Honeymoon in Costa Rica - sorted

LewieP's Mummy

One of my friends is going to Costa Rica (somewhere in the north) for his honeymoon. He has booked the flights and hotel, and asked me if I know anyone who may have been there.

I immediately thought of you guys.

What he'd like to know is what are the essential things he needs to know, places he mustn't miss going to, vital things he should take there. Help please!

EggyToast

Most of what I know of Costa Rica is based on my spanish teacher in college owning a small coffee farm, and my coworker wanting to visit but claiming it's too expensive (compared to other places south of the US). I've had a friend visit with her family, but they just did beach stuff the entire time.

Nathias

I was just there in the beginning of February to visit my fiancée. Hard to provide much information since we don't know exactly where he is going, how long he is staying for or if this is their first trip there. However, here are a couple helpful links that I used when planning my trip:

http://www.therealcostarica.com/ <-- has a bunch of information on what to expect at the airport (or in general for that matter), what to bring, etc. I found it to be a great site.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForum-g291982-i813-Costa_Rica.html <-- I would have him register at Trip Advisor and use their Costa Rica forums. They can also have some good information. They can also ask specific questions and get some good answers.

Also, it would probably be a good idea to have a Latin American English to Spanish dictionary if neither of them have a good handle on speaking spanish.

panksea06

I went to an all inclusive resort in costa rica for about 5 days of 2.5 weeks I spent there with my family. It was amazing, and also really cheap, I think something like 700 dollars a day for an apartment sized room for a family of six, again with included free food at the dozens of awesome restaurants on property, and free top shelf booze ( I only had a little one night by accident, being 16 at the time, but my parents had alot and assured me of its quality).

Absolutely amazing and well worth it. I will try to get the name some time tomorrow, but it was well well worth it.
Swim up bars and drinking pina coloda's sound like an amazing place for a honey moon, hell I was thinking that then and I was 16.


Edit: oh yeah parents are out of the control and out of contact. Saddly I cant get that info now.

The Savior

You must see the cloudforest. It is a beautiful, lush, rainforest high enough up in the mountains that it is literally in the clouds. If you and your fiancee are adventuresome, you can also take a zip-line tour of parts of it, so you can see the canopy from above. The view is absolutely amazing - when I went, the clouds were thick enough that on the longer zip-line runs, I couldn't see either end of the line, and could only see the canopy, the line itself, and the cloud.

aperlscript

I went for a 3-day rafting trip down the Pacuare River, and can't speak highly enough of it. You actually raft the 1st and 3rd day, the middle of the trip is spent at the terrific Pacuare Lodge on the shore of the river, in the middle of the jungle. There was one hell of a honeymoon suite at the lodge, as well. And the lodge is really only the eating/common area, everyone stays in cabins that sleep 2, or in the case of the suite, a frickin' house in the trees. Canopy tours (the zipline-through-the-trees thing) are available too.

The food they made for us was incredible, too. And if they're not too slammed, you can probably talk someone into taking you for a walk through the jungle. Waterfalls, ants that are an inch long, all that sort of good thing.

http://www.junglelodgecostarica.com/

Casual Eddy

The Savior wrote: »

You must see the cloudforest. It is a beautiful, lush, rainforest high enough up in the mountains that it is literally in the clouds. If you and your fiancee are adventuresome, you can also take a zip-line tour of parts of it, so you can see the canopy from above. The view is absolutely amazing - when I went, the clouds were thick enough that on the longer zip-line runs, I couldn't see either end of the line, and could only see the canopy, the line itself, and the cloud.

100% agreement. I would lime this if I did not find liming a detestable practice. It depends what you're planning on doing I guess, but the cloud forest is well worth a visit. For me it was one of those things I will never forget, and I am eager to visit another. It's also quite cool (you'll need a sweater/light coat) so there aren't any bugs around. Truly gorgeous. The pacaure river is awesome rafting if you're in to it.

CarolinaBBQ

i went twice and loved it. My favorite place was monteverde (stayed at el stable). I have fond memories enjoying a smoke and coffee in the early morning watching the villagers walk their children to the school across the street. The bus ride is frightening but well worth it.

Another wonderful spot is near the Arenal volcano. Its a spa called tabacon.... http://www.tabacon.com/

The whole place is heated by the active volcano viewable in the distance. you can see trails of smoke tumble down the sides in the afternoon. Great place to get lost together.

When it comes to beaches....look for the white sand.. Playa Lemon was beautiful (SE, but the whole country ain't that big if they want to hop on a bus).

Best thing I can recommend about costa rica is to just enjoy the place and its people. super friendly and love to help you out. If they get into troubles tell them to just shout "Pura Vida" and everything will be ok.

/me is soooooo jealous.

IInfinity

Hi LewiePs Mummy - Back in high school, I went on an exchange program to San Jose, Costa Rica and the three things I remember most are the rain forest, the volcano crater and that directions were given in relationship to McDonald's locations.

Make sure your friend has traveler cheques and only converts to cash as needed. There are a lot of great open markets to buy handmade items and though they only take cash, it is easy to find places to convert money. Though I was never robbed in Costa Rica, I had my passport and traveler's cheques stolen while in Spain and travel cheques were very easy to replace. I never travel far without them

LewieP's Mummy

Thanks everyone, you're wonderful, I'm taking this information to Mark tomorrow.