BrycePGH said:
Costa Rica looks like paradise, if anyone has been please comment!

I have been and it is indeed a paradise for a healthy bachelor travelling stag.

I was in that area a few months ago. Great place, great people and scene. Skip jaco, dirty and lots of prostitutes. There are some really great isolated surf spots in that area. I know a few but I'm going to be honest and say they are my secret ones

best bet is playa hermosa. Sunset usually brings out the locals so be careful. Also this didnt happen to me but a girl I met was telling me that there are fish in the water there that bit her. She could of just been drugged out though.

I didnt get a chance to go to arenal I really wanted to though. I did go to manuel antonio park and that was great. There is a long line but its relativly cheap and the beach is nice inside the park. The town itself is very touristy and that to me is a big negative. If you go to the park dont be affraid to explore the rough little trails as that is the best way to find the really cool animals.

just bring some big memory cards for your camera cause there is so much to photograph you will quickly use up space (took me 2 days to fill a 512 card with a 5mp cam). Above all else have fun and treat the locals right.

BrycePGH said:What can i expect for weather in early September?

You booked without knowing the weather?

(When will they ever learn, Oh Lord.)

LINK>>

SonOfZeus said:BrycePGH said:What can i expect for weather in early September?

You booked without knowing the weather?

(When will they ever learn, Oh Lord.)

LINK>>

I looked at http://www.worldheadquarters.com/cr/climate/ which said "The wettest months are July and November, with a dry spell that occurs around August or September." I thought this sounded good, but i wanted to hear what others had to say.

OP: Ignore the anecdotes and use my link. You can research the exact weather on your dates for the last 40 years in every major city in CR ( and anywhere else on Planet Earth) If this method is too precise, a ouija board is superior to relying on the nameless/faceless on any internet board.

I stay in Playa Junquial near playa negra on the Pacific coast. My family owns a condo there and it is paradise. It is 30 minutes from the Liberia airport and not far from Tamarindo. If you are into surfing, there is no better surf than playa negra and the world famous pablo's picasso and his famous burgers big as your head. Arenal is hard to see it is usually cloudy and not viewable. It is a nice drive to it with some cool shops and stores along the way. The diving is fantastic. The pacific coast is a far cry from San Jose and very isolated. To me if you stay in San Jose you may as well go to mexico...

BrycePGH said:I am going to Costa Rica with my girlfriend Sept 1 through the 5th and we are looking for some things to do. We will be staying at Villas Sol Hotel & Beach Resort (all inclusive). So far here are some things we want to do, anyone who has done something similar please post! (total of the trip was $865/person flying out of Pittsburgh)

Is it better to book these events now or wait and try to haggle (at the risk of them being booked?)

Surf - Costa Rica is supposed to be a surfing mecca!
Arenal Volcano and Coter Rain Forest tour - sounds amazing ($110/person 12 hr tour!)
Beach sitting - free and awesome
Diving - sounds cool?

maybe some hot springs or floating down the Corobici river too ($80/person)

Costa Rica looks like paradise, if anyone has been please comment!

EDIT: typoMy wife and I go to Costa Rica freguently, probably be there in June or July.

I'll add these comments.

Weather: Costa Rica is always beautiful, but I think it is particularly so during the Green Season (rainy). The region of Guanacaste (were you will be) can be dusty, dry, and brown during what the Ticos call summer (late Nov - May). The central valley is always green, but during the "winter" (Green, rainy season), it seems to be 100 shades of green.

Although it is likely that you might get rain at any time during this part of the year, there is just as good of chance that all you will see is shower in mid to late afternoon. We usually go in our summer months (my wife is a teacher) and we have never been rained out. Some of that is because usually in late July or August, they get what the Ticos call "Veranillo de San Juan" (little summer of St. Joseph) and there is a few dryer weeks; but it is mostly because the rain is like the rain in Florida in the summer, very scattered. I live in Orlando and there are days in the Summer where we don't see a drop of rain at our house yet the weather report says the rain total was 2" and we live about 5 miles from the official station at the airport.

If you travel away from the coast, make sure you pack a few warmer items; it can be quite cool in the evening at the higher elevations. Take an umbrella for walking around town and some ponchos for hiking in the country.

Things to do: 5 days isn't much time, even though CR looks small, because of the condition and number of roads, it takes a while to go anywhere. As others have said, Arenal is nice if you are lucky enough to see anything. We have stayed in the area twice for a total of 4 days and got a brief (20-minute view). We did go to the old National Geographic Lodge one night for dinner and drinks - heard it and saw some cool flashes and red glow though.

Manuel Antonio is one of "the" tourist spots, but it is still very nice - the rain forest comes right down to beach. You can walk from the heat of the beach and in a short stroll see monkeys and sloughs hanging from the trees. If you do lay out on the beach there, watch out for the monkeys, the minute they see an unattended basket near the edge of the beach, they make a raid and grab every piece of food or anything else they can grab and run back into the jungle. Somewhat funny to see, if it's not your digital camera they are running with.

Personally, my favorite spot in Monteverde Cloud Forest, it is not considered a rain forest, because they rarely get moisture in that form, but it is always foggy, drizzley, and unworldly. You can walk the trails there for days or they have various zip-line and canopy tours.

Rincon de La Vieja National Park is also nice (near Liberia), it's CR's version of Yellowstone.

Surfing is pretty much everywhere, diving is a little more limited, the best spots probably take a long boat ride.

Bring back some Salsa Lizano and Cacique.

Are you flying into San Jose (SJO) or Liberia (LIR)?

Added as an afterthought:

Forgot to mention, the days end early all year round, it gets dark by 7pm, so get an early start and if you are hiking, keep that in mind as you wander aimlessly down a trail.

jaimelobo: thank you so much for all the tips, i really appreciate it. I am flying into Liberia, should be a short ride to the resort.

molecule: I booked the trip through Apple Apple Vacations

XNAredsox: I think I will snorkle, scuba may freak me out

averyp said:Playa Hermosa IS beautiful, and more to the point I found the locals to be extremely friendly as long as the feelings were reciprocated. Manuel Antonio is also a great place to visit and there aren't an obscene number of tourists (but if you're only going to be there for 5 days it sounds as if you may be restricted to "obscene number of tourists" sights.

Ahh...this makes me reminisce about the days when people were afraid to go to Central America and you could travel to Costa Rica for 10 days for $600 including airfare. I'll never forget the $6/night beach front hostel. How things have changed in the last six years.

lavamatrix18 said:
best bet is playa hermosa. Sunset usually brings out the locals so be careful.

I was reffering to the local surfers. Who are very good surfers and you dont want to be that annoying tourist getting in the way.