Mustachian trip to Costa Rica?

[Adventine]

My husband and I are planning a one week trip to Costa Rica in early December. We have to stay in San Jose for the first three days because of his job, but the next four days are free. I'm doing my own research but any tips to save money /  maximize our stay would be great.

Would also love to hear from anyone who has tried the COVID test service in SJO airport (Lab Echandi). The last thing we want is getting stuck in Costa Rica because of a late COVID test result!

[Rdy2Fire]

Through COVID I have done a bunch of international travel. I'd recommend buying these https://www.emed.com/

These are 'home' tests by abbott. They are the same as the 'self' tests you can buy at CVS, Walgreens etc but when you buy these you sign up for an account and when you are ready to take the test someone supervises it and certifies it. The best part of them is #1 you don't have to be on the hunt for a testing site which can be costly. #2 you can do them anytime from your laptop, phone, etc #3 if by change you test positive you can take another test (I carry 2 or you can then find a local place) and all eyes (i.e foreign gov't) won't be on you or tracking you're every move or lack of moves if they lock you down.

[ToeInTheWater]

we're looking at going to CR as well.  this blog has a TON of good info:
https://mytanfeet.com/

[clarkfan1979]

I went to CR for 18 days in February 2003 with two friends from college as a graduation present for ourselves. Jaco is the closest beach. It's possible to take a public bus from San Jose if you want to save money on a car rental. Lodging in CR can get really cheap if you rent something for at least one month. 

Pura Vida.

[Samuel]

My Costa Rica experience is 10 years out of date but you likely won't want to kill 3 days alone in San Jose while he's doing his work stuff. I'd plan some solo excursions for that time. With the remaining 4 days you might have to choose whether you prefer the mountains or the beach, unless you want to rent a car to expedite travel or spend a lot of time on buses.

[GreenToTheCore]

Exciting!
We spent a little over a week in CR 3 years ago in October and loved it, off season is great. We did a little driving circle around Lake Arenal and down to Jaco. Of course we happened to be there during a major hurricane and the country went into national emergency status...and it was still amazing! Wonderful people, wonderful food, wonderful sites. The prices were definitely lower than the US and the natural scenery is their crown jewel so it's easy to do a mustachian vacation there.

Random thoughts:
- Personally, I'd skip the zipline (Monte Verde area) and pay for more hiking trail access
- We loved the lunch-time casado w/ gallo pinto meals and even make it at home. Here's the recipe we follow: https://www.travelexcellence.com/blog/costa-rica-food-the-traditional-casado-best-typical-dishes-recipes/
- Salsa Lizano is found everywhere and can be a great small bottle souvenir.
- Grocery stores are super fun to go into. There were ~20 flavors of canned tuna, the produce was delicious, it was fun to pick out food for home meals

Some of our recommendations:
La Fortuna
Lodging - There was a sloth! And a great tour by a PhD student.
https://fincalunanuevalodge.com/

Food - Chifa La Familia Feliz
Chinese + Peruvian fusion, the chef/owner was so incredibly nice and the food was fantastic. Highly recommend.


Guadalajara/North Lake Arenal
Food - Delicious. The best views. Next visit we want to stay in this area just to eat here a few times.
https://www.cafe-macadamia.com/


Monteverde
Lodging - The views from this place were incredible and there was a hiking trail on property. We stayed here the day after the hurricane and the host, Chris, was beyond gracious in dealing with that situation.
AirBnB "Private House with Gulf View"


Jaco
Lodging - I can definitely recommend this place. It was fresh, clean, had a little kitchen, and you couldn't beat the access to the beach. There were a surfer breakfast burrito place and a restaurant for dinner just a walk down the beach.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g703684-d1225006-Reviews-Tortuga_del_Mar-Playa_Hermosa_Jaco_District_Garabito_Municipality_Province_of_Puntaren.html

Food - Graffiti Restro Cafe & Wine Bar
This was a splurge night since the prices were similar to US prices. Set & setting were great, again the people were lovely, food delicious.
That shopping area has many restaurants and makes it easy to walk around and choose what you're hankering for.



That got lengthy, thanks for the chance to reminisce :)

[boarder42]

I'ma follow this seems like a fun last winter with our kids before the oldest starts school.

Now if someone has some great hacking advice or reward stays to add that'd be great.

[brooklynmoney]

I go to Costa Rica about 1x a year to surf. The most beautiful area to me is the Corcovado Reserve in the south. The wildlife and fauna are gorgeous and it’s on the coast.

[boarder42]

Could multiple trips to costa rica be treated like going to a hawaiian island?  are there regions where you can find more than you can do in 3 weeks and worth basically staying in an area that long and the next year picking a different are?

[Kris]

My Costa Rica experience is 10 years out of date but you likely won't want to kill 3 days alone in San Jose while he's doing his work stuff. I'd plan some solo excursions for that time. With the remaining 4 days you might have to choose whether you prefer the mountains or the beach, unless you want to rent a car to expedite travel or spend a lot of time on buses.

Seconding this. San Jose is not a particularly interesting place to be for three days.

[RyanAtTanagra]

We were in CR this past July.  We flew into/out of Liberia, not SJ, but the airport testing sites I believe are the same.  They say to give yourself 4 hours to get the results back, but everyone gets them in about an hour.  Some hotels also have test kits that qualify.  It was a point of stress (due to the unknown) that ended up being a complete non-issue.

CR is hard to do cheaply, from what I saw.  Even eating at a soda (local, cheap eatery), isn't as cheap as I'd have thought.  Grocery stores had about the same prices as I do here in California.  To cut down on a lot of cost, try to figure out the local bus system.  It's cheap, but not convenient if you're going between cities.  If you can get his work to pay for a rental car, that would be ideal, imo.  We didn't do a lot of ground transport, as we met up w/ sailing friends and traveled mostly by sea, and walked when we stopped at towns.  We did take a taxi from Punta Arenas to Monteverde, because the bus ride was over 4 hours and we had bags.  I think the 1.5hr ride by car cost $80.  The bus would have been something like $4 each.

Mask usage depended on the city.  Larger cities have been hit, so people are pretty good about it.  Smaller cities haven't really seen the effects, so don't really care.

[GreenSheep]

I agree with the above. San Jose is not particularly interesting, so you might prefer to set up some excursions with a local tour company. I used to be totally anti group tours, but I've learned that they do open up places I wouldn't have known to go to myself, wouldn't be able to go to safely alone, etc. If you must stay in San Jose, though... yes, grocery stores in other countries are always interesting.

Corcovado National Park is incredible. It was an optional add-on for the group tour (Intrepid) I was with, and our guide encouraged us to do it simply because SHE wanted to go, even though she had been there a million times. While there, you have a local guide/naturalist who is excellent at spotting animals and telling you all about them. They also have a... thing like a telescope, but not as powerful, so you can get a good look at distant animals and even take photos through it. It's not quite as amazing as the Galapagos, but it's pretty close. Animals just wander by and hang around in the trees above you without much fear. And they said some huge percentage of the planet's biodiversity exists just in that national park.

If I were to do Corcovado again, I would have nothing to drink for breakfast and make sure to pee the instant before getting on the boat to go there, because although there is a building in the national park with bathrooms, you don't get to it until about 5 hours into the trip. Several of us ended up finding a semi-private area where the guide told us it was okay to pee outside, although we did have an audience of monkeys...

[wenchsenior]

I agree with the above. San Jose is not particularly interesting, so you might prefer to set up some excursions with a local tour company. I used to be totally anti group tours, but I've learned that they do open up places I wouldn't have known to go to myself, wouldn't be able to go to safely alone, etc. If you must stay in San Jose, though... yes, grocery stores in other countries are always interesting.

Corcovado National Park is incredible. It was an optional add-on for the group tour (Intrepid) I was with, and our guide encouraged us to do it simply because SHE wanted to go, even though she had been there a million times. While there, you have a local guide/naturalist who is excellent at spotting animals and telling you all about them. They also have a... thing like a telescope, but not as powerful, so you can get a good look at distant animals and even take photos through it. It's not quite as amazing as the Galapagos, but it's pretty close. Animals just wander by and hang around in the trees above you without much fear. And they said some huge percentage of the planet's biodiversity exists just in that national park.

If I were to do Corcovado again, I would have nothing to drink for breakfast and make sure to pee the instant before getting on the boat to go there, because although there is a building in the national park with bathrooms, you don't get to it until about 5 hours into the trip. Several of us ended up finding a semi-private area where the guide told us it was okay to pee outside, although we did have an audience of monkeys...

Corcovado is incredible. One of the best weeks of my life.

I still giggle when I think about the dark cold showers and the black vultures stealing our stinky laundry off the lines and the howler monkeys waking us up just before dawn when I still wanted to sleep. SO WORTH IT.

[GreenSheep]

I agree with the above. San Jose is not particularly interesting, so you might prefer to set up some excursions with a local tour company. I used to be totally anti group tours, but I've learned that they do open up places I wouldn't have known to go to myself, wouldn't be able to go to safely alone, etc. If you must stay in San Jose, though... yes, grocery stores in other countries are always interesting.

Corcovado National Park is incredible. It was an optional add-on for the group tour (Intrepid) I was with, and our guide encouraged us to do it simply because SHE wanted to go, even though she had been there a million times. While there, you have a local guide/naturalist who is excellent at spotting animals and telling you all about them. They also have a... thing like a telescope, but not as powerful, so you can get a good look at distant animals and even take photos through it. It's not quite as amazing as the Galapagos, but it's pretty close. Animals just wander by and hang around in the trees above you without much fear. And they said some huge percentage of the planet's biodiversity exists just in that national park.

If I were to do Corcovado again, I would have nothing to drink for breakfast and make sure to pee the instant before getting on the boat to go there, because although there is a building in the national park with bathrooms, you don't get to it until about 5 hours into the trip. Several of us ended up finding a semi-private area where the guide told us it was okay to pee outside, although we did have an audience of monkeys...

Corcovado is incredible. One of the best weeks of my life.

I still giggle when I think about the dark cold showers and the black vultures stealing our stinky laundry off the lines and the howler monkeys waking us up just before dawn when I still wanted to sleep. SO WORTH IT.

You got to stay for a WEEK?! I am SO jealous. I was only there for the day. That was in November 2019, and I wanted to go back and spend more time at Corcovado and take my husband... but then Covid happened. I did get to do a long backpacking trip along the Savegre River and could certainly call that one of the best weeks of my life, so I guess I can't complain too much! There are just so many amazing things to see and do all over the planet.

[wenchsenior]

It might have been a few days longer, even.  It was a 2 week trip, with a couple days in San Jose, and a couple days' travel to/from.  So much incredible birding...absolutely blew my mind. I also got some close-up views of crocs, tapirs, peccaries, anteaters, capybaras, several species of monkey, etc.

Definitely go back, if you can.

[LetsRetireYoung]

@Adventine - I backpacked all across Costa Rica (both coasts, and a bit in the middle) for 3 weeks. That was 5 years ago, but I think most of my advice still stands. Here you go. :) https://grigorylukin.com/2016/02/26/backpacking-through-costa-rica-tips-and-tricks/

[Anniemaygo]

I did a 10 day tour with my mom and two kids (11,14) 5 years ago, we did Monteverde, Arenal, and a few other areas.  Our absolute favorite was Manuel Antonio national park.  Monkeys on our balcony, birds everywhere, giant iguanas, beach, lots of hotels and restaurants.  If I could only do one spot, that was the best for us and hit all the best experiences of CR.  I think it was about 2.5 hour drive back to San Jose airport.
It was a fantastic trip, enjoy!!!
Pura vida!

[Adventine]

Thanks for the suggestions, all! It's a lot to think about, and I'm still going over all the recommendations.

[the_fixer]

We are going in December for 3 weeks, 2 at the beach in Guanacaste and 1 week in San Jose to see friends.

Last time I was there you could do organized day trips from the San Jose area such as the Doka coffee plantation and Poas volcano that will keep you entertained while the other is at work if you do not want to rent a car / drive. The two mentioned are near SJ but you can do others that are full day trips to Arsenal, Jaco, zip lining depending on how long you want to be out.

We are also sweating the COVID test for the flight back, it would be stressful to test positive and have to quarantine for 14 days ouch. Thinking about taking the self tests mentioned above so we do not have to find a place.

Double check but I believe the rule is now negative test within 24 hours prior to flight if unvaccinated and 3 days prior if vaccinated. We have ours shots so the extra 2 days will be nice.

Enjoy your trip!


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[therethere]

I'm thinking of heading to Costa Rica in a week or so. the Corcovado park has caught my eye. At first glance I've read that beaches are not great there. I'm thinking of staying in that area for a week or so and maybe would like to tack on another 5-7 days at a beach area. Any ideas?

I'm trying to avoid renting a car, as it's ~$100 a day.

[chaskavitch]

We went to Corcovado in November 2014.  From what I remember the snorkeling isn't great this time of year because it's between seasons.  The beach we were at, with Casa Corcovaco in Drake Bay, was definitely more rocky than beautiful sand. 

However, Corcovado was ABSOLUTELY our favorite place.  If I went again, I'd tack on an extra 2-3 days there and not go anywhere else.  Maybe it was because we didn't have to drive anywhere? It was beautiful and there were a lot of things to do, and where we were, at least, was not a super popular/crowded spot, which I loved.

[turketron]

I spent a few weeks in San Jose for work, so we did quite a bit around SJ itself and only got out of there for a couple weekend excursions. As mentioned, Arenal + La Fortuna would be a great way to spend multiple days.

While I agree with everyone else that you don't need to spend more than a couple days in San Jose, if you do find yourself staying there while your husband is working, there are some fun things to do around the area. You could spend a good part of a day walking around the downtown area (make sure to hit the mercado central), and if you're there on a Saturday the Feria Verde is a fun green/natural farmer's market, (although it is touristy, so it's not particularly cheap!) A coworker had a great time on a "Sloths and Coffee" Tour at the Toucan Rescue Ranch; it's outside of the city center but doable via cab or car (if you're renting one).

If you're renting a car, you could do the La Paz waterfall gardens as a day trip outside of San Jose. It's a pretty drive and the gardens are very cool. If you're not renting a car I imagine you can get a bus there but didn't look into that option.

[Adventine]

Thanks for the additional suggestions!


We've finalized our itinerary, booked a rental car, got the Abbott COVID tests mentioned above, got triple vaxxed, and are now just watching the news for any Omicron-related travel bans. Throughout the pandemic, Costa Rica never shut down anywhere near as hard as other countries. Fingers crossed it stays that way!

[RyanAtTanagra]

I didn't rent a car while there, but from what I understand, tell them you want a manual transmission and it's a fraction of the price.

[Adventine]

I didn't rent a car while there, but from what I understand, tell them you want a manual transmission and it's a fraction of the price.

Thanks, that's exactly what we got.

[the_fixer]

We are waiting / watching as well since we are also heading to Costa Rica in December.

FYI sounds like the US is considering changing to PCR 24 hours prior to returning regardless of vaccination status.

Just purchased our tests last week :(


———-

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said rules under consideration would require all travelers, regardless of their vaccination status, to present a negative Covid-19 test within 24 hours of boarding a plane to the U.S., rather than the 72 hours currently allowed for vaccinated travelers. Travelers could also be required to take a second test three to five days after arriving in the U.S.

Officials are also considering whether or not to accept only PCR tests, one U.S. official said. Currently, rapid antigen tests, which can be self administered, are also accepted to enter the U.S.


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[Adventine]

@the_fixer Oy. Thanks for letting me know about that. We're travelling next week. A last minute change in test requirements would mess up our travel plans.


I have some experience managing international corporate travel, so I made backup plans for the COVID tests. We're taking the Abbott home tests with us, but also booked appointments at an accredited Costa Rica lab, just in case the Abbott tests fail or will no longer be accepted to re-enter the US.

[the_fixer]

Working on booking tests right now myself, I would rather not be scrambling last min to try and find a test if the rules change as they might not have enough capacity on such short notice.

Sounds like you are well prepared to deal with things as they come up.

Enjoy your trip and if you get a chance I would be interested in hearing your impression of how things are there after a day or two. Always nice to have real time information.


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[Adventine]

@the_fixer that's a good idea. Better to have backup appointments and not need them, than not have any kind of backup test and end up with an unplanned extension in a foreign country. Especially during the holidays.


We also got some cheap travel insurance. Partially to cover any unplanned flight/hotel rebookings, but mostly to cover real catastrophes like medical evacuations.



I'll update you for sure once we're there!

[Adventine]

@the_fixer we're in San Jose! Everything went smoothly, except immigration. We waited 3 hours to clear the airport because there were SO. MANY. PEOPLE. There were 10 immigration officers to handle 500+ tourists. They weren't just stamping passports either, but actually verifying return flights and health passes one by one.


Otherwise, the weather is lovely and people are great!