my ridiculously long Costa Rica HM Review with TONS of pics!!

I would add this at the end of my wedding review, but I want to wait until I get my proofs and I just can't wait to share my HM with you guys

I know a lot of people are going/thinking of going to Costa Rica for their HMs and right now there aren't a lot of reviews on here about Costa Rica, so hopefully this will be helpful!!

Travel Agency (see link) - A+++++++++ When we started thinking about going to Costa Rica for our HM, we didn't know where to begin. I searched on Google for 'costa rica HM' and the first website it pulled up was, conveniently enough, www.costawww.honeymoonincostarica.com . From the first time we went onto that website, we were sold! Although the trips were highly customizable, we looked at the suggested itinerary and hotels for the 'Boutique Honeymoon' and knew it was perfect for us. It had just the right amount of travel, activities and leisure time, so we booked it. They requested 10% down and then the remainder a month before. Once you pay off your balance, they sent a very detailed packet in the mail, listing everything you need to know about Costa Rica - what to bring, the fact that everyone takes US$, all your hotel info, a very detailed itinerary, etc. Once we arrived in Costa Rica, we received another huge packet, with vouchers for each of our activities. The other great part of this agency is that they took care of all of the travel arrangements between hotels/cities in Costa Rica for us and made them interesting (I'll get to that later on) They were on top of the ball, too, making sure that every part of our stay met our expectations. They really made this trip super simple and we got to see some amazing parts of Costa Rica that we probably wouldn't have selected on our own. In fact, booking the HM was probably the easiest part of our entire wedding process. They also have a sister website www.costaricaonlinetravel.com
where you can book regular vacations, as opposed to honeymoons. I would highly recommend them to anyone who's looking to travel to Costa Rica!

Sept 11 - Sept 13 - Xandari Resort, Alajuela - A++++++++
We took an EARLY flight direct from JFK to the San Jose airport, so we made it to Xandari by 11am. Although we were tired from getting up at 3am NY time, it was so beautiful, we didn't care. We had an 'Ultra' room, which had two double beds, a sitting area, little kitchen, huge bathroom and amazing patio overlooking San Jose. The hotel is located about 30 miles north and 3900 ft up in the mountains, so you have an amazing view of the coutry's capital.
out on our patio:

our room:


We didn't have any activities scheduled for our arrival, but we didn't need any. Xandari has a huge chunk of property, which includes an orchard and a river/rain forest hiking trail which overlooks 4 waterfalls, one being 110 ft high! we spent our entire first afternoon and our last morning at Xandari just hiking around.
the orchard:

the jungle trail:

at one of the falls:

one of the falls:


after a long hike, we went to eat at the hotel's restaurant. we'd only heard really bad things about the city of San Jose and weren't feeling quite adventurous enough to try and find a local place to eat, however we got to see an amazing sunset over San Jose!
San Jose at night:


The next morning, we got up EARLY for a full day tour. We started at the Doka Coffee Plantation, made our way to the Poas Volcano and ended at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, which is kinda like a wildlife refuge, complete with hiking trails and more amazing waterfalls.
breakfast at the coffee plantation:
our tour guide, explaining how the field workers pick the beans:
what coffee beans look like before roasting:
roasting a fresh batch. it smelled amazing:
rows of coffee plants:
walking to the Poas Volcano - big leaf, small hand:
it was foggy, but made for some amazing pictures of the crater:
now color:
a toucan at La Paz Waterfall Gardens:
two parrots and a toucan:
i think he wanted to eat my thumbs:
a beautiful butterfly:

humingbirds in action!
in the frog house:



hiking to one of the waterfalls in the waterfall garden:

us, by the falls:

we were able to get really close:
now from afar


The next day, we were leaving Xandari around 1:30pm, so we got up early and hiked around more to see more of the hotel grounds and the artwork. The unique thing about this hotel was that the owner's wife was an artist and did ALL of the artwork in the entire hotel. It was amazing! [

i love how the water looks like smoke in this one:
[
this was the bar, painted by the owner's wife:
we planted a tree to 'erase our carbon footprint'


this was the 110 ft. falls:


Once we were picked up from Xandari, we started the 3.5 hr drive to Manuel Antonio and our next hotel, Gaia. Most of the drive was really interesting because you saw a lot of the countryside and many different towns. They also stopped at a fruit market so that we were able to taste the local fruits and of course, make any purchases we wanted. There are some strange fruits down there, I will say. We were excited because we bought a whole bag of Lychee, which we didn't even know they have down there. Overall, while I wasn't necessarily impressed with Costa Rican food, the fruit was some of the best I've ever had. They turned me into a pineapple lover!! I'm not even joking when I say I ate pineapple and papaya every single morning for breakfast.
we stopped at a bridge to take pictures of the lovely alligators:

The only issue I had with this drive was that there is only one way to drive into Manuel Antonio, which entails going over one bridge that is only wide enough for 1 car at a time. This bridge is only 4 kilometers (2.5/3 miles?) from our hotel, so we were at the very end of our drive when we arrived at the bridge. Of course, the day we were riding into Manuel Antonio, the bridge was closed, however our driver wasn't aware of this (because there aren't traffic reports). We ended up sitting in a stopped dead line of traffic for over two hours. DH and I eventually had to get out and find a bathroom because we had already been in the car for 3 hrs when we arrived at the bridge. However, we could've spent an extra $100 and taken a 20 minute flight into Manuel Antonio and then had the whole day to explore the city. Had I know anything about this, I probably would've opted to pay the extra money for the flight!!

Sept 13 - 16 - Hotel Gaia, Manuel Antonio - A++++
Gaia was another amazing hotel. It was very modern and contemporary, which turned my DH off a bit, but I just loved it. Manuel Antonio and the little fishing village it borders, Quepos, are two amazing little towns. It's kinda sad, but there is development EVERYWHERE. Like, million dollar homes going up at every corner. Of course, it's Americans/Candians moving in, but still, it's an up and coming place. These towns are right on the Pacific Ocean, which is probably why it's top notch real estate. It's a little weird though, to be looking at a million dollar home next to a shack with a tin roof. It kinda puts things into perspective a little bit. . .anyway, back to the HM. We had three nights at Gaia and unfortunately, due to the travel/bridge problem, lost an entire evening there. We arrived around 7pm and not having eaten anything since breakfast at 7am, we immediately changed and went to dinner, but not before making a little friend first - we called him our welcome frog: