If you want an all in one without any planning, do the Rafiki Safari Super Lekker. They transport you to/from the San Jose airport, provide all activities including horseback riding, rafting, kayaking, etc. It is 4 nights in the jungle and 2 at the beach, thugh we added another beach night and spent a day going to Manual Antonio Park. great pool and slide at the jungle lodge. It was probably our favorite vacation to date--kids were maybe 9 and 12.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would never book Costa Rica without a travel planner.

22:17 here and this is absurd. I just booked my 5th trip there for December and my kids 3rd, precisely because it is so easy and fun. The roads can be a little hairy, but for the most part like northern Pacific Coastal Highway or Amalfi Coast hairy - they are windy and you can end up behind a slow vehicle, but they are well paved and signed, and Waze works well (better than google maps, BTW). the people are lovely, the services are fine, the airports are easy (Liberia > SJO)… I mean, the choices are overwhelming but a planner wont help with that. pick your locations, pick your accommodations, and ask them for help booking your adventures.

Some people need hand-holding.

OP, we've done it both ways. Twice with a travel agent, and once on our own. I think it depends on where you want to go and what activities you want to do. The trip we planned on our own was more of a resort trip, with only 1-2 activities. The other times we went, we were going to multiple places via prop plane, car, and boat and wanted daily excursions planned. It helped to have a travel agent coordinate the logistics and activities.

Anonymous wrote:I would never book Costa Rica without a travel planner.

22:17 here and this is absurd. I just booked my 5th trip there for December and my kids 3rd, precisely because it is so easy and fun. The roads can be a little hairy, but for the most part like northern Pacific Coastal Highway or Amalfi Coast hairy - they are windy and you can end up behind a slow vehicle, but they are well paved and signed, and Waze works well (better than google maps, BTW). the people are lovely, the services are fine, the airports are easy (Liberia > SJO)… I mean, the choices are overwhelming but a planner wont help with that. pick your locations, pick your accommodations, and ask them for help booking your adventures.

Thank you so much everyone - I am OP.

PP - why would you never book w/o a planner curious?

I would never book Costa Rica without a travel planner.

My only suggestion is to book as soon as you can and have a loose plan.

I find CR to be one of the pricer late December locations. All warm and ski places are, but CR books up and is pricey! I have friends who love the Andaz - https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/costarica/andaz-costa-rica-resort-at-peninsula-papagayo/liraz

We aren't going to CR but, I too am starting to source flights to the Caribbean for late December and wish to lock them in sooner rather than later.

I am also in the beginning stages of planning a Costa Rica trip, and I agree it is overwhelming! What I have found helpful is to Google “X day trip to Costa Rica with kids” and start looking at what destinations and activities keep coming up and gravitate towards the ones that appeal to you. Costa Rica is such a popular destination, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel!

By doing this I have determined my family should do a 10 day trip focusing on Arenal, Monteverde and a few days at a northern beach tacked on the end. It’s much less overwhelming to plan to trip when you focus in on just a few locations.

I also like the guidebook idea- check one out from the library to get a basic overview and go from there.

Not OP but that is a great summary!!

sometimes a good old fashioned guide book is better than a website. I like Fromers. But here is a quick primer. There are basically 5 tourist areas in CR:

Caribbean coast - not beachy/boaty, more remote. known for turtles.
Arenal/La Fortuna - central, and where generally the best adventure tourism is or goes from - zip lines, hot springs, rafting, horseback, ATVs etc. these have sprung up elsewhere around the country recently but the highest zip line is there, for ex.
Monteverde - also central - biodiverse rainforest, more for nature exploration
northern pacific coast, guanacaste province. a mix of high end resorts (papagayo area) and low key sandy beach towns with their own vibes (Playa Hermosa, Playa del Coco, Tamarindo to name a few)
Southern pacific coast - Jaco south to Quepos and Manuel Antonio NP, more wildlife and adventures (mangrove tours, for ex), also more built up but not resorts, more like hotels overlooking the water. Further south is Osa Peninsula but that’s pretty remote.

My recommendation based on your OP is to go to Arenal for a few days and then pick a beach. Pick your airport based on the beach you pick. Arenal is more or less equidistant from the 2 airports, but if you are going to the caribbean or southern Pacific you want SJO, and if Guanacaste, Liberia.

I looked into planning for a summer vacation to CR a few years ago but decided to forgo given our kids' ages and that we didn't want to travel for too many hours to a destination. I recall that everything was quite spread out in CR so that if you wanted more beach time, it was one direction v. more river time in another place. I also remember that the trek from airports to locations was a bit far and rough.

Now that kids are older, we are reconsidering and looking for a Dec trip perhaps. Would there be any suggestions for websites to look at for general planning? Less interested in a tour and more getting lay of the land so to speak to figure out where we want to be/do/see. So CR 101 -break it down for someone who is totally clueless on this country

Rafting, zip lining, beaches are of interest to us. While hiking is fine but would want to try for something really amazing in the scenery department. Really, unsure where we want to be or what airport we want to focus on traveling to/from. If there's any suggestions to activities closest to each airport to note, thanks for them.

Thanks!