Trip Report: Costa Rica
Visited in January 2021
Is Costa Rica the best destination in the world? According to some people I know, yes! In fact, I know a lot of people who call Costa Rica their favorite country or at least rank it in their top 5. Such praise certainly helps to build anticipation when you have a trip to Costa Rica coming up.
However, that was not the reason why Costa Rica became my country 112 in January 2021. Costa Rica is one of the few countries that allows tourists to enter without restrictions (no PCR test, no quarantine) during the corona pandemic. The only requirement is an insurance that covers Covid. Therefore, and also because I had not yet visited many countries in Central America, my country No. 112 was virtually determined by itself.
In this article I would like to describe the things I did in the country, what I liked, what I liked less and how I would rate Costa Rica as a travel destination compared to other countries. Would it even become my new favorite country? I was ready to find out.
Costa Rica during the pandemic – my route
First things first: visiting Costa Rica during the pandemic offers a lot of advantages. The country is known to be flooded with tourists in normal times. As a result, thousands of people gather around the sights and the national parks are overcrowded. In January 2021, tourism numbers were hovering around 20-30% compared to 2019. As a result, I had most national parks almost to myself and the hotel rates were also very cheap. It was fantastic.
However, the pandemic also had one or two disadvantages. Due to the low number of tourists, certain tours did not happen or the tour operators wrote that you should contact them again one day before the tour, when there is certainty if they had enough tourists to run the tour. In addition, most of the tourist shuttles, a very good alternative to public transport, did not operate because there was not the minimum number of two or three passengers. Thus, planning was partly difficult and I decided day by day where to go next.
When I was putting together a rough route before the trip, there were two places that I wanted to see the most: La Fortuna and Corcovado National Park. Right behind followed Rio Celeste and the Poás volcano. What I deliberately wanted to skip was Monteverde and the Nicoya Peninsula. Both are certainly great places. The reason why I had left out Monteverde was that the cloud forest with its suspension bridges looked similar to me on pictures as the Nyungwe National Park in Rwanda, which I had visited a few months ago. For Nicoya I simply had not enough time.
In the end, I did/visited the following activities/places in 12 days:
- Mistico Hanging Bridges
- La Fortuna Waterfall
- Arenal Volcano Hike
- Caño Negro Boat Safari
- Bogarin Sloth Trail
- Exploring Downtown San José
- Whale watching in Marino Ballena National Park
- Uvita Beach
- Mangrove Forest Sierpe
- Corcovado National Park
- Drake Bay
- Manuel Antonio Playitas Beach
- Manuel Antonio National Park
- Poás Volcano National Park
- La Paz Waterfall
- Heredia
Plus, of course, one or two inevitable “transfer days” without any activity.
I was traveling relatively fast, but I definitely could have squeezed more into my itinerary. Anyway, after talking to other travelers, I felt that I had seen more of Costa Rica in 12 days than they had in a month. Therefore, I do not want to complain.
To keep this article more or less short, I don’t want to go through day by day of my trip. Instead, I will write about which activities were absolute highlights, which activities were worthwhile respectively partially worthwhile and which I would not do a second time.
The highlights of Costa Rica
If I had to name the place I liked the most in Costa Rica, my choice would be La Fortuna. This small town is not without reason one of the most visited places in Costa Rica. It offers so much and skipping it would be a real sin.
La Fortuna is a place where you could easily spend 4-5 days without getting bored. Since I only had two full days (plus one morning), I booked a tour for my first day that covered three half-day tours in one day: the Mistico Hanging Bridges, the La Fortuna Waterfall, and the Arenal Hike.
The tour was excellent and I would recommend it to others. It was a tour that was exactly what I was looking for, which was to see as much as possible in a short amount of time. It gave me a good first impression of the nature and the wildlife of Costa Rica. We saw birds, frogs, insects and rodents and we also passed some excellent viewpoints.
The main reason to visit La Fortuna is of course the Arenal Volcano, arguably the most picturesque sight in Costa Rica. My biggest concern was that I would not see the volcano during my stay because of the fog. That happened to some people, who were in La Fortuna just before me. They could not see the volcano for a second during two or three days. Actually, the rainy season in Costa Rica is supposed to end in December. When I arrived in mid-January, the weather was still characterized by a lot of fog and rain, though. Therefore, I could not see the volcano either on my first day in La Fortuna.
Fortunately, this was no longer the case during the Arenal hike, which was the third part of my tour. I saw about 75% of the volcano. The top was still hidden behind the layer of fog, but better seeing 75% of it than nothing at all. It is by the way illegal to hike up the volcano, however most locals from La Fortuna seem to have done it at least once in their life. For tourists, there is only the possibility to do a mini-hike at the foot of the volcano.
Besides El Arenal, Rio Celeste in Tenorio Volcano National Park was the second main reason why I came to La Fortuna. Unfortunately, that hike was canceled on both days due to bad weather, so I missed this place.
However, I could do another amazing activity in La Fortuna. Shortly before leaving for San José, I visited the Bogarin Sloth Trail not far from La Fortuna’s center. It is a small privately owned park where you can observe sloths (if I remember correctly, 35 sloths live in the park), frogs, birds and other animals.
The Bogarin Sloth Trail costs $10 without a guided tour, though I can recommend to book a guide for an additional cost. Without the guide I probably would not have seen even 10% of the animals. Especially not the sloths living high up in the trees.
This small park may not be as spectacular as the national parks in Costa Rica. However, it is a must-see when in La Fortuna and it was a worthy end to my stay in this region.
My second highlight was the Corcovado National Park in the south of Costa Rica. Admittedly, getting to Corcovado takes a lot of time. You can visit the park from Drake Bay or Puerto Jimenez. Both places require about a ten-hour bus ride from the capital San José.
The drive is worth it, though, because Corcovado is a gem. This protected area is not only the most biodiverse in Costa Rica, it is also one with the greatest biodiversity in the world. During my day trip from Drake Bay, I saw all four species of monkeys that live in Costa Rica. Plus a lot of birds like the Toucan. On my first day in Costa Rica a local told me that it was guaranteed that I would see a Toucan in Costa Rica. In fact, I saw exactly one of these magnificent birds on my eighth day. But hey, the main thing is that I saw one.
You can also book an overnight tour in Corcovado. However, these were limited due to the few tourists, so my only option was the day trip. During the day trip you walk through the park for about five hours, which in my opinion is long enough to get a good impression and to see many animals.
The only minor disappointment was that I did not see a tapir. Other than that, I thought Corcovado National Park was excellent and a place not to be missed.
My top 3 of Costa Rica is completed by the Poás Volcano. Costa Rica has a large number of volcanoes, some of them are active. Central America in general is a paradise for travelers interested in spectacular volcanoes. However, unlike countries like Guatemala, El Salvador or Nicaragua, Costa Rica is a lot stricter about volcano visits. Therefore, the other countries mentioned offer better volcano experiences for tourists. Nevertheless, even in Costa Rica you can see one or the other wonderful crater. Like for example in the Poás Volcano National Park.
Although Poás Volcano was one of my best experiences, I can only partially recommend it. The reason is that the chances of seeing the crater are only about 50-50. If it is cloudy in the morning in San José, the chances are pretty bad. But even if the sky is blue, there is still no guarantee. The earlier you get there, the better are your chances, though. Anyway, the unpredictable weather plus the fact that you have to buy the tickets 1-2 days in advance make this visit a gamble. You have to decide if this gamble is worth it or not.
Well, I first thought I lost the gamble. When I arrived at the crater, I was astonished to see a dense layer of fog. I mean, the sky was blue and without clouds when I left San José. Fortunately, the fog disappeared after a few minutes (only to return after another few minutes). Since you can only spend 20 minutes at the crater, I was lucky to have a more or less good view for at least a few minutes.
Poás Volcano National Park is located near San José and can easily be done as a half-day trip from the capital. You can either take the bus or do it like I did and take an Uber there and back. It costs a lot more than the bus (I paid about $50 for both ways), but it’s faster and you can visit the La Paz waterfall on the way back if you want.
Other cool things to do in Costa Rica
La Fortuna, Corcovado and Poás were my favorite places in Costa Rica. However, there were other activities (and places) that I can also recommend.
The first activity I want to mention here is the Caño Negro Boat Safari in the Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge, about 90 minutes from La Fortuna (about 15km from the border with Nicaragua), which was an alternative to the canceled Rio Celeste hike.
On the approximately two-hour boat trip, we saw three of Costa Rica’s four monkey species, caimans, birds and other animals. It was a nice tour, though perhaps not too exciting for certain people (like me) who have done other boat safaris, e.g. in the Amazon.
Furthermore, I found Uvita pretty cool. It is a small village located right next to the Marino Ballena National Park. For me there were two activities on the bucket list. One was a whale watching tour and the other was the whale tail beach, which you can walk up and down depending on the water level.
The whale tail beach is an interesting oddity of nature. It is a stretch of beach that extends into the sea like a peninsula in the shape of a whale tail. As luck would have it, it is also located in the exact place where hundreds of humpback whales congregate each year.
Uvita is located pretty much in the middle between San José and Corcovado National Park. In order not to make the whole trip between these places in one day, Uvita is therefore a perfect stopover for one or two days.
And while we’re talking about beaches, I’ll mention Drake Bay here as well. Drake Bay is one of the places from which the Corcovado tours start. To me it seemed like a place where time stands still. It is a quiet bay with a few hundred people living in the village, which consists of a few restaurants, guest houses, and a supermarket.
The beach in Drake Bay is only suitable for swimming to a limited extent. On the one hand, the water directly on the coast is too sandy and on the other hand, there are other animals living in the water. I already asked myself why I was the only person who went about 100 meters into the sea. I found out the reason the next day. Apparently there are also crocodiles in this bay. They are only babies and “only” about 2 meters long, but I do not want to imagine how my reaction would have been if I had suddenly seen such an animal next to me.
By the way, if you go to Drake Bay, there is a little bonus, namely the boat ride from Sierpe. First you take the bus to Sierpe and from there you take the water cab to Drake Bay. The one-hour boat trip leads through the largest mangrove forest of Central America and is simply amazing.
The last thing I would like to mention is Heredia. Heredia is a small town about twenty minutes from San José. Although you don’t have to see the town as a tourist, I found it much more pleasant than San José. In contrast to the capital, Heredia is a pretty and cozy colonial town that left a good impression on me.
Places and activities that I cannot (fully) recommend
On every trip there are a few activities that didn’t quite fill your expectations. Costa Rica was no exception. In this part I would like to point out what I would do differently if I could plan the trip again.
I booked a whale watching tour in Uvita. The first in my life. I already knew that on such tours you often see little or nothing. As a result, the tour provider also communicated in advance that there is no guarantee that you will actually see the animals (and no refund of course).
On this half-day tour I saw a whale three times for about ten seconds. Seeing how the whale came to the surface was incredible. Nevertheless, this was a tour that I would not do again. When whale watching, you usually don’t see anything for twenty minutes, then the ten-second spectacle happens. I’m probably too impatient for that. It is not a tour that I regret, but I think this experience will remain unique. Besides, it is just my personal opinion and other people found the tour amazing.
I also found the Manuel Antonio National Park, the most visited park in Costa Rica, and the village next to the park just meh. This place has been ruined by tourism, resulting in a high presence of touts, drug dealers and rip-off artists. At least the beach is nice, although it was by far the most crowded I have seen in Costa Rica.
The Manuel Antonio National Park is not bad, but also quite small (after two to three hours you have explored it). In addition, paved roads and wooden paths lead through the forest, so that families can also bring their stroller. Unfortunately, this means that the jungle feeling, as you can find it for example in Corcovado National Park, is completely wasted.
By the way, I visited Manuel Antonio by myself, as I wanted to see if I can spot animals without a guide. I did. I saw several monkeys, a sloth, reptiles and other animals. For sure, I would have seen even more with a guide, but I also found it quite exciting to visit the park as the first guest at 7am and have it almost to myself. Besides, running into a snake alone provided an extra thrill. 🙂
Anyway, I wouldn’t advise against a visit to Manuel Antonio National Park, but I think there are better parks in Costa Rica. Like Corcovado I mentioned earlier, or most likely Tortuguero, which I didn’t visit.
Last but not least, let’s talk about San José. Even though you read in most travel message boards that you should not spend any time in San José, it is still difficult to completely skip the capital of Costa Rica. This is either because you spend the day of arrival or before departure there, or because you make a stopover in San José when you travel from the north to the south, or vice versa.
Not everything about San José is bad. There are some sights, although it does not take more than half a day (probably even more like two hours) to see them. Apart from that, San José scores with those things that are otherwise not available in the small towns or villages near the tourist attractions: a great culinary offer and shopping opportunities. There is also nightlife in San José, but the bars have to close at 10pm during the pandemic.
All in all, I found San José, especially downtown, to be hectic and somehow unpleasant. It’s an ugly city and has nothing to do with the pura vida-lifestyle you find elsewhere in Costa Rica. For me, San José is one of the capitals that is least representative of the rest of the country. I therefore agree with the recommendation to spend as little time as possible in San José and focus on other places.
What I liked about Costa Rica
So, what makes Costa Rica a great destination?
For me, it is a country that pays exemplary attention to the well-being of its nature and is therefore one of the best countries in the world to admire flora and fauna. The different ecosystems and the rich fauna in a relatively small country size make it possible to see many animals in different habitats in a short time. Thus, in my opinion, the national parks should be the first priority on a Costa Rica trip.
The good thing about Costa Rica, however, is that the country offers more than just watching animals for two to three weeks. Among other things, the country has beaches, which also attract many surfers, volcanoes, mountains and rain-forests. With outdoor activities such as zip-lining, water-rafting or paragliding, Costa Rica becomes interesting for adventure tourists, besides a lively bar and nightclub scene (in normal times) attracts a large number of backpackers.
I saw four different beaches in Costa Rica, all of them on the Pacific coast. The beaches were not what I would call world class, but still fairly pretty. Unfortunately, I missed the Nicoya Peninsula, where probably the most beautiful beaches of the country are located. I didn’t have enough time for this region. The beaches should not be the main reason for a Costa Rica trip, because other countries are definitely better suited for that. Anyway, they offer a good break from the national parks.
Also cool are the volcanoes of Costa Rica, of which I had seen two. I was actually lucky to see the Poás volcano, because due to regular eruptions in the last years the national park was closed again and again. By the way, Arenal’s last eruption took place in 1968 and killed many people. The owner of the Bogarin Trail survived the eruption and witnessed how the volcano threw car-sized rocks through the air for kilometers.
The natural attractions are only one reason why Costa Rica is a great country. The Ticos/Ticas, as the people of Costa Rica are called, are very nice and helpful people, but without being pushy in any way (except for those in Manuel Antonio). The country is also quite safe. In San José there are some dodgy areas, but even the capital is safe as long as you use common sense (e.g. by taking a cab after sunset).
It is not only the high level of security that makes Costa Rica a very easy country to travel. The tourism infrastructure is quite developed. Thanks to shuttles you can get from one place to another relatively quickly, which is a good alternative to public transport. Unfortunately, most shuttles did not operate when I was there. However, public transport also allows for inexpensive travel within the country. Although with some negative aspects, which I will explain below. The most recommended way is to rent a car anyway, which gives you the maximum flexibility.
All in all, I found Costa Rica to be a beautiful country with lots to do and discover, and where you can also meet many nice people, be it locals or other travelers. Yet, there are also a few (minor) points that I would criticize.
…what I did not like.
First, there is the infrastructure. By that I mean, above all, the country’s road network. A country like Costa Rica, which places a high value on living in harmony with nature, sometimes has to cut back when it comes to damaging nature at the expense of buildings. Especially when you get away from San José, you find fewer roads, which is why it sometimes takes ages to get from one place to another.
Want a small example? Drake Bay, in the south of the country, and Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast are less than 150km apart as the crow flies. Nevertheless, it takes about 10 hours by car to get from one place to the other. If you take the bus, it is even 15 hours. The reason for this is that you almost have to drive up to San José when traveling between these places.
Even if you want to go from La Fortuna to Monteverde, for example, and you don’t have your own car, you have to go back to San José and then up north again. Thus, a three-hour car trip quickly turns into a ten-hour bus ride. Domestic flights can help you to avoid the sometimes very long distances. However, the smaller airports are only served by San José, so that even most flights require a stopover in the capital.
Furthermore, I found the food in Costa Rica quite monotonous. The national dish of Costa Rica is Casado, which consists of rice, beans, meat, vegetables and salad. On every, really EVERY tour I participated in Costa Rica, they served Casado for lunch. Don’t get me wrong, Casado is not a bad dish, but it really gets boring at some point. Apart from that, I didn’t find the local food to be anything I’ll remember for a long time. Fortunately, there are plenty of restaurants with international food.
Another point that bothered me were the horrendous prices I paid for tours. Costa Rica generally has the reputation of not being a budget-friendly travel destination. This was not true for hotel prices, probably because of Covid. It was neither true for transportation, as Uber is quite cheap for distances up to 1.5 hours. For longer distances, the bus tickets are also affordable, you get even a rental car quite cheap. I wouldn’t call the food overly expensive either.
The tours, on the other hand, range from $70-$150, which I think is expensive, especially compared to other destinations. Imagine a Poás and La Paz Waterfall tour with 10 people paying $140 each. The tour operators will easily make a net profit of $100 per person here. Even if you forgo tours and visit some sights on your own, you have to dig deep into your pockets to pay the entrance fees.
How I rate Costa Rica as a destination
Despite one or two points of criticism, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives. I had a great time in Costa Rica and saw a lot, met nice people and except for the Rio Celeste hike, I was able to check everything off my to-do list during my trip.
As I wrote in the introduction, I know people who call Costa Rica their favorite country. So I was wondering how I would rank Costa Rica among other destinations. First of all, let me say that Costa Rica is a unique country that is difficult to compare with other countries. Besides, I must add that Costa Rica was only my third country in Central America and my tenth country in Latin America. Even with these countries, it’s hard to compare, but I’ll give it a try.
If I look only at the Central American countries I have been to, Costa Rica is my number 1. Compared to El Salvador, which is also an exciting country, Costa Rica still offers a bit more in the end. I would say the same in comparison with Panama, although to be fair, I had only seen the capital there. And I consider Panama City a better city than San José in all aspects.
If I now add the other Latin American countries I have been to for comparison, Costa Rica still does very well. Costa Rica is often called a very good country for Latin America beginners, and I couldn’t agree more. The country is quite safe, the people are friendly, there is plenty to see and do, plus the tourism infrastructure is well developed.
However, if someone asked me which Latin American country he or she should travel to first, my answer would be Peru. In my opinion, what you can experience in the Andean country is simply another league. I would also consider Colombia, one of my absolute favorite countries, as a more fascinating destination. After these two countries, however, Costa Rica would then take the bronze medal of Latin America.
As I said before, I am aware that it is difficult to compare these countries, but since I am often asked whether this or that country was better than the other, I gave it a try anyway.
My final conclusion is that Costa Rica is without a doubt a great place to travel, especially in times of the pandemic. Would I have liked Costa Rica so much under normal circumstances? Good question, I will probably not find out so quickly. But when I read in some blog posts from 2018 that you have to stand in line for Manuel Antonio an hour before the official opening time to even have a chance to get in, I am glad that I could visit the country during the pandemic.
Will I be back soon? Honestly I think no, because at the end of my trip I didn’t feel I needed a few more days. After all, the activities would have just been a bit repetitive by visiting one or two additional national parks, a few additional beaches, and possibly one more volcano. For this reason, Costa Rica remains in my memory as a great trip, which for now, however, is completed and will not be repeated in the next few years. To all others, I can only recommend to visit this beautiful country before the hordes of tourists return.
