Im planning to go to costa rica with a friend in september for a week...

Question

ive heard from like 3 people that i shouldn't book my hotel on-line or buy the all inclusive vacations since its not worth it.. i would like to go to different places like arenal, san jose mostly get to see the most i can...should i just get the hotel in the town that i will be visiting day by day ?? please i need help !!

Answer 1

By September the tourist silly season is over. There will be plenty of rooms availabe everyplace and  rates may already be dropping. Do not use services providing inclusive vacations.  They are overpriced and very limiting.  You will be surprised at what is excluded in an all included vacation- local transport for example or adequate meals.

You  will not need to reserve rooms in advance, although for peace of mind you may want to phone ahead day by day to be sure there is a room available.  

Making reservations on line requires using credit cards, in most cases you take a double penalty doing that.  First the card companies use an unfavorable exchange rate and then tack on a surcharge for trasactions in foeign currencies.   Most banks are now set up to use credit cards.  You can save significantly by using traveler's checks and credit cards when you need to, not booking online in advance

Be warned.  COsta Rica is now a very expensive place.  FOr an equal amount of money spent you will get more in Miami, Florida, unless you carefully go the low cost route.  

Answer 2

one week! isnt enough time but...

you can do your own rides by yourself, you dont really need travel agencies to visit some places like volcanos, you can stay in town an rent a car or travel by bus... and save money...

arenal volcano is a little bit far from San José, but you can stay for 1 o 2 days in San Carlos, theres a lot of places, big and small hotels, and very cheap too.

also for Turrialba Volcano, but the other volcanoes are near from town and you can do an one day trip and return to your hotel in san josé.

Answer 3

I just went to Costa Rica with my boyfriend in June. We booked our trip through Caravan tours. It was amazing. It included all our hotels, transportation, excursions, and meals. We both kept saying how the trip totally paid for itself in just the first 4-5 days alone. We had such an awesome experience and felt that we got to see/do a little of everything that Costa Rica has to offer. At first we were a little skeptical because we thought we may end up with a bunch of old people for our whole trip, but it was a completely mixed bunch of people. A group of us became quite close throughout the trip and it truly felt as though we were vacationing with friends. I highly recommend this tour. Costa Rica is not the type of place you want to try and find your way around on your own as the streets are crowded (and oftentimes do not have lines marking lanes) and also it's hard to find any street signs anywhere. I couldn't imagine trying to get around there in a rental car. The tour bus you get to ride in w/Caravan is a nice big air conditioned Mercedes bus. Its really nice! Our tour director, Elston, was amazing and always had lots of information to offer as we were traveling through the different regions. Very knowledgeable! Marcos, our bus driver, was amazing too. Oftentimes I could not believe he could navigate the big bus through the narrow streets so effortlessly.

I would have to say that Tortuguero was one of our favorite places to visit. It truly is a one of a kind experience. You can only get there by boat or plane(no roads). We felt completely cut off from the world and that was the best feeling while on vacation.

Caravan has between 1-2 tour groups going through Costa Rica at the same time. The groups end up staying at different hotels on the list provided. Based on the hotels we stayed at and talking with our director, I know we got the better hotels. The hotels were all amazing! None of them were budget type hotels(at least out of the ones we stayed at). They were all very nice, clean, and modern.

Overall, I highly recommend this tour to anyone. You get the most bang for your buck.

btw, I forgot to mention to try and zipline while you're there. It was the best experience ever. This was the one and only thing that was not part of our tour, so we booked this through our hotel(Magic Mountain Resort) when we were in La Fortuna. It was only $60 and we got to hike, zipline a bunch of lines, and horseback ride. Everyone who went absolutely loved it, even the ones who were scared of heights!

Feel free and email me if you have any questions, I'd be glad to help

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Answer 4

Definitely book the hotel before hand, just look for ones with pictures or that are listed in a guide like Lonely Planet. Avoid all-inclusive.  Those are great in places where there's nothing to do, but there's just too much good stuff in CR.  I stayed at the Gran Hotel in San Jose and it was wonderful. Good central location to take day tours from, right next door to a wonderful theater, central sqaure, and shopping esplanade, and walking distance to everything you need in the City.

San Jose is not one of the more popular tourist destinations because it is a little far from the coast, but I found it one of the most wonderful cities I've ever been in.  

If your budget can swing it, stay a night in the resort at Arenal or the treehouse eco-lodge on the way. That trip was a little long but well worth it for a soak in the hot jungle river.  If you want to see the volcano at night be prepared, you may not, it gets fogged over a lot.  Highly reccomend a trip to the cloud forest, maybe a coffee plantation.

Answer 5

I would offer you a word of warning.  Always check for references before booking a tour.  Make sure you find out about the people you are booking the tour with.  They should have a telephone for you to call, and they should always be available to field your questions and concerns.  If you can't find them or if you get sketchy information, move on.  There are many tour companies listed in the TicosLand web directory.  Visit our website and call the companies that we have listed.  And tell them TicosLand sent you.

Answer 6

It can be a hastle finding accommodation every time you want to move - why not book it before hand as you're only there for a week.

Tamarindo on the Pacific Coast is great for learning to surf

La Fortuna & Lake Arenal are great fun - you must try out the natural hot springs. ahhhhhh. We also went horse back riding here & rode to a natural waterfall which was incredible. You can see the red hot lava from the volcano - get your camera ready!!

The capital San Jose is alright but just another city really. There is a great museum but thats about it.

We just arrived at each destination & spoke to a few locals to find out what the number 1 thing to do was, then booked it straight away. This worked perfectly for us, but we did have 3 weeks in the country - if you;re only there for 1 week you may want to have a schedule before you leave.

Take sun cream & a waterproof - you never know what the weather is going to do!

Have fun :)

Answer 7

I never do the all inclusive packages, although I'm sure they are really nice.  I just prefer to have a lot more control over my trip.  I do always have my lodging and tours figured out a head of time.  There are tons of options and at various price points - so just do a little on-line research and you'll have no problem finding what you need.  But I do recommend you book your lodging before hand.  Too much stress to show up in a new town, not knowing exactly where to go - or being dependent on your taxi driver to get you to a hotel with your needs / price point.  It's better to have that done.  Actually, I recommend you book as much as possible beforehand.  That way you can check out the tour companies you are using and stuff like that.  Have fun!  CR is such a great place!