has anyone been to costa rica?

how did you like it, we are thinking of going in oct- i know its the rainy season but its our anniversary trip. Any must see things? Ive been doing some research but it seems overwhelming-- which area is the nicest???

Re: has anyone been to costa rica?

I just got back from Costa Rica 2 weeks ago.

We didn't do an all out adventure trip - we mostly stayed at our resort (we mostly wanted to relax in the sun). We did do one full day of touring though.

I stayed at the Paradisus Playa Conchal - in Guanacoste (sp?) region. It is a beach area/all-inclusive resort. We had a great time. I met a lot of people who spend a few days in the rainforest/vollcano area and then a few days at our resort to be at the beach. They said the weather was so different. In the area we stayed at it was 90+ and very humid every day. In the rain forest - it rained. They said it was so bad they couldn't do anything but what could they have expected in a rain forest right? But they said it rained worst than they expected and was told it had been raining that way for over a month. In our area we did not have rain at all but our tour guide said rainy season is pretty much May-Dec in this area with Sept and Octobre being the worst...so I would be careful...guess it depends what you want.

I did the canopy/zip lines and hot springs and stuff on my full day of touring and it was fun. I hear the volcano tours are amzing as well.

I have tons of pictures - if you are interested I can post some or email them to you.

Re: has anyone been to costa rica?

I love Costa Rica!!!

Re: has anyone been to costa rica?

Niecey,
I am planning to go to the Paradisus in Costa Rica. How was the food- would you reccommend it. I was planning on going in Oct though-- I will have to check on the rain though. How long did you stay for- would you have stayed longer?

Re: has anyone been to costa rica?

dcwife-I stayed for 7 days and it was fine. If you want to travel and see all parts of the country you may consider staying for longer. The day trip we took (mega combo tour) was great but all day from 7:30 am to like 7pm. The had a trip to the volcano but it was over a 3 hour drive each way. So if you are doing things like that everyday - you will miss the chance to sit back at the resort and enjoy it and relax.

The resort is very nice. It is rated 5 star but I would rate it a little under 5 star but probably still the best resort that is all-inclusive there. This was my 4th all-inclusive and I have to say I like the one in Mexico I went to last year a little better.

We ate so much! The food was good. Breakfast buffet was fine - something for everyone. The had eggs, omelets, pancakes, fruit and traditional CR dishes. I ate rice and beans with every meal - yummy. Lunch was buffet near the pool (decent), sit down restaurant far from pool (too far for us so we never went) or the snack bar. I highly recommend the snack bar. We avoided it because we thought it would be junky and the last day we went and it was really yummy! For dinner there is 4 sit down restaurants and one buffet. The buffet is just ok in my opinion but they have tons of food and a variety. The Italian restaurant was surprisingly very good and we went there twice. The Asian was good - but coming from NYC and loving Asian food - I can only rate it ok - most people loved it. I never got to the seafood place. There is an outside golf course side restaurant and that had really good food but it is outdoors seating and it gets hot and humid. My biggest complaint was you had to make reservations if you want to go to one of the sit-down/menu service restaurants. You can only make them that day and it has to be between 8am and 11am. Now if you do a tour - you leave before that usually. You just got to go back then and hope something isn't booked up. But the Italian and Asian book up and book up quick. We went at 8:20am and couldn't get reservations for either unless we wanted to go at 6pm - which is way too early for us. Also the seafood doesn't take reservations and the day we tried to go there is was all booked up saying that there was some kind of corporate function going on and since we didn't make reservations anywhere else we had to eat at the buffet which we didn't love. So we just would wake up at 7:45 run down and get reservations and go back and relax.

If you want more info or pictures - FM me or send me your email address so I can send you my online album of pictures!

Here are some resort pictures for you:
Golf Course

Monkeys in the trees off of the golf course:


Resort walkway


Our room


View from Lobby

View from swin up bar at happy hour!

Lobby

Re: has anyone been to costa rica?

Sunsets in CR


The canopy tour

Mud Baths


Natural Hot and COld Springs


Riding Horsey's on the beach

Re: has anyone been to costa rica?

Thanks for the review. We want to mostly relax so I think it will be perfect.

Re: has anyone been to costa rica?

do a search! a bunch of us have gone and posted reviews. i LOVED it.