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Mrs Njee20 and I got married in April, we have a load of Trailfinders vouchers kindly given by friends and family and now need to book a holiday somewhere to use them...
We want to spend a bit of time doing something (city, wildlife, sightseeing etc) and a bit of time doing nothing (relaxing on a beach, snorkeling, little else). Costa Rica looks lovely, and has come recomended but we worry it's all rainforest and little else. Even those areas on the coast the hotels seem to all be "set in beautiful lush countryside with views of the ocean", whilst we kinda want to be in a nice hotel on the beach.
Todays Mr Trailfinders recommended Thailand, which looks nice, but isn't a place which either of us can actually get excited about. Dunno why. He also suggested Sri Lanka, which looks nice. Any waxing lyrical about those would be good.
So, anyone been to Costa Rica? Are there nice white sand beaches with good snorkeling (ie not massive breaking waves!), and if so which side?
Any other thoughts?
Went on a WW kayaking trip a few years back. Really enjoyed it, we spent most of our time in the mountainous central bit. The rainforest and wild life was incredible. Very beautiful plants, animals and terrifying beasties everywhere. The people were also great, generally very happy and easy going. Coffee was nice, the food less so except the fruit and veg.
We spent a couple of days in San Jose. It was a bit of a dump TBH. We didn't go to the coast but apparently it's popular for mass market American tourism so can be a bit trashy in places. Think Benidorm. So you need to choose carefully as apparently some of the coastal areas are fantastic.
Fantastic place, volcanoes, rain forests, cloud forests, coffee plantations, pineapple plantations, hot springs and the wild life is wonderful. Best beaches are on the west coast though the east coast is good for the Caribbean, laid back feel. We had a 4x4 to drive round in as the roads, when you get away from the main centres, are not up to much. Highly recommended.
Awesome, thanks guys.
Been to all three of those countries, so here are my impressions:
Costa Rica - as mentioned, a fair bit of variety from volcanoes to rainforests and beaches. Pacific side is very surfy. Didn't get to Caribbean side. Rainforests to see include Monteverde, Manuel Antonio etc. But, to be honest, they're not going to occupy a fortnight. Cities nothing to write home about. Food, a bit meh. Culture, very Americanised. If you were into surfing, it would be a cracking holiday. If not, I'd be looking at Yucatan area of Mexico - more variety, probably cheaper, better food, interesting Mayan sites (none in Costa Rica), possibly some decent snorkelling (I'm not a snorkeler…). It'll be hot regardless.
Thailand, only visited North Thailand - no beaches. Good cities (and road riding, surprisingly).
Sri Lanka - very interesting culturally in the interior. Cities like Kandy are absorbing but more chilled than India. I cycled from north to south and it was very varied. Southern beaches had resorts, not sure what snorkelling was like but they were OK, not the best I've seen (that's Mozambique, Australia). Perhaps more varied than Costa Rica.
To be honest, if I had a stack of air miles and 2.5 / 3 weeks, I'd just head to Australia and do a greatest hits tour - snorkelling at Great Barrier Reef, city sights in Sydney and Melbourne and perhaps some downtime in the far north or the far south. But that's just me.
Having spent 15 months in Australia and a couple of months in Central America, I'd say there's a bit more of a thrill factor in the latter.
The wife and I did a 2 week trip to Costa Rica about 5 years ago. Great place - what wildlife everywhere, hummingbirds galore, monkeys, massive lizards etc. East Coast is all rainforest/mangrove swamps. We did multiple day excursions by boat.
Central is mountainous with large volcanoes to trek up. Lots of Tarantulas (easily avoided if not your thing) + yet more hummingbirds and massive lizards.
West coast is beach resorts. Hot sandy, lots of yanks but beautiful and not too sterile. Not sure about reefs but did not have problem with massive breakers. Sea kayaked a fair amount. Lemurs. Baby one weed on my head (hotel resort had found an orphan - it was v social but limited bladder control).
Travelling between areas is a chore. Roads are largely unmade and drivers psychotic. Despite this we had a great time - eco tourism is v important to the country so they have loads to do. In the right restaurants food was decent and fresh.
Would definitely recommend. Alternatives? Zambia is the best place I have been.
I spent 4 months in Central America, top to bottom using only local transport so can't comment on package type stuff.
Costa Rica was a totally different prospect to the other countries that it borders, more expensive and generally more advanced. The country however is stunning and ripe for exploration and adventure if that is what you want.
Grab a rough guides book and have a read, you will soon get an idea of what locations suit your requirements.
Panama is another place I would heartily recommend. Bocas Del Toro for the beaches,island life and great food. Panama City for a somewhat unexpected doe of cosmopolitan city life. The jewel in the crown would be the San Blas islands, only inhabited by the native tribes.
Central America is a fantastic place, you will find something there to meet your needs, it can be edgy (I never experienced crime personally)but it adds to the adventure, the people on the whole are unbelievably welcoming.
Thanks for the feedback, sounds like it's got more beachy stuff than we thought, which is good! Hadn't thought of it being Americanised, not an ideal trait, but i suspect we'll spend time ignoring everyone anyway!
if I had a stack of air miles and 2.5 / 3 weeks, I'd just head to Australia and do a greatest hits tour
Probably agree, but we have neither 😉
We did three weeks in Costa Rica for our honeymoon. Used a travel company who sorted all the transport which was ace. We saw pretty much every corner including the Central area (if your into coffee definitely visit a plantation), it was fantastic, probably one of the best trips I've ever been on.
The East coast is more laid back, specially the south East coast - we stayed in Puerto Viejo. Theres some fantastic snorkelling to be found around this area. Tortuguerro National Park is on the North East side and is great, boat trip to our hotel, room was basically a shack in the jungle on the peninsula.
The Cloud Forest at Monteverde is a fantastic excursion - getting there is a nightmare, four hours up a road that is purposefully not maintained to keep tourist numbers down. It's pretty breathtaking when you're there though.
Arenal volanco & hot springs are great, you don't have to pay to get in a resort for the springs, there's a river that forms part of the system that can be used. The resort we used was pretty amazing though. We also did ziplining here which was fantastic.
The west coast is great for surfing, Manuel Antonio & Tamarindo in particular.
We didn't find it particularly Americanised, there were only the stereotypically loud, drunk American's in one hotel in Arenal, although apparently around Spring Break it can be much worse.
As a country they're hugely into Eco-Tourism, down to hotels having BioMass boilers, renewable energy sources etc. I found it to be a fascinating country and would love to go back.
Son worked for Llama travel check out their web site for tour ideas. We did that tour with a bit tacked on down on the west coast
Guatemala was way more interesting if you are going that way