We had a great time spending two weeks in Cos...
Costa Rica
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Jan 18 - Jan 31, 2026
We had a great time spending two weeks in Costa Rica
Highlights and best memories:
1. Frog night tour with Kendry our first night in country outside of La Fortuna.
2. Saw and heard 133 species of birds using Merlin ID app - highly recommend downloading the Costa Rica bird data
3. Saw 2- and 3-toed sloths, howler and squirrel monkeys, white-faced capuchins, coati mundi, agouti, squirrels, bats, peccaries and skunk! Also crocodiles (at Tarcolos), iguanas, lizards, venomous snakes, tarantulas, mango crabs and wonderful small hermit crabs in all sorts of seashells at Manuel Antonio beach,
4. Excellent and memorable dinner at San Lucas Treetops in Monteverde. Also enjoyed the farm to table cooking class outside Quepos with Caesar and Crystal and the foodie tour in San Jose with Andrea. Dinner at Sikwa in San Jose and food at Hotel Guachipelin were also memorable.
5. Covered rain forest, cloud forest and dry forest habitats at La Fortuna, Tenorio, La Finca Farm, Monteverde, Santa Elena, Rincon de la Vieja and Manuel Antonio with excellent guides Kendra, Melany, Olman, Fatima, Olivier & Corey.
6. Orchid garden and hummingbird feeders at Cloud Forest Lodge and the hummingbird gallery in Monteverde; butterfly gardens in San Jose (Spirogyra and National Museum), El Jardin Orotina (best place to see 100s of Morphos and it’s free), and Manuel Antonio.
7. National Museum, Jade Museum and Museum of Precolumbian Gold in San Jose
8. Seeing cloud forest canopy and epiphytes from a different perspective at Treetopia
9. Good choices of hotels overall with breakfast free and good dining options at almost all.
10. Good hike seeing waterfalls and hot springs on the grounds of Hotel Guachipelin with one of our favorite guides, Olivier. The Montezuma Oropendulas, Amazons and two different owls calling at night there were also memorable
11. The chocolate, sugar cane and coffee tour at Don Juan’s was much more informative and fun than I was expecting. Seeing the cacao beans during fermentation and tasting them before and after roasting was really instructive. If you’re lucky, they will prepare some Mayan Xochol for you to drink with freshly ground beans. Sampling fresh frogwater after squeezing one’s own sugar cane was also great fun.
Disappointing or not as enjoyable or memorable:
1. Overall, the fauna in the Cloud Forest (Monteverde, Tenorio, Santa Elena & Tretopia) was more disappointing and/or elusive than in other areas. Not sure if this was because of the time of year or our guides.
2. Snorkeling trip to Isla del Canos. The drive and boat trip took >2 hours each way and the snorkeling was not that much better than we could experience with less effort in Hawaii. Also, 1.5 hours in the water was quite tiring.
3. Not enough time to explore Papagayo beaches. Not sure that going to the coast from Rincon de la Vieja and then going back inland for a long round trip to Tenorio was the best planning.
4. Los Lagos Resort in La Fortuna was the hotel at the bottom of our list: too touristy, tired rooms and poor food. Birds on site and landscaping were good though. I think we would have enjoyed a smaller boutique hotel in town.
5. Lots of driving! Next time, we’ll stay in fewer places and drive less
6. It was REALLY, REALLY wet in La Fortuna. Not KimKim’s fault, of course!
Hotel Reviews
Resort was a little tired and touristy. Food was not the best
Great place to stay for a few days with good wildlife, lots of activities and two restaurants to enjoy.
Nice hotel right on beach at Playa Hermosa
Very quiet and well appointed hotel away from the more touristy parts of Monteverde. Food was excellent and the bird feeders at the restaurant were a treat
Very nice grounds with a great pool, view of the ocean and great wildlife including scarlet macaws and toucans. Food at both restaurants was above average
Very well located in center of town although the entrance is not very obvious. Rooms and food were great. Free breakfast
Activity Reviews
We hiked for several hours with a very pleasant young man called Olivier who was knowledgeable about the flora, fauna and geography of the area. Saw howler monkeys and white faced capuchin and some great birds. Saw three waterfalls which were each spectacular. The first two we had completely to ourselves. The last one had a great swimming hole but there were quite a few people. It was nice to relax in the hot spring pools at the end after the hike, but they were also quite crowded. Beware: the no-see-um bugs in the parking lot were the most vicious bugs we encountered during the whole trip. The bites stayed with us for 2 weeks.
Very wet hike. Saw bedraggled specimens of both 2- and 3-toed sloths high up in trees, but they were huddled up and not moving much. It’s good sloth habitat. Also saw a BoatBilled Heron who was rather splendid. Good coffee at the place they took us after the hike and it was great watching birds eat plantain pieces while staying dry!
Hike through Tenorio National Park with great views of Arenal volcano and great cloud forest vegetation. Wildlife was a bit sparse however, and there was a very long wait with lots of people to see the waterfall, because of a landslide Finca Verde Nature Farm was excellent and we got to see a couple of sloths on the move as well some great birds.
Best thing about the trip was seeing the rain forest canopy from above and getting a closeup view of all the epiphytes living high up on the tall cloud Forest trees. Also got to see a forest millipede and our first tarantula.
One of the best nature hikes on our trip. Saw quite a few species including the Blue Jeans poison frog and the eponymous Red Eyed Leaf Frog
Got to prepare a great Costa Rican style meal with stewed chicken, rice, beans, salad, hand made tortillas, and plantain ceviche. Chef showed us exactly what to do and it turned out wonderful. Nice tour of farmers market in town and a beautiful farm with rabbits, goats, sheep, turkeys, hens, ducks, geese, peacocks, guinea hens and an enormous riding bull recuperating from a horn surgery. Also saw their organic garden, a vanilla plantation with pepper, cacao and coffee plants. Nice to see squirrel monkeys and a great toucan along with a gorgeous sunset
Two snorkeling sites were selected, one with low visibility and lots of sand, where we saw several small sharks and a turtle, and the other which was shallower, had better visibility and more coral and nice reef fish. Overall, the snorkeling was not much better than some places in Hawaii and I was disappointed. I also got a mild foot cramp from so long in the water. Overall the trip was overrated for me: too much effort without enough return.
A decadent gourmet dining experience in a glass wall treetop cabin at sunset. Well worth the splurge
National Museum is not included in this tour so it should be renamed. Tour focuses on the Mercado Centrale and Costa Rican food primarily. There was some historical commentary and brief visits to the Cathedral and the lobby of the National Theater which was being renovated during our visit.
