Anyone done a Costa Rica family vacation? Looking for a trip teens would enjoy but we could also mix in a couple of guided fishing trips. Thanks.

Spent close to two weeks there in July.

What would you like to know? The pacific side is better fishing for billfish, rooster fish and tuna.

The Atlantic side is better for tarpon.

We stayed half the trip at lake arenal and the other half at Los suenos.

IMO the place was meh. It was ok. Glad I got to go but I’m not a big offshore guy and the country as a whole ( terrain, not the people) didn’t impress me. If REI owned a country, it would be Costa Rica

My wife's uncle has a condo in Los Suenos, so we've been there a few times. Resort is very nice, fishing was great, the rest of it is just ok IMO.

We have been twice, once just the wife and me. Second time we took my 4 kids, then they were ages 8 - 16. So far, it's been our favorite vacation as a family, second best vacation for the wife and I (nothing will ever top New Zealand). Kids even enjoyed it more than Maui. The first question is what part of the country you are planning on staying in. As we found out on our first trip there, to get from Manuel Antonio (SW part on the coast) to La Fortuna/Arenal (central rainforest/Volcano) it took every bit of 5-6 hours simply because the roads are narrow and windy. No where to pass. All it takes is to get stuck behind one of those farm trucks with at best 110 hp engine and you aren't going anywhere quick. Just plan on wasting half a day driving if you are going from inland to the coast or vice versa.

Our preferred location is La Fortuna/Arenal Volcano area. We have stayed here more than any other town. There are so many adventure activities to do it never gets boring. Everything is clean and safe. I would have zero reservations about getting sick eating at restaurants or drinking water. Highly recommended activities:

- Pure Trek Canyoning https://puretrek.com/ Hands down one of our favorite activities
- Sky Trek Adventures Zipine https://skyadventures.travel/ziplines/ The and speed at which these ziplines are located is mind boggling. The best ziplining we have ever done.
- White water rafting - they have some descent rivers to raft but it all depends on water lever which is dependent on the time of year you go. Rainy season being the preferred time. I don't recall whom we went with.
- Mistico Park Hanging Bridges https://misticopark.com/ It's a nature hike through the rainforest. I know what you are thinking, teenagers on a hike....trust me, mine loved it. The amount of wildlife you see is impressive (sloths, howler monkeys, poison dart frogs, green tree pit viper, boa constrictor to name of the few things we saw)
- La Fortuna waterfall hike - it wasn't something I cared for, but the kids enjoyed it. Hike down to a waterfall and you can swim in the pool below it.
- Thermal Springs - these are located everywhere in La Fortuna. Some of the nicer hotels even have them on property

The food in La Fortuna/Arenal is outstanding, and for the most part inexpensive.

As far as the SW coast, down in Manuel Antonio/ Tulemar area we have not spent much time down there. A family we vacation with goes to Tulemar quite a bit. From talking with them it sounds like there are things to do, but a little different than what you'll find in the rainforest. I can't really comment on these.

As far as fishing goes down there, take my recommendations with a grain of salt, we never did it. But I have friends that have and absolutely love it. Offshore seems to be better than inshore, but it's all obviously dependent on the time of year. Seems like a lot of people grab charters out of Quepos. Quepos Fishing Adventures was a name I have seen positiviley mentioned a lot but I have zero experience with them. I would absolutely do your homework on charters. It pays greatly to have a great captain/guide/boat.


If you have any other questions, feel free to DM me. I think your family will love it if they are the adventurous outdoor type.

There is a guy i know who runs a fishing charter in Costa Rica and eve has housing. Can probably arrange transport and all that too. In his normal life, he is an offshore installation manager (a fairly high up field position) for one of the major o&g companies. Texas boy (Rockport possibly?!?!) probably in his 60's and moved there full time a couple years ago to run this fiching charter. I met him on work trips at shipyards. Great dude. I even got to meet his wife on this past trip in November. Great lady too. He has a staff that run things full time but he's there when he's not offshore/work trip.

We've hung out together over several days, having dinners and such, he has shown me TONS of photos of very large fish. While in China in Nov, his guys in Costa Rica was sending him pics of what their clients caught that day. Sorry I don't fish so i don't know much (i get very seasick fast). Apparently when he can he enters these fiching tournaments where the prize can be well over quarter million in prize cause it's like several tens of thousands per boat for entry fees. Regardless it seems like he has exactly what you are looking for.

Please let me know if you'd like contact info. I have nothing to do with them other than I know him through work. I respect him highly professionally and I too one day want to take a trip to stay with him.

Capt. Tom is who you want to fish with if you go to Los Suenos. Great guy with a brand new boat.


We also did the volcano hike, Hot Springs, etc. it’s cool for kids and we liked it. Didn’t love it.

IMO they oversell how eco friendly and diverse wildlife wise the country is. They must count snakes and insects in that diversity, I have more 4 legged critters at my place than they do over there. We saw a few sloths, two coatis, two monkeys and a giant squirrel the entire two weeks. That was it.

The sodas ( little side of the road restaurants they have everywhere) are good. Simple food but it’s good.

People are pretty friendly and most speak English.

San Jose is kind of a dump and it takes a while to get out of town due to 45 mph speed limits everywhere.

My family liked it and would go back. I wouldn’t if I could help it, there are better places to go. Los suenos is very nice but it’s very Americanized.

I didn’t think it was all that much cheaper than it is over here. Los suenos def. Was not.

Argentina is cheap, Costa Rica they have figured it out that people will pay. For example a chicken and rice plate at a soda was around $8 where here it would be $10-$12. Argentina it would be $4.

Didn't we have a LEO on this forum that was robbed down there years ago?

JR

I'd heard of a few incidents like that. Course the guys from home area that went down there were doing a different kind of "fishing" so maybe in a bad area🤷‍♂️

I read that the US has a travel advisory

https://travel.state.gov/content/tr...visories/costa-rica-travel-advisory.html

JMO but your rolling the dice any time you get below our southern border! Wrong place at the wrong time can have severe consequences. We've killed 200" mule deer in Texas. I've passed on numerous chances to hunt Sonora. Also it's a much longer boat ride but we catch most of the fish they do in our soon to be renamed Gulf of America!

Only had the pleasure to go to Costa Rica twice. Took the wife to Crocodile Bay Resort both times. Will definitely do it again. No travel hassles, safe and secure, overnight in San Jose at the Double Tree Cariari. Flight into Puerto Jimenez, then a week of amazing fishing

We went to the Andaz Resort in Costs Rica last September for a week and flew into Liberia airport found a good shuttle service and had a great time. It’s on the Pacific side and I saw several fishing charters but we didn’t go on any . There are several U tube videos on the Andaz that you might want to watch. Food is kinda costly, but good. Good luck

My favorite place! Only been to the Pacific side, but I have traveled there half a dozen times or more. Wife and I went to the Gulf of Papagayo, flew into Liberia and stayed at a resort. All the other times I have flown into San Jose , took a jumper to Quepos, rented a house and fished out of my buddies boat.