STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

ayo · Coach

Costa Rica? Again?

bluediamond · Dooney & Bourke

Hey there Ayo.

I just got back from Costa Rica in May. We went for 2 nights in Arenal and 4 nights in Manuel Antonio. The weather was very pleasant. We went in their low season and it didn’t really affect us until we got to the beach region of Manuel Antonio. It would start raining at 4pm every day and pretty much ruined the rest of the afternoon/evening for us.

We stayed at the Arenal Springs Resort in Arenal. http://www.arenal.net/hotel/arenal-springs-resort.htm

I liked this hotel, very clean, spacious room but didn’t offer too many amenities and it was kinda pricey compared to the Arenal Lodge that have their own hot springs on site and a better view of the volcanot.

In Manuel Antonio we stayed at Hotel Si Como No. Its supposed to be one of the best in that area. The location can’t be beat, but you’ll have to bear in mind that a four star resort in Costa Rica does not equal to a four start resort here in the states. I enjoyed my stayed there, would definitely go back and wouldn’t stay anywhere else but I was too hyped up about this hotel based on all the TripAdvisor and Knottie reviews that when I got there I thought it was too overacted. I guess I really don’t know what I was expecting. My husband really enjoyed it though, he loved it. I also thought the avg room rate a night was too high ($225-250).

We also rented a car and we wouldn’t have done it any other way! It was so much fun!!!!!! So easy to drive around! The people are so friendly! You really can’t get lost.

About the food, Costa Rica has no food culture whatsoever. All of their stuff was pretty bland, no spices. I can’t recommend any restaurants. We mostly ate at our hotels.

I have a trip report I would love to share with you if you are interested. Let me know if you were considering any of these two locations.

ayo · Coach

thanks soulchic!

jrhampt · Kenneth Cole

It's true that Costa Rica has pretty bad food -- well, not so much truly BAD as bland and entirely forgettable, but make sure you eat lots of fruit there - it's fantastic. And you can get fresh squeezed fruit juice of any kind you can think of (and many you've never heard of) - watermelon, canteloupe, papaya, mora (which is sort of a blackberry flavor), lime, pineapple, strawberry, mango - that's all really, really good and cheap. I swear the fruit there makes the fruit here taste like it has no flavor. And the avocados are wonderful. too.

The beaches on the Nicoya peninsula are all pretty nice, and I liked hiking in the cloud forests in Monteverde. Arenal, however, is hit or miss - what they don't tell you about volcanos is that they are usually shrouded in clouds - but the hot springs at Tabacon are quite relaxing, so if you go with that in mind, then if you see the volcano erupt, that's a bonus.

Don't forget that the roads SUCK, so if you're planning to travel around a bit, it will take you at least three times as long as it should to get anywhere.

e_doli · Dooney & Bourke

i agree with what everyone said.

being september, it's likely that you might catch some rainy weather (at the beach: nice in am, around 1 or 2 pours for a few hours. in the mountains (arenal or monteverde) rainy/cloudy most of the time). for the least rainy weather you should head to the northern pacific beaches in guanacaste.

i love tamarindo -- there are quite a few nicer hotels and some places to eat where you can get good food (not the typical tico fare that you find everywhere). i cant' think of any hotels of the top of my head except the best western vista villas (which is nice) and the diria www.tamarindodiria.co.cr which was redone 2 or 3 years ago, is on the beach and is supposed to be nice. some others tha my rough guide lists under "expensive" are captian suizo www.hotelcapitansuizo.com, captain cook, casa sueca, jardin del eden www.jardindeleden.com, pasatiempo, sueno del mar www.tamarindo.com/sdmar, and villa allegre.

for food, noguis is good for breakfast, and if you walk up the hill in the center of town, there's a place that i can't remember the name of with incredible seafood (menu looks more americanized/gourmet).

if you go to arenal, you have to go to tabacon. down the hill into the town of fortuna there's a great pizza place called vagabundo on the right.

the fruit drinks that jrhampt is talking about are the best and you can get them everywhere. their called batidos and are either fruit blended with milk or water. the thing is that they will add a TON of sugar to them, so i usually ask for mine without sugar (sin azucar) -- the fruit is usually sweet enough on its own. (they love sugar)

september is low season too, so you shouldn't need reservations if you're the kind of people who like to just show up and find something. (which is what i usually do)

-- Edited by e_doli at 12:57, 2006-08-13