11 day burst of adventure with the last few days for relaxation. This is the ultimate itinerary for a 11 day Costa Rica trip. You'll travel from La Fortuna to Manuel Antonio. Stay in San jose, La Fortuna, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio

Costa Rica

Alajuela Province, La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Puntarenas Province, Monteverde, Costa Rica

San José Province, San José, Costa Rica

Alajuela Province, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Costa Rica Grand Adventure

You'll be spending 12 glorious days exploring Costa Rica. You'll rent a car and begin in San Jose, do a loop from La Fortuna to Monteverde and end off in Manuel Antonio. All while adopting a Pura Vida lifestyle.

Wake up and head to your last hotel. I recommend Hotel Noaz. Price can't be beat location is great and you'll have a car. Leave your bags at the hotel and go get some lunch.

Fly into San Jose.  Depending on your arrival time you may be going straight to bed or spending time exploring the city. I recommend leaving your bags at the hotel to minimize your risk of theft. Head to bed early as tomorrow the adventure begins. 

Visit Manuel Antonio National Park. up to you whether you want to do  a guided tour $65 or self guided tour $18. Guides will be able to point out wild life to you but you'll be able to easily spot things like sloths and monkeys on your own, you'll see when the guides stop or there's a crowd. If hiking on your own here are the trail options:

La Catarata Trail: Located close to the park entrance, this medium intensity .6 mile long trail leads to a small waterfall (hence the name: catarata means waterfall in Spanish). Keep an eye out for frogs along the way!

El Perezoso Trail: These are the boardwalks that run parallel to the park’s main trail. As the name suggests, keep an eye out overhead for sloths!

Punta Catedral Trail: This mile-long trail leads to one of the most iconic parts and scenic of the park, a high peak that divides the beach outside the town and the park’s beach. Although the hike is relatively short, it’s steep – bring plenty of water and be prepared to climb! You’ll find the trailhead at the end of the beach

Playa Gemelas Trail: This short, easy trail from the main beach will take you to a second beach, Playa Gemelas. It also connects to the other trails and to the western portion of the park. During low tide, you can see a view of Punta Catedral on this trail

Mirador Trail: This mile-long trail leads to a scenic lookout of Punta Serrucho, a rocky landmark. Heads up, this trail is challenging!

Congo Trail: This short trail connects Playa Gemelas and the Mirador Trail and it can be used as an alternative return route.

Visit the Cloud forest. Self guided or guided tour. 

Head to the beach  or pool whatever your preference and relax. The last bit of the trip to meant to be relaxing after all the adventuring

Head to Uvita to see the famous whale tail. We planned to go and got turned around because of construction. 

Head back to San Jose, early flight so you'll need to spend the night. We opted to return the car this day and take the hotel shuttle back and forth to the airport. We booked a nice hotel for this stay so we could have some pool time and hang out. 

The rental car will be around 1000. If you don't want to drive there's transit options but I recommend the car. It's easy to drive and navigate.

There are lots of hotel options, these are ones I've stayed at. 

You may not be into relaxing for the last few days. If this is the case allocate extra days to the other stops in the itinerary. I recommend every spot we stayed at! they're all gorgeous.  If you want more relaxing, cut the Uvita drive and just spend the day at the hotel or on a beach nearby.

Stay at any hotel in San Jose for the night. We booked the Holiday Inn.

Back in the car, you're heading to La Fortuna.  Head to the hotel Noah's Forest By Tifakara and leave your bags. Visit La Fortuna Waterfall. Want more? hit Bogarin Trail and a chocolate tour! 

Visit La Fortuna Waterfall, you can walk from Tifakara

Visit Arenal Volcano National Park ($17 entrance fee) and hot springs.

On the road again. Head to Monteverde. You'll be staying at Camino Verde B&B.

Again, leave your bags at the hotel. Then head to Selvatura adventure park and go ziplining! the final zipline is 1km long. It's a cool experience. Rain or shine so wear appropriate clothing.

What to Pack- It's Costa Rica, you're going to be exploring the rainforests, pack properly.

I recommend a good, lightweight rain jacket. I got my jacket from Patagonia. I also recommend hiking shoes, 

Costa Rica Grand Adventure

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