Costa Rica is a stunning place for a road trip. We spent about 10 days exploring all of the glorious nature and beaches that we could possibly fit in, driving through jungles, along beaches, past volcanos, and both small and large towns. In my opinion, it was vital to have a car with 4-wheel drive. Many of the roads in Costa Rica that lead to excellent places are rocky or still unpaved.
Before traveling, we learned that many car rental services have last minute charges when you arrive to pick up your car, so the price you booked won’t always be the total end price that you actually pay. Luckily, we had a friend living in Costa Rica who strongly recommended “Vamos Rent-A-Car”, which we ended up using. They we fantastic, giving us all the information we needed and told us the true full cost of our rental up front. They even brought our car to us at our hotel, where we filled out the paperwork and inspected the vehicle condition. At the end, the drop off was just as easy and painless. We’ve rented cars several times in cities all around the world, and this was honestly the best experience we have had.
***Before we begin our itinerary, it is worth mentioning that we visited Costa Rica during the Covid 19 Pandemic, in December of 2020. We were told that we were seeing Costa Rica in a very rare way that many others haven’t seen it and probably ever will see it. It was practically deserted, with known popular locations that under normal circumstances would be bustling with tourists being extremely uncrowded. So keep that in mind as you read about my experience here. ***
San Jose (1 night)
We only spent 1 night in San Jose upon arrival, but we were welcomed into Costa Rica with one of the best dinners ever, and we found it completely by accident. We stayed at “Hotel Aranjuez”, and it was perfect for us. The staff were so incredibly kind and helpful, the place was really cute, and the room was just comfortable enough. We were so happy that the recommended the attached restaurant “11.47” when we arrived hungry, late in the evening. We did a full tasting menu and we were thrilled with every single dish they brought out, it was incredible. They were so thoughtful and helpful with the menu, and served delicious wine to go with it.
It was the perfect evening to begin our time in Costa Rica, I regret that we didn’t go back again on our final night of our trip. I barely took any photos here but here are a few. To be honest, I wouldn’t spend any time in San Jose if I didn’t need to fly in and out through their airport. Though, I am sure that there is a hidden charm here, like any city, but we didn’t find it and I wasn’t really impressed by with San Jose.
La Fortuna (3 nights)
The next morning, we woke up ready to seize the day and head to La Fortuna and our hotel, Arenal Observatory Lodge. Our rental car was right on time and as soon as we signed off on everything, we were on our way! We stopped in the town of La Fortuna on the way to the hotel to check things out. The town is basically surrounding a large square with beautiful gardens and an incredible view of the Arenal Volcano. There are some great places to eat, cute little shops, and tour operators, etc. It is basically what you’d expect from a little tourist town.
Our hotel was an experience in itself, and I wrote a whole post about it which you can check out here. During our time in this area, we also did some super fun activities that included a horseback ride to waterfall hike, a sloth spotting walk, and a visit to one of the hanging bridges parks. La Fortuna/Arenal is an awesome stop to make for a few days during a trip through Costa Rica.
If you’re looking for more details about this area of Costa Rica you can check out my full blog post here —-> Arenal & La Fortuna
Playas Del Coco (2 nights)
Next up was Playas Del Coco, we came here for the beach vibes and relaxation. We spent a lot of time walking the beach here, and even did a sunset boat tour to see everything from the water. There was a nice promenade type situation along the beach where many families hung out night and day, vendors sold snacks and treats and peopled gathered to spend time together. We had a lot of ceviche and even some lobster on the beach at some really great restaurants.
We checked out “Father Rooster”, which is a beach bar on a beautiful black sand beach. We relaxed quite a bit at our hotel “Puerto Del Sol” and enjoyed the pool area and beautiful gardens. We were in town on Christmas Eve & Christmas, so we had some nice meals and just slowed down and enjoyed our time together here.
Brasilito (2 nights)
Brasilito had the most local feel of any of the places we stayed. We felt like we were vacationing with people from Costa Rica, not with outside tourists. The town area was very small, just a few bars and places to eat. Our hotel was a dream, we couldn’t have had a better surprise than when we learned our hotel had a dinner with a beautiful tasting menu and live music. It was one of the best dinners of our trip.
The Conchal Hotel was within walking distance to the best parts of Brasilito. Unless you are staying at a fancy resort (which we were not), you have to walk through Playa Brasilito to get to one of Costa Rica’s special beaches, Playa Conchal. The walk takes a good 15-20 minutes and you’ve got to carry everything you need, you’ll likely see groups of people carrying coolers, chairs, and anything else needed for a nice beach day. But, there are a few snack stands when you make it if you don’t want to walk with your supplies. The beach is definitely beautiful, instead of sand, the entire beach is made up of tiny broken down sea shells. We enjoyed Brasilito beach as well for sunsets, but Conchal was a nice beach to visit during the day.
We also took a day trip to Tamarindo to go on an ATV ride and had a really fun experience on the ATV and checking out the bustling town. We had dinner at “Soda Brasilito” which was very local and very inexpensive. We felt like a real part of the area having dinner and watching the locals play soccer in the adjacent field. When we look back at our trip, we really loved the local feel and quieter vibe of Brasilito.
If you are interested in a fancier/resort like hotel in this area you can check them out here —-> More Hotel Options
Dominical (3 nights)
Our final destination was Dominical, and it was also arguably our favorite spot during the trip. Domincal was a sleepy little surfer town with amazing food and a beautiful beach. We loved our hotel and its beautiful vegetation and grounds. It had a large pool area and lots of places to hang out.
We did quite a few activities here, one was a hike with Pacific Journeys to the Diamante Waterfalls. This hike was a good one, slightly challenging, but fun! We got to see many waterfalls (and even jump into one), had a delicious lunch in a cave behind a waterfall, and saw lots of beautiful nature.
We also visited Manuel Antonio National Park, which we LOVED. The park had incredible beaches and SO MUCH wildlife! We ate at so many amazing places in the town of Dominical and we just absolutely loved the scene. For about $10.00 USD, my husband rented a surfboard for a few hours to give surfing a try and had a great time doing it. We hope to return to Costa Rica someday and explore more of this Southern area as it was definitely a highlight of the trip!
If you’re interested in this area I wrote a blog post about it —-> Dominical Costa Rica
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