Costa Rica

[Eucerin]

Its time of the year again, we are starting to planning on next winter get away.

Besides Florida, we are also looking at Costa Rica. This thread is helpful on narrowing down where the recommended area to rent (Airb&b) for a month. Tamarindo and Quepos are favored so far.

For those of you have been there, can you tell me how you get to rental from the airport? is taxi popular and secure there?

Also I assume most of you fly to liberia airport from the states, not San Juan - it seems far from the two destination.

We will rent a car at some point when we go side seeings, but not immediately. We heard that car rental for a month isn't cheap.

[Aerides]

It was a long time ago, but we flew from MIA to San Juan, and we had arranged for a 5 hour shuttle bus ride to Guanacaste/Tamarindo. It's a long hot ride but neat way to see more of the country, especially if you have a lot of luggage.

Or there are puddle jumper flights out to liberia if you don't. Yeah you don't really want a car the whole time, maybe for the odd weekend, or arrange tours and things up into the rain forest, hot springs, etc. But maybe see if you can arrange for bicycles at your Airbnb, or a scooter.

[brett]

You should be flying into San Jose for Quepos. Liberia for Tamarindo.

We rent a car. Seems to me there was a bus or van service from the SJO to the Quepos area. You might want to google that. Cannot remember seeing a van service from Liberia but we were not looking for one. Again, google, tripadvisor forum, or rome2rio might provide the answer

[ItsAllGood]

I like to use the ILT transportation company for transportation to & from Liberia Airport. They are very professional and fairly priced. Driving is easy and interesting though in Costa Rica if you want to rent a car.

[savory]

We rented a car and drove to Quepos and did some site seeing for a couple of days on our way to Quepos then turned the car in.

Upon leaving we bused to Panama City and if memory serves we spent one night on the road. We wanted to see the canal and just spend some time there. I do remember seeing the most amazing bicycle store I have witnessed. And, I bumped into a statue of Roberto Duran on the street. I got to take my picture there. Food was great too.

[rt-texas]

Currently in CR and have been for about 20 months.Couple of recommendations:

Adobe Rental Car
https://www.adobecar.com/en/

Have used them several times and was always happy. FWIW, rental cars and gas are expensive here.

One thing you can do. If you have rental car coverage thru your CC, have them send you a letter that states your covered. Can save you a lot of money not paying for coverage.

https://mytanfeet.com/special-deals/...ar-costa-rica/

These guys have a lot of good CR info and you can get a discount from Adobe thru their site.

Have nothing to do with either of these, just things I've learned from being here and several scouting trips before coming down to hang out a while.

[HenryD]

We rented a car from San Jose airport in 2018. The flights to Liberia were significantly more expensive at the time. Stayed the first and last night in a hotel about a mile from the airport, and stayed at an AirBnB between Dominical and San Isidro de El General. Since we were up in the mountains and off doing something different every day we really needed the car. We rented from an outfit branded as Alamo, on site, although I got the impression the connection to the US Alamo was tenuous at best. A couple other renters at the time seemed very unhappy about some problem, but we got an upgrade to a diesel Landcruiser and the rate stayed insanely cheap. I think we just lucked out.

We were originally going to stay in Quepos, but I am very glad we didn't. We went there one day and it was the busiest rip-off tourist trap we encountered. Just nuts. Getting into the park was a chore. I honestly hated that day of what was otherwise the best vacation on my life. Maybe some folks would like the 'excitment', but not any of my family. The whale tail beach at Uvita and ziplining at Osa were highlights for us.

[Markola]

I think once we used the service the hotel arranged and another time we use the service suggested online when we bought our airline tickets to Liberia. You can probably double check satisfaction with every service on Yelp. There is a bunch of them, making it a challenge to find your driver among the hundred waving signs at the curb, so getting a phone number to call would help a lot.

[brett]

There are a number of very small, oceanfront, family run places south of Quepos. Also very quiet.

We enjoyed it very much. We found it much warmer there. The sand beyond between our lodge and the ocean became very hot after 11AM. We did not experience this at Tamarindo, Flamingo, Samara, or Cocao Beaches.

We prefer Costa Rica to Florida.

[Lucie]

I would recommend splitting the month between Tamarindo and Quepos. They are both wonderful areas, but very different in their own way. We own a condo in Tamarindo, and have never rented a car. We fly into Liberia and use the local shuttle companies for the hour drive to town. If it is a private shuttle, they will stop at the grocery store so you can pick up your groceries. Tamarindo is only about a mile and a quarter long, so a car is not necessary. There are car rental agencies in town that you can pick up or drop off. If you are staying for a month you definitely want a car for a portion of the vacation because there are so many beautiful areas to visit!

Much better option than Florida IMO!

[brett]

We have driven all over Costa Rica. We have always had a car while there.

The only caution I would give is to avoid driving at night in some areas. Especially poorly lit areas. It is not just potholes, etc. Sometimes it can be difficult to see pedestrians or livestock. Other than that roads are fine, drivers are fine in our experience.

[GreenEggs]

We're planning a trip to CR for the 3rd week in August. Thanks for all the good tips.

[SD-455]

We split our time in Costa Rica a few years back between a condo in Tamarindo and the other half of our time in the La Fortuna area by the Arenal volcano. We liked Tamarindo a lot but really loved the rain forest feel of the Arenal region and the cooler weather. I'm a bit of a bird nut so we had a room at the Tabacon that backed to the huge rain forest valley. The front desk loaned me a pair of good binoculars and I watched flocks of toucans and crazy colored bird like I've never seen in my life. Also enjoy a guided raft trip down the Rio Balsa (class II/III) and hiked to some waterfalls, zip lined in the rain forest as well. Loved the people and felt safe there. Driving from the airport to each place we stayed took a little group effort on catching the road signs. Would definitely recommend road travel in the daylight hours just for that reason of needing to catch the road changes as GPS, back then at least, was a bit spotty.

[brett]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerides It was a long time ago, but we flew from MIA to San Juan, and we had arranged for a 5 hour shuttle bus ride to Guanacaste/Tamarindo. It's a long hot ride but neat way to see more of the country, especially if you have a lot of luggage. Or there are puddle jumper flights out to liberia if you don't. Yeah you don't really want a car the whole time, maybe for the odd weekend, or arrange tours and things up into the rain forest, hot springs, etc. But maybe see if you can arrange for bicycles at your Airbnb, or a scooter.

Any time we have flown into or out of Liberia it has been on a 737. Direct flights home in some instances.

[Letj]

I am planning a trip to Costa Rica. Can anyone who has stayed at a good all inclusive resort tell me what you experience was? What does all inclusive entail? I am assuming they provide all your meals. Did you plan site seeing and adventures on your own or did the resort take care of all of that (I assume this would be extra)?

[rt-texas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Letj I am planning a trip to Costa Rica. Can anyone who has stayed at a good all inclusive resort tell me what you experience was? What does all inclusive entail? I am assuming they provide all your meals. Did you plan site seeing and adventures on your own or did the resort take care of all of that (I assume this would be extra)?

See my earlier post with rec of My Tan Feet. Might be worth checking their site and see if the have any info on all inclusive. Wife and I haven't done an all-in in years and never done one here in CR.

If you can't find what your looking for let me know and I can ask with friends who have been here a lot longer and might know something.

[Letj]

Thanks so much! Will check it out.

[Letj]

Great blog and very helpful. Lots of good info.