Costa Rica Adventure

My Costa Rica Adventure (June 2023) Costa Rica is a very accessible country, even if your holiday involves a boat transfer On my trip we spent our first 2 nights at Pachira Lodge in Tortuguero To get to Tortuguero, the lodges organise transfer from your San Jose Hotel, you then go to one of the ports for your Boat Transfer. We went from Cano Blanco and it took about 1hr 45mins, there is a closer port but we had to go to Cano Blanco because of a land-slide on the road. The roads in Costa Rica are quite uneven, which tends to add time to your journey. I note this purely for information. We visited Pachira Lodge offer where they offer packages for different short durations - 1,2, or 3 nights. It’s worth noting that turtle season is from July through until September. Most of the packages I would organise would include transfers from San Jose hotel, a boat trip at sunrise, breakfast lunch and dinner plus guided tours of hotels trails. It has a lovely pool area and restaurant, and the bar is located by the river. We only experienced breakfast here but the choice was great. Each of the lodges are set between forests and has paths leading to nature walk and pools and restaurant/bar. On my trip I visited the Evergreen Lodge, Lagoon Lodge, Aninga and Mawamba Lodge, which are all in the heart of Toruguero National Park and only reached by boat. Evergreen Lodge is in the middle of the National Park has about 70 rooms cabins & lodges and bungalow for family, they all have ceiling fans, private bathroom and security box plus a rocking chair outside each room. Lagoon Lodge was another lovely lodge and had a Gaudi feel with lots of mosaic around the property, this lodge is set on the Caribbean Ocea side so can see turtles here during their high season. There is a nature trail, swimming pool, volleyball court and soccer field. If you are an ocean swimmer it’s worth noting that you can’t swim in the ocean here as it’s just too dangerous). We had our evening meal here – the buffet was rather limited however the setting is beautiful. This property offers accessible rooms. Aninga Lodge is next door to Pachira Lodge on the middle island of Tortuguero and you can walk between the two properties. The Aninga Loadge is only small with 33 rooms, has a spa, swimming pool, bar and restaurant, kayak and canoeing tour can be booked as extra starting at $25 Mawamba Lodge, which was my favourite, is set between the Caribbean coast and Tortuguero Canals. This lodge it a little bit more garden like than forest and like the others has a nature trail, swimming pool, gift shop, floating restaurant (extra charge). The chance to enjoy your gorgeous 3 course meal, while floating along the river is a real experience. There is also another restaurant and the food here was lovely and close to the pool area and bar. There is a cafeteria and a gift shop close to reception area, and the Hammock room, which is on a floating platform provides a perfect place to watch the sunset while reading your book or drinking your cocktail! You can walk along the beach to Torteguera Village or get the boat and walk back. This village has a few restaurants and bars and gift shops, police station, a little park. Next, we went to Arenal. We took the boat from Cano Blanco Tortuguero to Arenal which took about 1hr 45 mins then took about 4 hours’ drive in a minibus through banana plantations. We stopped at the Selva Verde Lodge & reserve for lunch. Perfect for twitchers and wildlife watchers, adventure seekers. Students and families come to explore the 500-acre of tropical nature in the heart of Costa Rica. It is also the Sarapiqui Conservation Learning Centre - founded in 1993. We stayed at the Arenal Manoa Resort Hotel & Hot Springs. Every room here has a breathtaking view of Arenal Volcano, the best room we had was room number 105 - close to reception and thermal pool with a swim up bar and the main pool is accessible with a ramp that is suitable for all abilities. If you are looking for a great breakfast choice try La Saca Restaurant Tours can be booked from the hotel for an adventure River Tour, Canopy Tour of Ecoglide Park and sky trams, ziplining, white water rafting plus loads more! While in Arenal we walked the Arenal 1968 route which is a hike through the lava flow trail from 1968’s eruption, there are 2 routes for different abilities plus an accessible route so you can choose! Continuing our journey, we went on to the Mistico Hanging Bridges. The entrance fee here is about $28 adults $18 for teens and children aged 6-10 years old are free. We took a self-guided forest walk crossing over 15 bridges of which 6 are hanging, looking out and listening to all the wildlife. It was pretty amazing. We finished off with an evening at the Eco-thermals Hot Springs, which was much needed after our busy day on our treks. Lovely Natural Hot Springs, various pools and two cooling pools. They have lockers and changing rooms provide towels. We bought a cocktail each, you just pay as you leave, prices start at $8. We had a Buffet dinner here which looking online costs $73 but you can do just the springs for a bargain price of $45. After the springs it was time to head back to the hotel for an early night before our early start heading to Monteverde. Our transfer from Arenals Lake came in the form of a boat trip to Monteverde. This is the best route to take. Our driver, who had been with us all week, set off earlier to meet us at the other end. We should have had the foresight to give him our luggage as it was rather a pain moving our bags from transfer to boat then back to the next transfer to then meet our driver. Our next excursion was the SKY Adventure Monteverde. Here we did the ziplining through the forest. We were harnessed up and then it was time for a practice run down a small zipline to the SKYtram. The SKYtram took us up high into the forest and we ziplined down. There are seven different lines, all of various lengths and heights, great fun! At the end you had the option to jump via a bungee rope or be lowered down more sedately, guess which option I choose? Yup, you are right I took the bungee rope jump – You only live once as they say!!! Time to head to the next hotel, which was El establo in Monteverde, this was the biggest resort we visited with 150 rooms. The location has lots of steep hills so you can take a buggy to anywhere in the resort. My room had 2 double beds and a balcony, bathroom with a bath and shower. We decided to pay extra to join in the hotel’s night nature walk that evening and glad we did. We watched the sunset then were given torches. Our guide had a telescope and magnified glass attachment to his phone so he could zoom in on things that we found. We found spiders frogs, a snakes’ sloth with her baby, which was just too cute. We didn’t have time to change as we got carried away watching the wildlife so went straight to dinner in a private room within the restaurant. I could go on and on about my adventure and the wildlife and scenery that I discovered during my Costa Rica trip. If you’d like to find out more about the different adventure holiday options available or perhaps something a little less taxing then please do get in touch. I really would love to speak to you about all things Costa Rica