Costa Rica pt.1

Trip Review – Costa Rica 2012

I will post this in a couple of parts to save time. Part 1:

Overview
Dates: Fri 9 November to Tues 20 November (landing LHR Weds 21st)
Cost: £600 accommodation, car-hire (Thrifty, San Jose), airport-transfers; £600 flights (American Airlines via Miami); £600+ spending on food/drink and trips/tours.

Itinerary:
Day1 – Fly LHR to SJO via MIA (Flight time: 9 hrs + 3 hrs; Accommodation: Sleep Inn, downtown San Jose)
Day2 – Drive to Arenal volcano/NP (Drive time: 3.5 hrs; Accommodation: Montana de Fuego hotel & spa)
Day3 – Arenal
Day4 – Drive to Monteverde cloud forest/NP (Drive time: 3.5 hrs; Accommodation: Fonda Vela hotel)
Day5 – Monteverde
Day6 – Drive to Tamarindo beach resort (Drive time: 3.5 hrs; Accommodation: Jardin del Eden hotel)
Day7 – Tamarindo
Day8 – Tamarindo
Day9 – Drive to Manuel Antonio NP (Drive time: 5 hrs; Accommodation: Plaza Yara hotel)
Day10 – Manuel Antonio
Day11 – Drive to San Jose (Drive time: 2.5 hrs; Accommodation: Sleep Inn, downtown San Jose)
Day12 – Fly SJO to LHR via MIA (Flight time: 8 hrs + 2.5 hrs)

Comment: Travel
We got flights via Miami as they were the cheapest, even after the cost of that pesky US ESTA requirement (a tourist tax in all but name) which you have to buy as the incredibly stupid and annoying US policy of making transit commuters legally ENTER the country in order to EXIT again for their final destination. This means that you have to clear passport control/immigration which takes AGES as the airport is poorly/inefficiently run and US immigration cumbersome and shambolic with finger printing and photo-recording etc AND collect you bags AND go through customs AND re-check-in your baggage in the departures hall. DO NOT LEAVE LESS THAN 3 HOURS TO DO THIS. Have done it a few times now and you’d be surprised how long it can take.

Once in Costa Rica we had airport transfers to our hotel but otherwise did all our own driving. Hiring a 4x4 was great fun (and the Toyota Rav4 was a simply superb vehicle) however notes for potential visitors to CR: 1) Speed limits are very low, 50mph on the motorways type low, and many tourists have been caught out; 2) CR has a shambolic (scam) insurance policy. Big debate over who’s to blame, government who passed the law or car hire companies that do not include it in the price, but basically insurance in always separate to the car-hire cost and is mandatory/legally required. So, when getting a quote, add $18 a day for basic third party cover which you cannot avoid. They’ll also try and push more comprehensive optional insurance cover which also acts as a damage waiver for anything from $10 to $20 a day – we took it as we wanted to be able to rag the car if needed and not worry about getting shafted by dodgy damage claims.

Driving in Costa Rica is fine, with good modern paved/tarmac’d roads – apart from a 40km radius around Monteverde which provides some pretty rough 4x4 fun. Drivers aren’t half as crazy as some people try to make out, barely any worse than the Yanks and certainly nothing on the Greeks/Spanish. Definitely get a GPS/SatNav though - $10 extra a day and Thrifty even pre-programmed all our destinations for us, an absolute god-send.

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