Flight: Toronto, Canada to San Jose, Costa Rica on Air Transat
Tour: TourRadar Pura Vida Experience
San Jose:
We arrived in San Jose a day before the start of the tour and checked into an AirBnB. Thanks to Air Transat the checked-in bag did not arrive on the same flight which resulted in some headache filing lost baggage paperwork and getting out of the airport much later than anticipated.
The next morning we left the Airbnb and checked into the Sleep Inn hotel as part of the tour package. The hotel was comfortable and located in the heart of the city. We found a nearby mall (San Pedro) to go buy some essentials (while waiting for Air Transat to deliver the lost bag) and were quite surprised to find that many locals spoke fluent English. Having had language issues in a couple other Latin American countries this was a welcome change.
In the evening we took a walk around the neighborhood and ended up at an event at the Plaza de la Democracia. Malpais, a CR band playing that night was quiet impressive and is now part of my Spanish music playlist! Waking across the street we had some meso-american dishes for dinner at El Lobo Mestizo restaurant which were pretty good.
Tortuguero:
The next morning we were picked up by a shuttle to take us to Laguna Lodge in Tortuguero. After a couple hours we were transferred to a boat as the destination is not accessible by road. We quickly realized how dense the Costa Rican wildlife is as our very knowledgeable guide Abel kept us busy with sightings of sloths, birds and monkeys all through the journey.
Arriving at the lodge we were greeted by a Keel Billed Toucan sitting in a tree next to the pier. This was my first real life encounter with a Toucan and despite having seen pictures and videos it was hard to believe a bird so exotic and beautiful could exist.
Later in the afternoon we took a short boat ride to the nearby Tortuguero village, a community of around 2000 making their living off tourism. Tip: try the local coconut water.. its amazingly delicious and refreshing.
During our stay at the lodge we were able to see the beautiful sunrise from the beach on the west side and were kept quite busy watching the plethora of birds, monkeys and flora in and around the property. The beach is the nesting site for thousands of turtles during the wet season from July to October. However, since we visited mid December we only saw the depressions in the sand that where the nests had been and some shriveled turtle egg shells as evidence of the great natural phenomenon that took place a few months prior.
The highlight of the stay was a 3 hour boat tour of the canals with a young tour guide and driver who could sight all kinds of wildlife hundreds of feet away in the dense forest. This was a truly amazing experience watching all kinds of birds, turtles, monkeys, bats, caymans and crocodiles.
La Fortuna & Arenal Volcano:
From Tortuguero we took the boat back and then a shuttle to La Fortuna and checked in to Arenal Paraiso resort.
It was cloudy and rainy during most of our stay which meant we never got to see the Arenal mountain as most of it was always covered by clouds. Rain is quite normal in a rainforest so it didn’t deter most tourists from participating in the Volcano hike in the morning, however, the clouds made it hard to see much even when we climbed up to the viewing spot on the mountain. Either way, it was a memorable experience hiking and learning about the incredible 1968 volcano and formation of the twin Arenal peaks.
Post-hike our package included the hot springs at Baldi. This was fun.. they have around 25 springs with the larger ones having their own themes, followed by a sumptuous lunch buffet at their restaurant.
Arenal Paraiso itself seemed like a nice resort although we only stayed for a short while. Dinner at the restaurant the first night was unimpressive with with 3 dishes having overcooked meat and 2 in the group who had the Jamaican chicken having some tummy issues overnight. But the 2nd dinner at the wet bar was pretty good. They also offer hot springs and other activities (such as ziplining) which we didn’t get to try out.
Montverde:
From La Fortuna we transferred to Montverde. The journey included a shuttle bus and then a boat ride across the incredible man made Lake Arenal and then a van to the hotel in Montverde. While most of our shuttle transfers in CR were comfortable experiences (Interbus provides punctual, safe drivers and mostly functional in-shuttle WIFI), this particular van driver seemed to be an independent contractor and took us on a rushed, bumpy ride on mostly unpaved roads.
Either way we made it to Montverde Country Lodge as our next stop, had lunch at their restaurant (good food) and were picked up by a Selvatura Park shuttle for an included tour… the Hanging Bridges walk. Like Arenal, Montverde was cloudy and rainy all through our stay but what’s a cloud forest without clouds!
The walk went through 8 bridges at different levels of the Montverde tree cover and while the clouds didn’t let us see very far they did create a dreamlike atmosphere and nice pictures.
Dinner that night was at Restaurante Delucia across from the lodge and we were quiet happy with the food and service.
Tamarindo:
The next morning we were picked up again by an Interbus shuttle for a long transfer to Tamarindo. On the way we stopped to change buses at the Restaurante Mi Finca. What made this stop memorable are the Macaws that live in the trees on the property and seem quite comfortable having lots of camera toting tourists around. This was the only time we got to see these rare birds in CR (and one more time during our next transfer to San Jose!)
Well, we arrived at the Wyndham hotel in Tamarindo late afternoon and immediately had to change into summer clothes to adjust to the 30+ degree, sunny weather (quite a change from the cooler, rainy weather in Arenal and Montverde).
Wyndham is not located next to the beach but provides regular shuttles to the town and the Langosta Beach Club. We took the shuttle down to town and made it to the beach in time to watch a spectacular sunset. It’s a nice, clean little town with many options for shopping and food. We ate at the ‘Ay Caramba‘ Mexican restaurant (good food) with a Mariachi band entertaining the tables and followed it up with some good gelato at Venezia.
The next day we spent most of the afternoon at Langosta Beach Club going in and out of the water and relaxing with snacks and drinks. Tamarindo’s is a great beach with a long flat approach into the water. You can find many experienced surfers and wannabes taking lessons. The evening was spent walking around the town again, another dinner at Ay Caramba (I guess we really did like it) followed by locally made ice cream at Solado. We had Dulce de leche and Chocolate Rocher which were both delicious.
There were no tours included in the Tamarindo stay which was a good thing to take it easy in a beach town after a hectic few days through various places. Wyndham is a good hotel with great views from the rooms, a decent breakfast and a nice infinity pool and bar setup.
San Jose:
Our final transfer was a long road trip back to San Jose with a stop at the Restaurante Mi Finca, which ended the package tour part of our trip. We arrived late, checked in to the Airbnb and had a quick dinner at the nearest restaurant still open.
On our final day in CR we walked to the National Theatre of Costa Rica and had brunch in its cafe which has beautiful Venetian architecture and frescoes. We visited the Museo del Jade and then Uber-ed to the Museo de Arte Costaricense but it had already closed by the time we got there.
The final dinner was at Amana restaurant and turned out to be one of the most interesting dining experiences I’ve ever had. It’s a relatively new business that was started by 3 young friends one of whom is the main brains behind their very unique menu. They were also kind enough to show us their kitchen and share the story of how their venture came together. This was the perfect ending to an amazing time in this very beautiful little country.
Another highlight of the day was the URBN Escalante building (located in the upscale Barrio Escalante neighborhood with a great gastronomic scene) where we stayed. Its got a beautifully designed lobby and a floor with a number of themed social rooms. Most people in the building seemed to be travelers like us.
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