Itineraries for Costa Rica...?

Show all answers

tico times directory

Personally, a 5 day trip is not enough time. If you go to Liberia and depending on when your plane arrives in San Jose, figure a day driving there and a day driving back, so you waste about 2 days on the road, which would only give you time to see the Arenal volcano, the hot springs for one day, then head to the beach (Tamarindo) and enjoy a couple of days there. Maybe you would have some time to do some ziplinning.

http://www.ticotimes.com/costa-rica-provinces/guanacaste-costa-rica/

My suggestion, go to Jaco, which is only a couple hr drive from San Jose, and enjoy the beach, nightlife, surf, zipline, eco tours etc and then head down to Manual Antonio (about a hours drive) and see one of the best beaches in Costa Rica. Your time would not be spend driving, but enjoying.

http://www.ticotimes.com/costa-rica-provinces/puntarenas-costa-rica/

On a car rental, make sure you inspect the car first, get the insurance and be careful driving, the roads are not like what you are used to in the US,

http://www.ticotimes.com/costa-rica-transportation/car-rental/

Have a great time and enjoy your trip

guyfrommilwaukee

I would agree with the previous poster... if ur gonna fly into San Jose, use that as ur base.... if u have ur heart set on Liberia.. then fly into Liberia.... I made the mistake of trying to save some money once and flew into Liberia and met my friends in San Jose... I was gonna do the bus route but was lucky enough to find a taxi that was going back to San Jose... Crazy Carl... if you see him dont get into his cab.. had fun and laughed but inside it was worse then a Six Flags roller coaster...
he did it in 4 hours i believe.

Anyways... like the previous guy said... from San Jose, Jaco is only a few hours away... I would skip the car rental and just do mini vans/small bus lines.. and taxi's... easy enough to get around. If you have ur heart set on the car rental, they normally charge ur credit cards at least $1000 deposit on the rental. Mosty of the national car rental companies here have operations in San Jose and you can pre order online... check for rates. Also of people just do day trips from San Jose and come back to party at night.... .if you are hanging out in San Jose, go to the Pueblo area... ask any taxi they will know where it is... close to downtown... great night spot with I think 5 different bar settings including a couple dance clubs... really a fun spot for the party crowd and u will see alot locals mixed in with tourists and other gringos...

You will find alot of bilingual locals and sounds like u have the spanish covered either way... I had posted an answer the other day with some tips on San Jose.. do a search...

hope this helps...

Max B

Liberia is pretty central to the great beaches in Guanacaste and the cloud forests of monteverde and the volcano and lake Arenal. As far as travel advise, rent a 4X4! Hertz and National are usually the best. At http://www.goseecr.com you can search for rental car promo codes and save some money booking online.

gabrieldann

Try to get a flight to Liberia instead of San Jose. It seems to be like that most of what you want to see is in Guanacaste, then Liberia would be a good point to fly to and do all what you want to see in 4 days. Near liberia they have the beaches and they also have volcanoes, then try to do that. They have the Roncon de la Vieja Volcano, and if you rent a 4W car you might go to Arenal Volcano as well. That would be enought for 4 days.

dougger

Fly directly to Liberia, avoid the time wasted traveling from the San Jose airport twice in 5 days.

If you are fluent in Spanish, or close to it read the local papers and hire a car and driver from the want ads in the papers or internet. This will cost no more than a rental without all the risks and problems of rentals. Rental cars are tagged as rentals and make them easy for the local transit police to pick on and shake down. WIth a car and driver you won't have that problem. Plus you get many other useful small services included, where to eat, useful street guide, where to stay, etc. an extra body to warn off pick pockets and petty thieves, etc.
He can also help you spend your time well, picking out a trip to the things you want to do in an order that wastes less time.

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: