My Spring Break Trip to Costa Rica
Spring Break is the chance for every girl to dive into warm waters, go for hikes, and try delicious exotic fruits. This spring break, I visited Costa Rica and traveled all around the country with my parents and my sister. Join me as I share my itinerary and my invaluable experiences.
Day 1: Arrival & Hotel
Saturday, March 10, 2018, was the first day of my trip where we took the flight to San Jose Airport at night and stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott San Jose Escazu.
Day 2: Irazu Volcano Tour
Sunday, March 11, 2018, we departed from the Hotel at San Jose and visited the iconic Irazu volcano where we walked through the black sand and dust particles to see the view of many volcanic craters left behind from past eruptions. We enjoyed dinner at a local franchise called Soda Tapia and drove around at night to see the downtown nightlife.
Day 3: Tour of La Pas Waterfalls
Monday, March 12, 2018, was spent as a hiking day, where we walked through the many animal exhibits and visited the waterfalls of La Pas, which took around 3 hours to complete. After the tour, we departed to La Fortuna’s Arenal Paraiso Resort, where we enjoyed the natural hot springs. On the way there, we enjoyed many of the local fruits and cheese dishes, especially their Passion Fruit, such as Grenedia, and their fresh Queso.
Day 4: Arenal Volcano & Hot Springs
Tuesday, March 13, 2018, was the day we took a couple hours hike to the bottom of the Arenal volcano. After an extensive day of hiking and traveling, we found a natural hot spring on the way back to the hotel. We relaxed and refreshed in the springs and later had dinner at a fancy Pizza Parlor.
Day 5: Trip to Monteverde
Wednesday, March 14, 2018, we departed La Fortuna for Monteverde, which was cooler than many of the other areas. We had to travel by boat to save time, but on the way there, we visited Hacienda Alsacia’s Starbucks museum where we took a tour of how coffee is made and shipped to many of the areas in the U.S. We also stopped at a local coffee shop to learn about the difference in local coffee and Starbucks-made coffee. We then went for a hike in Monteverde’s famous Cloud Forest and visited the Hanging Bridges as well. We stayed at Monteverde’s El Establo Mountain Hotel for that night and refreshed by the poolside with a wonderful view of the mountains.
Day 6: Trip to Jaco
Thursday, March 15, 2018, we left Monteverde after a wonderful breakfast of beans & rice with plantains, their local specialty, and headed to the town of Jaco. The difference in temperatures could be felt right away as Monteverde was on the cooler side but Jaco was extremely hot and humid. We stopped by the local markets on the way there and also stopped to see the gathering of the local alligators. This was by far my favorite part of the trip as we stayed at Herradura which is one of Marriott’s 8-star hotels in Jaco. We drove around on Golf Carts to see local lizards and iguanas, enjoyed a game of beer pong, played pool volleyball, and sat by the beach to watch the sunset.
Day 7: Manuel Antonio Beach
Friday, March 16, 2018, was spent traveling to Manuel Antonio and checking into a local hotel. As they say, you can’t have a spring break without hitting the waves! That’s exactly what we did at Manuel Antonio and later visited a local diner for dinner.
Day 8: Back to San Jose
Saturday, March 17, 2018, we had to start making our way back to the other side of the country as we were flying out on Sunday. However, we did enjoy local ice cream at their local franchise called Pops. We also went for a hike through their rainforest as we wanted to see how animals differed from one side of the country to the other. After we ate, we shopped around, drank some fresh coconut water, and took the local bus back to the Mariott’s Courtyard at San Jose.
The trip ended on Sunday, March 18, 2018, when we departed from San Jose Airport and landed back at Newark Airport. I enjoyed this trip a lot as not only was it my first time flying out of the country, but also because I learned so much about local culture, coffee, fruits, rainforests, and more. I could not have asked for a better Spring Break than this as I have come back refreshed and ready to face the end of the semester!