Costa Rica
A complete guide on Costa Rica in 5 days
I recently completed a 5-day trip in Costa Rica. Here’s everything that we did + some helpful tips.
Day 1: Big Travel Day + Drive to La Fortuna Area
Our flight to SJO was delayed so our original itinerary had to be a little modified. We started off by picking up our car from Adobe rentals– from research, I found that this company was the friendliest and best to rent from– nothing but good things to say here. I paid with my Chase Sapphire card (shameless plug, use my referral link if you want to get your own) so I automatically get some auto rental insurance coverage. We opted in for an additional $50 for extra liability coverage (if our car causes damage to another car, my base insurance wouldn’t cover it, but the extra $ we paid would). We got a 4WD SUV (definitely don’t get anything but this).
We ate at Rosti Chicken, a local fast food-esque type of place. I thought it was nothing impressive.
On our drive, we saw La Paz waterfalls (which was on our itinerary at a later time, but since it was literally on the road on the way, we stopped at took some pictures).
We drove ~2.5 hours to the La Fortuna area, where our gorgeous AirBnb was. 3BR house + parking + hot tub + laundry + in a great area.
Ate a late dinner at Don Rufino– vegetarian friendly, great aesthetic, and amazing service
Day 2: La Fortuna + Drive to Guanacaste
We woke up around sunrise to drive to La Fortuna. We got here right at opening around 7 and it was perfect + private. A lot of other tourists came in around 8:30/9AM. You can swim here! The water is pool-temp.
If you can, stop at Nomada Market right outside of the park. They have the best grilled cheese + marinara that I’ve tasted. We also bought papaya hot sauce from here that they make in-house.
Drive to Arenal 1968 Trail (~30 min from La Fortuna). It was pretty unclear which trail we should do and if there were multiple trails (lava vs. forest – you don’t need to do both). Let me break it down: The orange trail was ~4mi and through lava rocks, the mountain viewpoint, and rainforest. The shorter one also goes through the lava rocks and some of the rainforest, but not all of it. There’s a cafe at the end that has an amazing view of the volcano and really yummy fries.
In the area is also Mistico Hanging Bridge Park, which is a trail with 6 suspension bridges– definitely a touristy area, but the views are also worth it in my opinion.
We saw a ton of signs for Cafe & Macadamia and thought it would be a shitty place, but decided to stop anyway. We went inside and this place had a million food and pastry options. We got here right at sunset and it was so serene. They have a friendly cat!
We stayed in the coolest AirBnb – it’s a bus converted into a home. The interior is gorgeous, the host is super responsive and friendly, the sunrise view is amazing, and it’s private. Oh! There’s also a pool. They also have food for purchase (pasta, etc.) that we used to cook at night. For breakfast, they have fresh greek yogurt (lactose free and probably the best yogurt I’ve had) as well as eggs. I could live here for days.
Day 3: Rio Celeste + Monteverde Coffee
We started the day with driving to Terino Volcano National Park to do the Rio Celeste Hike– extremely touristy, but for good reason. The blue waterfall is absolutely gorgeous, but it’s difficult to take pictures here because of how many people there are. The hike continues to the end which is the spot where two rivers meet and the colors are different. Honestly this was super mid. I wish the hike had ended at the waterfall because that is the much better view. If you’re pressed for time, the ending of the hike could be skipped.
Our next stop was Monte Verde, where we booked a Don Juan Coffee and Chocolate Tour. The Don Juan company has two tours– one in La Fortuna/Arenal (focused on chocolate) and one in Monte Verde (focused on coffee). Don’t worry, you still get to try chocolate and coffee on both of them. We did the 5:30PM tour, which included a night tour of the jungle and saw some critters and even a sloth! I love that it offered a night tour because there isn’t much to do after dark, so this fit into our schedule perfectly. A coffee tour definitely is a tourist trap, but it was really, really cool to see it and learn about the process of coffee (spoiler: espresso shots aren’t as strong as you’d think– they just taste more bitter).
We went to dinner at the local city center (Centro Commercial) and ate at Sabor Tico – we heard the empanadas were good, but we had gone pretty late and they were out of it by the time we ordered. Vegetarian options are pretty mid. Some other recommendations we got from the locals: The Green, Local Bar, Natu, Gastroclub, Milkshakeria, and Taco Taco
We checked into another gorgeous AirBnb close to the main city center. It was literally a massive modern treehouse.
Day 4: Cloud Forest + Drive to San Jose
We started our day at Zuccaro Coffee– probably my favorite coffee in Costa Rica. Their Cinnamon bun was phenomenal.
The Cloud Forest hike was ~5mi long and there are a lot of different paths you can take. We took the Sendero Nuboso A & B up to the Sendero La Ventana (which we couldn’t see anything through because we were literally in a cloud). We then took the Sendero Camino down, making a pit stop at Sendero El Puente (the red bridge) and taking Sendero Tosi + Sendero Cuecha to see the waterfalls. This all makes sense when you look at a map, I promise.
We ate and got juice, coffee, and some food at the cafe at the bottom of the hike, which I’d definitely recommend. I don’t love chocolate but their chocolate cake was so freaking good.
We drove to San Jose. We originally had a hotel booked through Amex at Gran Hotel Costa Rica, Curio Collection by Hilton, but (silly me) booked the wrong dates. They + Amex was super unhelpful in trying to shift our reservation, so we had to book an AirBnb for the next two nights. Honestly, it worked out so well because we spent about $55 a night in a high-rise, stunning building with views of the entire city. The apartment was secure, Alice in Wonderland themed, had laundry (they have machines that don’t require detergent…why don’t we have these in America), and free parking.
We ordered Papa Johns because it was late and one of the few options that would deliver quickly since we had another early morning the next day. Doesn’t taste any different.
Day 5: Blue Falls + San Jose Dinner
Started our day with some coffee. Juan Valdez had really good reviews, but it was so overrated. Their food items weren’t good and our coffees tasted mid.
We decided to do a day trip to Blue Falls and Catarata Del Toro – which is very much worth it. They have a combo ticket and are right next to each other, definitely recommend doing both.
You can swim in Blue Falls and the water feels so, so good. Definitely bring a jacket and a quick dry towel and wear something similar to Chacos because it was wet and muddy.
There are people to help at every point of the way for Blue Falls and many other trails, but we did the two main ones since we were short on time.
We ate at Silvestre– a true dining experience. They have a 7-course dining menu, but it’s not vegetarian friendly so we opted to order a la carte, which is very vegetarian friendly! The waiters bring out a coconut treat at the beginning and tell a story. The presentation of the food is amazing. Don’t even get me started on the flavors– they are so complex and unique. 10/10 would recommend.
The rest of the night was packing and relaxing for an early flight in the morning.
Some notes about San Jose: I did not like it. I’m glad most of our trip was outside of the main city center and in nature, because that’s really what I think Costa Rica has to offer. It didn’t seem that lively, and especially at the city center seemed really chaotic and not as safe. There was an area around here that felt especially unsafe– there was nothing open at 10:30PM on a Friday night, and seemed like a red light district.
TLDR and Misc. things to remember
There are so many dogs everywhere!!!
San Jose is not great, spend most of your time outside of the main city.
Download Waze, it’s the only thing that works well there.
Airbnb > hotel. Cheaper + better quality.
Buy a ticket for Rio Celeste in advance – the slots fill up fast and their wifi is not great. If you can’t log in using their wifi / your service, go across the street and buy something small.
Rent a car. 4WD, SUV - there are a ton of potholes and you will not regret spending the extra $. I recommend Adobe Car Rental.
Download All Trails + the trails you plan on completing beforehand.
The roads are curvy asf, trucks drive in the middle of the road, and lots of one-lane areas with low visibility making it hard to see if cars are coming towards you. Drive carefully.
Airbnb names are found on Google Maps / Waze (you can look up “Kira’s place” for example). DO NOT use the address in the Airbnb app– you’ll end up in the middle of nowhere.
Fill up gas at half tank, gas stations are sparse, especially in the mountains.
Car chargers are USB.
Microfiber towel, rain jacket, waterproof sandals and closed toed shoes are absolute musts. Umbrella is not really necessary and kind of a pain to carry. No need for hiking boots.
Bug spray and sunscreen are a must– both really expensive in CR.
Amex is not widely accepted, so bring a secondary card. Bring cash for fruit stands, sodas, emergency gas if needed.
Distance ≠ time. It could take 2 hours to drive 20 miles.
Iced coffee is like a blended frappuccino and tea is just hot water and a tea bag.
Sodas are good, cheap places to eat and they’re literally everywhere. They’re all family-owned restaurants.
People ask for $ to guard your car, especially in city centers. This is just the equivalent to paying for parking.
Check the timings and days of when everything opens, they’re all different.
Cost of the trip (my portion, split with one person): $1681
Car: $260
Lodging: $314
Food: $224
Attractions: $184
Flights (on the expensive side because bought 2 one-way flights and last minute: $600
Misc (souvenirs, gas, etc.): $99
