Our itinerary for one month in Costa Rica

I have to admit that our arrival in Costa Rica could almost be described as a pure case of coincidence. We were looking for a new destination for our summer holidays. Every year, in July or August, we set off for a month to discover a new destination for our vacations, all as a family. Now that our two children are at school, we don’t have a great deal of choice about the dates. It’s unfortunate, but that’s how it is.

Anyway, with the covid period and the general increase in the cost of living, including air fares, we were looking for a destination where we could go without breaking the bank too much. We chose Costa Rica because, although it’s not the cheapest place to live, the price of airfares was still acceptable. And it wasn’t too far away, as we live in Guadeloupe. I’ve moved on since that first article, so don’t hesitate to come back and read about our visit to Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park.

Now that I’ve been home for 2 months, I’m embarking on my first article about this destination. I’m going to give you an overview of our itinerary for the next month in Costa Rica.

As usual, and I want to make this clear from the outset, we’re traveling as a family. We’re taking our time and enjoying things rather than running from one tourist attraction to the next. That means we often find people telling us we haven’t done this or that, or don’t know this or that place, but between us it’s not the end of the world. We prefer to enjoy things. So don’t be surprised if you think we’ve been a bit slow, haha.

Well, here we go. Here’s an overview of our itinerary in Costa Rica. Oh no, I almost forgot something. More and more on our travels these days, we generally plan the broad outlines and then make adjustments on the spot. We don’t like to plan everything in advance, it doesn’t suit us and it leaves a bit of magic to be discovered on the spot. So I’m not going to go into all the areas we visited here, as that will be covered in other, more detailed articles that follow.

Even though we didn’t have the opportunity to do many paid activities during our stay, I will give you some links to some very nice activities, where possible. These activities were recommended to us and have an excellent reputation!

After a smooth arrival and stopover in the Dominican Republic, we picked up our rental car in the late afternoon and drove to our first destination, Bajos del Toro. It’s a small place about 2 hours drive from San Jose. It’s lost in the mountains at an altitude of over 1,500 metres. From what we’ve seen, it’s clearly not one of the ultra-touristy places, but at the same time we like it. The few photos we’d seen looked great and the region still felt authentic.

We discovered the Costa Rican roads, which weren’t so bad after all, and headed inland, climbing to the heights of the country. It has to be said that this is the first time we’ve set foot in Central America. It’s really nice to discover a new country, a different culture and see how people live here.

The higher up the road we go, the better the road gets. It’s a cool day and the road offers great views of the surrounding countryside and volcanoes, even when the weather isn’t perfect. The surroundings are superb, as rural as you could wish for, and we’re really glad we chose this place as our first destination. You get the feeling that you’re not in one of the ultra-developed, ultra-touristy areas of Costa Rica. We stopped several times to admire the surrounding volcanoes, at several viewpoints set up along this small mountain road that winds through the depths of the country.

We ended up spending 3 days here exploring the naturalist area. The weather is not great, it’s quite cold, there’s a lot of fog on the horizon and even a little rain. The day after we arrived we went to the famous Blue Falls of Costa Rica. These are famous for their beautiful turquoise waterfalls in the middle of the rainforest. The place is fun, easy to explore with the family and we really enjoyed ourselves for a few hours.

During an afternoon with Louis, I took the opportunity to discover the magnificent Tesoro Escondido waterfall, impressive for its size and breathtaking setting. The weather’s still not great, but we don’t care, we’re not complaining, we’re in the heart of Costa Rica with our family and we’re having a great time.

The last day is certainly the highlight of the region, and without doubt the most beautiful place we’ve seen while travelling through Costa Rica. We left our Airbnb at 5am in the morning from Bajos del Toro to make our way to the famous Poas Volcano, which is very well known in the region. The volcano is still active and can be accessed from the top of its crater. Although the weather and the crater were completely overcast when we arrived, the breathtaking view from the bottom of the crater was truly magical in several places. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen something so powerful, probably since we discovered the Ngorongoro Crater on our safari in Tanzania a few years ago. We spent a couple of hours taking in the sights before we moved on to the next leg of our tour.

Don’t hesitate to read our full article on Bajos del Toro region, a truly beautiful place to discover!

After a morning full of surprises at the Poas volcano, we set off for El Arenal, where we’d be spending the next four days. Unfortunately, Teo was very ill and we weren’t really up to it, so this was a rather complicated stage for us. Nevertheless, we took advantage of being in the region to visit a few places in the natural area.

The first day we went to a small sanctuary called the Sloth Watching Trail. The area is famous for its insects. Sloths can also be seen. We were a bit skeptical as it looked like a big tourist trap (well, it kind of is), but the fact that it’s well rated encouraged us to go. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really that great, although we did get to see some nice frogs and a few sloths, but from a great distance. On reflection, I’m not sure I’d recommend it.

If you’re planning to stay a few days in the area, don’t hesitate to read our guide on the best places to stay in La Fortuna.

During our few days there we enjoyed a very nice Airbnb with a overlooking of the Arenal volcano and above all a little jacuzzi that felt really good, haha. But with Teo sick, we didn’t bother hiking up the volcano.

There are plenty of activities to do in the natural area, here are just a few:

• Mountain biking in the Arenal Volcano National Park: this is a really nice, quiet way to explore the natural area!
• Canyoning at Gravity Falls: you can go canyoning in the area, which is also great fun!

While we were there, we also went to a place that had been recommended to us: Arenal Hanging Bridges Park. It’s famous for its hanging bridges through the rainforest, and I have to say that’s what makes the walk so interesting. We set off early in the morning and hiked through the kind of beautiful forest that we’re more or less used to seeing here in Guadeloupe. But with the advantage of being able to cross some really impressive suspension points several times. We got to see some animals and sloths from a distance, which was really nice. Looking back, to make sure you see more and don’t miss anything, I think it would be worth going with a guide to places like this. It’s a bit silly of us to have made this saving.

The area is also famous for its hot springs, as we are at the foot of the volcano and the hot water comes out in quite a few places. As proof, the area is full of hot springs. There’s something to suit every taste and budget. We had to make a choice as there were really too many places we could have gone and the prices of some places were really exorbitant. We decided to go to a small spot that was more local to the area called “Termalitas del Arenal”. Unfortunately, there was a problem on the day we were supposed to go there as we got Louis’s thumb stuck in the car when we tried to close the door. We weren’t proud of it and Louis wasn’t feeling well. We went to A&E to make sure it was nothing and it turned out it was. We went back the next day and enjoyed the place for a morning as soon as it opened. We’ll tell you all about it in a more detailed article, but the place is really nice, it’s cheap and the surroundings are really nice. We even went back to another hot spring because the guy at the Airbnb had offered us tickets to another place that was frankly less interesting.

After the Arenal volcano, we head west to the Tenorio Volcano National Park. Unfortunately, Téo is getting sicker and we’re still unable to treat him. Fortunately, we decided to use a teleconsultation in France to get him on antibiotics. By the way, we’ll tell you about the misadventures we had with Chapka Assurance, as we had to pay in advance at the emergency room… (between you and me, getting a refund for the money we had to pay in advance is almost impossible at our level – very disappointing).

We stopped at the side of the road to watch two sloths moving around in a tree. It was really a lot of fun and we were a lot closer to seeing them than we had been in the park at La Fortuna (El Arenal).

When we got there, we picked up our accommodation for the night in the countryside. It was still a bit chilly and we had a great and panoramic view of the surrounding volcanoes. Mélanie stayed with Téo so he could get some rest and we set off with Louis for the Tenorio National Park. When we got there, we realized that we were in a very touristy area. Even though it was the low season.

The hike involves walking for 2/3 hours on a hiking trail in the middle of the tropical forest. The heat is literally stifling, but the scenery is really quite beautiful and breathtaking if you can ignore the tons of tourists passing by. We’ll have another chance to see some sloths, a beautiful snake and above all a beautiful river with turquoise water. The end of the trail leads to a beautiful waterfall. It’s a shame there are so many people on such a short hiking trail, but we’ll make the best of it. It’s a bit of a shame how many people there are on such a short trail, but we’ll make the best of it.

As we left this hiking area the next day, we stopped at the Tree of Peace (Árbol de la Paz). We’d walked past it many times before, but this tree is simply the biggest I’ve ever seen in my life. The size of the trunk is staggering.

Téo is feeling a bit better now that he’s on antibiotics. Nevertheless, we decided to take a break and spend 4 nights in a beautiful hotel in the middle of the woods, the Borinquen Resort & Spa, in the Rincon de la Vieja area. Yes, some might criticize this choice, but we’re also there to enjoy ourselves and of course we needed to rest with Teo who was ill and hardly slept at night…

As you can imagine, we won’t be doing much during these four days. We’ll mainly be enjoying the place, which is really beautiful, spending time with the family, eating in the hotel restaurant, taking mud baths or enjoying the hot springs. It’s a place that encourages relaxation and tranquility, and it’s really good for you. We’re going to write a short article to tell you about our experience there. We hope that our story will encourage you to discover this beautiful hotel at the end of the world (1 hour drive, eh!).

During our few days there, we visited the Rincon de la Vieja National Park, about an hour’s dusty drive from the hotel. It was a park that we had heard about before we left, but we were a bit disappointed when we got there.

The area is famous for its volcanic activity and we were under the impression that we’d be in for a bit of a treat. Unfortunately, the walk, which took about two to three hours, was limited to a rather dry forest walk in the heat and the chance to see a few areas of boiling mud bubbling up from the ground. We didn’t get the chance to see too many animals, apart from a few birds and lizards… Finally, what we really appreciated about this park were the trees in the forest. They are so impressive with their original shapes. At the end of our hiking trail, we stopped for a moment at a beautiful multi-level waterfall in a rainforest. It was so much fun!

We didn’t go any further west in Costa Rica. We headed back south-east, towards the Monteverde area, which is famous for its beautiful high mountain scenery. We picked up our little Airbnb, a very nice little house with a little garden full of hummingbirds (very beautiful to see bird species)!

During our 3 days there, we decided to visit the Santa Cruz reserve, which seems to be less well known than the Monteverde reserve, but also less touristy (which is what we like). We take a dirt road that winds up the mountain to a beautiful high forest. It’s early in the morning and although I had no idea of the temperature, it’s definitely not warm. We even got our fleeces out to start the walk. We even take the opportunity to buy some neck warmers at the entrance shop, which will come in handy for our future trip!

We had a choice of several walks here, but knowing the kids and Téo, who is not in the best shape yet, we decided to do a fairly moderate loop of about 3 hours. The forest is really gorgeous and panoramic, wet as can be and full of moss and lichen. The trees are really impressive and it’s a real pleasure to walk through this tropical rainforest. We managed to see the wildlife, we saw a few Howler Monkeys, although it ended up being very difficult to see them. We weren’t lucky enough to see the famous quetzal, which is well known in the region. It has to be said that with the mess the kids make, it’s not always easy to spot animals, haha.

Looking for 2 more activities to do in Monteverde?

• Canopy tour at Monteverde Extreme Park: we didn’t get a chance to go, but the feedback is great if you like thrills!
• Bungee Jumping in Monteverde: if your heart’s in the right place, this is a great activity to do while you’re in the tropical region.

In the mountainous area we visited the famous Monteverde Butterfly Gardens, a great place for children especially. They explain everything you need to know about butterflies and other local insects. The walk was very interesting and we were accompanied by a French-speaking guide, which made things much easier. The kids loved it!

We took advantage of being in the area to go nightwalking in one of the protected areas, the Monteverde Cloud Forest Biological Reserve. I’ll tell you more about it in the Monteverde article. But we really enjoyed this 2-hour hike in the middle of the night in a tropical jungle atmosphere. Although we weren’t exactly spoilt for choice when it came to seeing wild animals and insects, we were lucky enough to enjoy this nocturnal and adventurous experience. Although the children were quite tired by the end, they had a great time.

We left the Monteverde area and went for a walk to a place that was recommended to us locally, the Ficus La Raiz. It’s a short 10 minute walk down to a river where a huge ficus has grown on both sides of the river bank, forming a bridge. It’s quite photogenic!

This little getaway in Monteverde was really fun. On our way back, we left the area for Uvita Beach, much further southeast. On the way we stopped at the famous crocodile bridge on the Tarcoles River. It’s fun for the kids as you can see crocodiles under the bridge, but it’s clearly a tourist factory!

To be honest, as we were already living on a tropical island and wanted to concentrate on exploring the inland areas, we hadn’t really planned to stop at the coastline around the sea at the beginning of our trip. We decided to cut our route between Monteverde and Irazu and spend a few days on the coast. I’ll tell you more about the choice of bungalow as Melanie did on Airbnb (haha).

Overall, I’d say this was the area we liked least during our stay. However, we did enjoy spending time with the family on the huge black sand beach in the Uvita National Park. The beach is huge, the water is very warm and there are lots of things to do, such as beach walks, shell collecting and so on. We walked from our Airbnb to the famous whale tail, which is often photographed on Instagram (although it’s forbidden to photograph it with a drone…). It was a really nice experience, especially at the edge of high tide.

Unfortunately, we had a lot of rain while we were there, which didn’t make it any easier to explore the area, and we didn’t do much in the surrounding area. There are two rainy seasons in Costa Rica: the first from November to January and the second from May to August.

We were delighted to head inland towards the capital and our home at the foot of the Irazu volcano after this short break by the sea. I must admit we treated ourselves to a lovely house with a garden and, I’m not kidding, a fireplace! Contrary to popular belief, it’s not always hot in Costa Rica. When we arrived at our house, we quickly realized it wasn’t. There’s wood available for the evening to light the fireplace and, frankly, we’re in for a treat. Maybe it’s just the fact that we live on a tropical island in temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees all year round, but every time we feel this chill, it makes us happy to be on holiday. Living there is another matter.

We spent a total of 4 days near the Irazu volcano. The surroundings are magnificent. We stayed in the village of San Juan de Chicuá. It is about 20 minutes by car from the top of the Irazu volcano. We’re going to take a morning to explore this national park. It’s a really beautiful place, but cold and windy. We loved our time here, even though Mélanie had gone home to seek shelter with Téo in the warmth of the cafeteria. Ha ha. The scenery and the views when the clouds clear are really great.

We also took advantage of a whole day to make our way up to the Turrialba volcano. I have to admit that we had a hard time finding out if it was still possible to get to the volcano, and ended up going in haphazardly. The road from our house to the volcano is really beautiful. We’re on small mountain roads with breathtaking views of the surrounding mountainous area. We don’t need to rush though, as we’re driving very slowly and the road here is in poor condition. We don’t know where we’re going, but we’re driving in a dream setting, with our family, and we’re having a great time.

We finally stopped at a small hamlet with a few houses and saw a sign for a “restaurante”. We never thought we’d be able to eat in such a remote place. But there it was, the Hacienda La Central. We were welcomed with open arms and were able to eat in the shade, as once again it wasn’t getting hot. It may sound silly, but it’s probably one of the best memories I have of Costa Rica: the kids enjoying a little playground at the foot of the volcano right in front of us, the magnificent surrounding scenery, this little improvised snack bar at the end of the world – this is what traveling is all about.

But we can’t go any further because the road is really bad and we finally learn that it’s no longer possible to get to the volcano. I’ve just had a look on the web and it’s true that the volcano had an eruption very recently, in 2016, and caused a lot of trouble in the area. There are traces of ash and a whole bridge of the volcano is completely burnt. It’s quite impressive.

We used the two days we had left to spend some time with the family in the area, try a few restaurants and take some photos at the club on the left. In my opinion, it is one of the best places we’ve seen in Costa Rica.

Afterwards we decided to leave the fresh mountain air behind. We went to the Caribbean coast, to the region of Cahuita. This will be the last stop of our 4 day stay here. The change is quite brutal, as it’s hot and humid on the coast. As at other times on our trip, we won’t have much luck with the weather, but that’s the way it is.

The atmosphere looks really nice, relaxed, with a road running along the seafront (coastline) with little snack bars and restaurants. It’s very touristy, of course, but overall I think it has a pretty cool atmosphere. As soon as we arrived, we were able to get up close and personal with a sloth on a wire – the kids went crazy.

The day after we arrived we visited the Jaguar Rescue Centre. Don’t be fooled, this isn’t really a zoo (we’re not really fans of zoos), but a rehabilitation center for different animal species that are brought in injured and then released back into the wild. They try to limit human contact, although there were quite a few people around during our visit. We thought it was a great visit.

The next day we were able to explore Cahuita National Park, or at least part of it. We decided to take a walk starting at the Puerto Vargas gate. From there it’s a nice little walk through the rainforest, which is magnificent here. There’s nothing too complicated about it, it’s a short, flat path and you walk on planks the whole way. It’s very well laid out and the atmosphere in the forest (with lush vegetation) is really remarkable. We saw a lot of wild fauna, a couple of monkeys, some spiders and even a couple of snakes as we walked along. At the end of this short walk we arrived at a beautiful gray sandy beach with a sloth and its baby in a tree right next to us. We’re still regretting our visit to the pseudo-reserve of La Fortuna… We take advantage of this beautiful sandy beach to swim and have a good time. It’s possible to continue walking along the beach and around the headland towards Playa Blanca (it is one of the most beautiful beaches). But the kids were really into it and it would still be a nice walk with them.

We also took advantage of our stay to do an excursion to explore Manzanillo National Park. It’s almost on the eastern border of Costa Rica, on the border with Panama. We used the few hours we spent there to explore the park via a fairly pleasant walk along the coast, with a few viewpoints and opportunities to swim all over the place. There’s nothing crazy about it, but it was a good time. At the end there’s a kind of belvedere with a very nice viewpoint.

We ended our stay with a quick trip to the capital, which we didn’t take the time to visit. A pity, perhaps?

That’s the itinerary for our month in our Costa Rica trip, it was a real tropical paradise with a rich biodiversity (wild fauna and flora). It’s been a bit of a general overview, and I’m now going to get down to detailing the various places that we think are worth checking out.

See you soon.