2 weeks in Costa Rica - thoughts?

Question

My friend and I (both 35yo females) are planning a 2-week trip to Costa Rica, getting around on our own (public transport, not car rental). We are keen to see both the Pacific and Caribbean coast and spend most of our time in the national parks to see wildlife and embrace nature. We will also consider some watersports while we're at the coastal reports.

We would appreciate feedback on our draft itinerary - we know we're pushing it with the amount of places to visit, especially given distances between some locations and travel time, so we're willing to cut things out as advised!

Day 0: Arrive San Jose. Stay SJ

Day 1: San Jose - Explore. Stay SJ

Day 2: San Jose to Tortuguero NP (travel). Stay TNP

Day 3+4: Tortuguero NP - Tour and explore; jungle cruises, canals. Stay TNP

Day 5: TNP to La Fortuna & Arenal (travel). Stay LFA

Day 6: La Fortuna & Arenal - Tour and explore; hot springs, waterfalls, forest. Stay LFA

Day 7: La Fortuna to Monteverde (travel). Beach. Stay Monteverde / Santa Elena

Day 8: Monteverde. Tour and explore - National Park, Cloud Forest, wildlife. Stay Monteverde / SE

Day 9: Monteverde to Jaco (travel). Stay Jaco

Day 10: Jaco - Beach and watersports. Stay Jaco*

Day 11: Jaco to Manuel Antonio (travel). Stay MA

Day 12 + 13: Manuel Antonio - Beach, National Park, mangroves, watersports. Stay MA

Day 14: Return to San Jose for flight home

*Could reduce to 1 night in Jaco, given we have 3 nights in Manuel Antonio where there is more to do and see.

crfan · Accepted Answer

I think this itinerary is fine if you were renting a car or using shared shuttles like Interbus. I think it will be exhausting using public buses for some of these legs, particularly Tortuguero-Arenal, Arenal-Monteverde and Monteverde-Jaco. For the 1st and 3rd I’d strongly recommend one of the shared shuttles booked in advance which do hotel to hotel transfers. For the 2nd book a taxi/boat/taxi transfer once in La Fortuna for roughly $30/pp. Public buses are operated by a number of different companies that each serve a specific geographic area and don’t coordinate schedules. The 3 transfers identified above involve multiple bus transfers and waiting at a bus stop for the right bus to show up. You can get to Tortuguero by public bus and boat with one bus transfer required but that one’s pretty coordinated in terms of timing.

SubjectivelyObjectiv · Answer

Bitsy_Baby, When you say “public transport”, do you mean only buses, which are the most economical option, but not always direct, usually the longest and not door to door? Or you mean Other transport options, just not renting a car? If you are open to hotel to hotel shared shuttle vans, mentioned in Post 1, it might be a good option for 2 ppl travelling together, as they are paid per seat, and operate on schedule, door to door. We used them on most of our trips to CR. Obviously Tortuguero will also involve boat (or a domestic flight/s with Sansa).

Day 5: Smth to consider: Currently, Sansa Air has one daily non-stop afternoon flight between Tortuguero and Fortuna, 30 min long, US154 pp one way. I do not know when you are travelling. E.g., May 15 shows only 1 seat left for that flight. Terms and Conditions- https://www.flysansa.com/travelinfo/terms-conditions , Baggage - https://www.flysansa.com/travelinfo/baggage , TA reviews - https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Airline_Review-d10533104-Reviews-SANSA . Add at least 55 min for domestic flights check-in + land transportation in Arenal.

Are you sure you want to be staying right in La Fortuna when in Arenal?

Day 7: Beach? In Monteverde?

Days 10-11: Not sure I would be staying in Jaco, for 2 or 1 nights. Are those going to be weekdays, wknds, peak/holiday times? In addition, Jaco is not far from MA. Your check out time in Jaco could be fairly early, 10-11 am, depending on the property, but your MA/Quepos area check-in - not till 3 pm. You might be able to ask either of your hotels to store your bigger luggage, but you would have to be carrying your valuables with you until you can return to your next hotel to check in properly and use the safe. It is usually not recommended to leave anything unattended on beaches in CR.

Days 12-13: Which day of the wk are you planning to go to the park? It is closed on Tuesdays and gets busier on the wknds. This is one of the previous threads about buying online entrance tickets into this park, if you haven’t seen it yet - https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g291982-i813-k14441040-When_Manuel_Antonio_passes_are_sold_out-Costa_Rica.html .

When are you travelling? The month may determine which coast might have better weather, and if it will be a turtle nesting season in Tortuguero (in addition to the canal boat tours and hiking it offers).

SJO is located in Alajuela. On Day 14, are you transferring to SJO and flying out or spending the last night near SJO?

2 weeks in Costa Rica - thoughts? - Costa Rica Forum

2 weeks in Costa Rica - thoughts?

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