Costa Rica, Part 1: Beach and Adventure

This is Part 2 of a two-part series on our trip to Costa Rica. You can read about Part 2 here. To see the full 10-day itinerary, click here.

Costa Rica has sparked my imagination since I was a kid, and it became a cherished dream come true last spring. This trip instantly became one of the top destinations my wife and I have visited on our travels, and we can’t recommend it enough.

While our kids didn't accompany us on this particular adventure, our journey through Costa Rica uncovered treasures perfect for families. As parents, we couldn't help but envision the wonder in our kids’ eyes amid the awe-inspiring nature encounters we experienced, and we can’t wait to return with them.

Costa Rica, with its blend of adrenaline-pumping activities, beautiful beaches, and mesmerizing biodiversity, is the perfect playground for vacationers seeking both adventure and relaxation. We put together this 10-day itinerary from several itineraries that we found online, and we stayed primarily in the northwest and central parts of Costa Rica (starting in Guanacaste, ending in San Jose). Climate and time of year did not really factor into our planning, and we did not come across any activities that were seasonally dependent, except for seeing baby turtles hatch on the beach.

Day 1: Arrival 

We kicked off our adventure in the Guanacaste region, so chose to fly in to Liberia (LIR) airport, which is a little closer and less hectic than the San Jose airport. We got our rental car without a hitch and headed straight for the Andaz Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo (link). The Andaz has a private beach and beach house, which you can get to by both golf carts or a boat ride. We chose the golf cart on the way there and took the boat ride on the return.

The private beach was decently sized and had many sofas to lounge on, and a place to rent items for water activities. There was also a full menu available to order from.

We recovered from our long travel by basking in the sun and indulging in the serene beauty of the coastline. While we were lounging, we were serenaded by the loud calls of a band of howler monkeys! It was the perfect introduction to the wonderful wildlife that we would see throughout the rest of our trip.

Day 2: Ziplining and Beach Sunset Dinner 

Our first full day of adventure was going to be at Diamante Eco Adventure Park, promising a day packed with ziplining, wildlife encounters, and cultural immersion. This was a great introduction to all that Costa Rica had to offer, as they had a wildlife sanctuary with a lot of the local animals Costa Rica is known for (so we knew what to look for the rest of our trip!) and they also offered free “cultural experiences” like a demonstration of how coffee, chocolate, and sugar cane is processed. It was also super easy to do this all in one place, so we didn’t have to drive around.

One of the main reasons I had picked Diamante Eco park though was for the side-by-side superman ziplines, hurtling head first down a mile-long zipline with a view of the coast. My wife chickened out once we got to the top of the mountain though – she had never done head-first ziplining and it turns out that’s a lot scarier than regular ziplining. I ended up going solo, reaching a max speed of 70mph – you cannot open your mouth or turn your head at that speed! But it was over quickly. She joined me on the rest of the ziplines down the mountain.

We had rented a car for this trip, and I will say overall, driving in Costa Rica is easy. There isn’t a ton of traffic, we were the only car on many roads that we drove on. Parking wasn’t too hard to find. Drivers generally respected traffic rules. If you are used to driving in the US, you’ll probably be fine (as another comparison point, it is far less chaotic than driving in Mexico). However, we did have one unexpected driving encounter. I don’t know how often this happens, but one of the roads we were driving on was flooded, and cars just drove through the flooded portion. Our rental car thankfully had no issues crossing either.

For dinner, we enjoyed a beautiful sunset dinner at Pangas Beach Club. The restaurant was a bit hard to find, as there was no road-facing entrance. However, once we started walking along the beach, the restaurant appeared much more obviously. The beach itself stretched for miles, seemed very shallow, and was great for finding seashells as well. We enjoyed a nice stroll on the beach before sitting down to dinner.

The beach club restaurant was under huge gorgeous trees, where they had strung up all sorts of lights and woodland décor. The vibe was magical. The food looked good but actually the taste was quite underwhelming. Costa Rica, overall, isn’t the best if you’re looking for a top culinary experience, which was reinforced during the rest of our trip.

Day 3: Adventures at Rincon de la Vieja National Park

A drive takes us to Hacienda Guachipelin Adventure Tours in Rincon de la Vieja National Park, where a full day of adventure awaited us. We had selected four activities at Hacienda: horseback riding, white water rafting, ziplining, and then a dip in some natural volcano-heated thermal pools.

We took a ride on horses down to a river, then got into the boats for the rafting. The rafting ride was a mix of level 4 rapids and calm waters. I fell out of the boat at one turn that had a big dip! The rest of the ride was mostly drifting on calm waters. We even spotted some capuchin monkeys on the branches above us.

The ziplining here was in a different environment than the ziplining we had done at Diamante Eco Adventure Park. Here, we would be doing more ziplines, but they were shorter distances, and we were traversing a canyon. Honestly, the scenery was better than flying high above the tree line. There was one point of the canyon when they also had a tarzan swing from one side of the canyon to the other.

We ended our full day of adventure with a relaxing dip in the volcano-heated pools alongside the Rio Negro. There was also a volcanic “mud bath” that people said had beneficial properties for your skin, which we tried on but didn’t really feel any difference. While in the thermal pools, we were surprised to be joined by two Boa constrictors just beside one of the pools, within arms reach. We asked one of our nature guides about this later, and he said they may have been mating and were probably drawn to the warmth in that area.

For dinner, we decided to try the on-site restaurant at the Andaz, called Ostra. It looked quite upscale, and service was great, but the food was again just ok.

This was our last night on the Guanacaste coast before moving further inland, so we made sure to soak in the sunset and the beauty of the resort.

Note: This itinerary has been crafted based on personal experiences and preferences. Activities and timings may vary; I highly recommend making advance bookings wherever available.