First visit to Costa Rica

[e14]

Mid range near the airport

Okay probably best for getting a car
Marriott Hacienda Belen
It’s getting dated but functional for one night only has very nice grounds- has the benefit of being close to the Alamo car rental facility

Others – plain Airport / Mall hotels

Closest
Hampton by Hilton – functional with a Denny’s on the doorstep to eat at rooms dated – couple of car hire firms behind

Alajeula – Walmart
Two by Marriott
Fairfield and Courtyard – both functional the Courtyard seems the better of the two

Alajeula City Mall
New build Hilton Garden Inn – looks great attached to a mall so some eateries there

[kelliea1]

Just back from Costa Rica and we stayed at Hampton by Hilton. Did the job as close to airport, free shuttle and breakfast.

[The Original Nick]

Cool. The reason why I was asking about hotels near the airport (SJO) is that I am arriving there Christmas Day at around 4pm and my parents arrive around 8pm so I am wanting them to get to the hotel in good time for a shower and a drink for the evening. Then on Boxing day I was thinking of getting a shuttle/taxi for a day trip to get back for tea time/early evening and then head for Monteverde or Puerto Viejo. We love wildlife but planning is a lot more difficult than I thought. Galapagos was easy to plan for our trip last November. Thanks for eveyones help so far.

[e14]

The Original Nick wrote:

Cool. The reason why I was asking about hotels near the airport (SJO) is that I am arriving there Christmas Day at around 4pm and my parents arrive around 8pm so I am wanting them to get to the hotel in good time for a shower and a drink for the evening. Then on Boxing day I was thinking of getting a shuttle/taxi for a day trip to get back for tea time/early evening and then head for Monteverde or Puerto Viejo. We love wildlife but planning is a lot more difficult than I thought. Galapagos was easy to plan for our trip last November. Thanks for eveyones help so far.

Roads are quiet on the 25th, will check about the taxis – go to the Intercon at Escazu which will have a full service bar and room service (hope they have finished the renovations by then)

[jek]

The Original Nick wrote:

Cool. The reason why I was asking about hotels near the airport (SJO) is that I am arriving there Christmas Day at around 4pm and my parents arrive around 8pm so I am wanting them to get to the hotel in good time for a shower and a drink for the evening. Then on Boxing day I was thinking of getting a shuttle/taxi for a day trip to get back for tea time/early evening and then head for Monteverde or Puerto Viejo. We love wildlife but planning is a lot more difficult than I thought. Galapagos was easy to plan for our trip last November. Thanks for eveyones help so far.

Do you plan to leave for Monteverde on Boxing Day after your day trip? That’s unlikely to work. If you have a car, you’ll drive in the dark. There are usually no shuttles after early afternoon.

Better to plan a day trip and go to the next destination the following day.

The typical day trip is to a coffee plantation, Poas volcano, and the waterfall gardens. The only thing I enjoyed was the waterfall garden from the three.

[The Original Nick]

jek wrote:

The Original Nick wrote:

Cool. The reason why I was asking about hotels near the airport (SJO) is that I am arriving there Christmas Day at around 4pm and my parents arrive around 8pm so I am wanting them to get to the hotel in good time for a shower and a drink for the evening. Then on Boxing day I was thinking of getting a shuttle/taxi for a day trip to get back for tea time/early evening and then head for Monteverde or Puerto Viejo. We love wildlife but planning is a lot more difficult than I thought. Galapagos was easy to plan for our trip last November. Thanks for eveyones help so far.

Do you plan to leave for Monteverde on Boxing Day after your day trip? That’s unlikely to work. If you have a car, you’ll drive in the dark. There are usually no shuttles after early afternoon.

Better to plan a day trip and go to the next destination the following day.
Hi Jek
I was planning on going somewhere like the Cloud forest at Monteverde on the day after boxing day. We would like to stay in that region for the hot springs too for around 3-4 nights. Then head to the coast somewhere for New Years and get back to near SJO on the 3rd January as we fly back to Madrid on the evening of the 4th. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks for your help.

The typical day trip is to a coffee plantation, Poas volcano, and the waterfall gardens. The only thing I enjoyed was the waterfall garden from the three.

[pbcold]

@The Original Nick how is the weather in San Jose? I travel tomorrow and it does not look encouraging!

[e14]

pbcold wrote:

@The Original Nick how is the weather in San Jose? I travel tomorrow and it does not look encouraging!

It’s rather cool at the moment, shorts and jumper weather and has been drizzling on and off today.

Heavy rain expected tomorrow afternoon across SJO

Tamarindo was a lot warmer last week (and still is).

[pbcold]

This is most helpful as I pack! Thank you.

[hake-tfc]

We’re here now. Doing it DIY with 3 kids in tow. Not for feint hearted!

Flight from Gatwick lands at nice time. Booked car hire from SJO and struggled to get back to our hotel in the dark but got there. Driving is not straightforward.

Literally day one on toll road a car just in front of us lost control crashed and flipped multiple times. Person inside could easily be dead. Roads arnt safety designed with barriers lighting etc. Most of the main roads are windy and narrow, you breath in every time a vehicle comes opposite direction. There’s also 18 wheelers use these roads so you keep praying there isn’t one unseen round next blind corner.

In Arenal / La Fortuna area now. Weather is mixed bag, cloudy, rain sunny bursts. But it’s a rain forest after all! Glad we stayed closer to Arenal as it’s stunning lake and if you’d booked a place sorely for the volcano view you’d be dissapointed. Havnt seen top in last 3 days. There’s loads activities to do round here and it’d a pretty special place. Feel like those who just go to beach instead of inland are missing out.

[e14]

hake-tfc wrote:

We’re here now. Doing it DIY with 3 kids in tow. Not for feint hearted!

Flight from Gatwick lands at nice time. Booked car hire from SJO and struggled to get back to our hotel in the dark but got there. Driving is not straightforward.

Literally day one on toll road a car just in front of us lost control crashed and flipped multiple times. Person inside could easily be dead. Roads arnt safety designed with barriers lighting etc. Most of the main roads are windy and narrow, you breath in every time a vehicle comes opposite direction. There’s also 18 wheelers use these roads so you keep praying there isn’t one unseen round next blind corner.

In Arenal / La Fortuna area now. Weather is mixed bag, cloudy, rain sunny bursts. But it’s a rain forest after all! Glad we stayed closer to Arenal as it’s stunning lake and if you’d booked a place sorely for the volcano view you’d be dissapointed. Havnt seen top in last 3 days. There’s loads activities to do round here and it’d a pretty special place. Feel like those who just go to beach instead of inland are missing out.

Driving in Costa Rica is easy, you just have to remember that everything is out to get you and often not deliberately due to poorer driving standards. As an example I’m in San Pedro near UCR and the local shopping mall has a clear no lorries entrance, guess what a lorry used the entrance and got caught on the waterway plinth and has been stuck there for three days. A couple of days ago I was driving back down Ruta 1 from Liberia, went over a crest and found a car doing 40kph in the left hand lane … there isn’t much concept of speed here either !

Today’s weather has of course been varied – it was hot and sunny when the worker turned up to help me trim a tree this morning and it’s now looking overcast as the washing is due to go out !

Enjoy Arenal, I spent three days there this time last year chilling on a hammock with a view of the volcano and had two toucans for company, whilst the kids where whisked off daily to do various adventures !

[e14]

If anyone is watching flight radar 24, Panama ATC has the Iberia flight just ahead of the BA flight by about three minutes, which should be fun at immigration – IB gets it’s regular gate 3, BA the overflow gate 20, so the IB Pax will win the foot race