Ever considered a Costa Rica Road Trip? Read on to learn more about the first two days of our eight day road trip across the Northern part of the country. We’ll go into detail about getting settled in on Day 1 and visiting Manuel Antonio National Park on Day 2.
Day 1 – Flying to Costa Rica
We made it to the airport with time to spare! Unfortunately, the layover caused a bit of a delay in our schedule for the day. Ultimately, we had to cut out visiting Carara National Park from our Day 1 itinerary (full itinerary here). As always, we went into designing the Costa Rica Road Trip itinerary acknowledging that there is the possibility for things to change.
Once we arrive in Costa Rica, we pick up our checked bag and make a stop at the Duty Free. The wine, beer and liquor prices are reasonable here. $12USD for a 750mL of aged Costa Rican rum and $5 USD for a six pack of the national beer. The location is also highly convenient as far as getting your trip started.
Picking up our Rental Car
Next we make our way to the arrivals curb where we begin our search for the rental car shuttle. We appreciate having a plan to depart the airport, as there as ALOT of people around trying to coordinate us. Several resources we read claim this is the first place to be careful when it comes to potential scams. We found our guy in an Adobe Rental Car outfit with our name on a list. He calls the shuttle and we wait only a couple minutes for it to arrive. Did we mention it’s POURING rain!? After all, we are visiting during the ‘wet season’.
There are essentially three seasons in Costa Rica. The ‘dry’ season runs from December to April. The ‘shoulder’ (ie. less wet) season form May to July, and ‘wet’ or ‘green’ season from August to November. What this means is you are pretty much guaranteed some sort of precipitation every day during the wet season. Days are generally clear and sunny in the morning and early afternoon. It is however, enough to deter some folks from traveling which makes it a great time of year to visit!
The rental car agency is a short distance from the airport, less than a 10 minute ride. When we arrive, an agent is ready to get us moving (but not rushing us by any means)! We went through the usual rental car check in, and the staff were very pleasant and thorough! If you decide to plan a Costa Rica Road Trip, definitely do it through Adobe. They have multiple offices across the country. After a quick walk around of the car, we were on our way. Of course, this means a quick stop at the store for snacks and some bottled water for us to bring along.
Costa Rica Travel Tip: we were advised by several resources to avoid drinking tap water on our trip. Reason being, our foreign intestinal flora might not adjust well to the local water contents. Hence, bottled water would allow us to enjoy our trip rather than spend it on the toilet 😉
Buying Local Currency
We also planned to buy local currency once we arrived in the country (on further advice). More specifically, from an actual bank, not one of those exchange centers near or in the airport. This adds another element of experiencing local culture to our trip.
They say that for the most part, you can get by in the country with USD and credit cards. But we decided to have some local currency just in case (glad we did). In Costa Rica, when you enter a bank, a greeter asks you what you want to do. Next, you get a ticket (somehow specific to the task at hand) and take a seat. Now, you wait for them to call your number. We waited about 10 minutes before getting our transaction processed. Also, each of the teller’s has a ‘back up’/secondary teller. Not clear on the reasoning for that.
At the time of our trip, $1 USD = ₡575 Costa Rican Colon
Fuel was ₡609/L which converts to ~$3.93/gallon
Snacks, water and money in tow, we set our sights on the coast and kick off this Costa Rica Road Trip! Our first night will be spent in the [Pacific] coastal town of Quepos. We drive through a couple tolls along the 1.5 hour drive (~$4USD worth). Our drive rolls into the evening and through pouring rain which made for poor sightseeing along the way. Alas, we arrive at our destination, a gated hostel in downtown Quespos. We check in, do a quick lap of the town to explore the nightlife and call it a night.
While walking around Quespos after dark (and other towns), we were approached several times by the locals asking if we were looking for cocaine. This is apparently the #1 drug that Americans look for while traveling in Costa Rica which was a curious fact. So don’t be alarmed.
Day 2 – Manuel Antonio National Park
We wake up to beautiful weather and dive into the breakfast included at the hostel (cereal, coffee and fresh fruit). We soon learn that the staple fresh fruit with hotel/hostel breakfasts here are papaya, banana and pineapple (yum!).
On the advice of the kind staff managing the hostel, we decide travel by bus this morning. The local bus runs from downtown Quepos to Manuel Antonio National Park. This 15 minute ride costs ~$1USD per person, round trip vs. nearly $10 to park a car. The trip is simple as the bus’ last stop is essentially the park. You’ll disembark beach front at the bottom of a street (across the street from a restaurant called Martin’s).
Entering the Park
This is another place where you should be prepared to get hustled by the locals. They offer the best tour guides, souvenirs and beach front real estate in the form of tents and chairs. Thank them for their offer and cross the street. Walk a couple hundred meters to the park entrance (the hustling continues along this walk). There are tours/tour guides available for the park but we decided to forego the option. They start at about $50 USD pp so we skipped it for budget purposes.
Manuel Antonio National Park is open from 7am to 4pm everyday except Monday. They limit the number of folks entering the park on a daily basis, so it’s good to get there early.
When we arrive at the entrance, we are instructed that the tickets need to be purchased at the Coopealianza. This is the bank like building on your right before you enter the gate. Entry is $16 USD per person. We are also asked if we have any food in our bag. Of course, we respond that we had granola bars. The park ranger informs us that sandwiches and fruit are permitted but granola bars are not. They claim it is due to the sugar content but we are still skeptical about their reasoning, being there is sugar in bread and that tourists may be brining in non-local fruit. So we eat a couple snacks prior to entering and donate a couple to the local hustlers. Granola bar free, we make our way into the park.
Walking the Trails
The park entrance puts us on the Principal Trail. This trail winds along a dock like path, through the forest and mangroves, and spits you out at Playa Espadilla Sur. Here, you stare out onto the Pacific Ocean. The crescent shaped, white sand beach only had a few folks along it. It is said to be one of the less busy beaches in the park. We continued along the path towards Punta Catedral and saw our first sloths! Luckily there were a couple people looking up at them, otherwise we may have missed them all together! We also walk past a tour group gazing at a snake. We saw racoons, agouti and iguanas along the trail.
Agouti: large rodent native to Central and South America. They are closely related to the Guinea Pig but are quite large in comparison. They get up to 60 cm (24 in) in length and 9 lbs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agouti
We continue along the Punta Catedral loop which is a less than 1 mile hike with a slight elevation. It’s worth it though, for the sweeping views of the Pacific coast line. They say you can see humpback whales feeding near shore in the fall months (we did not). We exit the trail at Playa Manuel Antonio, the park’s most popular beach and find a quiet corner to take it all in. The rocks on either end of the beach provide for great snorkeling, which we of course took advantage of. We saw common inshore tropical fish like sergeant major, wrasse, perch and even a trigger fish. The visibility wasn’t fantastic but it was good enough to satiate our snorkeling palate.
We sit on the beach for a bit, watching other snorkelers, passing iguanas and listening to howler monkeys. There was even a scuffle between two male iguanas as a female passed through. Though we never did lay our eyes on a howler monkey. We did however see about a dozen squirrel monkeys (aka mono titi) in the tree tops. This park is a GREAT first stop!
There are four species of monkey native to Costa Rica. The white-faced capucin, Central American squirrel monkey (Saimiri oerstedii), the Panamanian white-faced capuchin (Cebus imitator), the mantled howler (Alouatta palliata) and Geoffroy’s spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi). All of which can be found in Manuel Antonio National Park (we saw three).
Once we decide it’s time to move on from the beach, we make our way onto the Perezosa Trail (Sendrero El Perezosa) aka the ‘Sloth Trail’. This is another ~1mile trail that winds through the forest, providing more wildlife viewing opportunities. Along this trail is where we encountered a group of white-faced capuchin monkeys that entertain us for a short while. We continue out of the park, back down to the bus stop and grab a beer on the beach while we wait. The national cerveza here is Imperial.
Onto Our Next Destination
After popping back into the hostel for a quick shower, we jump in the car and head north. We will be spending the night in Santa Elana, approximately 3.5 hours north of Quespos, and plan to stop in Jaco for a sunset dinner. As we make our way along the highway, we can see all the sights we missed the night before. The roadside attractions consist mainly of palm farms. These acres upon acres of palm tree are plantations that produce palm oil. It was incredible to see such a massive concentration of palm trees in one place.
For our Costa Rica Road Trip, we opted to use the offline option offered by Google Maps. Prior to our trip, we downloaded the relevant maps and used them to navigate between destinations. It gives you the designated course but doesn’t have the narration so the method is a little old school. We missed a couple turns but got back on track quickly, so for the most part, if worked really well!
While Phil drives, Kat does a bit of research into waterfront restaurants in Jaco. We find ourselves at El Hicaco, a BEAUTIFUL beach front restaurant and perfect location to watch the sunset. We arrive and the restaurant is nearly dead. There are only a handful of patrons which made the experience even more romantic. We order ceviche (we’ve heard it’s a must eat in Costa Rica) and grilled octopus. Bellies full and sun down, we jump back in the car to finish up our ride to the mountain top village of Santa Elana. It is a slow, curvy, uphill drive into town. Can’t wait to see what it looks like in the daylight tomorrow!
Feel free to drop us any questions about the first two days of our trip below. Be sure to stay tuned for Day 3 of our Costa Rica Road Trip!
Have you ever visited a place like Manuel Antonio National Park?
