Third time's a charm?
We have been trying to post on here for several days now, and our post never shows up. As with the second time around, we apologize if this ends up being a duplicate post.
We are traveling to Manuel Antonio Costa Rica around the end of May for our Tenth Anniversary. Since neither of us have been there, we are curious to know if anyone else has, what your experience was like, and if you have any tips for us. As an added bonus question, will anyone else be traveling to that area around the same time?
Thanks for your help, and we hope to hear some good tips soon!
C&J
We have been trying to post on here for several days now, and our post never shows up. As with the second time around, we apologize if this ends up being a duplicate post.
We are traveling to Manuel Antonio Costa Rica around the end of May for our Tenth Anniversary. Since neither of us have been there, we are curious to know if anyone else has, what your experience was like, and if you have any tips for us. As an added bonus question, will anyone else be traveling to that area around the same time?
Thanks for your help, and we hope to hear some good tips soon!
C&J
We’ve been
I've been. Are you looking for types from a lifestyle perspective or just in general?
I have been, and I have been looking at buying property there for almost 2 years. Covid has slowed down the process, but I have done a lot of research. Feel free to message me with questions and I will help if I can.
Jetset4play wrote:
We’ve been
Any thoughts?
SHEPASKI wrote:
I've been. Are you looking for types from a lifestyle perspective or just in general?
Just in general. We aren’t specifically looking for lifestyle activities there. We may be open to them if they arise, but we are more interested in what the area has to offer - specifically, tips for good guides, tours that are unmissable (or those on which we should pass), or restaurants that are unique or have a great ambiance.
69Sensualist wrote:
I have been, and I have been looking at buying property there for almost 2 years. Covid has slowed down the process, but I have done a lot of research. Feel free to message me with questions and I will help if I can.
Specifically in Manuel Antonio?
We just got back from 3.5 weeks in CR
Flew into Liberia and stayed in a sweet home in Last Catalinas which is north Guanacaste and about 10 miles from Playa Puerto
We stayed in MonteVerde, Arenala/Las Fortuna, and Tango Mar (on the Nicoya Peninsula.
Everyone told us to go to Manuel, but we didn’t make it.
We really like La Fortuna/ Arenal volcano because of the great weather and it wasn’t so hot.
By far and away the funnest thing we did was the cloud forest of Monte Verde and swimming in the bay of Nicoya with bioluminescent plankton.
The food sucks! The roads are horrific.
Avoid any US chain restaurants.
We had a private chef for half the time in Las Catalinas and it was the best food we ate. We also liked having a big western style home fully air conditioned. Moving down to the resort hotels after that sorta sucked.
Flew into Liberia and stayed in a sweet home in Last Catalinas which is north Guanacaste and about 10 miles from Playa Puerto
We stayed in MonteVerde, Arenala/Las Fortuna, and Tango Mar (on the Nicoya Peninsula.
Everyone told us to go to Manuel, but we didn’t make it.
We really like La Fortuna/ Arenal volcano because of the great weather and it wasn’t so hot.
By far and away the funnest thing we did was the cloud forest of Monte Verde and swimming in the bay of Nicoya with bioluminescent plankton.
The food sucks! The roads are horrific.
Avoid any US chain restaurants.
We had a private chef for half the time in Las Catalinas and it was the best food we ate. We also liked having a big western style home fully air conditioned. Moving down to the resort hotels after that sorta sucked.
SexynPC wrote:
We just got back from 3.5 weeks in CR
Flew into Liberia and stayed in a sweet home in Last Catalinas which is north Guanacaste and about 10 miles from Playa Puerto
We stayed in MonteVerde, Arenala/Las Fortuna, and Tango Mar (on the Nicoya Peninsula.
Everyone told us to go to Manuel, but we didn’t make it.
We really like La Fortuna/ Arenal volcano because of the great weather and it wasn’t so hot.
By far and away the funnest thing we did was the cloud forest of Monte Verde and swimming in the bay of Nicoya with bioluminescent plankton.
The food sucks! The roads are horrific.
Avoid any US chain restaurants.
We had a private chef for half the time in Las Catalinas and it was the best food we ate. We also liked having a big western style home fully air conditioned. Moving down to the resort hotels after that sorta sucked.
Sounds like you had a amazing time! We are staying in a boutique resort in the canopy, called Hotel Makanda (https://makanda.com/). We have a few parrots at home, including a macaw, so we are excited to see them in the wild. We’ve heard there are a lot of monkeys and sloths and tree frogs and stuff around the area, so that should be fun. It seems like there are quite a few local restaurants in the area, including some fine dining, so we are hoping for the best there. Good tips on the volcano and surrounding areas, though. Thank you!
^ I would agree with SexynPC. La Fortuna was my favorite part of CR and the food has 0 flavor. When I was in Manuel Antonio, we just went to the national park, snorkeled and kayaked.
Depends on if you want to get away from the coast….
If you do, don’t miss the Monte Verde Cloud Forest. Toucans, sloths, tarantulas, we saw a Quetzal… I would not go to Costa Rica without going to the cloud forest.
Again, if you want to get away and off the path quite a bit. There are endless things to do on Costa Rica…. You could do Tabacon as well (hot springs).
You’ll love it no matter what you do. But ‘when in Rome…’ go see the cloud forest. Tabacon is great too (though distant second)
If you do, don’t miss the Monte Verde Cloud Forest. Toucans, sloths, tarantulas, we saw a Quetzal… I would not go to Costa Rica without going to the cloud forest.
Again, if you want to get away and off the path quite a bit. There are endless things to do on Costa Rica…. You could do Tabacon as well (hot springs).
You’ll love it no matter what you do. But ‘when in Rome…’ go see the cloud forest. Tabacon is great too (though distant second)
freetobe8379 wrote:69Sensualist wrote:
I have been, and I have been looking at buying property there for almost 2 years. Covid has slowed down the process, but I have done a lot of research. Feel free to message me with questions and I will help if I can.
Specifically in Manuel Antonio?
No. Not specifically in Manuel Antonio. I am still keeping my options open for where I buy property.
We loved Tabacon! Just wish we could have gone nude there!
freetobe8379 wrote:
Third time's a charm?
We have been trying to post on here for several days now, and our post never shows up. As with the second time around, we apologize if this ends up being a duplicate post.
We are traveling to Manuel Antonio Costa Rica around the end of May for our Tenth Anniversary. Since neither of us have been there, we are curious to know if anyone else has, what your experience was like, and if you have any tips for us. As an added bonus question, will anyone else be traveling to that area around the same time?
Thanks for your help, and we hope to hear some good tips soon!
C&J
Hire a guide for the park - you will see so much more. If you like deep sea fishing, there is some pretty decent fishing there.
Enjoy!
We've been twice, had a great time both times. Once was a guided lifestyle trip and the other was with couples we met the first time. Our most fun non-LS activities were the volcano Arenal, river rafting and zip lining. Didn't look it up but if you're going to be close to Jaco there are some great bars there. Keep in mind prostitution is legal, and if that's your thing make sure to meet them in a bar, casino, hotel, etc. You'll see many on the streets but they are typically not Chicas. Or so our cab driver warned us.
Have fun, it's a great country. We've considered relocating there for years.
Have fun, it's a great country. We've considered relocating there for years.
SHEPASKI wrote:
^ I would agree with SexynPC. La Fortuna was my favorite part of CR and the food has 0 flavor. When I was in Manuel Antonio, we just went to the national park, snorkeled and kayaked.
Good to know. Thanks!
16BitLovers wrote:
Depends on if you want to get away from the coast….
If you do, don’t miss the Monte Verde Cloud Forest. Toucans, sloths, tarantulas, we saw a Quetzal… I would not go to Costa Rica without going to the cloud forest.
Again, if you want to get away and off the path quite a bit. There are endless things to do on Costa Rica…. You could do Tabacon as well (hot springs).
You’ll love it no matter what you do. But ‘when in Rome…’ go see the cloud forest. Tabacon is great too (though distant second)
We will have to look into the cloud forest. I’m not familiar with it yet, but I will be before the night I’d out! Thanks for the tips!
Nakkidfun wrote:freetobe8379 wrote:
Third time's a charm?
We have been trying to post on here for several days now, and our post never shows up. As with the second time around, we apologize if this ends up being a duplicate post.
We are traveling to Manuel Antonio Costa Rica around the end of May for our Tenth Anniversary. Since neither of us have been there, we are curious to know if anyone else has, what your experience was like, and if you have any tips for us. As an added bonus question, will anyone else be traveling to that area around the same time?
Thanks for your help, and we hope to hear some good tips soon!
C&J
Hire a guide for the park - you will see so much more. If you like deep sea fishing, there is some pretty decent fishing there.
Enjoy!
Any suggestions on a good guide?
MrNMrsHorny wrote:
We've been twice, had a great time both times. Once was a guided lifestyle trip and the other was with couples we met the first time. Our most fun non-LS activities were the volcano Arenal, river rafting and zip lining. Didn't look it up but if you're going to be close to Jaco there are some great bars there. Keep in mind prostitution is legal, and if that's your thing make sure to meet them in a bar, casino, hotel, etc. You'll see many on the streets but they are typically not Chicas. Or so our cab driver warned us.
Have fun, it's a great country. We've considered relocating there for years.
Thanks! We are looking at some rafting and zip lining, so glad we are on the right path. I’ll have to look to see where Jaco is. I’m not sure if it’s nearby or not. We want to make sure we don’t fill every minute and can enjoy some R&R as well, but these are all great tips!
We hired a local private guide through the hotel. It was very inexpensive and very worth it. They know where to look for everything. With a guide you’ll see pretty much everything I mentioned, except maybe a Quetzal. Those aren’t as easy to find. I expect you’ll miss a lot without a guide.
16BitLovers wrote:
We hired a local private guide through the hotel. It was very inexpensive and very worth it. They know where to look for everything. With a guide you’ll see pretty much everything I mentioned, except maybe a Quetzal. Those aren’t as easy to find. I expect you’ll miss a lot without a guide.
Sounds good. I know hiring a private guide has worked out well for us I’m other locations in the past, so it’s not a bad idea this time around either.
BTW, it looks like the cloud forest is a little over three hours from where we are staying, and it looks really amazing! Maybe we will have to see what it would take to spend a day up there. Thanks for the tip!
Keep in mind, as others have said, the roads are pretty bad there, as we remember.
16BitLovers wrote:
Keep in mind, as others have said, the roads are pretty bad there, as we remember.
We will keep that in mind.
16BitLovers wrote:
Keep in mind, as others have said, the roads are pretty bad there, as we remember.
Yes! The roads can be narrow, winding, rough and slow, especially when raining. We wanted to visit a place about 50-60 miles from us at one point and expected the trip to take about an hour. It took more than twice that long. If you look at the mileage between places and expect travel times to be similar to the US, y9u will be very mistaken.
69Sensualist wrote:
Yes! The roads can be narrow, winding, rough and slow, especially when raining. We wanted to visit a place about 50-60 miles from us at one point and expected the trip to take about an hour. It took more than twice that long. If you look at the mileage between places and expect travel times to be similar to the US, y9u will be very mistaken.
Yeah, we figured that when the airport is less than 100 miles away and has an estimated trip time of 3-3 1/2 hours. The good news is, after a 20+ hour travel day, we are likely to just want to go relax and do nothing for a day or two, so we probably won’t mind too much. :-)
69Sensualist wrote:
Yes! The roads can be narrow, winding, rough and slow, especially when raining. We wanted to visit a place about 50-60 miles from us at one point and expected the trip to take about an hour. It took more than twice that long. If you look at the mileage between places and expect travel times to be similar to the US, y9u will be very mistaken.
The good news is our suite is about 1600sq ft with a private hot tub and pool, and a view over the pacific from high in the the jungle, so I’m sure we will fall in love with relaxing, too!
This help is great and greatly appreciated. Thank you all!
We’ve heard from several of you that the food isn’t any good. Anyone care to elaborate? Or have tips in Manuel Antonio for places to skip and places to make a point of experiencing?
We’ve heard from several of you that the food isn’t any good. Anyone care to elaborate? Or have tips in Manuel Antonio for places to skip and places to make a point of experiencing?
freetobe8379 wrote:
This help is great and greatly appreciated. Thank you all!
We’ve heard from several of you that the food isn’t any good. Anyone care to elaborate? Or have tips in Manuel Antonio for places to skip and places to make a point of experiencing?
We actually found the more local and authentic you went for food the better. We had some fantastic meals - not gourmet by any means, but very tasty. Just look for the Soda’s (name of the open air small cafés) that are packed with locals. Stay away from the tourist ones.
It’s been a few years since I visited CR. My ex husband has property he is selling down there in Manuel Antonio and Los Planes on the OSA Peninsula. We always went down to stay with a friend of his on the OSA Peninsula….rustic Accomodations at Casa Pequena. Etched out acreage in the middle of the rain forest. Have to take an hour boat ride through mangroves from Sierpe to get down to the peninsula. Spectacular! And Oswaldo is accommodating offering tours such as zip lining through primary and secondary rain forest, hiking to waterfalls, horseback riding on the beach etc. The wild life goes off at night, magical music of the rain forest.
Nakkidfun wrote:freetobe8379 wrote:
This help is great and greatly appreciated. Thank you all!
We’ve heard from several of you that the food isn’t any good. Anyone care to elaborate? Or have tips in Manuel Antonio for places to skip and places to make a point of experiencing?
We actually found the more local and authentic you went for food the better. We had some fantastic meals - not gourmet by any means, but very tasty. Just look for the Soda’s (name of the open air small cafés) that are packed with locals. Stay away from the tourist ones.
Perfect! We have no plans to eat at chain places while there. Of course, we don’t necessarily know which, if any, might be Costa Rican chains. We will have to look into that.
HotLavaCouple wrote:
It’s been a few years since I visited CR. My ex husband has property he is selling down there in Manuel Antonio and Los Planes on the OSA Peninsula. We always went down to stay with a friend of his on the OSA Peninsula….rustic Accomodations at Casa Pequena. Etched out acreage in the middle of the rain forest. Have to take an hour boat ride through mangroves from Sierpe to get down to the peninsula. Spectacular! And Oswaldo is accommodating offering tours such as zip lining through primary and secondary rain forest, hiking to waterfalls, horseback riding on the beach etc. The wild life goes off at night, magical music of the rain forest.
Sounds like we picked a good spot then! Thank you!
Costa Rica will change your life!
RECON wrote:
Costa Rica will change your life!
Oh yeah? How so?