How to plan your Costa Rica trip

Start with your dates

Most of our clients fly Saturday to Saturday, which uses the fewest vacation days. If you only know the month, that is enough to start: your Specialist proposes dates and tells you they were chosen by us.

A few weeks fill early. Christmas to New Year, and Semana Santa, the week before Easter (21 to 28 March 2027), are the busiest of the year, so if your dates touch either one, you are right to plan now.

Some months bring something you can only see then. July to September is the nesting season for sea turtles in Tortuguero, and September and October are the best months on the southern Caribbean coast.

Count your nights: they decide the shape

How many nights you have decides how many places you see. Your budget decides the hotels, not the route.

• 3 or 4 nights: one place. On a short trip that is usually the beach, so the time goes on the sand and not on the road.
• 5 nights: one place or two. Two usually makes the more interesting trip.
• 6 or 7 nights: two places, for example 3 nights at Arenal Volcano and 4 at the beach.
• 8 nights: two places or three.
• 9 or 10 nights: three places. Arenal, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio are what we call Costa Rica’s top three destinations.
• 12 nights or more: a fourth place. In August that is often Tortuguero, for the turtles.

Whatever number you give us, we build exactly that many nights. If another length would suit the trip better, your Specialist says so, and you decide.

Choose the airport that fits the length

Costa Rica has two international airports, and the right one depends mostly on how long you stay.

Liberia (LIR), in the northwest, for trips of 8 nights or fewer. It opens Guanacaste, with the country’s widest choice of beach hotels and all-inclusive resorts, and a short trip should not spend its days driving.

San José (SJO), in the Central Valley, for 9 nights or more. A longer trip has time to explore, and from San José the whole country opens up: Manuel Antonio, Monteverde, Tortuguero, and the Osa Peninsula, the wildest corner of Costa Rica.

Not booked your flights yet? That is normal. Tell us your dates and we suggest the airport before you buy.

Adventure first, the beach last

Most people want the active part of the trip while they are fresh: zip lining and rafting around the volcano, then the cloud forest. The beach comes at the end, so the trip finishes relaxing.

Arenal is the hub. It connects directly to Monteverde, to the Guanacaste beaches and to Manuel Antonio, which is why it is the first stop on most of our trips. From San José to Arenal we stop at La Paz Waterfall Gardens for lunch and a walk through the park, so the drive becomes a day out.

Some places do not sit well together. Guanacaste and Manuel Antonio are on two different coasts, and the Osa Peninsula and Tortuguero are too far for a short trip: on those routes the drive eats the vacation. To reach Osa, we go by way of Manuel Antonio.

On a short trip from Liberia, the volcano we use is Rincón de la Vieja. It is close to the Guanacaste beaches, so two places add almost no driving.

Choose hotels for the people traveling

The same route needs different hotels for a honeymoon and for a family of five.

• Couples: adults-only sections, quiet rooms, good food and a sunset.
• Families: pools, slides and kids’ clubs. Many parents like an all-inclusive, because the cost is known before they land. The Westin Reserva Conchal is our go-to for families, and its adults-only section works for couples too.
• Grandparents bringing the whole family: we often plan 5 to 7 rooms, and every hotel has to work for every age.

Two things never change. We only use hotels of 3 stars and above, chosen because they are good in their area and not because they photograph well. And we never put more than four people in a room.

At the beach we usually show you two kinds of place: an all-inclusive, or something smaller and more personal.