I was turning 50 and my sister was turning 40… we wanted to create a fun trip for our family to celebrate and enjoy. We landed on Costa Rica. I do have to admit that we changed our plans and dates (it isn’t easy to work with 10 adult schedules) but we finally landed on visiting the Caribbean Coast in October. Most people vacation on the Pacific coast in Costa Rica – it has more resorts and vacation lodging options but it is also the rainy season May-November. The Caribbean coast tends to have less rain in the month of October. The laid back style of the Caribbean coast seemed to fit our family so we started the planning.
Day 1 – Arrival San Jose
Although we were planning on spending all of our time on the Caribbean coast, we decided to fly into San Jose because the flights were cheaper for us. We stayed one night at Barcelo San Jose. This hotel was affordable, provided a free airport shuttle, included a delicious breakfast buffet and we were able to have the rental cars delivered to our hotel the next morning.
We were able to order Door Dash to our hotel for lunch and we took an Uber for dinner that evening. I want to also give a big shout out to Greg with CR Surf Travel Company. He was recommended on a Costa Rica Facebook Group and I was so happy that we booked through Greg. He was very helpful, answered all my questions, was very fast with communication. At the end of our rental I wanted to verify our drop off change and he was an excellent communication link between myself and Hertz Rental.
Day 2 Driving to the Caribbean Coast- Punta Cocles
Driving in Costa Rica
When we arrived in San Jose I was notified by the immigration personnel that the main highway (Hwy 32) was closed due to a landslide. I was well aware that this happens often, especially during the rainy season. What is difficult with the road closures is that it was difficult to find real time closures. The Waze app is what most people rely on for road closures but in our experience this helps to a degree. Even though we were told Hwy 32 was closed, the waze app was still telling us to go that route most of the time – by morning it was telling us to take route 10. Even though this route took us almost 8 hours to get from San Jose to Punta Cocles, it was a beautiful drive on a 2 lane road (also paved) through little farming towns and mountains.
Wherever we went, we would have to stop eventually for construction or a one way bridge. Sprinkle in some real Costa Rica downpours from time to time and that is why 142 miles can take 7 hours. Try your best to do your travels in the day time and limit your night driving, especially long distances.
We stopped at a grocery store on our way to purchase breakfast and snacks then we arrived in Punta Cocles and checked into our Airbnb. Our Airbnb was perfect for our family: 5 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms with a pool and short trail to a quiet beach. (except when the howler monkeys were active and putting on show)
Day 3 – Punta Uva – sloth hike and kayak tour
We booked a “sloth tour” in Punta Uva. This is an activity that you could’ve easily done yourself, however, it was nice having a guide to give you information about the vegetation and animals and he helped us spot a couple of Sloths. After our hike, we enjoyed some refreshing coconut then took a kayak down the river. On the kayak, we saw more sloths, a toucan, lizards and turtles.
If you want to do this one on your own, head to “Sloth Point” in Punta Uva and look up into the almond trees to find your sloths. At the end of the beach there is a Punta Uva Pura Vida sign where you can take a hike through the trees to a nice look out point. There were a couple of companies on the beach renting kayaks so you can explore on your own.
After our sloth tour we headed just north of Punta Cocles for lunch. You can find variety of restaurants down the coast – most will serve Caribbean dishes with beans, rice, plantains and meats. We didn’t meet a plate that we didn’t like.
Day 4 Cahuita National Park
This National park has 2 entrances. We entered through the town of Cahuita and paid to park just outside the entrance (and was welcomed by a sloth and her baby in the nearby tree!). There are many people near the entrance trying to offer guide services but we decided to take the self tour. There is no snorkeling (unless you take a guided tour) and you cannot bring any plastic bags into the park. There is no entrance fee but they do ask for a donation. We saw sloths, lots of monkeys, toucan and a snake. We walked to the point then turned back. We took a dip in the ocean before we headed back to find a place for lunch.
Day 5 Bri Bri Village, Chocolate and Waterfall tour
We wanted to experience chocolate making and found a tour through Viator. I recommend taking a tour – our guide, Braulio was excellent! He picked us up at our villa and took us to the Bri Bri Village. On the way, he gave us some background on the Bri Bri tribe and what qualifications you must have to live in the village. In the village we learned more about the language, culture, traditions, plants and went through the process of making chocolate from cocao beans. We tried the cocao as a hot chocolate, milk hot chocolate and with roasted plantains. Delicious! At the end of the tour you have the opportunity to purchase cocao or handmade art from the villagers. He then took us to a beautiful waterfall where we could take a refreshing dip under the falls. (We also spotted a viper on the tree on the way to the waterfall!)
https://www.viator.com/tours/Limon/Chocolate-taste-true/d4513-238841P2
Day 6 -7 Tortuguero
We checked out of our Villa and headed north to La Pavona where we parked our car and took a boat taxi to Tortuguero.
When we arrived in La Pavona, it was a little overwhelming paying for parking and boat transportation – they do try to upsell you on a “private” taxi. They initially told us that we just missed the taxi and the next one wouldn’t be for another 45 minutes but we could take a “private” taxi for more money. When we said we would wait, he immediately said there would be one in 15 minutes. We paid for a round trip ticket but were kinda unsure if we were getting ripped off or not (he told us to take a picture of his phone screen and we could text them for our return). It actually worked out ok and it was a flawless return after our stay.
We booked an Airbnb for our family in the town. When we were searching and booking we found that there were a lot of places that looked really rough and then there were some really nice (and very expensive) options. We stayed at Hotel Casablanca and it was almost perfect for what we needed. The air conditioning was fantastic and enjoyed having a kitchen and living space. They also picked us up at the water taxi and walked us to the hotel. The “pool” was more like a cold tub and I also didn’t realize until we were almost there that “hot water” was not one of the amenities listed on the site. The cool showers were actually kind of refreshing and not a real big deal.
Our primary reason for going to Tortuguero was hopefully to see a Sea Turtle Nesting or baby turtles hatching. We knew that we were arriving at the tail end of the turtle season but hoping we might get lucky. We booked a turtle nesting night tour (you are not allowed on the beaches at night without a guide) and we spent the day exploring the little town and beach. Tortuguero is a unique town with the ocean on one side and the rivers on the other side. You cannot go into the ocean (rough current) or river (alligators) but there are a lot of boat or walking tours you can take if you wish. Our evening tour guide, Kevin, was wonderful and although we weren’t fortunate enough to see a Sea Turtle nesting, we did see baby turtles crawling from the nest into the sea.
Day 8 Travel back to San Jose
After our late night with the baby turtles on the beach, we woke up and took our return water taxi back to La Pavona. From there we headed back to San Jose via Hwy 32 (it was now open). We had better luck with a little less traffic on our return. We stayed the night in the same Barcelo San Jose as the first night and returned our rental cars to the front desk (that was so easy!). The next morning we took our free shuttle back to the airport and headed back home to Denver.
