Costa Rica over spring break? Avoiding crowds, gimmicks, and gringos?

First of all, cool things that you’re an adventurous girl – wtg.

Second, I'd recommend visiting both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Costa, each has their own ~ Flava's. Do you surf at all? If so, there are some great spots.

Stay in hostels - great way to meet people and do things on the fly.

If you're on the Carrib side, try hitting up Peurto Vejo de Talamanca: lots of wild activities to do & nature. You can then travel through Limon to Tortugeuro which has lots-o wildlife.

If you love the rainforest, you can then head to Rara Avis. It will be tricky getting there: tractors and all the avant-garde options will be your friend. You might need to make arrangements beforehand if you don't want to wing it and risk getting stuck.

From Rara, you can zoom-away to the Pac side N’ visit the Arenal volcano …. then travel south to the beautiful "cloud forest" reserve in Monteverde. Next? You can head to Manuel Antonio National Park which has awesome views, great hiking and a beach and lots of fun sexy guys who will not harm you: because they’re “that Vvay”. =)

All and in between you can find every activity your heart desires from scuba-diving to zip-lining and havin fun chinchilla-stylez.

Don't worry so much about touristiness. Costa is has a big tourist industry, but you will surely get a nice mix of meeting with fellow happy travelers and exposure with the locals so long as you travel around.

Have fun! Reply to this

Hello Sunawavi, You sound like the kind of person who will really enjoy Costa Rica! Costa Rica is very big on ECO-turism and almost a quarter of the country is reserved in National Parks. Most likely you will fly into San Jose or more precisely Jaun Santa Maria Airport in Allejuella a suburb of San Jose. Most folks going to Costa Rica won't spend a lot of time in San Jose as it is Big Crowded and polluted. San Jose does have some interesting places such as the Teatro National which is modeled after the Opera house in Paris. The Gold and Jade musems are also worth a quick visit. To the north of San Jose - Lake Arnal is reported to have excellent windsurfing conditions year round. The Arnal Volcano is nearby the little town of Fortuna and erupts very frequently. The eruptions are small however and it has been many years since the last big one which destroyed a village and caused some serious injuries. Tabacon and Baldi (better prices here)hot springs are open to the public and the waters are warmed by the volcano's substrait. From the warm water pools at night (if it's not too cloudy) you can see the lava flows. The restraunt at Tabacon springs is pretty good also. With in walking distance from Fortuna to the East is a little park that will access Rio Fortuna if you want to take a dip in refreshingly cool (68 degree F) waters below the Catarata (waterfall). Monteverde Cloud Forrest is nearby but takes several hours (the better part of a day)to get to ,because the roads are in pretty bad shape. Quepos is the small town on the Pacific side near Manual Antonio Nat'l Park. Manual Antonio is one of the smaller of the Nat'l parks but is a favorite for the Tico's and can get pretty crowed on weekends and holidays, at other times you will have plenty of room on the sandy beaches in the park. Lot's of places in Costa to do ZIP lines or Canopy tours high in the tree tops but there is not much regulation over these places so check out the safety equipment and condition of the riggings before you commit to getting on the wire. Typical Tico food is not very exotic or spicy but is filling and tasty, the staple of rice and black beans is called Gallo Pinto and is usually available for breakfast ,lunch , or dinner. If you are a coffee drinker the Coffees of Costa Rica are as good as it gets. My favorite is Cafe Milagro roasted in Quepos. If you or your boyfriend enjoy a occasional great cigar there is an ex-pat Cuban family that will handroll you a cigar from Cuban Tobacco leaves a couple of doors down from the Cafe Milagro roasters in Quepos. For the freshest seafood you might check out El Banco restraunt in Quepos, the last time I was there I had a beautiful Dorado that I'll bet was swimming off shore a few hours earlier. Enjoy your trip ,Pura Vida! Reply to this

Sunawavi-
It’s been a few years, but I’ll share my Costa Rican experience.

We were in the country for 2 weeks, starting with the family trip portion at Playa Flamingo, which is getting close to the Nicaraguan border on the Pacific shore north of Tamarindo by 20 minutes or so. This town had a few restaurants and a coffee shop and was low key and enjoyable. We used it as a basecamp really, renting a car to get to other attractions like Cloud Peak/Forest. There are sailing tours based out of Playa Flamingo with lunch, snorkeling, and beer for the trip home! I’d highly recommend that tour and the town.

Tamarindo has some great shops and restaurants, but it sounds like what you want to avoid for the most part. We were warned against surfing there because of ‘surf turf’ problems – nothing like getting knifed before catching a wave…
Additionally, once the sun goes down this town turns into the open drug bazaar. Embarrassingly, it seemed like many of the ‘dealers’ were expat-Americans financing their long-term surf vacation. Be careful in this town, but it’s worth a visit and a meal.

We also wanted to see a rain forest so after a couple of days in the capital city (which is interesting but has its share of shady Ticos); we flew south toward the Osa Penninsula. This is the southern end of Costa Rica near Panama, and also on the Pacific Ocean side. We booked a 3 or 4 night stay at Corcovado Jungle Lodge. The price, though it seemed a bit pricey originally, included transportation from the airport (a dirt strip that year) in a van, then a great boat ride to the Lodge. The Lodge is only accessible by water, so don’t wear your best dress enroute as it is a surf landing and exit from a bucking boat! This was a romantic get away, unbeatable in fact. Nicely done yurt-like bungalows with a very sustainable philosophy and outstanding food quickly made us realize that the all-inclusive (except alcohol) price was a bargain. They had 2 pools as well, and with a location right on the Corcovado National Park border with connecting trails. A guided daylong trail hike is an option and our guide Carlos was a dedicated naturalist. Take the hike, which includes a refreshing dip in small waterfall pool. The next day is a boat trip out to an island for some fantastic snorkeling. After lunch we spent the afternoon body surfing while the girls sunbathed. We would certainly stay here again – maybe a few days longer next time. I believe they’re on the Internet; they’re worth looking into and planning your schedule around their openings.

Good luck and happy travels!
RioDaz


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