed the animals for the mix up and they said no. The customer service was not the best, let’s put it that way. But other than that, the experience was fun. We got to feed giraffes, zebras, donkeys, camels and donkeys. There are also some waterfalls you can visit but we decided not to go since it was an extra cost.

The safari lasted for about an hour and the tickets were $37 USD per person.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

In downtown Playa Del Coco you will find grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations and good restaurants with nightlife and markets to buy your souvenirs. It is a 10 mins drive from Playa Ocotal.

My last tip is to use Colones (Costa Rican currency) and not USD if you are not from the US, because you will pay the fees twice and if you pay in USD they’ll always give you your change in Colones. Since I’m Canadian, I often had to pay the fees twice because some stores had their prices in Colones, they would then charge it in USD on my credit card with a fee and finally I would get billed in CAD with another fee…nightmare if you ask me! The exchange rate was about 600 Colones for $1 USD.

I hope this post will help you plan your next trip to Costa Rica.

PURA VIDA!

*Meet my crush…Ti-Roux!

XX

Mlle Wanderlust

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