Costa Rica itinerary: 2 weeks in La Fortuna, Monteverde, Manuel Antonio and Domincal

Looking for a sample Costa Rica itinerary to plan your trip? See how we spent 2 weeks hiking, zip-lining, surfing and seeing amazing wildlife.

 

Day 1: Land in SJO airport at 4pm, transfer to La Fortuna

Day 2: Bogarin sloth trail and Mistico hanging bridges

Day 3: White water rafting with Arenal rafting

Day 4: Walk to Arenal volcano viewpoint, travel via jeep/boat/jeep to Monteverde

Day 5: Monteverde cloud forest tour and Kinkajou night tour

Day 6: Zip-lining with Sky Adventures

Day 7: Travel to Manuel Antonio, explore and go to the beach

Day 8: Visit Manuel Antonio National Park

Day 9: Chill on the beach and surf

Day 10: Visit Manuel Antonio National Park again

Day 11: Travel to Dominical

Day 12: Explore and surf Playa Dominical

Day 13: Hike to Nauyaca waterfalls

Day 14: Travel to San Antonio, near to SJO airport

Day 15: Fly home

Itinerary map: SJO airport to La Fortuna to Monteverde to Manuel Antonio to Dominical. From google.com/maps

Day 1

Arrive in San Jose

We landed in San Jose SJO airport at about 4pm. Although customs can apparently often take a couple of hours to get through, we were lucky because it only took us an hour. After checking our documents, our private shuttle to La Fortuna with ILT was ready and waiting. The journey took about 3 hours (but could have easily taken longer if we’d hit traffic), and we were very glad we weren’t driving. Tourists are encouraged to only drive during the day because it gets dark about 5pm, and the roads can be foggy and windy.

Travel from San Jose to La Fortuna, and check into Los Lagos Hotel

We were delighted to arrive at Los Lagos Hotel in time for a quick dinner before bed. We had to get a shuttle to and from our room, which wasn’t a problem as it only takes a few minutes to come, and gives you great views of the beautiful hotel gardens and Arenal volcano.

Day 2

Explore the Bogarin Trail

 

The buffet breakfast at Los Lagos was delicious – there was so much choice! After this, our day began with a pre-booked tour at the Bogarin trail. When we woke up that morning it was raining HARD. So we asked the tour provider if we could reschedule and they swiftly reminded us that we were in a rainforest, and you can’t avoid the rain. So we bought some ponchos and got an Uber to the trail. There were lots of Ubers available in La Fortuna, but we struggled to find them elsewhere in Costa Rica. A five-minute journey worked out at about £2. Be warned though: some Uber drivers try to message you and ask for a higher payment, outside of the app. If they try this, you can just cancel and wait for the next available Uber.

 

At Bogarin, we paid $35 each for a guide and joined a group with 6 other people. Our tour guide, Jason, led us round the trail in search of sloths. We saw five, as well as a couple of poison frogs, including the famous ‘blue jean’ which can produce enough poison to kill two fully grown elephants. Overall, the trail was quite small. But it was a great start to our trip, and brilliant to see so many sloths on our first day. Oh – and if we hadn’t paid for a guide, we would have literally only seen the leaf-cutter ants. So I wouldn’t recommend going without one. 

Mistico Hanging Bridges, Arenal

We then decided to get an Uber straight to Mistico Hanging bridges in Arenal. Now, there are no Ubers up in the park, so get your drivers details if you can! It had started raining again, so we were super grateful for our ponchos. The park has 11 hanging bridges and costs $25 per person to enter. Some bridges are just a few metres, but others are much longer, and much higher! Now, for someone who’s afraid of heights, be warned, it does feel a little scary (and shaky) at times. But the views are astounding and definitely worth it. We didn’t pay for a guide in the park as we’d had one in the morning, but still saw lots of wildlife: including, pigs, agoutis, vultures and even a howler monkey that came and sat on the last bridge! I’ve heard it’s worth going early with a guide to see more, but we didn’t feel like we missed out without one. Most people were without a guide at the park.

Day 3


White-water rafting

The next day, we decided to do white-water rafting with Arenal rafting, which cost $80 per person and was definitely worth it. We were picked up from our hotel at about 9am, and driven to the starting point along the Balsa river. Everyone was organised into groups of four, and given their own guide to lead their raft. We’ve done rafting before, but this was by far the best set up we’ve experienced. The rapids were Class 3-4, and lots of fun. Our guide gave us clear instructions about when to paddle, what side, and for how long, so we conserved plenty of energy and enjoyed the trip as much as possible. 

 

After the trip we stopped at a soda (a traditional Costa Rican restaurant) and ate some traditional food (rice, beans, corn and meat) to refuel. We had the opportunity to buy photos from our trip:

Los Lagos Hotel Hot Springs

That evening, we decided to check out the hot springs provided by our hotel. Los Lagos has several hot pools, all at varying temperatures. One even has a swim up bar where we got a couple of drinks. We spent some time in a small one for the two of us, which was almost like a hot tub with bubbles. Personally, I overheated and didn’t feel like I could spend too much time in them, but they also have a normal, cool pool, which was beautiful, had its own slide and towering views of Arenal volcano.

 

Day 4

Arenal Volcano Viewpoint

Due to a lot of cloud cover, we didn’t see the top Arenal volcano for most of our stay in La Fortuna. But on the last morning of our stay, the top of the volcano finally emerged. We hiked up to Los Lagos’ very own viewpoint, which took about half an hour, and was a sweaty, steep, walk. A lot of people drove, and we can see why, but we enjoyed the hike. 

Travel from La Fortuna to Monteverde

Our shuttle picked us up from our hotel at 2pm. We’d booked the jeep-boat-jeep shuttle with ILT, and at $30 per person, I’d highly recommend this. We had about 45 minutes in the first bus, before reaching Arenal Lake.

The boat took about an hour, and then we were met by our jeep that drove for another hour before taking us to our lodge in Monteverde. This was definitely the best journey of our trip, as it just seemed to fly by while we watched the sunsetting over the beautiful Monteverde cloud forest and its mountains. We also stopped at a small cafe just outside Monteverde, where we had a smoothie and took some more photos. 

We arrived at Quality Cabins Monteverde in pitch black, and met our incredibly helpful host, Tracy. There were four glass cabins deep in the forest, each built by her dad. That night, we went for dinner at the treehouse – one of the most famous restaurants in Monteverde which is built around a big tree. It was busy with live music, so there was a great vibe. Food was OK, but not exceptional. 

 

Day 5

Monteverde Cloud Forest

We woke up early to these amazing views from our room, and got ready for our guided tour of Monteverde cloud forest.

Monteverde cloud forest was about 15 minutes away from our cabin, a $10 cab ride (no Ubers in Monteverde). The guided tour was interesting, although we didn’t see much wildlife. We saw several birds, including a quetzal (the symbol of Monteverde) and a couple of green toucanets. You can also hike the park on your own and go to the viewpoints, which we did afterwards and saw a gang of coatis. All in all we were at the cloud forest for about five hours in total and were glad we went, as due to climate change and habit degradation, it may not be around forever.

Monteverde Forest Night Tour

That evening, we also signed up for a night tour. Now this was a lot of fun! We went with Kinkajou night tours, booked by Tracy from our lodge. Kinkajou night tours take out a lot of people all at once – there were probably about 5 groups of 10 of us, each with their own guide. This sounds like a lot, but it actually works out well. As all the guides are in touch with walky talkies, if one group sees something cool, they let the other guides know so you get a chance to see it too. This happened for us and we saw an opossum in a tree, as well as an armadillo! Our guide got the call, told us excitedly, “Follow me, fast, and quietly – we might see something!”. We also saw our first toucan (sleeping in a tree), and a snake and a couple of scorpions. We’d definitely recommend this night tour.

Day 6

Zip Lining with Sky Adventures

I’m scared of heights. But after reading about the best activities in Costa Rica, specifically Monteverde, zip lining came up a lot. So I decided that I was going to be brave and give it a go. We chose Sky Adventures, because they are the only park in Monteverde to use assisted breaking (rather than relying on your gloved hand), and booked for lunchtime after hearing about the risk of cloud cover if you go too early in the day. Luckily, we had clear skies and sunshine. 

 

The session began with a safety briefing where we learnt that the cables can support two and a half tonnes. We then had our harnesses and helmets fitted, and got ready to try the first line. Despite being quite low down, the views were still amazing. After this, you can choose to bail if you want to. When I got off my legs were shaking but I felt exhilarated and knew I was going to continue for the rest of the tour. So we proceeded to get the cable car to the next line. Apparently, the views were amazing but I couldn’t bring myself to look! We then started to work our way through the next seven zip lines (including one in tandem with my boyfriend). I switched off my mind and had an amazing time. It was so exhilarating and the views were beautiful.

When we thought we’d finished the tour, we were then given the option of bungee jumping, or rappelling down to the ground. I chose rappelling, which was quite easy and not scary at all.  My boyfriend, did the bungee and  loved it. At the end of the session (about two hours in total), we decided to pay $30 for some photos of our trip, but this only included photos of us on the first practice zip line, and before we started the tour. My boyfriend had captured some good footage with his GoPro though, and sky adventures offer this service too (a go pro attached to your helmet) and I would recommend this. Otherwise, you just have to rely on your memories.

 

We finished our day with a meal at Taco Taco, a Mexican restaurant that was always packed – a testament to the food and service you get. We loved the drinks and burrotes (extra large burritos).

Day 7

Travel from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio

We had a $93 shuttle booked with RideCR (the cheapest shuttle we could find), which took about 4 hours. It wasn’t a great experience, as we spent about an hour picking up others in the shuttle, and then went back on ourselves and back past our lodge. The roads were very winding and there was lots of sudden braking, so it’s no surprise that many of us complained of feeling sick.

 

We arrived at Hotel Villa Nicolas,  an incredible hotel, with just 18 rooms.

During our stay, we actually saw more wildlife from our balcony than we did in two visits to Manuel Antonio National Park, including a three-toed sloth, squirrel monkeys and white capuchins. On our last day, we also saw a troop of howler monkeys. We’d heard them howling most mornings (about 5/6am), but this was the first time we’d seen them howling so close. 

Sloth in a tree in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica

We also had a great view of a tree with about four roosting scarlet macaws.This was the only time we saw them in Costa Rica, so we were very happy about this too. The wildlife watching from our balcony at Vilas Nicolas was a real highlight of our trip, and I’d love to go back one day.

On our first day in Manuel Antonio, we went for lunch at Café Emilios, which is widely recommended and located ust a few minutes walk from our hotel. We quickly treated our car sickness with delicious paninis and sea views. The owners also own La Lambretta – a pizza restaurant next door, where we had a delicious meal and our favourite desert of our trip (oreo cheesecake).

 

We finished our first day in Manuel Antonio with a 25-minute stroll to one of the local beaches, Playa Espradilla, which was uncomfortably busy and to be honest, probably our least favourite part of Manuel Antonio. 

That night, we ate at La Cantina BBQ grill – wow, wow, wow! Probably our best meal of the trip. Delicious grilled chicken and steak, followed by a lovely chocolate brownie. We returned a second time as it was so good.

Day 8

Manuel Antonio National Park

If you’re planning on going to Manuel Antonio National Park, you need to buy tickets online beforehand: https://serviciosenlinea.sinac.go.cr/There were shops selling tickets just outside the park, but they’d added a couple of dollars to the price. We got the bus from outside our hotel to the park, but I’ve heard that if you drive you don’t need to pay for parking (despite scammers telling you that you do). 

The park itself was quite built up and had proper footpaths in place. We decided to go without a guide as we’d already done a few guided tours on our trip and wanted the freedom to come and go as we pleased. It was nice to explore and wander aimlessly. We saw sloths, agoutis and red crabs as well as lots of white-faced capuchins by the café. They were lurking and ready to steal food from tourists, we saw one capuchin take an entire slice of banana cake from a man’s hand. We visited the park twice during our time in Manuel Antonio, as there were a couple of different trails and viewpoints we wanted to explore. The first time we went was really busy as it was a Saturday, but on the Monday it was much quieter and was more peaceful. The park is also closed every Tuesday.

In the evening, we enjoyed a nice meal at Little India, just over the road from Hotel Villas Nicolas. We also fell in love with Imperial Beer, the national beer of Costa Rica, and are sad we can no longer drink it now we’re back home. 

 

Day 9

Surfing at Playa Espradilla

We headed back to Playa Espradilla to give surfing a go. I recommend speaking with different surf shops before parting with your cash, as we were quoted some extortionate prices before finding two boards for about $15 dollars. It was good fun and great to be in warm water without a wetsuit, but I personally found the sea a bit too hectic for my skill level. 

 

Later that day we went to El Avion – a famous restaurant which is built into an airplane. El Avion is one of the four Costa Verde Hotel restaurants, but everyone’s welcome. We got a couple of beers and waited for the sunset. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, but the sky and the sea was still pretty and some white-faced capuchins popped by to give us a show

Day 10

We returned to Manuel Antonio National Park for a second time. I’m really glad we returned, because it was a lot quieter and we were able to walk slowly and enjoy everything a bit more. We spent a long time watching a troop of howler monkeys and hiked to a different viewpoint. Unfortunately, this was closed, but on the way up we saw another little beach that was nice to chill on for a bit. 

Day 11

Travel from Manuel Antonio to Dominical

 

We spent the morning at our hotel, taking it slow and watching the wildlife from the balcony. Our plan was to head to Dominical to surf. We’d asked local taxi drivers how much it would cost to get to Dominical (45 minutes away) and they’d suggested around 60 dollars. This felt expensive, so we tried Uber and found a driver who charged 25,000 colones (about $40). While we were waiting for our Uber, three cars pulled up and asked if we wanted a taxi. One quoted $100 (ha!), but the other matched the 25,000 colones Uber price and was open to negotiating. So if you plan to go south from MA to the Osa region (Uvita, Dominical, or further), it might be worth waiting for cars to pass and haggling with them.

 

Once in Dominical, we checked in at Hotel Villas Rio Mar, which had beautiful gardens and a couple of pools, and was only a 10-minute walk from the main town, and 20 minutes from the beach. Within minutes of arriving, we saw several keel-billed toucan, which was exciting. 

That night, we ate at Phat Noodle – one of the most highly rated restaurants in Dominical. We struggled to get a table, and ended up on a couple of bar stools. We got the 3x starter deal (spring rolls, teriyaki ribs and teriyaki chicken wings), which was delicious. For mains, I had the peanut satay chicken curry, and my boyfriend had the teriyaki noodles. 

Day 12

Surfing in Dominical

In the morning we visited Café Mono Congo, which is currently the number 1 rated restaurant in Dominical on Trip Advisor. We had some delicious cakes and smoothies. Then, in the afternoon, we headed to the beach to surf. Because we’re beginners, we were told to come for low tide at 3pm. We were turned away from the first shop we tried because we didn’t have our passports, so had to head back to the hotel to get them. So, bare this in mind when you head down to the beach with the bare minimum in your pockets. Many of the shops will look after your bags too, so there’s no need to pack light.

 

 

Surfing was beautiful, especially at sunset. The water was warm and clear, although I was a bit wary of rip tides. However, there were plenty of lifeguards and other surfers about, so we stuck near them and felt safe. We were also advised to stay away from the river mouth, due to caiman, but apparently this isn’t a huge concern as they hardly end up in the sea (and if they do, they’re probably lost and disorientated).

That night, we ate at Fuego Brewing Co., a brewery and restaurant, also highly rated in Dominical. We enjoyed the beer and shared a pizza, sliders, and enchiladas. The food was OK, but quite pricey for what it was. 

Day 13

Nauyaca waterfalls

Nauyaca waterfalls are some of the best waterfalls in Costa Rica.  And at only 15 minutes from Dominical, we had to go. We got a cab to the starting point and paid $10 each for entry. The waterfalls are 4km from the starting point, so you can pay to be driven up, travel by horseback, or of course, just walk. We chose to walk and enjoyed it. If you’re reasonably fit, it’s not too bad at all. Just make sure you wear grippy, waterproof shoes if possible (I didn’t). 

 

When we arrived at the waterfalls, we first took the path on the right to a viewpoint for some photos. Then, we took the path on the left, down about 250m of steps to the lower part of the waterfalls where it was safe to swim. Some people even climbed and jumped off the top of one of the waterfalls, but it’s really slippy, so I wouldn’t recommend doing this unless you’re with a guide who can show you the safe paths and jumps to take.

Day 14

Travel from Dominical to San Jose

We planned to travel to San Jose from Dominical the day before our flight as we’d heard how bad and unpredictable Costa Rican traffic can be. I’m still glad we did this, but honestly, the day did not go to plan! After spending a fair bit of money for shuttles throughout the rest of our trip, we’d thought we’d try figure out the public busses to get back to San Jose. If you plan to do this too, I strongly recommend you DO NOT try and catch the bus from Dominical! We’d spoken to the tourist office in Dominical before booking our Tropica tickets online (only 6,000 colones each), and they weren’t entirely sure where the Tropica bus would pick us up in town. They told us there was one bus per day that goes via Dominical (from Uvita) to San Jose at approximately 7.30am, and to wait by the shops before the highway. Anyway, we skipped breakfast, and got there 45 minutes early to be safe. The bus zipped along the highway half an hour later, and didn’t stop or drive into Dominical, so we missed it. We then went back to the tourist office who advised us to go to the Uvita bus station – a $20 taxi away. When we got there, a bus was leaving to San Jose, but they had no seats and offered us space on the stairs. But we’d run out of cash (the cash points in Dominical are regularly empty), and the nearest cash point wasn’t working, so we weren’t allowed on. Stranded, we waited 2 hours and tried to get tickets from the ticket office, who told us we had to buy tickets from the driver. My boyfriend walked about 1km away and found a cash point that worked, but it also swallowed his card. Not a good morning!

 

Getting a seat on the bus when it turned up at 10am was a mad panic. Lots of people rushed up to try get the last spaces. Fortunately, we’d befriended a local man who spoke to the driver and told him we’d been waiting for hours and missed our original bus, so he let us on, for another 12,000 colones. If he hadn’t stood up for us, I don’t think we’d have got a seat. And then I don’t know what we’d have done as this was the last bus out of Uvita that day. The drive was fine, no air con, but the windows were all open.  We’d been so stressed that morning that we’d wished we’d just booked a shuttle! So, if you are doing that journey, I would recommend buying a ticket from Uvita or Quepos to San Jose (the day before) so that you’re guaranteed a space on the bus. And get a taxi from Dominical to either of these towns. The bus service out of Dominical was just too unreliable, no one really knows what time it comes and where (if) it stops.

 

We arrived at SJO airport four hours later and got a taxi to La Riviera hotel in Alaujau.  After barely eating or drinking all day, I felt very car sick (a theme of my travelling in Costa Rica it seems). We arrived at the hotel and went straight out to get our covid tests done, ahead of our flight home (via Miami) the next day. There’s a testing centre about 100m around the corner, run by the same company that do the tests out of the airport. We both tested negative, but still weren’t allowed on our flight the next day….that’s another story.

 

We had a delicious dinner in the La Riviera hotel. I needed something to settle my stomach, so pesto pasta it was. We had a chocolate tart and brownie for dessert which was amazing.

 

Day 15

San Jose and depart from Airport

La Riviera hotel has its own pool, so we relaxed there all morning before our 3pm flight home. This was probably the first time I’d properly stopped to sunbathe all trip. We’d picked up a tan from walking about, swimming and surfing. We got a shuttle from the hotel to the airport (which was included). Unfortunately, our journey home was even more stressful than the Dominical busses. When we tried to check in, we found that British Airways had not issued our tickets properly, and so we were unable to board the plane. We had to buy new tickets to get home later that day, via Paris. We’re currently going to court with BA to try get our money back. That’ll be a blog post for another day.

 

Despite the journey home currently overshadowing memories of our holiday, writing this blog has helped to remind me of how amazing our time in Costa Rica was. It involved a lot of planning, but it paid off. We did so much in such a short space of time, and have memories that will last a life time. if you’ve got this far, thank you for reading my first blog post! Please feel free to leave comments or ask any questions 🙂

1 thought on “Costa Rica”

  1. What an amazing adventure, sounds a fantastic trip! I particularly loved the look of the cabins where you stayed in the Monteverde cloud forest, right up amongst the trees, what an experience! Very enjoyable read and some wonderful images too 😊

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