Last year I was the lucky recipient of the grand prize awarded at a G Adventures agent event last year. The prize was a holiday in Costa Rica. Specifically, I won the National Geographic Journeys – Highlights of Costa Rica tour.
I decided it was the perfect opportunity to book a mother/daughter trip – something I’ve wanted to do for years. My daughter loved the idea of Costa Rica, so we decided November was the best time for us to go, and within a couple weeks, we had everything nailed down.
A little bit about G Adventures. They are a Canadian tour company that started in Toronto in 1990. From their humble start offering just one tour to Ecuador, G Adventures now has over 1000 trips worldwide and is one of the largest tour companies in the world. And G Adventures has something for everyone. Budget-minded 18-30 somethings, families, large groups, active adventure seekers of any age, or retirees with average mobility – anyone with a decent amount of wanderlust will find a G Adventures itinerary that suits them.
The National Geographic Highlights of Costa Rica tour is a 9 day tour that starts and ends in San Jose. There are also two nights in Arenal, two in Monteverde and two in the Manual Antonia area.
Costa Rica is a fascinating country to visit. Located between Nicaragua and Panama, Costa Rica contains roughly 5% of the entire world’s biodiversity and is cradled by two oceans – the Pacific and the Caribbean. It is home to over 200 volcanic formations, including the iconic Arenal Volcano as well as Poas and Irazu. Costa Rica also has incredible cloud forests such as Monteverde. Characterized by nearly constant mist and low hanging clouds, Monteverde is a biodiversity hotspot with over 2500 plant species, 400 bird species and 100 mammal species.
We especially enjoyed the Manual Antonia Park area and Quipos. The park is gorgeous and Manual Antonio beach, located within the park, was probably the most beautiful beach I’ve ever experienced. In fact, Manual Antonio beach was named the most beautiful beach on the Pacific Ocean by Conde Nast. We enjoyed the perfect water with with light waves for swimming, the soft sand underfoot, and the mischievous monkeys who constantly entertained us. To end a perfect day, the sunset from the beach in Quipos was one of the most picturesque sunsets I’ve ever seen.
I found the Journeys – Highlights of Costa Rica tour to be a perfect way to see the best that Costa Rica has to offer. We enjoyed the fact that the G tours are never more than 16 people and that we had a tour guide who was always with us and ready to help however needed. The small size of the group meant we could move around more efficiently and it also allowed us to create lasting friendships with our fellow travellers. The tour was a perfect blend of scheduled and free time, with optional activities we could do if we were so inclined. We opted to do the zip lining and the horseback riding, and both activities were well executed and exciting.
After we completed the G Adventures tour, my daughter and I ventured to Tortoguero National Park area – a fantastic place situated between mangrove lagoons and the Caribbean ocean and accessed only by boat or small plane. We loved Tortuguero. The boat ride through the mangroves was fascinating and we loved how the place felt – it was like no place I had ever visited – so off the beaten track and special. We stayed at the Mawamba Lodge and it was absolutely perfect. We loved our room set amongst the many trees, the lovely pool and the restaurant. We also liked that it was just a ten minute walk from the town, so we could venture down for dinner or drinks, and then catch a water taxi to take us back to the resort when we were ready to return.
Tortuguero is known as one of major nesting beaches for sea turtles. From July to October, guests can visit the Sea Turtle Conservancy research station and most likely see the baby turtles as the scurry their way to the ocean. So cute!
As a whole, Costa Rica felt quite safe, although there were a couple areas in the city of San Jose that I would not want to walk through alone or after dark. That being said, my daughter and I did do a bit of exploration on our last day and we found a fantastic area of San Jose called Barrio Escalate. It was full of cool shops, lots of young people, and super fun cafes, breweries and restaurants – and it felt extremely safe, even after dark.
The currency in Costa Rica is the colon. We were able to use the plentiful ATM machines to get money when we needed it, and credit cards were also accepted in most places. To make life easy, I would suggest getting about $100CAD worth of colons from your bank before you depart from Canada – that is about 35,000 colones and should last you quite a few days of tipping, etc.
Since all the children of Costa Rica learn English as part of their standard curriculum, most people speak enough English to facilitate easy conversation.
All in all, our holiday to Costa Rica was easy and enjoyable – just the perfect blend of leisure and adventure. If Costa Rica is on your list, I’d love to chat with you about the many ways you can explore this beautiful country. Please reach out to debbieb@uniglobecarefree.ca.
