My 15 Favorite Experiences in Costa Rica

I just spent more than 4 months traveling around Costa Rica. I actually never intended to stay so long, but I was assigned to review 80 luxury and boutique hotels all over the country. (oh, poor me!) And that took me more than 4 months to complete.

My big work assignment turned out to be a wonderful thing (in addition to seeing all the beautiful hotels, of course) since I visited heaps of destinations in Costa Rica that I never would have gone on my own, thinking they were too touristy and crowded.

In the end, turns out that I really like Costa Rica! I learned a lot about the country & culture. And I had many, many wonderful, memorable experiences.

Following are my 15 best experiences in Costa Rica, more or less in the order I experienced them. Perhaps this post will help you plan your own trip to this beautiful Central American country.
1. Samara Beach

Samara is the very first beach I visited in Costa Rica. In fact, it was my first week in the country. While there I suspected it might end up being my favorite beach in Costa Rica… After exploring the country for 4 months and visiting at least 20 beaches, that proved to be correct. Samara is still my favorite!

Besides the wide, long beautiful curving beach, Samara is full of my kind of people – those into yoga, meditation and alternate life styles. There are cool shops, restaurants and cafes. And I also found a great hostel, with mostly outdoor sitting spaces in gardens, just one block back from the beach. What more could I ask for?

I wrote about Samara Beach here.

at ARenal del Mar Resort near Manuel Antonio

2. Hitch hiking!

I don’t hitch hike in too many places in the world. And I certainly had no plans of doing so in Costa Rica. But during my first week at Samara Beach I met a few visiting surfers who had been hitch hiking regularly to nearby surf beaches. So I figured it was ok.

Turns out that many of the hotels I was assigned to visit are in remote places, where there’s no public transportation. So starting right there in Samara Beach, I began my hitch-hiking adventures in Costa Rica.

I hitch hiked in many places around the country and got rides from all sorts of interesting people – a wealthy Costa Rican woman, young truck drivers, tour guides, hotel staff, western tourists and a high school English teacher, among others. I had many interesting conversations with them. And a few of them drove many miles out of their way to deliver me to the doorsteps of the hotels I was visiting!

Thanks everyone!

view of Arenal Volcano from Observatory Lodge

3. Viewing stunning Volcan Arenal

I had to visit 12 hotels in the area of Arenal Volcano. Turns out that every one of these beautiful little resorts has stunning views of Arenal Volcano, each from a different vantage point.

With amazingly great luck, I was treated to clear, sunny days during the entire two weeks that I stayed there. Apparently, that’s a very rare thing in February.

As a result of the fantastic weather and my visit to one dozen hotels, I enjoyed astounding, ever-changing views of the volcano every single day for two weeks!

Arenal Volcano and Lake Arenal – Costa Rica

4. Boat trip across Lake Arenal

Two of Costa Rica’s most famous destinations are situated on opposite sides of huge Lago Arenal, the country’s largest lake. Volcan Arenal and La Fortuna town are located at the far northeastern corner while Monteverde Cloud Forests are situated in the high, misty mountains to the lake’s south.

To get between the two destinations visitors can either go overland around almost the entire lake or by boat across it. Since the land route takes 6-7 hours, half of it on very poor roads, I decided to ‘splurge’ on the $20 boat transfer option.

Besides taking only 3-4 hours, the boat option also includes pick up at my hotel by van, the van drive to the lake, boat trip, van service on the other side of the lake to Monteverde, dropping off each passenger at his/her accommodation. Door to door service.

What I didn’t know is that the boat journey also includes a guide who talks about the lake and its interesting history. So the trip wasn’t just transportation. It was more like a tour! The lake trip was beautiful and the guide’s information quite educational and entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

5. Hiking in Monteverde Cloud Forest

While I was at chilly, wet Monteverde I didn’t enjoy the psycho, changeable weather much. In fact, it was a real pain in the neck, especially while dressed up visiting luxury hotels.

But in retrospect, I have to admit that it was a very cool experience to be wandering around inside clouds, even if they were cold. In my spare time I hiked to the area’s highest peak, which started in hot sunny weather at the bottom, then finished off in completely-socked in, wet mountain forest on top.

Monteverde Cheese Factory – started by Quakers

6. Visiting the shops at Monteverde

One of my most enjoyable days at Monteverde was visiting some local specialty shops. I found delicious coffee at a local cafe/roaster, relatively inexpensive cheese at Monteverde Cheese Factory, organic almonds at an organic produce shop and quaint handicrafts at the local artisans co-opt.

I also visited the office of the Children’s Rain Forest and learned the amazing history of one of Costa Rica’s biggest, privately-owned preserved forests. I wrote about little known things to do in Monteverde here.

great architecture in San Jose

7. San Jose

I wasn’t expecting much of San Jose, Costa Rica’s capital city. After visiting all the horrid capitals in other Central American countries, I figured San Jose would be much the same.

Wrong! San Jose is full of great architecture, lovely city parks, cool neighborhoods, and some really great hostels set in beautiful historic homes.

I wrote all about San Jose here as well as 10 Free things to do there.

pumas at Peace Gardens animal rescue center

8. Day trip to Peace Gardens

One of my most enjoyable days in Costa Rica was a day trip from San Jose to Peace Gardens and waterfalls, situated way up in the mountains north of the city and central valley. I wrote all about it here.

In brief, I actually only knew about it because of my assignment to visit the Peace Lodge, situated on the property. They included a day pass to the waterfalls and animal rescue center as part of my visit.

I got to hike around the mountainside to view 5 gushing waterfalls; see a whole slew of rescued animals, including monkeys, jungle cats, birds; and observe leaf frogs, hummingbirds, snakes and butterflies. It took me all day to see everything.

visiting El Castillo Fortress don the Rio San Juan

9. Border Run to San Carlos, Nicaragua

While exploring Costa Rica, my 3-month visa was about to expire. Since I still had more than 20 hotels to visit, I needed much more time. So I had to make a border run to start a new visa.

I decided to cross at remote Los Chiles border and visit the far southeastern corner of huge Lake Nicaragua & Rio San Juan that flows into the Caribbean. It was a great trip, which I wrote about here, as well as things to do & see in the area here.

boutique-like Isa’s Hostel in Jaco Beach

10. Isa’s Hostel at Jaco Beach

Jaco Beach is Costa Rica’s most developed & biggest party beach. Exactly NOT my kind of place!

But I had to go there a few days in order to visit 3 hotels for my work.

Quite luckily, I found Isa’s Hostel, situated just one block back from the beach. It’s a new hostel, set in a beautifully renovated block of 3 side by side old Costa Rican houses. The interiors, detailing and set up were done so well that it was like staying in a boutique hotel! But for hostel prices.

As expected, I didn’t really care for Jaco, but I liked Isa’s so much that I stayed an entire week.

Uvita Beach

11. Sunny days off at the beaches

About one month after I arrived in Costa Rica, the weather became over-cast, leading up to the rainy season. Nearly all of March, April and May were filled with cloudy days that became progressively more rainy.

Soon sunny days were far and few between. As I traveled down the Pacific coast in May, such bright sunny days averaged only about one per week.

So those rare sun-filled days became very precious. Days when I took the day off work and headed to the beach to suntan & enjoy the views.

jungle view at Cascada Verde Hostel – Uvita

12. Cascada Verde Hostel in Uvita

Just up the mountainside from Uvita Beach and the Ballena National Marine Park, I found this great all-wood open-air hostel, set in dense rain forest. Like Isa’s it was more like an upscale boutique hotel than a budget place.

They had a huge kitchen, delicious dark roast coffee and wild birds – frogs – critters roaming around just outside the open decks.

Quite unfortunately, there were a lot of loud-talking / chain-smoking European guests and the owners’ noisy children to contend with. That was all a definite downside to my stay. I did my best to ignore it all and still managed to -mostly – enjoy myself.

ferry boat on Sierpe River to Drake Bay – Osa Peninsula

13. Boat trip on the remote Sierpe River

Osa Peninsula is one of Costa Rica’s most remote and undeveloped destinations. It’s a huge block of land situated at the far southeastern corner of the Pacific Coast, bordering Panama.

It’s covered in steamy tropical jungle, mangrove-lined drivers with crocodiles, a plethora of wild animals and birds, a handful of accommodations and the famous Corcovado National Park.

Drake Bay, on the west coast, and Puerto Jimenez on the southeastern coast, are the two main places to stay.

I headed first to Drake Bay. To get there I took a boat from the tiny town of Sierpe down the mangrove-lined Sierpe River. The river flows into the Pacific, so the boats have to blast through tumultuous waters and ocean surf at the mouth of the river and into the Pacific.

Luckily, the day I went the surf and sea were pretty calm. About 10 minutes after breaking through into the ocean, we landed on the beach at Drake Bay.

staying at Finca Rosa Blanca Resort

14. Visiting nearly 70 luxury and boutique hotels around the country

I have to admit that my huge hotel assignment greatly enhanced my travels and experiences in Costa Rica. Thanks to that, I explored a lot of wonderful places in Costa Rica that I would have otherwise skipped.

But visiting the hotels and resorts themselves also provided me with many fantastic experiences. Not only did I get to marvel at amazing architecture & interiors, I also enjoyed dozens of astounding views of nature- rain forests, mountains, Arenal Volcano, San Jose from afar, and the stunning Pacific coast. Great panoramic vistas I would otherwise never have seen.

I was treated to many delicious gourmet meals, drinks and desserts. And I had the pleasure of staying at a few luxurious hotels by invitation.

Speaking of which, here was my final favorite experience in Costa Rica;

15. Staying at Lapa Rios Eco Lodge – a National Geographic ‘Unique Lodge of the World’

At the very end of my 4-month explorations of Costa Rica, I was invited to wonderful Lapa Rio Eco Lodge. It’s located out on the far southwestern corner of Osa Peninsula, about one hour by rough road from Puerto Jimenez.

I had the great privilege of being invited to spend one night, all inclusive, as part of my site inspection of the lodge. It was an amazing experience being high up in the mountain, completely immersed in dense jungle, over-looking the Pacific, with the crazy monster-like sounds of Howler Monkeys, raucous caw-ing of flying Scarlet Macaws and noisy singing of Toucans.

Then too, the architecture was fantastic, my Deluxe Suite room fabulous and the hotel’s superb personalized service way above par. All in all, it was an amazing end to my 4-month travels around Costa Rica.

Thanks Lapa Rios!

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My First Impressions of Costa Rica Arenal Volcano & La Fortuna – Costa Rica All About Montezuma – Costa Rica La Paz Waterfall Gardens – Costa Rica