Hi I am looking to visit Costa Rica next March but I need some recomendation. I want to go the jungle and live a different experience but also stay in a vibrant place with nightlife. So to summarize can someone help me with the following questions?
1) Stay in San Jose and do daily trips to national parks? Are they far away from San Jose (north,south?)?
2) Where is better to stay in the capital or close to the beach?
3) How is the nightlife close to a beach place?
4) What is the cost of daily trips to national parks?
Thanks a lot in advance for your assistance and apologies for my poor english. 😊
Reply to this The national parks are not expensive. I would recommend you not stay in San Jose as it is an urban sprawl with terrible traffic. Some of the volcano national parks are close to San Jose, but the good parks to see animals are not close by. You might look at spending some time in the area of Volcan Arenal. There you will find rain forest hikes, lava hikes, cave hikes, waterfall hikes, lake tours, white water rafting, and other activities and enough night life for perhaps one or two nigth, which is the La Fortuna area. Then you could make the 2.5 hour trip from there to the beaches of Guanacaste like
, (Leatherback National Park), etc. Tamarindo has more night life than other places... Reply to this San Jose is a good place to start your trip to any place in Costa Rica...
Reply to this Stay away from San Jose. It's dirty and dangerous and there is nothing worth sticking around there for. You are better off heading to the Los Suenos, Jaco Beach. or Manuel Antonio areas where you will enjoy the beach, a lot of activities, great tours, great dining, great fishing, and a lot more to see , do and expereince.
Reply to this I agree with the previous blogger. I do not recommend San Jose. Costa Rica's true beauty is set away from the city. I suggest the Arenal area (Guanacaste region) and Monteverde if you want nature and great landscape. You can do the eco-tourism bit, adventure seek (zip line, whitewater raft, volcano hike, etc.), or lay out by the ocean. You can fly in to San Jose, and then drive out. Pura vida!
Reply to this Hi
my name is Danny, you're questions are quite interesting I'm born in Costa Rica and lived here most of my life, if you want a place with excellent night life, national parks really close by, tour activities (Zip lines, crocodile boat tours, mangroves, skywalk, airtrams ect....) I would really highly recommend the area around Jaco, now I've worked around tourism allot here in Puntarenas and that were we take most of our tourists from the Puntarenas cruse ships.
If what you want is to see San Jose to tell you the truth yes it is dangerous and there is not much there except for museums but with the new road they just build it will only take you approximately about one hour and a half to get there by car.
Enjoy you're trip Reply to this On one trip, my friends and I traveled extensively throughout Costa Rica. Although Puerto Viejo, Jaco and Domincal are all nice, our favorite place was Montezuma on Nicoya Peninsula. It is very youthful and has a great night life.
Reply to this My wife and I are traveling to Costa Rica for only six days the first week of September. I understand that September is the rainy season and would like advice on what beach community on the Pacific side would be the best in terms of weather, walking along the beach, people and night life. If we spend a few days away from the beach, what would you recommend?
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