Oh! The Places I've Been...: Quepos & Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

I had the pleasure of taking a 9 night, 10 day trip to Costa Rica in late May- early June. This is considered the beginning of the rainy season there but we had great weather. It rained nearly everyday but only for about an hr or so in the early evening (around 4-5pm). We were able to go to the beach and zipline through the rain forest, among other things each and everyday in great sunny weather.

The entire trip for 2 people cost each of us $1,000 total. This includes EVERYTHING! The flight, 4 star hotel (including breakfast), food, drink, travel to and from airport, guided tours thru the rain forest and mangroves, ziplining thru the rain forest canopy, entrance to a butterfly garden, entrance into Manuel Antonio National Park, and gifts for friends and family!

Most of our fees were for the tourist-type stuff that we did. If you are willing to stay in a hostel type location and stick of the beaches you could probably cut the cost in half. I was in need of a vacation with a nice bed, a pool, and some drinks - Hotel Parador was perfect.

We booked our flight and hotel thru Orbitz and everything went smoothly. We flew from Boston to Miami and then straight into San Jose. Once you land in San Jose you'll want to take a taxi to the Coca Cola bus station. The bus costs about 12,500 colones which is equivalent to about $20.

We then bought a bus ticket to Quepos. It is about 100mi bus ride (3.5 hrs) but we were not in a rush. The cost of this ticket is about $4.50. If you want to get there quicker there are flights from San Jose to Quepos for about $50. We enjoyed the bus ride because we were able to see some great country-side scenery. The roads are very windy and at times you wonder how a bus can even make it... but it was a lot of fun!

You arrive in Quepos (a small fishing town and one of the only cities constructed below sea-level in Costa Rica- you actually climb up stairs to get to the ocean) - its easy from there to flag a taxi and say Hotel Parador. Quepos is not very clean and I do not recommend that you stay in the city but its a good stop for gifts and grocery shopping.

We arrived at Hotel Parador and we were greeted with very friendly staff with fresh tropical juice and a warm towel to wash up while we checked in. The front desk staff speaks English and most of the staff at least knows some English. The hotel is super clean and covers 12 acres on a mountain top overlooking the ocean and rainforest. It is not uncommon to see wildlife everywhere (crabs, iguanas, monkeys, etc). In fact - this iguana decided to steal our chair while we were in the pool.

The hotel (www.hotelparador.com) includes an amazing breakfast buffet every morning. Fresh fruits, fresh squeezed fruit juices, breads, pastries, and a cook ready to make you an omelet, eggs, or pancakes.

There is a free shuttle running several times a day from the hotel to the Quepos and Manuel Antonio and we took full advantage. If you wish to travel to the bars at night (when the shuttle is no longer running) they will call you a cab - typically it is about $6-8 each trip.

Manuel Antonio is one of Costa Rica’s most visited national parks. There are tour guides always available to walk you through the rainforest and tell you about the history (except on Monday’s when the national park is closed). There are gorgeous beaches which, at least when we went in late May, were not at all crowded and very nice. The water is so warm, the beaches are very clean and surrounded by views of the rainforest. It’s really amazing!

We did multiple tours in the area we stayed in. We did a boat tour through the Mangrove estuary forest, a zipline canopy tour, a rainforest walk tour, and did hiking and exploring through the national park. Hotel Parador set everything up for us (http://www.hotelparador.com/tours/index.html), but you can look around downtown for other services if you’d rather. All of the tours include lunch. When the menu says "Tipico" aka a "typical meal if you ask what that means - people will look at you like you have 3 heads. You won't get an explanation from the people - but it basically means a meal consisting of chicken or beef, rice, beans, and plantanos (fried banana). Its simple and great. If you like seafood - Manuel Antonio has great meals from what I hear- I'm not a seafood fan!

The swim up bar at the hotel

Mangrove Tour

If you want to see animals in the rain forest - hire a guide - we NEVER would have seen most of the animals without the expertise of a guide and their telescope. Guided tours only run about $20/person. The guides also tell you what trails to stay off of because of poisonous snakes! That's worth $20 alone if you ask me!

Check out El Avion - it is an actual plane disassembled in San Jose and carted all the way to Manuel Antonio and reassembled into a great restaurant with a killer view! Ask them about the the history of the plane - interesting stuff!