9 Day Costa Rica Family Journey Nat Geo Expeditions

In the summer of 2023, my wife, 11 year old son, and I took an awesome vacation to Costa Rica. Rather than plan everything myself, I booked a fully guided group trip through National Geographic Family Expeditions – the Costa Rica Family Journey: From Rainforest to Coast. It’s branded as National Geographic Family Journeys, but the actual tour operators are G Adventures – this is the trip on their site.

🌎National Geographic Family Expeditions

So what exactly is a National Geographic Family Expedition? It’s a small-ish group guided trip – where you travel together in a group of 15-20 fellow travelers, with two guides (called CEOs – chief experience officers). The Family Expeditions require that you have a child between 7 and 16, and no children younger than that. I’d say it’s geared more for kids 9 – 14 – it’s definitely not for little kids. My 11 year old son was the perfect age for this.

Just about everything on the whole trip is planned and taken care of in advance – the hotels, many of the meals, transportation, and most importantly, excursions and activities. For most activities, and transportation – you’re traveling with the whole group. Being branded National Geographic in partnership with G Adventures and National Geographic – you get to see and experience more nature and culture, with some more authentic local experiences, than many guided/group tours typically offer. The National Geographic ones are also a little more upscale than some other guided tours, so the accomodations in particular are usually really nice.

🌟Overall Impressions

We loved this trip. It was our first guided or group tour, and this did not disappoint. We saw so many cool things, and Costa Rica is such an amazing place to visit. The activities were really fun, and most were only accessible for a group tour like ours – we couldn’t have just booked most of the experiences ourselves if it was just the three of us traveling. The CEOs did an amazing job at keeping everything running smoothly. The accommodations were (mostly) fantastic, and transportation between destinations, and to and from activities, was super smooth and easy. For someone like me that is used to planning every detail of the trip myself, it was so nice to not have to worry about anything – I just sat back, relaxed, and followed along. There was the perfect balance of group activities with enough time on our own. And there was no pressure at all – if we didn’t want to do something, no problem, the CEOs could accommodate that. Considering everything that you get, the price for the trip was very reasonable. I can’t recommend this trip enough!

Costa Rica is an amazing place to visit. It’s relatively inexpensive and accessible from the United States, and has so much to offer. There are so many adventures and experiences here, it’s so much fun for families in particular. The scenery and proximity to nature is amazing, and it really is unlike anywhere else in the world. If you’ve got kids from 8 and up, this is a wonderful place to take a trip to, and this National Geographic family expedition is a great way to experience Costa Rica. Pura vida!

📋Day By Day Experiences

We visited here on our own before meeting the group

Stop along the way to Monteverde

Our home for nights 2 and 3 – El Establo hotel in Monteverde. Picture is the view from our room

Cloud forest bridge walk at Selvatura Adventure Park

Where we stayed 4 and 5. Lots of adventures from here!

Walk and swim to this waterfall after a horseback ride

Where we got on the boat for a river cruise with plenty of wildlife

Where we stayed nights 6 and 7, and the nearby beach

The destination for our catamaran ride

✈️ Day 1 – Arrival and sightseeing in San Jose

The trip starts and ends in San Jose, the capital and largest city in Costa Rica. To get to San Jose – we took a direct flight from Baltimore on Southwest Airlines, which got to San Jose at 11:30AM. Having a direct flight was very nice and convenient, and we went out of our way to take this one. At the time (2023), it only ran once a week on Saturday mornings. If you can get a direct flight, do it! Getting here before noon allowed us to some sightseeing in San Jose. (flights are not included through the family expedition, you are on your own for getting to San Jose)

We booked airport transfer when buying the trip, so after getting our bags, we looked for a driver with our name who took us to the hotel – the Radisson San Jose. Again, everything is booked through the tour – we didn’t have to book anything ourselves. Despite the early arrival time, our room was ready – all booked by us purchasing the family expedition.

On check in, we were told to meet up with our group in the lobby in the evening, there would be a welcoming orientation where we will meet everyone and our CEOs, and then have dinner. So that gave us the afternoon on our own.

We got lunch and did some sightseeing in San Jose on our own – taking an Uber to the Jade Museum. This was a really different and unique museum, with not just jade, but many native artifacts from before Europeans arrived. The building is really different too – it’s quite striking from the outside, looking like essentially a large block of concrete. Much of San Jose is like this. My wife and I enjoyed this, but my son, not so much. After the museum – I had planned to walk around the Cultural Plaza that the museum is near, and walk to the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum, but it started raining heavily, and my son didn’t want to go to another museum. So we took and Uber back to the hotel, and relaxed until the evening get together.

I found San Jose interesting and wanted time to see more, but, most people (including the CEOs) think San Jose is not worth going out of your way to visit. It has some charm, but the buildings are not the prettiest, and there isn’t a LOT to do and see. It’s quite a contrast to the rest of Costa Rica, which is all about nature.

When the time arrived, we met up with everyone from the tour group in one of the hotel conference rooms. There were 21 of us in all – 19 travelers (8 kids), and the 2 CEOs. Our CEOs went over a lot of the logistics with us and gave us a chance to introduce ourselves to the group. After that, we had dinner at the hotel’s nice restaurant. This was reserved by the CEOs, and we all were at a single long table. Sometimes meals are paid for as part of the trip, but for this one, we did each have to pay our own bills.

☕Day 2 – Monteverde Coffee Plantation and Storms

After (included) breakfast at the hotel, it was time to head to the first of three resort destinations on the trip for our next two nights – Monteverde. Monteverde is what you think of when you think Costa Rica – it’s a small town catered towards eco-tourism in the cloud forest – high up in the tropical mountains, with nature everywhere – absolutely beautiful. But first, we have to get there.

🚌Getting to Monteverde and Hotel

Waiting for the group in the morning was our main way of getting around – a small-ish bus that was just the right size for all of us. Our bags were loaded and secured on top of the bus (by the driver and some helpers, we didn’t have to load our bags), and we were all set! Riding the bus to our destinations was really nice – we could watch the view and enjoy the ride without having to worry about navigation or where to go. The bus itself was pretty comfortable – not quite a luxury experience, but mostly smooth. To get to Monteverde, you actually have to go down to the Pacific coast where we stopped at a black sand volcanic beach (Caldera), before going up the mountain to Monteverde.

The ride up the mountain had some fantastic views, although it was a bit bumpy. If you get carsick, riding around Costa Rica isn’t going to be good for you!

Once in Monteverde, we checked in to our resort – the El Establo Mountain Hotel. WOW. This was a series of buildings, each with 10-20 rooms, going up the side of the mountain. There is a shuttle bus that takes you between the lobby building at the bottom of the road and the building you’re in – just call the front desk to get the bus (you can also walk, but our building was pretty high up the road). Our whole group was in one of the highest buildings and we all had an absolutely breathtaking view from our rooms. Sitting on our porch, enjoying the views, and seeing some wildlife (coatis were frequently roaming around outside), was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Our room was about 5,000 feet above sea level, yet, you can easily see the Pacific Ocean, specifically the Gulf of Nicoya, most of the time.

☕Coffee Plantation Tour and Lunch

Shortly after getting in to our room and enjoying the views, we headed to the Cafe Monteverde coffee plantation with the group for lunch, cooking, a plantation tour, and coffee tasting. This was a really nice experience. Lunch was so good and colorful, only using locally grown ingredients. We then cooked some pupusas which was fun. After that – we did a walking tour of the plantation, which was around a mile or two through fields and forest, and through the barns to see their animals. The highlight of that was seeing a sloth! I don’t like coffee so the coffee tasting wasn’t my thing, but it was enjoyed by the coffee lovers in the group. I didn’t have high expectations for the tour since I don’t like coffee, but everything else was unexpectedly enjoyable.

After this, we headed back to the hotel, and once twilight started to set in, we headed to our next adventure – a guided night cloud forest walk. But mother nature had other plans. A thunderstorm approached, and once we got there, we had to shelter under the pavilion. The lightning was quite impressive, but, it was far enough away that there was no thunder, yet.

No tours tonight. So our CEO called the bus back, and we headed to a restaurant near the hotel for dinner, then called it a night. Our CEO said they will try to re-book this for tomorrow night, but weren’t sure if they could (they did!). Our CEO lined up a dinner table for all 21 of us at a restaurant near the hotel. Like the last night – each party in our group covered our own bill, dinner tonight was not included.

21 isn’t a small group, so it was really impressive how the CEOs coordinated everything. Having two CEOs really helps here and is one of the things that sets the National Geographic family expeditions apart from other group tours – by having two guides, one can be making phone calls and managing reservations, transportation, etc., and the other can help the guests.

🌳Day 3 – Monteverde adventures

Today is one of the best days on the trip. We packed 3 different adventures/experiences in, all thanks to the wonderful planning of our CEOs.

Before breakfast, my son and I decided to walk to the top of the road at the hotel, beyond the rooms, to see what’s there. The view up here was amazing, and well worth the difficult walk (it was a paved road, but so steep)

After this, we headed down to get breakfast at the hotel lobby building (by calling for a shuttle bus). Breakfast here was really good both mornings – lots of variety, and the fruit here, and everywhere else in Costa Rica, is amazing.

🔬Monteverde Institute

The first adventure for today is exclusive for the National Geographic expeditions – going to the Monteverde Institute – a research and educational organization supported by National Geographic. We first heard a short lecture about what the institute does and how long they’ve been here, the history of Monteverde, how they help to preserve the cloud forest, and how the cloud forest has changed over the years. Then, we got to actually help out by making tree pots that will be used to plant trees. We basically just stuffed dirt in to these small plastic bags in a specific way. It was more fun and interesting than what it probably sounds like, and was definitely something unique to do.

🌳Cloud forest hanging bridge walk

Next adventure was an incredible walk through the cloud forest on hanging bridges at Selvatura Adventure Park. We had the option of doing this, or zip-lining, but since we have a zip lining adventure later in the trip everyone picked this. After a very bumpy ride on the adventure park’s bus, we arrived. It’s a 2 mile walk through the cloud forest, across many hanging bridges, some of which are very high above the forest. You go at your own pace – there is no tour guide to take you through – so our group essentially split up. This was a highlight of the whole vacation, and I definitely recommend it. Even if you are not on the National Geographic expedition, you can go here, they pick people up from a few spots in town. From the bridges, you can look down on trees and get a different view. This is a much slower pace than ziplining and was very relaxing. We were maybe a bit too relaxed, because we got through it just in time for the last bus back to town. There is some up and down on the trail but nothing too difficult.

🌙Night forest walk

On to the third adventure for the day! A little after coming back to the hotel, we headed out to try the night forest walk again. Our CEO did a wonderful job of getting us all re-booked on this. We got there just as it turned dark, and fortunately tonight there was no rain.

I didn’t know what to expect on this. It was pretty cool, but, kind of weird in some ways. How it works is – you go with a group of about 10 people with a single guide. So our tour group was split in to two. The guide takes you through this forested area that has a lot of trails cutting through it. All of the guides talk to each other on radios to tell each other where there is interesting wildlife, so each group is trying to get to different spots. Everyone is given a flashlight. We got to see a few cool things – like a venomous snake hanging from a tree above us, a few other snakes, some spiders, and a few other creatures. There was a lot of up and downhill walking – the trails were a little steep, and the guides went pretty fast, so you really had to keep up, but be careful since it’s night. And there were several times we had to cross by other groups on narrow trails. It was definitely memorable, and I did enjoy it overall, but it wasn’t a top moment of the vacation. It was more stressful and crowded than I would have expected. I don’t have pictures of this, because it was night, so you’ll have to take my word on it.

None of these activities for the day were required. A few people (my wife included) didn’t do the night walk, because the idea of walking around the forest at night looking for snakes and spiders isn’t for everyone. No problem at all though. We had our hotel room, so for any of them, anyone could stay back, and be picked up for the next adventure – the CEOs made sure everyone was taken care of.

After the cloud forest walk – we headed back to the hotel. There was another group dinner this night (not included in the trip cost), but, by this point, we could have used a break from the group. My wife, son, and I are all pretty introverted, and this was our first group trip like this, so we went to a different restaurant close to the hotel to get some wind down time to not socialize.

🚌Day 4 – Rincon de la Vieja zip lining

Fun is on tap for today after a long ride. We’re heading out from Monteverde to our home for the next two days – the Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin by Rincon de la Vieja National Park. But first, to get there, we packed on our group bus for a 3-4 hour ride there. Leaving Monteverde, traveling down the mountain, it was quite a bumpy ride, and some of the roads were gravel.

Once we were down the mountain, we stopped at a rest stop/cafe. Unexpectedly, there were some macaws in the trees in the parking lot there, where we got a good picture through someone’s telescope lens. After getting back on the road, to help break up the ride, our CEO took us to a park with a beautiful waterfall near one of the main roads (for a small entrance fee), Llanos del Cortes. This was not part of the tour agenda, but our CEO knew this was a quick stop that we’d all like. We could get in the water if we wanted to, and there are changing rooms there, but my family decided to stay dry and not get in, to just enjoy the view.

After the waterfall, we stopped for lunch in Liberia (a small city that has an international airport – many people take flights right to here to head to the coast), and then it was on to the Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin.

🌳Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin

This hotel/resort is awesome, and if I were to do my own Costa Rica vacation, I would definitely stay here for several days. The environment here is pretty different than Monteverde – warmer, drier, and closer to sea level (about 1,600 feet above sea level). It wasn’t what you typically think of for Costa Rica, but I really liked it here. It’s a resort in an isolated area along a gradual slope going up to the Rincon de la Vieja national park with LOTS of activities. Some of the best ones were included with the trip that we did with the whole group, and there were some additional ones we could have done as well. Two days was not even close to enough to experiencing everything the resort offered.

The activities are awesome, but one of the best things here is the food – all meals were included, and every meal was delicious. Everything was buffet style, with both common and unique things every day. For dinner, we typically ate with the group – the CEO got tables reserved for us close together. But other meals we just came and went when we wanted to. Much of the food was local, and the fruit in particular was so good. The fruit across all of Costa Rica is better than anything we have here in the United States – so juicy and fresh! 🍌

😁Zip Lining

After getting to our room, we quickly walked over to the adventure center with our group for zip lining! This was so much fun. It’s right at the resort and very easy to get to, just walk there. It’s unlike most zip lining in Costa Rica – instead of just zip lining over the tree canopy, here you zip line through canyons! (in addition to some tree canopy zip lining). And there is a tarzan swing, and optional cliff wall climb. None of us had ever zip lined before, and we all loved it. There are a lot of individual zip lines, and you get off one, and then move to the next very quickly. It all went by so fast and is a bit overwhelming, but you’ll be happy the whole time. Our whole tour group did the zip lining together, one right after another, so this was a really fun one to do as a group.

They do have cameras set up in a bunch of places to get pictures and videos after you’re done, which is a nice feature. Because I don’t post any pictures here of my family, I won’t post any of ours. But here’s a video I found online that shows the whole ziplining adventure.

After zip lining, we relaxed by our room for a bit, enjoying a perfectly colored sky and rainbow, and then headed to dinner with our group.

🐎Day 5 – Horseback riding and waterfall swim adventure

🐎Horseback ride

I’d summarize today as the perfect resort adventure day. After an early breakfast, our group headed out for a horseback ride at the resort with most of our group to a waterfall. This was included with the tour, but you didn’t have to do this if you didn’t want to – a few opted out. After walking to the tour center, we walked just a little more to the stables where we mounted our horses for the hour and a half ride.

I’ve done a few horseback rides on vacations in my life, and the horses here were the best behaved of any other ride. It was perfect for a group with children. My first time rider 11 year old son had no problems at all with the horse and loved it! They were a little light on instructions, but the horses all knew what to do – the horses mostly followed each other up the trail. There was one tour guide in the front, and one in the back, to make sure no one got too far behind or ahead. The horses sometimes did compete with each other a little bit, and changed their order up a bit, so it wasn’t a boring ride.

The terrain is mix of open fields and light forest, with some really great views at times (and some views of a nearby geothermal power plant). It was a gradual ascent up to the Rincon de la Vieja National Park, for the next adventure – Oropendola Waterfall. The horseback ride was so memorable and enjoyable, I’d recommend it to everyone! Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures, I didn’t bring my phone along, so my words will have to paint the picture for you. But here is a video I found that someone posted a few years before our trip showing highlights from the ride.

🌊Oropendola Waterfall swim

At the end of the horseback ride, we walked to our next adventure – a walk down to a beautiful waterfall, Oropendola, and a swim in the lake at the bottom of the falls. The walk is relatively short, going down some slippery stairs and bridges. Those in the tour group who didn’t do the horseback ride met us here – buses took them up, and took everyone back at the end.

The falls here are beautiful, and the swim was so refreshing after the horseback ride. It truly felt like we were in a tropical paradise here. The middle picture below shows the pool we got to swim in. No worries if you aren’t a great swimmer – most of it was shallow enough to easily stand in, even for children, but the part closer to the falls was deep enough that our feet didn’t touch the bottom.

I found this video which shows the walk to the waterfall, and also the Rio Negro hot springs, which I’ll talk about in the next paragraph.

Going here right after the horseback ride was so convenient. We could wear our swimwear under our clothes for the horseback ride, and one of our CEOs stayed back with our belongings. Once again, everything ran so smoothly for this amazing morning of adventure. The CEOs were so accommodating to the few tour guests who didn’t want to do the horseback ride – they still got to enjoy the waterfall swim!

The view wasn’t too bad either from where the bus took us back after the waterfall. There was a small cafe here as well.

We took our bus back to the resort, got delicious some lunch at the restaurant there, and then it was time for afternoon adventures.

Choose Your Own Adventure

In the afternoon – we could all choose our own adventure from the resort. Or choose to do nothing! My wife chose the Rio Negro hot springs and mud bath at the resort which she loved and found very relaxing. There was a series of several different hot springs fed pools, each at different temperatures, and a mud bath. With so many pools, there was plenty of space to relax.

My son and I chose a self guided walk to the Red Pond, through some tropical terrain, right by the resort. This was a nice, easy, relaxing walk of about an hour through terrain that we never see at home. One of the highlights was seeing a whole lot of fire ants chewing up a lot along the side of the trail, but fortunately we could avoid getting too close. This was a nice walk, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to do it.

A few from our group also did a tubing adventure on the river. But, some of them said the river was a bit rocky since the river was a bit low (it was drier than it usually is in July), which was a bit uncomfortable.

After a group dinner at the resort, which again had fantastic food, we all headed back to our rooms for the last night here at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin.

🐊 Day 6 – Jungle Boat Wildlife to Margaritaville Resort

After another delicious breakfast at Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin with lots of fantastic local fruit, everyone boarded the bus for a long journey to our next destination, Playa Flamingo. But we’ll spend the middle part of the day on another adventure – a jungle boat ride on a river through Palo Verde National Park to see LOTS of wildlife.

🛥️Jungle Boat Tour

After about 2 hours on the bus, we arrived on the shores of the River Tempisque to board our boat. Our group had the boat to ourselves, along with the staff, with some seats to spare. The terrain isn’t quite what you would expect – while generally there was thick tree cover along the river, sometimes behind the trees were open fields. The boat driver explained that much of the wildlife is driven to the river and small areas of trees, since much of the forest has been cleared. This didn’t take away from the experience though.

After gliding down the river, enjoying a relaxing ride, we started seeing a lot of wildlife. The boat drivers would try to take us in close to see some specific animals and point them out. We saw gigantic grasshoppers close up, bats sleeping on trees blending in, then howler monkeys and lots of white-faced monkeys.

The coolest part though was a crocodile that swam right by the boat. The boat driver just stopped the boat while this crocodile swam around the boat, our arms just a few feet above the surface. This was so cool! My wife was very concerned about this but the boat driver reassured us there’s nothing to worry about. Some boat tour operators on this river used to throw meat by the boat to get crocodiles to come (which they can’t do any more), and the old crocodiles still remember, so they come expecting some handouts (which we don’t give!).

This boat ride was so cool. This delivered something fun and unique that we’ll remember throughout our lives.

After the boat tour, the bus took us to a local restaurant in the nearby town of Ortega that serves meals for large groups like us. There were some local artists there as well, and they had some demonstrations of their techniques. This was a nice change of pace, and we got to see what some of the life is like in rural Costa Rica.

🌅Margaritaville Beach Resort

After lunch, we got back on the bus for a surprisingly long ride to our destination for the next two days – the Margaritaville Beach Resort in Playa Flamingo, on the Pacific coast. If you’re thinking that this doesn’t really sound like a place that would be on a National Geographic trip, well, you’d be right. American touristy doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was pretty puzzling that this was our hotel. I do see as of this writing in 2025, they have changed the hotel to a different one, which is a great idea.

The resort wasn’t that bad. The room was fine, beds were comfortable, the pool is nice. But it was so completely different than the other hotels on the trip. Margaritaville radio playing, coordinated activities in the pool several times a day, and somewhat bland food isn’t on brand for the trip.

Despite the hotel being out of place for the trip, the beach (Playa Flamingo) is pretty awesome. It’s a public beach – so when you leave the resort you just walk across the street to get here. It’s huge, wide, and has an amazing view of the sunset. Since we got here at about 5:30 – we got some sunset pictures and then got dinner. There are restaurants at the resort, but, they were not included, so we decided to venture out on our own to a pizza restaurant up the street from the resort for dinner, then called it a night.

⛵Day 7 – Catamaran and Beach

We had all day in Playa Flamingo today, and our CEOs knocked it out of the park again by arranging a morning/mid day catamaran boat ride north along the coast to a pretty secluded beach, with lunch and drinks included. After a so-so breakfast at the resort (included), we walked up the street to the marina to catch the boat to leave at 9AM. The catamaran was exclusive to our tour group – no other guests, so this was definitely like a private trip for us.

⛵Catamaran up the coast

The ride up the coast was very scenic and relaxing. We passed by some islands, and saw some wildlife, before arriving off shore at Guacamaya Beach. Some people did some snorkeling there, but my family stuck to using pool noodles to float around and swim to the beach. After spending time doing swimming around and relaxing, we got back on the boat for lunch and then headed back to the marina.

The catamaran trip was another highlight of the trip. It was so enjoyable to just sit and watch the coast from the boat as we travelled north. Having the whole boat to our tour group made it all the better. After a week with everyone, we had gotten to know our fellow travelers well, so this was like a half day boat ride with 20 friends.

Logistically, the boat ride was not included in the overall trip cost, so we did have to each pay a fixed amount per person. Our CEOs took care of it all though – on the way to Playa Flamingo, he had the bus stop at a bank so we could each get cash out of ATMs to pay for it. It was a lot of work for our primary CEO to arrange all of this – he was on the phone a lot the prior two days arranging this and got everyone’s input to make sure that we all wanted to do it, and that we were OK with the price. He got some different options for us – like to do a cheaper boat tour where we would be with some other people, or a more expensive one just with us (which we chose). The amount of work that had to be put in to this, and the great results in the end, were really impressive, and one of the things that is so nice about a group tour like this – I didn’t have to plan any of it! I could just sit back, relax, and go along for the ride, and get to experience a wonderful vacation.

⛱️Free afternoon for the beach

After we got back to the hotel, we were all on our own until tomorrow morning. My wife chose to book a spa appointment at the resort, which she really liked. My son and I walked to the beach to enjoy the sand and the ocean, and then enjoyed the pool. A nice, relaxing way to end the trip.

After sunset, my wife, son, and I walked up the street from the resort to get dinner at a really nice Italian and seafood restaurant that overlooks an open courtyard, Angelina’s. It’s slightly upscale, and priced upscale as well, and was definitely a change of style from the other restaurants we’ve been do. But we did not feel out of place in our vacation clothes. I would recommend it – the food was good and the ambience was nice, overlooking some trees with some nice views of lightning in the distance.

After spending a week with the group, being introverts, we did welcome a quiet evening to ourselves. But surprise, when we were eating our dinner, about half of our group showed up at the restaurant! It was OK though – we chatted with the group for a bit and enjoyed some drinks with the group. That really does show how tight knit the group tour is – you’re spending over a week with a group of 20 others that you didn’t know, but by the end you have gotten to know everyone pretty well.

🚌Day 8 – Back to San Jose, farewell dinner

Today was a travel day, but we had plenty of time before we left at noon. After another so-so breakfast at the resort (where we had a visitor iguana by our table), we relaxed by the pool (and played some games) and then got on the bus for a long ride back to San Jose.

We stopped about half way to San Jose at a truck stop cafeteria for lunch. Doesn’t sound appealing, I know, but the food was very good.

This ride was the longest of the trip – we were in the bus for probably 5 hours. So, getting to San Jose, back to the hotel we stayed at for night 1 (the Radisson San Jose), was welcome. After checking in, we relaxed for a bit before a farewell catered dinner with the group in the conference room that we had our welcome reception at. It was included in the tour price this time. We said our goodbyes to everyone and went to bed.

✈️Day 9 – Flight Home

We got up early today to catch an 8:55AM flight home. The San Jose airport is really small, and it was easy and quick to get through to our terminal. Because today is a Sunday, not Saturday, the direct flight to Baltimore is NOT flying, so we had a long layover in Houston. The flight leaving Houston was delayed, and it was midnight by the time we got home. What a long day! Having direct flights is so much nicer.

💡Costa Rica Trip Tips and Impressions

If you’re going on this specific group tour, or going to Costa Rica on your own, here are some tips and impressions.

• ⛰️I expected nature, but the scenery, particularly in Monteverde, was amazing
• ☀️There really is no bad time to visit. Summer is supposedly the beginning of the rainy season, but we didn’t encounter much rain. It was quite pleasant. We may have been here during a “little high season” in July, which this site says is the best time to visit. But you can’t really plan around it – just go when it most convenient for you. If you go December – April you’ll probably get little rain, and things will probably be less green. October – November will have more rain but be very green. Some of this also depends on the area – the northwest like Rincon de la Vieja is drier than other areas.
• 🌡️Temperature – The temperatures were quite pleasant most of the time, but they do vary a lot based on where you are. The “cloud forest” wasn’t as cool as what I was expecting (highs in the 70’s in Monteverde, and a little humid), and the weather on the coast, Rincon de la Vieja area, was in the 80’s, and drier, and along the coast in Playa Flamingo was typical tropical weather – upper 80’s and humid. We did pack for everything but didn’t need a lot what we packed. Keep in mind though it CAN get cooler quick in Monteverde.
• ☁️ The cloud forest was a little less cloudy than I expected. Which was nice in some ways because we could see far, and didn’t get wet. But if you’re expecting the cloud forest to be always wrapped in clouds, you will probably be disappointed. At the Monteverde Institute they explained that climate change is really affecting the amount of cloud cover – the cloud forest is essentially moving further and further up the mountain.
• 🦟Bugs – I didn’t think at all about bugs, there were not many.
• 🦜Wildlife – You probably have an idea of Costa Rica just being full of animals and birds that you’ve never seen before. We did see some, and the boat ride in Palo Verde was awesome, but, there wasn’t wildlife around every corner.
• 🚗Driving – I’m glad we were on a bus and I didn’t have to drive. The national routes are fine – paved, and pretty well maintained. But off of the national routes, in particular going to and from Monteverde, the roads are no in the best shape, a lot of unpaved sections and very windy. Expect it to take longer than you think it will to get from place to place.
• 🚨Safety – we never felt unsafe anywhere. Costa Rica is a pretty safe country, particularly for tourists. We rarely saw police – they’re just not needed in most places, in particular in the touristy areas. You don’t need to be afraid of venturing outside of the resorts.
• 🍽️Food and Restaurants – pretty much anywhere we picked out had great food. There is a lot of rice and beans! But it’s really good. In the more touristed areas, prices aren’t cheap – if you’re expecting really cheap food, you’ll be disappointed in some places.
• 🚰Water – generally, tap water in Costa Rica is considered safe. San Jose in particular is safe. However, our CEOs recommended bottled water. They always had big jugs of safe water for us to refill our bottles from.
• 💰Money – The local currency is the Costa Rica colon. There are ATMs in a lot of places, and you can get colons from the ATMs directly – this is better than using currency exchange services. Some places would take US dollars as well, but it’s better to use the local currency if you’re going to use cash.
• 💳Cash or card? – Most restaurants took card – Costa Rica is very geared towards tourists. But always be sure to have some cash if you are going to a smaller place that may not take cards.
• 🧳Luggage – as we found out, on the group tours like this one where you take buses between places, it’s better to have smaller bags. Carry on size bags, and/or duffel bags, work best. We had a medium sized suitcase and that was always harder for the driver and others to load. So, bring carry ons. We now always take carry on bags and add a duffel bag for extra stuff.
• Sit back and relax – it was so nice on the group tour to be able to just sit back and relax, and not have to worry about, well, anything. The CEOs were taking care of everything for us, even if unexpected things come up, they can handle it.

❓Questions or thoughts?

Have questions for me, or thoughts on our trip? Click the social media links and interact with me there! I probably won’t check that often, but that’s the best way to get in touch with me. And check out About Me to learn more about me.