December 2022 - Costa Rica
- Sophie
- May 1, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 2, 2024
Hola! When my family and I went to Central America for the first time, we went to Costa Rica. We went with our best family friends, so our whole group was 9 people, including our driver (and new best friend) Luis.
Day 1: The first day after arriving at The Springs Resort & Spa in Arenal, we went ziplining! It was so pretty and an amazing experience overall. For ziplining, or any activity really, I recommend bringing comfortable, sunscreen (always) and bug repellent. On the same day after lunch, we went ATVing, which in my opinion, was even more fun than ziplining. I got to ride with a professional guide, which meant the ride was even crazier and faster (we drove through a farm)! We also saw a guy who was cutting plantains with a machete, and local neighborhood kids that were so so nice to us tourists! That night, we ate at the famous Don Ruffino restaurant which was recommended to us many times.
Day 2: On this day, we decided that we wanted to tube at the resort in the Arenal River, so we did just that. It was cold, I got cut on the rocks, but I enjoyed it. The rest of the day was pretty chill, until dinner at Jalapas, where you could see Nicaragua in the distance!
Day 3: The next day was Christmas Day, which personally doesn't mean anything to us, other than tracking Santa on https://www.noradsanta.org/en/. Anyways, that morning we had a hanging bridges tour which was different than anything we had done yet on this trip because we were so in nature. That night, we ate at El Corral de Garrapata, which we all enjoyed not only because of the food but also because of how fun the name of the restaurant is to say!
Day 4: Day 4 was transfer day, meaning a 3-hour drive from the Arenal Volcano to Papagayo Gulf! Yes, the drive was long, but I loved all the site seeing we got to do on the way! Once we got there we checked into the Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort and ate dinner at one of the on-property restaurants.
Day 5: The next day we had a chocolate tour in the rainforest! We got to see chocolate at every stage and we even got to taste it at many of its stages! Dinner that night was at the Four Seasons Hotel, at their Nemare restaurant.
Day 6: This day was one of the most relaxed days we had, as we didn't leave the resort until dinner at Poro Poro!
Day 7: The thing we had planned for day 7 was a surfing lesson at Tamaridno Beach! Surfing personally isn't my thing, but the beach was beautiful. This night we again ate at the resort for dinner.
Day 8: Again for this day, we stayed at the resort and relaxed :D (dinner was at Ostra).
Day 9: This was our last day in Costa Rica, and personally one of my favorite days, because we went on a Sunset Catamaran! We were lucky enough to see an amazing sunset, dolphins that followed our boat, and of course pretty sites.
Of course, the country is so cool, but there are also downsides to vacationing there. This includes how windy it is, and how that affects driving on hills. Overall though, I say go to Costa Rica!
Some of my favorite pictures/sites from Winter Break 2022 in Costa Rica.
