Costa Rica vacations. We are planning on going first week of August?

Question

There are 12 of us, 6 adults and 6 kids ages 9 to 17. We are going to see Arenal and the Pacific Coast. We will be there the last week of July/First week of August. What is the weather really like? Where should we stay at Arenal? Are there luxury places on the beach? Do we really need to take malaria pills?

Answer 1

Enjoy your trip and don't worry about malaria! it's not the jungle! buy yourself some mosquito repellent and you will be fine (and use it only at the beach).

We are in our rainy season, but you can get lucky because in july, there are many sunny days.  Arenal is a very beautiful area, you should go and see the volcano.  In Guanacaste you will find many beautiful beaches and exotic locations, and some luxury hotels, like Reserva Conchal, Four Seasons, and Hacienda Pinilla (a golf resort).

Good luck and enjoy our country.

Answer 2

Well, I'm sorry to inform you that during those months, you will get rain... it's our winter / rainy season. Not all day...but heavy showers usually in the afternoon. In the Arenal region there are some nice hotels, I would recommend : http://www.tabacon.com/   http://www.montanadefuego.com/

http://www.hotelarenalkioro.com/. On the beach there are plenty of nice resorts, depends on your budget... but you can look into the Four Seasons, Marriot Resort... Papagayo Resort ... a general google search for luxury hotels will give you options of hotels and private luxury villas that are fully equipped and staffed and have become very popular. I strongly recommend these if you have transportation. As far as malaria pills... you can scratch those right off your list.

Enjoy... Pura Vida!

Answer 3

malaria pills...? you don't need that. i recomemd to go first to the arenal. there is a place called arenal lodge. you'll love it. is rigth in the front of the volcano. it has a great view and the time i was there wondering around at night, the volcano erupted and it was amazing with the lava thing. lava on the air and then the little lava trails coming down the volcano. that's a night i won't forget. then i don't know exactly what do you mean about luxury on the beach cuz we have hotel on the beach from $90 and up. at manuel antonio we have the parador ($180+up), in playa herradura the marriot los suenos($160+up), in papagayo the four seasons($450+up)... there is a lot. but those places they cost money but you won't have the great time as probably like montezuma area. great beach, nice town, great waterfalls and there is a lot to do there.

Answer 4

Well lets start with the easy one - you don't need malaria pills.

As for the weather, yes, it will be rainy season, but it is also rainy season at the moment, and the weather has been nothing short of fantastic for the last 3 weeks (I am in Manuel Antonio on the Central Pacific coast).

Anyway, visiting in the rainy season is not such a bad thing, see my article about it at the link provided below.

If you are planning on passing through Manuel Antonio on the Central Pacific coast, or MalPais on the Nicoya peninsula I can recommend some fantastic private villas for you to stay in, either on the beach or with fantastic views. It often works out better than staying in a hotel price-wise and standard-wise (another article about this as well linked below).

Feel free to contact me here, or through my website (www.ricarent.com)

Have fun! Its a beautiful country.