Costa Rica: 8-day itinerary (central + caribbean coastline)
Costa Rica has never been on the top of our must-visit list. I mean, don’t get me wrong, if somebody asked me if I wanted to visit Costa Rica I would say “Of course I do!” but it wasn’t one of those places we talked about travelling to for years (like the upcoming Japan for example).
So the whole trip was quite spontaneous – well, as much spontaneous as it can be planning 4 months in advance. One morning I said “Let’s go for holidays at the end of October”, Thomas proposed the first thing that came to his mind and in the evening of the very same day we already had our tickets. Ready for an adventure! But, being an incredible organization freak as I am, we’ve dedicated quite some time to research and plan our quite short (one week) trip. Below you can find our detailed itinerary with the list of top recommendations. Here you can find a more compact storybook about our stay.
From Paris we found a really convenient connection of Air France to Panama with only another 1-hour flight to San Jose after. However, going back and already planning to buy our own caban in the Caribbean jungle, we were really happy to hear that Air France is soon launching a direct flight to Costa Rica, making our future plans so much easier!
Now, you might get surprised by the time of our trip as October usually does not appear on the places recommended to visit that time of the year. It’s raining heavily on the more popular Pacific coast and the central part stays rather gloomy as well. What most people don’t know though, is that the Caribbean coast has its complete own seasonal pattern and the end of October might be the best time to visit this side of Costa Rica. As a result, we ended up with the most wonderful weather (not going lower than 30° Celcius) and all empty beaches just to ourselves.
Arriving in San Jose late in the evening after a 14-hour journey (and quite a stress caused by the delay of our flight) we were extremely happy we’ve decided to rent a car to move around. The service welcomed us right at the airport and taken us to the office where all the formalities took less than half an hour. Here I can’t recommend more Vamos Rent A Car agency – amazingly friendly service and no surprises on the way for the whole week! Thanks to this convenient decision, our car was the only mean of transport (not counting the bikes we’ve rented on the coast) we used over the course of our stay avoiding the (in)famous Costa Rican public transportation. However, according to my research, our itinerary should be completely doable by bus too!
Day 1: San Jose -> La Fortuna
As we arrived to San Jose just before midnight the day before, only to have time to check into our hostel and gladly go to sleep, we started the count of our trip the lovely sunny morning we woke up in the capital. And what a nice welcome it was! To our surprise, the sun rises there really early (sets early as well) turning us into early birds we’d never been before (or was it jetlag?). Planning some time to visit San Jose in itself by the end of our trip, we decided to enjoy our first Costa Rican breakfast in the hostel (and our first encounter with gallo pinto - traditional local breakfast made of fried rice, black beans and sides of fried eggs and bananas) and head directly to La Fortuna.
For a one-night stay in San Jose, Casa 69 is a really comfortable choice. The rooms are properly clean, the hotel charmingly decorated in colonial style, the stuff extremely friendly (not speaking much English though), and the complimentary breakfast delicious! Honestly, at the end of our trip we decided to stay in another hostel in the city and highly regretted we didn’t come back to Casa 69.
The route from San Jose to La Fortuna is extremely pleasant and well-maintained. It’s a 3-hour drive by car with a picturesque pass through the mountains – no fuss and no traffic, pure pleasure! What we discovered driving around Costa Rica though, and what was recommended to us by the car agency as well, it is much better to use Waze as your GPS navigation instead of traditional Google Maps that sometimes misses the updates on temporary works or changes in traffic.
Day 2: La Fortuna, Arenal Volcano, hot springs
La Fortuna is the name of small city located in the province of Alajuela in the central part of Costa Rica, 130 km from San Jose. Meaning literally “The Fortune” this area is famous for its picturesque location right under the famous Arenal Volcano (one of the top 20 of the world's most active volcanoes) and a number of natural hot springs due to this proximity.
Since we planned only 1 full day in the area (expecting a rather rainy weather) we decided to experience everything the location has to offer. In the morning, fully waterproofed, we headed to the Arenal Volcano National Park for a hike. This is where usually you get to discover the most beautiful views of the volcano, which we unfortunately had to give up on considering low and dense clouds for the whole day. However, if you are us unlucky with the weather as we were, we would still highly recommend not to give up the hike. The entrance to the park is only 20 km away from La Fortuna and costs $10 per person. The park offers two routes, one of 1h30 and one of almost 3 hours –feeling eager and brave we opted for the long one but unfortunately got lost on the way and finished the trail in less than 2 hours…
Even if it’s not raining, I believe the humidity in this dense jungle is so high (as is the temperature) you will most probably get quite wet anyway. The best way to wind out after a hike like this is to take advantage of the wide offer of hot springs in the area. After a little research, we booked our bath in Eco Termales Hot Springs surprisingly situated only 5 minutes from the hotel we were staying in. This family-run location is a magical resort, especially during the evening hours (this is when we got there) in our opinion leaving most of the commercial touristic resorts far behind. You can even book an option with a dinner afterwards.
In between the hiking and the soaking in we decided to warm ourselves up (what should be really easy to do with the temperature of almost 30°) with a cup of Costa Rican coffee. The best place to do that in La Fortuna is to visit the Red Frog Coffee Roaster where the owner prepares his own beans from the scratch (he picks them up himself in the best Costa Rican locations, roasts an prepares on the spot along with many other coffee-based products). We were pretty lucky to catch him alone and got to the see and have explained the whole process. And the coffee… yum!
In terms of accommodation in La Fortuna, we completely fell in love with our hotel from the moment we arrived. Hotel Roca Negra del Arenal is a beautiful oasis surrounded by the most impressive garden and mini zoo and with a direct view of the volcano on a sunny day. It is slightly less posh than most of the other resorts in the area, but definitely intimate and with a great atmosphere. Honestly, couldn’t praise it more.
Day 3: La Fortuna -> Puerto Viejo
The road from La Fortuna to Puerto Viejo is yet another remarkable one with a slightly different landscape. This time we were passing by all kinds of plantations and meadows all the way to the most magical Caribbean coast, what you can easily imagine how it looks like… Once again, the road is really well-maintained and no 4x4 is needed.
Puerto Viejo is one of the biggest coastal towns of Costa Rican Caribbean side. Situated in between the National Park of Cahuita and the line of other smaller towns, each of them with a beach more beautiful than another, it was obviously a good spot to settle in for the few days. The center of Puerto Viejo didn’t charm us so much though. It seems like finding accommodation further South around Playa Cocles or Chiquita might turn more pleasant. This is exactly what we did (by chance, but turned out as a good choice).
There are numerous possibilities of accommodation in this area as it is a rather touristic one in season. This time we went for Airbnb, especially that we found a really amazing offer. Our little private bamboo house was hidden a 10-minute walk inside of the jungle just after Playa Cocles and provided us with one of the most incredible experiences ever! Falling asleep with the sounds of jungle (including growling monkeys!) was definitely unforgettable.
Days 4-7: Puerto Viejo, Cahuita
As we found ourselves a bit outside of Puerto Viejo and planned to discover some other villages around (plus, we parked our car in the jungle and didn’t really feel like moving it there and back…) we quickly realized that another mean of transport would be more than convenient. We saw many people moving by bike along the shore and decided to do the same thing. Hopefully, there are several bike rentals in the area in a completely fair price.
One of our must-visits on the Caribbean coast was the National Park of Cahuita famous for its picturesque location along the shore of the sea and for a number of animals possible to spot while visiting (sloths included!). We dedicated one of our days for this trip and it was definitely one of the highlights!
It’s a 15-miute drive from Puerto Viejo to get to the center of Cahuita, where the entrance to the park is located. This time it was free but we were asked whether we’d like to rent a guide to help us spot the animals on the way. Being a little bit over-confident we decided to do the hike by ourselves but passed by many guided groups on the way so perhaps, if you are really into animals, it might be worth considering! The walk is as spectacular as it is said to be. For almost 3 hours we walked with a beautiful coastline on our left and a dense jungle with damp fields on our right spotting a number of little creatures (crabs, colorful butterflies, an iguana and even a few little monkeys!) all the way to the peak of the peninsula. What was the best, however, was the fact the once we got hot, we could stop on one of the wild beaches and just embrace the paradise!
Having our bikes and wanting to discover all the beaches south from Puerto Viejo, our last day in the area we set ourselves on a little biking trip. What a great idea! Starting from Playa Cocles (a wide sandy surfing beach), next to which we lived during our stay, we head to Playa Chiquita, which amazed us with its impeccable sand and a feeling of wild paradise (one more time were the only ones around) and rode all the way to Punta Uva that turned out to be our favourite with a wild jungle oasis growing into the sea and creating a beautiful turquoise color of the water.
There plenty of places in and around Puerto Viejo to eat and we managed to discover some of real pearls! Forst of all, the hidden Lazlo’s catch of the day, that made us walk there and back for quite some time before we found out where the place actually was (no sign, nothing, just a bunch of retired Americans playing cards by one of the tables) but serves us one of the most delicious fish plates you can imagine. Then, the low-profile Soda Lidia's Place with a Carribean chicken to die for (I think Thomas is still draming about it, really). And at the end De Gustibus Bakery, which as an Italian bakery is nothing special but the breakfast menu with Huevos Rancheros and the selection of fresh smoothies were amazing.
Day 7: Puerto Viejo -> San Jose
After our last breakfast and a quick stroll in Puerto Viejo we decided to hit the road back to San Jose as we had another 6-drive ahead of us. We already knew the part of the road as we took it arriving from La Fortuna but how surprising was the other part just before the capital! As it appears to enter San Jose from the Eastern part of the country you have to pass the Braulio Carrillo National Park where you literally drive through the hills covered in dense rainforest - the last goodbye for us to this spectacular wonder.
Arriving to San Jose late in the afternoon and not feeling quite eager to discover the city in the dark we only asked the receptionist in our hostel about the recommendation on where to eat in the nearby area. Luckily enough Casa Yoses Hostel (definitely not recommended by us however... or were we this unfortunate to stay there on the night of a Halloween party?) is situated not far from what was introduced to us as a "gastronomic area of San Jose". If you're looking for a place in the capital to hang out in the evening with a drink and some tasty snacks, Calle 33 is definitely the place to head to. We chose Agüizotes Gastro Pub and would recommend it for a night out.
Day 8: San Jose -> Paris
Our last day in Costa Rica was the day we decided to dedicate to visiting San Jose and honestly, it was fairly enough. Obviously there is plenty to do in San Jose, especially if you appreciate the typical colonial architecture, but for us a calm stroll around the city centre was just satisfying. After all, once you spend a few days on the Caribbean coast, there's not much that can wow you more...
If you still have some questions about our trip, you're planning your own excursion and looking for more details, don't hesitate to leave a comment below or contact us directly! Costa Rica is a wonderful destination for both relaxing and active holidays and we are quite sure to come back one day...
