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Hi everyone, we are planning our first trip to Costa Rica. We don’t like travel bus tours although with virtually no spanish speaking ability I am cautious about venturing out unaccompanied. Two questions – are there good tour agents/companies who can supply cars/drivers/guides for a 10 day trip? And is it okay to visit in October or November, or should be wait until January? Thanks!
I am not a bus tour person either although we have heard consistently good comments about Caravan which you can see at [ http://www.caravan.com/tour/costa-rica ]
The weather in much of the country is very much wetter during October and November in comparison with January…
You can see weather data including rainfall and average temperatures by clicking on the relevant location at:
[ http://www.imn.ac.cr/IMN/MainAdmin.aspx?__EVENTTARGET=LinksInfoClimatica ]
I LOVE the rainy season…
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comHey…. be an adventurer! With even the most basic spanish skills Costa Rica is great fun to explore on your own without a guide! It’s also one of the things that makes it very unique… you can rent a car and go off on your own! And you’ll find that many of the folks at hotels, shops and resturants have some english skills! It’s fun to try to communicate with folks and most are excited to try their english on you! That’s one of the things I enjoyed most my first visit… communicating!
I agree with Scott… January is a much nicer time to visit… besides depending on where you’re coming from… it’s wonderful to jump on a plane in 10 degree weather with snow and get off in CR enjoying 75 degrees and a breeze! Waiting will also give you a bit of time to brush up on your basic spanish and work out a plan as far as places to visit and explore!
Edited on Apr 17, 2009 12:39
Thanks, I agree, except that from what I have read the roads and driving conditions in some places are not so good and never having been there before, coupled with lack of spanish skills, makes me cautious. Thanks for the input!
The roads are in great shape compared to when I first visited… so have no fear about that! They’ve been improved greatly since Oscar became president and most of the complaints you’ll hear are based on old information. Besides… slowing down a bit on a bumpy road makes you enjoy the sites and the beauty a bit more! You’ll see things that you’d miss if you zipped by at 60mph!
As for the spanish skills… my first visit was a great sucess with only the high school spanish I was able to remember… and that was 25 years years old at the time!
We’ve had a number of guests who have taken Caravan Tours’ excellent ten-day tours and raved about them. That would be my choice.
That said, why not be adventuresome? Just rent a car and head for whatever interests you. Unless there’s actual flooding, the roads will be passable in October and November but January will be prettier.
Some Spanish would be nice, but you’ll get along fine with a smile, a little patience, and a Spanish phrase book and maybe a Franklin translator. Plenty of non-Spanish speaking folks come here and do just fine.
Our Spanish is, at best negligible and we visited Costa Rica three times in eighteen months. We didn’t rent a car for any trip and since we are not “tour” people, we just used the excellent TripAdvisor and excellent advice from this forum (mainly using the “search” option). We were in: Escazu, San Jose, Dominical, Ojochal, Jaco, Montezuma, Monteverde, Arenal and the exquisite Orosi. We used a combination of transportation: group shuttles, private taxis, and local buses. Literally everywhere we went, we were treated with kindness and graciousness. Of course, we used common sense and followed the advice of the forum members. I (the woman part of our team) am returning in May (alone) and will see Atenas, Grecia and San Ramon. We are looking at property and this trip should help us make our final decision about where to land and make our home in 2010. Good luck and enjoy!
I agree with the adventuresome – my sister and I travelled by rent a car for 10 days with little spanish. we travelled from San Jose to Arenal and then to Jaco and South. No problems for 2 gals over 50 and we had the best time – the CR people were great and with a smile and patience you can manage just fine! patsyatcostarica
So ´patsyatcostarica´ could we please ask you to write us an article about your experience? We´d love to have your article with some great photographs of your daring Costa Rica adventures on our site …
Scott Oliver – Founder
WeLoveCostaRica.comBefore making my first trip to Costa Rica with my wife, I seriously considered Caravan. They are reasonably priced for a tour company and may be the way to go. However, my wife and I decided to pick hotels in different cities on our own and use Intrabus to get door to door delivery from a given hotel in one city to a given hotel in another city (or at least be close to our selected hotel). We also chose hotels that were moderately priced such as La Sabana in San Jose, but certainly not the cheapest around. We signed up for excursions that approximated what Caravan had to offer but gave us a little more time on the beach. I compared all expenses when we got done and found out that we had saved about one third off of the Caravan price. Note that Caravan also includes additional taxes (in small print) above and beyond advertised trip prices. I suspect that if we had rented a vehicle, we would not have saved nearly as much, but I doubt if we would have exceeded the Caravan price either. Having a guided tour takes the worry out of getting around the country and where to stay, but there is a potentially a price to pay in cost, flexibility and adventure. Either way, however, it should be a fun trip and either way things should work out reasonably well.
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