It was time to break in our kid’s passports. As you may know, children’s passports have a much shorter viability (five years) and I was not interested in letting them expire without a single stamp.
After a successful trip to California, I knew I wanted to get them back in the air again soon. It didn’t take me long to narrow down the area I wanted them to see. Central America was going to be so different than anything they had ever experienced in Chicago, San Francisco, Wisconsin, and Orlando. From the people, to the food, to the climate – I knew I would be thoroughly comfortable navigating while also getting them a whole bucket-full of “firsts”. The kids were 10 and 8 at the time of this trip and easily did all our activities.
I really liked our itinerary because we hit the major areas but were often adjacent to the big touristy moments which I think was a really great balance.
Volcan Tenorio instead of Volcan Arenal
Am I going to sit here and say you shouldn’t go to La Fortuna? Absolutely not – I’ve been and it has a lot of perks. But if you are looking for something in the area with similar (or the same) activities with way fewer people – try looking northwest of Fortuna and into the areas surrounding Parque Nacional Volcán Tenorio.
After landing in San Jose (though the Guanacaste airport would have been faster, if more expensive) we rented the car and took the construction laden road north to stay at Agutipaca Bungalows. What a find this was. It was a true b&b run by the family with an incredible breakfast. Be aware their English is limited, but not their kindness.
They took us on multiple nature walks and patiently pointed out birds and so many sloths. If you want to see sloths in Costa Rice you must come to this area – we saw at least a dozen in our first few days, it was incredible.
Outside of enjoying the grounds around our bungalow, we visited the park to do the Mysteries of Tenorio Trail. You will need to get passes to enter to be sure to follow the instructions online and listed on the AllTrails info.
It was a great hike with the kids. There was some parts that were strenuous to make it an actual hike, but nothing crazy. It had lots of beauty and the waterfall was really impressive. We did get caught in a massive downpour but otherwise we all had a fantastic time.
We also took an afternoon to do the Rio Celeste Tubing which was a ton of fun for the adults and kids. Run by a very local little tour group, the equipment was great and the guide was fun. It was extremely kid friendly with plenty of quick, easy rapids that allowed for screeching, but also nice calm waters as well. We didn’t book private but it was just our family which was a lovely surprise.
My kids absolutely sobbed when it was time to leave this spot, mainly because they had fallen in love with the resident dog. But it was time to switch gears and make our way down to the Pacific coast. This ended up being a much longer day due to some insane construction-related traffic. We had planned to do a 1pm Chocolate Tour on the way town but didn’t get there until 3pm. I had tried to WhatsApp and cancel but they assured me they would give us a tour whenever we arrived which was unbelievably sweet of them.
The tour at La Mona Golosa was very cute with great grounds where we could walk through the cocoa trees as well as a number of other spice trees. They showed us how the chocolate was made, had the boys taste the beans, and had them grind their own chocolate as well.
We obviously also made an obligatory stop at the chocolate cave for some purchases. Highly recommend this stop even if it is a bit of a detour based on their kindness alone. Truly authentic.
Parrita instead of Quepos
Instead of staying in Jaco or Quepos, two very well known cities especially with proximity to Manuel Antonio, we opted for an Airbnb in the little outlet called Parrita. Did this mean a bit more driving? It did, but in my opinion it was absolutely worth it for the almost vacant beach we were literally steps away from.
We stayed at this airbnb that was perfect for our family. Gorgeous ocean views and extremely convenient to the beach, the pool, and even restaurants. While the whole community admittedly reminded me of a random gated community in Florida, it worked extremely well for our plans of being beach bums with a few outings.
We did take a day to drive into Quepos and experience Manuel Antonio National Park with a Nature Tour. Many people really enjoy this tour, but I was not one of them. It must have been our bad luck but we were traveling in massive packs of tourists even though we booked the earliest session.
And maybe it was because we had seen such incredible wildlife up in Tenorio already, but what we did view here was underwhelming. We did walk around a bit more of the park on our own but ultimately, I’d recommend skipping due to the crowds alone.
When our next tour had a guide problem and had to be postponed, we did make a quick choice to go to Sukia for some ziplining. The boys really enjoyed this and I really enjoyed that there is a butterfly cafe on site where I could sit and drink a nice lemonade while they hurdled through the air (no thanks, even though it did seem quite chill). This was a nice spot for not-to-dramatic zip lining but well run.
It was then time to go back and get on our Kayak tour through the mangroves. This was a blast for the kids as we had tandems so they could paddle (but did they? not so much). The tour guide brought bananas and threw the food so the birds would come swooping down. We also stopped and they fed the monkeys so they would come right down to us.
Is this the most sustainable of practice? I’m going to go with a no – and I do think you should consider if it’s the right thing to book this tour. We had a blast, but had I known that we were going to be actively feeding the monkeys in order to attract them, I probably would have opted out. That being said, it was a core memory to see a monkey standing on my 8 year old’s back. I also had a monkey lick banana off my cheek, and then there is this gem where Eric had a monkey on his shoulder.
All in all – be tourist adjacent in Costa Rice
As someone who has traveled to (almost) every Central American country (I’ll get to Honduras and El Salvador eventually), Costa Rica is beautiful but extremely touristy compared to the others. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go, but I do highly recommend looking around to some of the places that are a bit more authentic.
I promise with a bit more effort you can still see all the iconic spots while also supporting the actual community and getting incredible views and peaceful areas, too.
