Costa Rica Itinerary: Central Pacific Coast
If you’re planning a trip to Costa Rica, you might get overwhelmed by all the choices. Beach versus cloud forest, relaxation versus adventure, Caribbean versus Pacific, Central Pacific versus Nicoya Peninsula, big resort versus small retreat. The list goes on and on. We recently planned our first trip to Costa Rica and prioritized two popular sights, Manuel Antonio National Park and Arenal Volcano. From there, we pared down the lodging and activities to come up with our ideal 10-day Costa Rica itinerary. Here are the highlights from the first five days of our trip, spent on the Central Pacific coast.
This post contains an affiliate link, which means, at no cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.
Lodging
Most of the big beach resorts in Costa Rica aren’t found on the Central Pacific coast. Instead, you’ll find smaller boutique hotels in towns like Jaco and Quepos. Two exceptions are Los Suenos Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort, about 10 minutes north of Jaco, and Tulemar Resort, just north of Manuel Antonio Park. As longtime Marriott Bonvoy members, we opted for Los Suenos Marriott because of the big savings with our rewards.
Los Suenos Marriott has a large pool area with fountains and footbridges overlooking Herradura Bay and several open-air restaurants, including a sports bar and sushi bar. The hotel is next to Los Suenos Marina, which offers charter trips for world-class fishing and upscale restaurants and shops. The resort also has a spa and an 18-hole championship golf course set in the jungle.
We loved the beautiful view of the bay from our room, and the resort was a great home base for all our activities. If relaxing on a white sandy beach is a priority, keep in mind that the resort’s beach, Playa Herradura, is made of brown volcanic sand. We thought it was scenic and different, and the kids enjoyed wading at Playa Herradura on several occasions.
Off-Road Adventure
Costa Rica is all about adventure activities. So, on the first full day of our trip, we took a quad buggy tour at Vista Los Suenos, an adventure park just three miles from the resort. In addition to buggies, the park offers single and double ATVs for riders 18 years and older. As a family of four, we could have chosen double ATVs, with each child riding as a passenger. We opted for the buggy because of its greater stability and because it allowed me to do some, but not all, of the driving.
We had fun on the three-hour trip, which took us up mountains, through rivers, and over farmland. The tour included a short 10-minute hike to a waterfall where we were able to swim and jump from the rocks for about 20 minutes. Afterwards, we ate a traditional Costa Rican casado (a meal of a meat, rice and beans) at the park’s restaurant.
Guided Hike at Manuel Antonio National Park
Our second excursion of the trip was a guided hike at Manuel Antonio National Park, the smallest but most popular national park in Costa Rica. Manuel Antonio Park is known for its wildlife-viewing opportunities and its beautiful beaches. The park is about an hour-and-a-half drive south of Los Suenos Marriott on a two-lane highway. We had no trouble finding our destination with the Waze app, which we used throughout our trip.
Parking
Fortunately, I was prepared for the parking at Manuel Antonio Park, which I’d read about in blog posts like this one. On Route 618, people in official-looking khaki shirts with clipboards waved us down, directing us to a parking lot. But this parking lot was down a hill almost a half-mile from the park entrance. I told my husband to just nod his head like he was listening and drive right past them. It took some courage because one official-looking man started to shout at us. But thanks to my research, I felt confident he was not a park employee and we could find better parking along the park entrance road. We ultimately parked just 100 feet from the entrance at a secured parking lot for only 3000 colones (about five dollars).
Guides
Leaving the parking lot, we were greeted by several ICT-certified guides who were offering tours of the park. We struck a deal for $20 a person and purchased our park tickets for another $16 each. We then entered the park with our guide, Wilbur, who had a university degree in ecology. Getting a guide for our hike was absolutely essential because we would have never seen all of the animals along the trail on our own.
Wilbur amazed us with his ability to find even the tiniest creatures on the stems of plants and in the underbrush. He helped us take pictures with our iPhones through his spotting scope, and he was enthusiastic about making sure we did not miss an animal-sighting. He showed us many animals we’d never seen before in the wild, including toucans, monkeys and sloths.
Beaches
After our tour ended, we spent time on our own at Playa Manuel Antonio and Playa Espadilla Sur, two white-sand beaches surrounded by picturesque jungles. The beaches are just steps from each other, but you can hike a loop trail between the two on the peninsula Punta Catedral. The hike takes about an hour and has several viewpoints overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The viewpoints are impressive, but we found the trail very humid during our June visit because of the lush vegetation.
Surfing at Jaco Beach
Our third day on the Central Pacific coast was a pool and beach day. We relaxed at the resort in the morning, then headed to Jaco Beach where we were able to rent two surfboards from a vendor in front of the Jaco Laguna Hotel. The waves there are good for beginners, and both kids were able to brush up on the surfing skills they learned in Hawaii. My family also got a big kick out of appearing on the live-camera feed for Jaco Beach on Surfline.com, which we’d been watching before the trip to check out the waves and the weather.
Another great surf beach in the area is Playa Hermosa. Playa Hermosa was above our skill-level, but we stopped by one evening to watch the experienced surfers shred some four-to-six-foot waves. If you’re around on a Saturday at 4:00 p.m., you can check out the weekly surf competition sponsored by The Backyard Bar.
Whitewater Rafting
Our final full day in the Central Pacific was spent whitewater rafting the Savegre River. I chose Rio Savegre because it’s an intermediate-level rafting experience, with Class II and III rapids. It’s also considered one of the cleanest rivers in Costa River. It was a great family-friendly choice because the river includes calm spots that gave us a break from paddling and a chance to enjoy our surroundings.
We used Iguana Tours for our rafting trip and were happy with the quality of the guides and equipment. Because it was low season, we were the only people on the tour, and the drivers and guides outnumbered us. The small size of the group didn’t stop the guides from giving us the full experience. In fact, each guide made a special effort to tell us facts about the area and show us notable plants and animals. We appreciated the personalized attention. As with our Manuel Antonio experience, we were impressed with the enthusiasm that each guide brought to the job.
Rio Tarcoles
After five nights our time on the Central Pacific coast had come to an end. We headed to the next leg of our trip—La Fortuna and Arenal Volcano. On our drive from the coast to La Fortuna, we stopped at the bridge over Rio Tarcoles. There, dozens of crocodiles sun themselves along the riverbank. The brief stop was worth it to see the enormous crocs resting, some with their mouths wide open. After 15 minutes or so, we were on our way, through the winding roads and mountains of the Alajuela Province, to spend four nights in the shadow of Arenal.
Want to learn more about the Arenal Volcano leg of our Costa Rica itinerary? Click here! You may also like posts on what to pack for your Costa Rica vacation and whether to visit Costa Rica in the rainy season.
Great info! Awesome trip!