STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

bluediamond · Dooney & Bourke

Peru or Costa Rica

Elle · Hermes

Peru is gorgeous! FH and I have a friend that went there recently - the pictures are seriously breathtaking.

A word of advice for there though - she said you must have a Peruvian guide to take you into many places there (like Machu Pichu). They hired someone who claimed they could get them in, but he wasn't Peruvian so basically they hired him to find them someone Peruvian! Someone at your hotel could help you find someone suitable though I'm sure.

twinkle · Coach

soulchic- i have been to both, loved Costa Rica but Peru BLEW IT AWAY. feel free to PM me and i can give you ALOT of detail and advice on where to go, what to stay, guides and show you my pictures- i was just there a few months ago.

bex · Chanel

a friend of mine is Peruvian and Peru looks AMAZING... it is on my list to get to at somepoint... so between the two- i would go with Peru!

Mandy · Kate Spade

i've been to both and loved them for different reasons.

in peru, we didn't do machu picchu because we heard a lot about challenges in getting there, permits, and guides. we did a trek in the andes and then spent time at the beach and in the desert. it was amazing. if you just plan to do machu picchu you may not get as much variety as you would in costa rica. peru was probably a little less expensive than costa rica.

in costa rica we stayed in one area and did lots of activities there. the entire country is beautiful and i wish i'd seen more. i really want to go back.

feel free to pm me, if you want to know more or see pictures.

kate · BCBG

i've been to both and i loved them both!

but i would probably recommend peru, it was one of the best trips i have ever taken! unless you are planning to hike the inca trail, i'd probably not plan on spending the whole week by macchu picchu. the village at the base of macchu picchu is tiny and basically just the place where all the tourists converge and tramp around before they actually head into macchu picchu. macchu picchu itself was incredible--as many pictures as you see, it's just 10x as amazing in person...and if you go, you should hike to the top of wayna picchu (a mountain right next to it) and you have these awesome views down over macchu picchu itself. it's actually pretty amazing that they still let people walk all over (probably not terrific for preservation...).

however, the flight to peru is a lot longer, and it takes forever to get around once inside the country b/c the roads are so bad. (though that applies for costa rica, too). we flew from lima to cusco, which was a really awesome town (probably the biggest town close to macchu picchu) and i would definitely recommend going there.

costa rica was fabulous (spent a few days in manuel antonio by the beach and a few days in monteverde in the moutains) but it felt a lot less off-the-beaten-path. that was just my experience, though.

okay, now i'm babbling, but happy to share more specifics if you're interested. if you do go, and if you do go to cusco, we stayed in a really awesome hotel for only like $25/night.

Vanessa · Kate Spade

I'm so glad I found this thread because I'm planning a trip for my birthday/spring break and those were my two choices too! Everyone's responses are really helpful. Don't mean to hijack your thread soulchic, but did you find a good travel package to Peru? I haven't been able to find something that focuses on Machu Picchu, and packages I found to Costa Rica are considerably less expensive. Also, I'm trying to sell my travel partner on these locations, so if anyone has any good websites, I'd appreciate. TIA!

bluediamond · Dooney & Bourke

Vanessa - Check out www.ecovoyager.com, been using them to get quotes for both Costa Rica and Peru. You can be totally honest with your budget and they'll make it work.

Vanessa wrote:

I'm so glad I found this thread because I'm planning a trip for my birthday/spring break and those were my two choices too! Everyone's responses are really helpful. Don't mean to hijack your thread soulchic, but did you find a good travel package to Peru? I haven't been able to find something that focuses on Machu Picchu, and packages I found to Costa Rica are considerably less expensive. Also, I'm trying to sell my travel partner on these locations, so if anyone has any good websites, I'd appreciate. TIA!

Vanessa · Kate Spade

Thanks soulchic, I will check them out!

NCshopper · Hermes

I haven't been to Peru, but I've been to Costa Rica. There are places in Costa Rica that are absolutely stunning, but unfortunately, during the week I was living in San Jose which SUUUUUUUUUUUCKS! If you end up going to CR, I highly recommend you get out of San Jose as quickly as possible and don't go back until you leave. You're just not missing anything there.

Also, FWIW, I never felt 100% safe in Costa Rica, so I never felt like I was able to relax. Even if we were in a safe place, theft is still always a problem, so someone always had to be watching our stuff, which was a drag. Peru's probably not that much different in that respect, but it's something to think about.

Personally, I would pick Peru. Machu Pichu just looks so amazing and there's really nothing quite like it in the world. Costa Rica has some cool stuff, but it's mostly rainforests and beaches, which you can see a lot of other places.