Pura Vida! Vacation in Costa Rica

Hi everyone! We just got back from vacation in Costa Rica, and as usual, I’m writing a post about how we spent our time there and how much everything cost.

Why Costa Rica

When choosing a winter vacation, we initially planned to fly all the way to Australia. We’ve been dreaming of going there for a long time, and it would also be interesting to see the country from an immigration perspective (no plans, just curiosity). But visas were required, tickets were expensive, and overall we decided to wait until we have Canadian passports for trips like that.

So I started looking at closer tropical destinations with direct flights, preferably places we hadn’t been to yet. Hawaii was out because accommodation prices are just terrible (like $6k for a week renting a shed). On Mexico’s west coast, people say the water is cool, plus it wasn’t particularly cheap either. And we didn’t want to go to the Caribbean side because life is too short to fly there again — we were there last year. And then I remembered Costa Rica!

Not only had I wanted to go there for a very long time, but our friends raved about it. Plus, it turned out there are now direct flights from Vancouver (though only on Fridays).

Trip Planning

Choosing a Location

Costa Rica is small but incredibly packed with diverse nature, so everything had to be planned carefully. I bothered our friends who had recently been there quite a bit, and based on their trip, I started figuring out what would suit us best. In general, we wanted some time by the ocean and some time hiking in the jungle. I built the trip around that idea.

Overall, it took about a week to research everything and decide where to stay. In the end, the plan looked like this:

Playa Hermosa

This is a small village on the Pacific coast with calm water. Nearby there’s Playa Panamá (mostly luxury hotels that we can’t afford and the vibe isn’t right for us), Playa Coco — a small, very touristy town (an immediate no for us!). Another calm-water destination that was recommended to us was Sámara, but it’s quite far from the airport and from the area we wanted to go to afterward.

Arenal / La Fortuna

Next, we planned to head into the jungle near the Arenal volcano. La Fortuna itself is very busy, so I was looking for accommodation nearby. I planned hikes for every day and was extremely excited about it! But something went wrong — more on that later.

Arenal is about a 3.5–4 hour drive from the airport, and our return flight was at 10 a.m. (meaning we’d need to be at the airport by 7). So we decided to move closer to the airport a couple of days before departure.

Curubandé Village

This is a small village near a cool national park and not far from the airport. We planned to spend the rest of the vacation there since it’s close to both the park and the airport.

How it actually went, I’ll tell you below.

The Flight

This year, WestJet launched direct flights from Vancouver to Liberia, but as mentioned above, only on Fridays. The ticket prices were insane: when I first checked, it was about $5k for three round-trip tickets. I decided to wait for Black Friday, since there are usually discounts.

In the end, I found refundable tickets with baggage included, with one connection in Calgary on the way there and a direct flight back. The outbound flight was overnight, which worked well since the layover happened during Sam’s night sleep. He passed out at 8 p.m. at the Calgary airport in the stroller, I moved him to a seat on the plane, and he slept through the entire flight.

When we arrived, there was a pleasant surprise: families with children had a separate line for customs, so we went through almost immediately, while everyone else waited about 40 minutes.

Total: $2500 for three tickets

We got to the airport by Lyft (by the way, if you open Lyft right before leaving, they often offer a discount). We had a lot of stuff, so we needed a larger car. Total spent on taxis to and from the airport was $80.

Car Rental

Of course, a trip like this requires a car. In Belize, we rented a 4x4 because we knew there wouldn’t be proper roads. Here, I read that a 4x4 wasn’t necessary, so we chose something cheaper. Big mistake! We couldn’t access one amazing park specifically because you can’t get there in a sedan =(

Another mistake was renting from Avis (DO NOT DO THIS IN CENTRAL AMERICA, EVER). Price-wise, it looked like the cheapest option, and D. has a work discount. BUT in Costa Rica, as in many similar countries, there’s mandatory insurance that isn’t covered by credit card insurance. In the end, this insurance was more expensive than what other companies charge. Of course, we found out on the spot.

PLUS, all these companies require a printed insurance letter from your credit card company. We didn’t have one, but apparently we were forgiven because we had a child with us.

Total:

• Rental: $673
• Insurance: $400
• Gas: $99

How the Trip Went

Accommodation

Playa Hermosa - part one, 4 nights

We’re not picky about accommodation. Usually, we just need something clean, close to the water, with a shower and toilet, and not insanely expensive. We also wanted something where Sam could run outside, not an apartment. We don’t usually use air conditioning on vacation, so that wasn’t very important either.

While searching, I noticed that most places had 3+ bedrooms — I could barely find anything smaller. Eventually, I came across an awesome option: a house near the beach for a very reasonable price.

We arrived at 7 a.m., and the incredibly kind host let us check in early since there were no guests before us. The house was next to two others, and it turned out the main house belonged to a grandmother, with her daughter in one house and her sister in the other — basically half the village were relatives. So we ended up right in the middle of the local community, which was VERY cool. Local kids loved playing with Sam, and it was wonderful.

The only downside was that dogs barked constantly at night, which is common in hot countries. But even that didn’t ruin the experience.

To get to the beach, we walked through a small “forest,” and it took about five minutes. One downside, as often happens in hot countries, was that the road wasn’t very clean: bottles, trash, etc. I don’t understand why trash is such a constant issue in hot countries (are tourists to blame or not?).

Another funny thing: I didn’t notice in the listing that there was no hot water. I discovered this in the shower and then asked the host’s sister’s husband, and he was like, “What hot water? The water here is normal!” Everyone is so chill there, haha. And honestly, the water really was fine - just summery, not boiling hot like I’m used to.

Overall, it was amazing. We spent the first few days just relaxing, going to the beach, and hanging out in the yard. Playa Hermosa beach itself is incredible — super clean and almost empty. It was just perfect.

Total: $870

La Fortuna - part two, 5 nights

Then we headed to the jungle near La Fortuna. I was SO excited about this part of the trip. We prepared thoroughly: since it’s a rainforest, we packed lots of spare clothes, rain jackets, etc. We also planned many hikes, so we brought a hiking backpack for Sam (it’s huge and gets checked as separate luggage).

I booked a very simple but cute accommodation and already imagined spending five days with frogs, haha. The price also included a nighttime frog-watching tour.

As we approached Lake Arenal, torrential rain started. We’ve been to tropical rainforests before, and usually it rains, then the sun comes out, then it rains again. Sometimes you’re lucky and it’s sunny most of the time. But this was not one of those cases.

We arrived in heavy rain. It was already evening, we were tired from the drive, and thankfully there was a soda on site where we could have dinner. The weather forecast was bad, but usually you shouldn’t trust jungle forecasts.

It rained all night and continued into the morning. We decided to hike anyway. The hike was beautiful, but we couldn’t finish it because we were soaked to the bone, even with rain gear. Sam got the wettest — which didn’t stop him from falling asleep, as usual, in the hiking backpack. The rain never stopped that day.

The next day, it poured again. We tried another hike, which required crossing a river five times. Like most hikes in Costa Rica, it was paid, but because of the weather there was no one at the booth. A note said you could hike at your own risk, and there were bamboo poles to help cross the river.

We decided to try. We crossed the river once, barely climbed washed-out steps, but further on the trail was completely gone and turned into a cliff. We turned back and ended up visiting a paid park to see sloths and butterflies instead.

On the third day, the rain continued, and the humidity meant nothing dried. The backpack, our clothes — everything stayed wet. Our feet were constantly wet too. The forecast kept saying the same thing every day: rain today, but it’ll stop the day after tomorrow — which never came. We got tired of this wet groundhog day.

Basically, weighing all the pros and cons, we decided to go cancel the airbnb in the village and go to the ocean earlier! We didn’t want to sit in the rain for 3 more days, plus I was starting to get a cold sore and stuff. I checked that our accommodation was available except for the last night, booked it and found another one for the last night. It’s a shame we had to lose money on the already paid accommodation in the jungle for the full five days, but vacation is short and we didn’t want to waste it.

Total: $658

Return to Playa Hermosa - part three, 4 nights

When we returned, the kids were already waiting on the road and squealed with joy when we got out of the car. One day we relaxed, and another day we visited the national park we’d originally planned to see.

The Airbnb for the last night was a real find — basically a hotel-style room in an apartment complex. Clean and perfect for one night.

The last day of the trip was my birthday. We walked, watched monkeys, swam, tried to enjoy the sunset, and then moved to the new Airbnb. One interesting thing: when we were in Playa Hermosa the second time, there were noticeably more people. I guess more people vacation toward the end of January than in the first week.

Total:

• House: $698
• Airbnb for one night: $154

Total for accommodation: $2290

Food

Ugh, food in Costa Rica is probably the most expensive part. Groceries are very expensive — I’d say prices are similar to California. Even fruit is pricey, despite growing right there. Mangoes were literally falling onto our roof on windy days. Just reach out and grab one.

We usually had breakfast and lunch at home (except in Fortuna) and ate dinner at cafes. Mostly because it’s hard to eat heavy food in the midday heat. Also, thanks to Sam, we eat breakfast earlier than cafes open. Since we stayed in Airbnbs with full kitchens, we stopped at Walmart on the first day — and were shocked by the prices. Locals later told us about Auto Mercado, which looks upscale but is actually cheaper.

In Playa Hermosa, we found an affordable (by local standards) small cafe. Portions were huge, so we usually ordered two dishes for the three of us. I could message them on WhatsApp, order ahead, and pick it up to eat on the beach — very convenient.

In Fortuna, we ate at sodas — local cafes similar to diners in the US or Canada. Casado is typical there: rice, beans, fried plantain, and a protein (chicken, fish, or meat). Sometimes we ordered rice with chicken, which came with fries — Sam was very interested in that for the first few days.

Total:

• Cafes: $570
• Groceries: $608

Hikes and National Parks

The La Fortuna area has a huge number of hikes and parks. You can spend a lot of money, or you can find cheaper options. For example, Arenal National Park near the volcano is more expensive than nearby Mirador El Silencio, but the hike is supposedly better (we only saw gray skies).

There are many activities we weren’t interested in or that don’t work well with a small child — hot springs, ATVs, etc. Many people also hire guides to help spot animals.

What I liked least about this area was the excessive commercialization. There’s nowhere to just go for a walk — every entrance is paid. It reminded me of cenotes in Mexico. There are also special parks just to see sloths. By the way, sloths are VERY hard to spot — they blend into trees and sit high up. At one park, kind workers let us in for free because a sloth was sitting right at the entrance and the park was closing soon. They showed it to us with binoculars and pointed out birds too. The next day, due to rain and lack of alternatives, we went back and paid for entry anyway (Ecocentro Danaus).

We also really wanted to visit Pocosol, a cloud forest, but couldn’t get there without a proper 4x4. There’s also a suspension bridge park nearby, which seemed like a tourist trap — like Capilano in Vancouver. Nice, but overpriced (no arguments about Lynn Canyon).

Back in Playa Hermosa, we visited Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja. This place is absolutely mind-blowing. We walked around an active volcano and saw bubbling mud — incredible. Normally it’s very hot there, so they recommend arriving at 8 a.m. It’s a 1.5-hour drive. We arrived at 8:15, and it rained the entire time we were there until around 11. Lucky us!

When booking national parks, you need to provide passport information, which feels completely unnecessary. You don’t need to carry your passport, but it’s better to have a photo.

Total: $182

Language, Connection, Payment

Without Spanish, traveling in Central America is not easy. Time to learn it if you want to go there. English is spoken poorly and in few places. To communicate with kids, we used Apple Translate in conversation mode and ChatGPT. Sam used screaming when he wanted something — and unlike us, it always worked, haha.

For mobile data, we used MobiMatter. It was inexpensive: 10 GB cost $16.50, so $33 total for two.

We paid almost everywhere with a Wealthsimple card. Only one park required cash because it was cheaper than paying by card. And coconuts on the beach were cash only — $3 USD each, but I always bought two for $5, haha.

Vacation with a Two-Year-Old

This trip with Sam was amazing. He becomes a golden child while traveling, and now that he’s older, you can negotiate with him. He slept through the outbound flight, which made everything easy. On the 8-hour return flight, he slept, ate an entire bag of snacks (not an exaggeration), and watched cartoons. Since we only introduced cartoons after age two, travel has become much easier.

He loves hiking, animals, and other kids. Every morning he went out to the yard to play with a shovel. On the beach, he played in the sand and built things. He always waited for games with other kids — hide and seek, etc. He’s very active, fell about ten times an hour, constantly scratched and bruised. He never went into the water, though — screamed that it was wet, haha. He constantly talked, named animals, and adjusted perfectly to the new schedule. He slept great and passed out easily at night.

The hardest part was enjoying the sunsets. We’d usually grab dinner to go and head to the beach around 5:30–6 p.m. Sam would sit for three minutes, then start running, throwing things, and trying to escape. Still, overall, traveling with a two-year-old is super fun. A year ago, it was much harder.

We did bring a lot of luggage though: a hiking backpack, a crib (was easier to have our own as we moved around a lot), a car seat (was cheaper to have our own plus we used it on the plane for him), a stroller (did not use in Costa Rica but was handy at the airport), a huge bag of snacks, and a suitcase. I was worried about managing it all, but it ended up being fine since everything was included in our tickets and most of it was checked. It did look funny, though. I told everyone we like to “travel light,” haha.

Overall Thoughts About Costa Rica

Overall, we absolutely loved our vacation in Costa Rica. So many animals, jungles, a super warm ocean, and kind, relaxed people. We really want to go back and explore other regions.

What we’d do differently: rent a 4x4 (and not from Avis), and spend fewer days in the jungle. It was the dry season, and I honestly didn’t expect such bad weather.

About mosquitoes: we barely encountered them, except in the last national park near the volcano. We sprayed ourselves, but they still bit us badly — the marks are still there. We should’ve brought ointment to apply immediately.

Something funny: I asked the host to write down their address so I could send the kids a postcard from Vancouver. The address was basically directions like “turn right at the hotel, then left after 100 meters, last house on the right.” No numbers, no zip codes.

And one interesting fact about Costa Rica: they abolished their army and redirected the budget toward healthcare, national parks, and education.

Total for vacation for three we spent: $7470 CAD

What a cool country. Highly recommend it!