If you haven’t thought about going to Costa Rica with kids, I strongly suggest you start now! We recently spent a week in Costa Rica with our boys (4 and 6) and had one of the best vacations we’ve ever had together. I often hear people say that traveling with kids is a trip and traveling without them is a vacation. I understand the sentiment, but on our recent travels, we enjoyed a relaxing, yet very active vacation.

Costa Rica is an incredibly stunning and special country. From the moment we arrived in the Central American nation, we felt welcome. If you or your kids are nature lovers, Costa Rica cannot be beat. Before our visit, I learned that Costa Rica accounts for only 0.03 percent of the earth’s surface, but contains nearly 6 percent of the world’s biodiversity. It is filled with species and ecosystems due to its geographical location in the world.

Costa Rica is also home to some of the freshest and most nutritious food. Their proximity to the coast and the number of farms in the country means that you can always find farm-to-table meals cooked from scratch using fresh ingredients. Tico (or Costa Rican) meals are nutritionally well rounded and satisfying. During our week in Costa Rica, we typically ate ceviche, fresh fruit, juices/smoothies, empanadas, and casado típico. “Casado” means married in Spanish. The meal is named as such because it is historically what wives made for their husbands after a day working in the fields. “Casado típico” includes rice, beans, a protein, salad, a side of grilled vegetables, and fried plantains. Anywhere you are, you can usually find a small snack stand or store, called a soda, which sells many of these dishes.

Getting to/around Costa Rica:

We flew into the Liberia airport, which was very easy to navigate. Once we picked up our luggage, we took a shuttle to the car rental area, where we rented a car through Budget. They put a $1500 hold on our credit card, but it was released once the car was returned. In order to opt out of the car insurance offered, we requested a CDW waiver letter (in Spanish) from the credit card we used to pay for the car, which included international car rental coverage. Additionally, we got the mandatory insurance (at Budget, it was called SLI), as well as roadside assistance coverage just in case we ever had a flat tire or needed help. We declined all other coverages. We brought booster seats for both boys, but it’s worth noting that we saw the car seats and boosters offered by Budget and they looked like high quality seats. Overall, our car rental was $314 for our trip, including a one-way fee for picking up in Liberia and dropping off in San Jose.

The road conditions in Costa Rica varied wildly. Most of the time, the roads were in good condition, but there were areas, especially on the drive between Papagayo and La Fortuna, where the road was rough and rocky. It was also very dark at night on rural roads. We definitely recommend doing as much driving as you can during daylight hours for safety.

Where we stayed on the coast:

Our home for the first half of our trip was the Andaz Costa Rica Resort at Peninsula Papagayo (a Hyatt property), which is only a 30 minute drive from the Liberia airport. From the moment we arrived, we were made to feel right at home. The team at Andaz took care of everything, even the little things. This started with the “Check-in Experience,” where we were seated at a table and brought ice cold towels and fresh coconut water while checking in. It was very refreshing and very welcome after a long, hot morning of traveling. Once we finished our coconut waters, we (and our bags) were brought to our room by golf cart. The Andaz property takes up a pretty long stretch of coastline but it’s very walkable. Other than when we had our suitcases or when it was dark or raining, we walked to get around the resort, but it’s nice to have the option of golf carts, especially if you have any physical limitations. Shuttles are also available if you’re exploring a little further away, like at the marina or Casa de Playa/Nacoscolo Beach.

The rooms at Andaz are beautifully decorated, and complete with practical amenities like blackout curtains, a white noise machine, and a walk-in rain shower. They have special little touches like straw fedoras and flip-flops for everyone in the family. One of my favorite perks was the unlimited complimentary snacks and beverages (excluding alcoholic). We sure took advantage of the bags of plantain chips, granola, water, and Fresca during our stay.

You could easily stay on property without ever leaving, but we like to adventure so we did a mix of activities both on and off the property. That being said, the location of the Andaz is quite removed from anything else. This makes for a very peaceful stay, but it does mean you’ll likely eat on property more unless you want to make a longer drive. Fortunately, the restaurants on property are delicious and children 5 and under eat free. We also ate off property when we were out having adventures.

After checking in, we quickly changed into our swimsuits and headed to the family pool. We enjoyed swimming, while watching families of monkeys swing in the trees above our heads and iguanas patrol the perimeter. While at the pool, we ordered fresh ceviche with plantain chips from Rio Bhongo, which offers pool service.

After a swim, we walked to Sombrero Oscuro, one of three beaches on the property. Sombrero Oscuro is the activities beach, where you can borrow gear, such as stand up paddleboards and snorkel equipment. Our boys enjoyed collecting shells and other treasures on the beach and splashing in the swimming area. This beach is where you catch the boat to Nacoscolo Beach, so it’s worth noting that there are boats coming in and out quite frequently. For this reason, we preferred swimming at Sombrero Claro (more on this later).

For dinner our first night, we walked along the water to the Marina Papagayo to eat at Dive Bar. It was a hot walk as there was very little breeze, but the sunset was beautiful. We enjoyed our dinner of fish tacos, a burger, and pizza, along with local beers for Alex and I. We had hoped to go for happy hour after reading another blog, but it seems Dive Bar no longer has happy hour, or at least didn’t when we visited.

The next morning, we began our day with tray-to-table breakfast service at Ostra. I loved this breakfast! We were brought several trays with selections of fresh juice, baked goods, and fruit. Additionally, we ordered dishes off the menu. I would note that the dishes were sized more like small plates, so you may want to order more than one if you’re used to eating a bigger breakfast.

After breakfast, we drove to the Llanos de Cortés waterfall for a morning adventure of hiking and swimming. In hindsight, it would have been better to visit the falls on the way to La Fortuna to break up the drive as it was a little over an hour to the falls and it’s literally on the route, but c’est la vie! Enter through the official municipal entrance and you’ll be able to safely park in a monitored parking lot. The optimal time to visit is around 11:30 in the morning. The morning tours left around 11 and the afternoon tours arriver around 1, so in between, it cleared out and we had the falls to ourselves! Entry to the falls is $7 each for adults and free for children.

While we were at the falls, we met a local guide, who we hired to lead us up a trail and pointed out all kinds of wildlife. We typically wouldn’t hire a guide for a hike, but we would have walked right by much of the wildlife without him! We saw howler monkeys, iguanas, and lizards near the waterfalls. On our hike, we saw bats, frogs, an owl, and a crab. We didn’t know crabs could live anywhere besides the beach! The guide led us to a viewpoint at the top of the falls, and to a jumping pool, where Alex and I climbed up the rocks and jumped in while the boys cheered us on!

On our way back from the falls, we stopped for lunch at Rancho Lumbi outside of Liberia. We enjoyed the caballero (cowboy) decor, and our fajitas, nachos, and Imperials (the most popular Costa Rican beer).

That afternoon turned out to be very rainy, but we spent a fun afternoon playing cards and enjoying a champagne and Fresca happy hour on our balcony. Some of the best memories are the unplanned moments! Once the rain let up some, we took a golf cart to Chao Pescao for a tapas dinner. Chao Pescao was one of my favorite meals of the trip and definitely my favorite in Papagayo. The menu features dishes from several Central American, South American, and Caribbean nations. We got several dishes to share and everything was excellent. Even though we were completely stuffed, we couldn’t resist the churros with chocolate and caramel sauce for dessert! I also loved that the kids menu included healthy options different than the typical kids menu fare.

We began our last day at Andaz with the breakfast buffet at Rio Bhongo. The food was similar to what we had at Ostra, but served in a more casual buffet setting. After breakfast, we walked the Nature Trail to the Sombrero Claro beach, or the “relaxing beach.” This was my favorite beach by far. We had it all to ourselves the entire time we were there (aside from the iguanas, of course). We swam with the fish and looked for crabs in the rocks. I even swam a little way out to the reef and saw several kinds of fish.

After reluctantly leaving the tranquility of Sombrero Claro, we walked back to Sombrero Oscuro to catch the boat to Casa de Playa. The boat runs every 15 minutes from Sombrero Oscuro between 9:30-12:45 and 2-3:45. (Don’t fret if you miss the last boat back; you can always call for a golf cart!) The boat ride was short but enjoyable and Casa de Playa is great if you want to have access to amenities. You can post up in comfortable beach chairs and order lunch from Meso. The resort also offers sand toys for children at the beach. If you walk farther down on Nacoscolo Beach away from the resort, you can see monkeys playing. Unfortunately, guides from off-property bring tourists to see the monkeys and feed them. It was sad to see how comfortable the monkeys were with humans, even if it did allow us to get some very cool pictures.

Before checking out, we had one more swim at the pool and ordered milkshakes from the Rio Bhongo pool bar.

The only thing we didn’t do at Andaz was use the spa/gym facilities at Onda, although we did walk by and admire them. I loved how the spa was set back from the rest of the resort in a quiet area for maximum relaxation. The gym was massive and filled with any equipment you might need. I’d love to come back one day and actually use the facilities. We were just too busy adventuring!

Before heading to La Fortuna, we stopped at Hacienda Aromal to do one of my favorite activities of the trip: horseback riding! The staff at Hacienda Aromal created a wonderful, memorable experience for us and our kids. My 6-year-old rode his own horse, while my 4-year-old rode with me. We rode a trail for about an hour, herding cattle along the way and learning about the life of a Guanacastean sabanero, or Costa Rican cowboy. Our guide held my phone and took photos of us along the way, which I appreciated so I didn’t have to worry about it. Another option they offer is a photographer to ride alongside and take pictures using their camera. We ended at a beautiful lookout point, before being driven back to the entry area, where a snack of freshly made tortilla, cheese, and juga de piña (pineapple juice) was waiting for us. Hacienda Aromal also offers a canopy zipline experience, ATV rides, and a culture/cooking class, where you can learn to make corn tortillas, press sugar cane, and make Costa Rican coffee. We highly recommend booking a visit to Hacienda Aromal – the staff treated us like family and we learned so much about the culture! Cost was $50 USD for adults, $30 USD for kids.

On our way out of town, we stopped for dinner at Amanecer Cafeteria & Restaurante in Liberia. The sandwiches were large, fresh, and delicious. It was nice to get something quick and easy before our long drive to Tabacón Thermal Resort in La Fortuna. (More on that in the next post). The drive was dark, long, rainy, curvy, and scary, and took us over 3 hours. For this reason, we would recommend going to Hacienda Aromal earlier in your stay and visiting the Llanos de Cortés waterfall on the way to Tabacón, timing it so you can do the drive during daylight hours.

Have you ever been to Costa Rica? Where did you stay and what were your favorite memories? Please come back for my next post about La Fortuna!