Costa Rica

• Age: 34
• Year: 2023
• Time of year: February
• Length of trip: 12 days
• Travel style: adventure, road trip, beach destination

The recap:
24+ hours of driving
10 sloths sighted
1 amazing sister to travel with

Day 1

Flew into San Jose airport — no direct flights from Vancouver, so long travel day through Houston. Checked into the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson.

Watch out: Most taxis at the airport are not official and do not use meters. Try to arrange transportation through a hotel or rental car service to avoid negotiation, especially if your Spanish is limited (also make sure to download Google Translate offline in advance)!

Day 2

Worked from the hotel in the morning while my sister went exploring downtown San Jose & picked up the most delicious avocados.

Picked up the rental car at Budget and drove north to La Fortuna approx. 3 hours.

Tip: Get the 4×4! Where this would have been nice to have in Iceland, would consider it a requirement in Costa Rica if you’re going to drive anywhere outside of the city, as even the highways become dirt roads with unavoidable pot holes.

Stopped at Catarata del Toro waterfall:

Checked into Hotel Lomas del Volcan — view of the volcano from our cabin:

Day 3

Went for a hike at Arenal Volcano National Park, then cooled off at the El Choyin public hot springs.

🦥 First sloth sighting! Just off the side of the road, so keep your eyes peeled always:

Next stop: La Fortuna Waterfall

Wrapped the day with dinner then nightlife at Charlie’s in downtown Fortuna. Watch-out: There are no taxis or Ubers available late on a Saturday night.

Day 4

Went to the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park where we saw dozens of monkeys.

Drove approx. 3.5 hours to Monteverde.

Accommodation highlight: Checked into the most epic Airbnb in the forest — Amalu was the accommodation highlight of the trip hands down with a gorgeous sunset viewing platform, hot tub, full amenities, & suspended hammock overlooking the cloud forest:

Went to Monteverde Brewing for dinner & drinks – highly recommend for both! Then back to Amalu to watch the stars from the hot tub.

Day 5

Went zip lining in the cloud forest!

Then drove approx. 4.5 hours to Santa Teresa.

Checked into Airbnb close to the beach — Casa Almendra.

Went for dinner at the amazing Bajo el Arbol.

Day 6

Surf lesson / chill at the beach until sunset day!

Finished the night at the Banana Beach bar — Santa Teresa nightlife at its finest.

Day 7

Drove approx. 5.5 hours to Manuel Antonio. Note: this route included a car ferry.

Checked into Buena Vista beach villas.

Walked to Restaurante Marlin & had a fresh seafood platter with a pitcher of strawberry daiquiri.

Day 8

Went to Manuel Antonio National Park.

Tip: Go with the guided tour. It’s very hard to see any of the wildlife on your own. Shout-out to our tour guide Frank who seemed to have x-ray vision!

Featuring perhaps the cutest sloth sighting of the trip:

Day 9

Longest drive of the trip — approx. 7 hours to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca on the Caribbean side.

Checked into Casa Pura Vida Airbnb.

Day 10

Went to the Jaguar Rescue Center. Note: There are no actual jaguars, it’s just the story of how they came to be a rescue center for the local wildlife.

Then we went kayaking through a grotto & spotted another sloth!

Day 11

Drove back to San Jose approx. 4.5 hours.

Returned rental car & took shuttle to La Riviera Hotel.

Day 12

Early morning flight home.

Pura Vida!