Our Costa Rica Trip October 202

Jasper & I have spent 2 weeks touring this epic country!

It is the PERFECT destination if you or the kids love adventure, adrenaline, wildlife and perfect beaches. 

The Lowdown

It is generally a touring country, you fly into San Jose and generally need a night here before you start your journey. 

We did a G Adventures Tour, and I would highly recommend (don't forget you can book G Adventures and any other touring brand with Globally Mine for the same price as direct, so win win for you). 

We LOVED the tour & would highly recommend. We chose the small group tour option as it was just Jasper & I, and I wanted the support of a guide and group. 

We had a fabulous group with a real mix of ages. A Mum/Daughter duo from London, then a mix of older and younger, we had a couple of "kids" in their 20s, a couple in their 30s and then us (our group was 11, average is 12 and max is 16). We all got on brilliantly, things like this tend to attract others with a similar mindset.

Weather
As with other tropical countries, it has wet and dry seasons, but also microclimates, there is generally rain somewhere! 

San Jose & Monteverde are quite high elevation wise (San Jose 1100m Monteverde 1500m), so we found when it did rain it was a little chilly, so bring a jumper or two. 

The wet season is May - November, with the wettest months Sept/Oct (so we travelled at the height of rain). We did have rain but it tended to be in the North of the country, and was usually short lived, would really recommend ponchos!

As soon as we got further south the weather was much warmer, still the odd shower but warm and tropical.

If this sounds like your perfect holiday, get in touch below:

Adrenaline 
Now, I am not an adrenaline junkie, far, far from it, but  am with my 12yr old, who I wouldn't have said was an adrenaline junkie but I think the pre teen testosterone surge has hit hard and he was up for it ALL.

I am turning 50 next year, and had made a promise to myself to push myself out of my comfort zone, so that is what I did!

We did canyoning (abseiling down waterfalls, and walking down gorges), zip lined, including a 1mile line in the superman position (this was EPIC), and we jumped off a 50m tower on a Tarzan swing! 

The white water rapids are fabulous and there is even a hotel you have to white water raft into if you wish. 

We did horse riding along the mountain ridge that separates the Pacific & Caribbean coast (beautiful at sunset). 

We also walked over the hanging bridges, which sit above the cloud forest in Monteverde. Monteverde is 1500m above sea level, absolutely beautiful.

Wildlife

We night walked in a cloud forest, where we saw a viper, tarantula (I am a fully signed up arachnophobe so if this isn't your thing, it isn't mine either, you can stay a good distance away, and one of our group just stood there with her hands over her eyes).

Sloths & Monkeys are everywhere, the first sloth we saw was on the roadside hugging a tree, the hotel we stayed in on the coast had a "sloth zone" where they just hung out, we also had monkeys playing in the trees outside our room.

We went to both the pacific and Caribbean coast, and on both beaches we had a sloth up the tree we were sitting under.

Beaches

Costa Rica beaches are BEAUTIFUL, we visited both the Pacific and Caribbean Coast. The pacific is technically rainier at this time of year, but the weather down there was beautiful. Both coastlines are a meeting of jungle & sea, and so, so beautiful.

We spent more time on the Caribbean Coast in Puerto Viejo. Quite a hippy, laid back, and typically Caribbean vibe, we LOVED it.

Below is the G Tour we did, 9 days, and we then tacked on a Caribbean Coastal stay.

Travel Styles

As I said we did the G Adventures tour, small group touring is a great way to see a country, you get a CEO (Chief Experience Officer), always a local who has seriously in-depth knowledge of the country you are visiting. 

Ours was Aryeri (RJ for short) and she was AMAZING. They travel & stay with you, so you always have someone in person & on whats app to help if need be. 

She arranged group meals, but if you don't want to join you don't have to, J & I didn't join every meal.

G also offer "18-30 somethings" for the youngsters (our tour was a total mix of "youngsters" and us "oldies"), "solo-ish" for solo travellers, but again our tour had 4 out of 11 solos. G Lux for those looking for a little luxury, and National Geographic tours with a focus on the natural world. 

If group touring isn't for you, we can arrange a bespoke tour. This can be a little more expensive, but we can totally tailor your journey. 

If you chose the group tour, we can add nights at the beginning or the end, most of my clients want to finish on the beach with some R&R, so that is usually a must add.

The People & General Info
The Costa Ricans are so friendly & the country is safe. In 1948 they disbanded their army and invested the money in education, something I think lots of other parts of the world can learn from.

They have a big focus on organic food, and farm to table eating. 

One of the things J was most worried about was the food, he is bit of a mac n cheese guy, and his first breakfast was rice and beans, but he really enjoyed! 

There is a lot of local eating, but also always the opportunity to eat more westernised (burgers, ribs, chicken).

The water in most areas is safe to drink, and actually tastes much nicer than the water in Surrey. Make sure you bring a refillable water bottle, the only places we couldn't drink from the taps was Puerto Viejo as they use a well, but the hotels had filtered water stations everywhere.

Currency is Costa Rican Colones, but USD are widely accepted, you will get change in Colones, we brought a mix of both. Cards and Apple Pay is available everywhere.  

My Top Tips

• Bring ponchos (either as well as or instead of rain coats), ponchos cover more and dry quickly.

• Bring water shoes, a must for canyoning & white water rafting, or basically anytime you are going to get wet.
• Bring refillable water bottles, you don't need to buy bottled. Jasper got a really upset tummy in Dominican a few years ago and was really worried about tap water, but it is cleaner than the UK. 
• Don't look at the weather apps, IGNORE them!! They are 99% wrong lol 
• The last one I asked J what his top tip would be and it was - Do & see as much as you can, it really is such a beautiful country.