Costa Rica- December 2024

We just got back from an epic trip to Costa Rica! This may have been one of my favorite trips ever.

FLIGHTS: There are two main airports in Costa Rica Liberia (LIR) and San Jose (SJO) - name alert there is also a San Jose airport in California so double check :)  We took a tour so met in San Jose which meant we had to fly through Atlanta (there are direct flights from Minneapolis to LIR).  Liberia is closer to the beaches and volcano, and San Jose is further south and closer to the cloud forest.

We like to break up the trip so we flew to Atlanta, spent a few hours at the World of Coca Cola (kind of overpriced and super crowded but so fun for kids to try 80 different coca colas from around the world) and spent the night and then flew out in the morning.

HOTEL: In Atlanta we stayed at the Hyatt Place Centennial which was across the street from both the Aquarium and the World of Coca Cola.  

TOUR: We used G-adventures tour https://www.gadventures.com/ whcih does small group tours.  The family branch of this group is associated with National Geographic.  We had never done a tour group before so we were excited and nervous.  We had a group of 20 people total (4 other families) with kids range in ages from 9 years old to 17 years old.  By the end of the trip the kids all were friends hanging out and sitting together at dinners and the adults got to hang out and make new friends too.

- I liked that the tour guides are local so they gave us a lot of insight into Costa Rica

- The group was small and we were able to cover a lot of ground in only 9 days

- The only thing I didn't like were the hotels were much more rustic than what I typically would book (think 1 to 2 star hotels) but had no issues and were in beautiful locations.

DAY 1: After landing in San Jose we were met at the airport and took a shuttle to the Radisson San Jose hotel and were able to check into our rooms (we got 2 rooms at each hotel because each room only accomodated 2 people) and went to the pool.  We had our initial meeting with the guides and had dinner with the other families.

DAY 2: We drove to Monteverde (3 hours) and went to a coffee farm and had a tour, lunch, and coffee tasting.  We went to our hotel El Establo which had incredible views of the mountains and then did a nighttime tour of the cloud forest to see nocturnal antimals including slots, tarantulas, birds, and spiders!

DAY 3: We went to the Monteverde institute, helped to plant some trees, then went to a hike in the secondary cloud foreest on the hanging bridges and climbed up the inside of a fiscus tree.  I got to go to the Spa in the afternoon and the kids went to the pool.  I got the BEST massage ever.  We had dinner in town.

DAY 4: We traveled to Rincon de la Vieja National park and went zip lining around water falls and through ravines.  It was so incredibly beautiful. We stayed at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin which had hammocks outside each room.  We had dinner at the hotel restaurant.

DAY 5: We went horseback riding near the hotel and then hiked to a waterfall and got to swim in the ice cold water of the waterfall.  In the afternoon we went to the hot springs and mud bath which were a series of 8 hot tubs at varying temperatures. 

DAY 6: Joe & JJ went tubing down the river.  We then drove to Playa Portera (4 hours) and stayed at Papagayo Gold Pealms Beachfront Hotel which was the nicest hotel.  The pool was great but the beach area was small and had dirt sand.  

DAY 7: We went on a sailing trip and went snrokelling and had lunch on the boat.  In the afternoon we took the shuttle to Playa Hermosa and had dinner at the beachfront restaurant.

DAY 8: We drove back to Palo Verde National Park (5 hours) and took a jungle boat cruise and saw tons of crocodiles, monkeys, and birds.  We drove back to San Jose and had our final dinner with the group.

DAY 9: We flew back through Atlanta to Minnesota. we stayed at the Atlanta airport at the Marriott Gateway Hotel which was convenient for our early morning flight.  

Hope you enjoyed traveling along with us!