I havent gotten around to a full TR on my 10 day trip last summer to Costa Rica but I just sent this to someone who PMed me. I figure I may as well post it for a little more info on the thread. Keep in mind that it was in response to the question so it may sound a little funny. Plus it was very scattered since it was late at night. Hope it helps someone:
we did 5 days near manual antonio national park, 2 days by monteverde, and 3 days by the Andaz in papagayo. Our kids were 1.5 and 3 so we were much more limited on what activites we could do. We basically tried to enjoy the nature around us instead of running to activities for the first 5 days and the andaz had monkies and water which was awesome. Moteverde was breathtaking. We opted for monteverde over Arenal since it was cooler in the summer and we weren't able to do adventure activities (although montervede has good ziplining for sure!). We were able to bring the 1.5 year on the hanging bridges we did in monteverde (but you NEED a baby carrier for sure since a stroller is for sure a no go despite what 1 or 2 people say about the hanging bridges hikes. unless they can walk for an hour straight.) Monteverde was stunning especially with our airbnb! If you could stay here, do it! see link below.
Our first 5 days were south of manuel antonio in Uvita in a beautiful airbnb way up on a hill with a stunning view and house and pool but it was a bit too far out...it was a harrowing drive and our car barely made it many times and didn't make it some times. we lost wifi, water, electricity and had zero cell service at points but it was still beautiful. monkeys, toucans, etc in the forest just hanging out and enjoying the porch. I have a few other airbnbs on my saved list that I would've taken in retrospect but it was a great place to relax with kids and find a secluded beach while also enjoying the nature. There's whales and hikes but we didn't do them. not as much adventure sports down south but relaxed and beautiful none the less. I guess a lot of Pura Vida
We stayed near Uvita which was an hour away from manuel antoino. we honestly didn't enjoy that park so much because we were tired out when we got there but it's nice to go. We saw a sloth by just watching where the guides go. Everyone crowds around when you see a sloth. We didn't see any monkeys or any other animals besides crabs that were cute. There's a nice beach at the end but there were too many people so we basically skipped it. Oh and then it started raining. It rains a lot in CR. And be careful, because the biggest roads in the country around 1 lane in each direction at around 45 miles an hour. Right after a big rain, it's typical to see swaths of mud from a hill on the road. That's what stopped us from climbing the dirt road up to our first airbnb. Eentually, neighbors or the city will clear it but it's certainly a second world country so be aware.
It's very tropical in the south with lots to do including whale watching, quiet beaches (but not the nicest), hikes, monkeys and toucans, snorkeling, etc, and more affordable airbnbs if you go south of MAntoio.
I think this was the pick that I wished I had taken.
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/624519404332219170Monteverde, we stayed in an awesome airbnb that I would highly recommend for its cleanliness, modernness, and view, and value!:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/53833128?c=.pi80.pkaG9tZXNfbWVzc2FnaW5nL25ld19tZXNzYWdl&euid=0841839b-34c9-27c7-0134-f9bf2ccdd664&source_impression_id=p3_1688958677_XbS97pDpxrVoeyVCThis place was by far the nicest place we found in monteverde. We were only there for 1 night and it was a big big highlight for us since it was so clean, new, and the views were crazy. Im not sure what you could do there besides hanging bridges and coffee plantations but Im sure there's more. We did one afternoon for the bridges and the morning we did a sloth/butterfly sanctuary. If you're doing arenal also, it could be that that's enough for monteverde.
The Andaz in popagayo was awesome. I had hyatt gloablist which made it awesome. They gave me a new pan, knife and cutting board straight out of the plastic and let me take it to our room nightly without me asking. He cooked eggs and gave us unlimited fruit. the head chef met with us to see if they could help with kosher. The monkeys hang out at breakfast which was fun for us.
the resort was beautiful with a playroom/babysititng for kids but we just used as a playroom.
The hotel room was fine for a suite but the whole experience was just relaxing and beautiful. The main beach had too many people for me to feel comfortable but the beach on the resort (where the boat to the nice beach left from) was empty. Not great for suntanning if you're in to that but was great for my kids. There's also snorkeling and kayaks...there's not much to do outside the resort and we felt no reason to leave the resort after all we had done in costa rica.
Availablilty was very very hard to get but checked daily as it got like 2 weeks out and found an opening for points redemption. Im assuming people were canceling before the deadline for the refund passed which at the time was like 2 weeks out. I would totally go back...
We got all of our precooked food thrown out at customs but I think we could get around the extremely lax customs next time. They can basically only inspect one person at a time and they let everyone else through while they are checking...I had prevacumb sealed everything like someone said on the internet but it still wasn't good. If any of my food had had a nutrition label with a USDA sticker, it would've passed. I next time would order stickers and stick them on my food and vaccum seal everything. We ended up spending zero time in San Jose on the entire trip so I can't comment on SJU, although we did shop at walmart and found enough great value products with a hashgacha. We cooked some frozen salmon that we found in the stores for some meals and were able to figure out which noodles we could use based on the kashrus list from San Jose...We had enough cheese we brought in to make our kids happy BH.
A 4x4 rental is definitely a nice perk and would have saved us a lot of agmas nefesh for the 1st 5 days. We made it up the monteverede road which is stunning and a bit scary lol but it would've been nice in a 4x4. BE SURE TO FIGURE OUT YOUR ROUTE FIRST. some routes in google maps/waze will send you on roads that even a helicopter couldn't handle! google the main roads to make sure they are passable and be in touch with your airbnb to get a feeling if a 2x4 would make it up steep roads etc...
Ok, that's what I got for now. random thoughts lol