A Roadtrip through Costa Rica with Kids

In February of 2019, Doug was celebrating a milestone birthday. Instead of a party, he requested that I plan a “road trip” through Costa Rica. I of course, obliged, but not without a bit of hesitation. With a four-year-old and six-year-old in tow, I wasn’t sure how safe it was for us to road trip in a country where paved roads were a novelty, the street signs were all in a language we didn’t speak, and, well, mostly, I was concerned that we would be kidnapped by a drug lord and held for ransom. At least we both knew how to drive a stick shift.

For what it is worth, I quickly learned that while my first two worries held to be true, my third, about the drugs, was completely misguided. We felt very secure in Costa Rica.

San Jose

Our flight was from Sacramento to San Jose, Costa Rica on the 28th of February, arriving early in the morning on March 1st. Upon landing, we rented a Toyota Rav 4 from 4x4rentacar.com (this was very straightforward), and then set out on a three-hour drive to The Springs Resort & Spa at Arenal. It was a bit nerve-wracking getting out of San Jose during rush hour, but once we were outside of the city, the driving was easy…well, that is, until we hit construction. Nothing like trying to interpret directions for a detour in Spanish. Doug had a few years of (High School) Spanish under his belt and I took German. Greg was taking Spanish in pre-school so was probably our best hope for translation. We gave the construction workers a thumbs up, and scoured Google Maps for an alternate route to La Fortuna.

Once on our way again, we stopped for lunch at the “Lands in Love Hotel & Resort”, which acts as both an animal shelter and holiday resort, and is tucked away in a hidden valley of the 113-hectare San Lorenzo Cloud Forest. This location has been rescuing animals of all kinds for over twenty-five years. It currently cares for 350 dogs that have been abandoned, abused, or injured but there are also cats, geese, ducks, chickens, horses, goats, and fish here. I almost went home with a puppy, while Greg and Roy campaigned for a cat.

La Fortuna and Arenal

Arriving at the “Springs” was pretty spectacular. The 165-acre property has incredible views of the Arenal Volcano, as well as natural hot and cold springs, five unique dining experiences, a signature putt-putt course, a kids’ game lounge, and an animal sanctuary. This hotel has the honor of hosting episodes for both “The Bachelor” and “Keeping up with The Kardashians” — both of which are totally up my alley. After check-in, we were provided with a glass of freshly squeezed orange-papaya juice, which we whole-heartedly enjoyed before changing into our swimsuits to take advantage of one of the many spring fed swimming pools. Sometimes I do splurge on a nice hotel for a few nights at the beginning or end of a trip. We won’t live this type of luxury the entire trip though….

Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges

After a good nights sleep, we headed to Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges. We paid $28/adult to do the self-guided walking tour, enjoying the beauty of the forest by crossing fifteen different bridges, six of them hanging bridges. The bridges allowed us to admire the flora and fauna from a (safe) distance, specifically that fer-de-lance (pit viper) — the most dangerous of Costa Rica’s twenty-two venomous snake species. All of us were entertained by the roots of the Stilt-Rooted Palm trees, also referred to as the Penis Root Tree. These trees can grow up to 30 meters tall and create most of the forest canopy. It is its roots though, that are its signature element.

After Mistico, we drove into town (La Fortuna) to grab lunch. After being seated, our waitress asked us (in Spanish) if we would like a slice of “mango”, or so we thought. Neither Doug or I recall her ever mentioning anything regarding a drink or “bebidas”, but clearly she did, as we were soon received four (rather large) mango smoothies. Oh well, at least they were fresh.

Fortuna River Waterfall

After lunch, we headed to the Fortuna River Waterfall. To observe this splendid seventy-meter high waterfall, we paid $18/each adult and then had to climb down 530 steps through the Arenal Forest.  Once at the bottom, Doug and I took turns swimming under the waterfall, amongst a set of Europeans who found the water “quite nice”, while each of us found it quite frigid. We jumped along the rocks in the Fortuna River, and then headed back to the “Springs” to enjoy its plethora of amenities – specifically the “monkey slide”, the fastest waterslide any of us have ever had the opportunity to slide down.

Walking back from dinner at the resort that night, we spotted both a sloth and a large amount of leafcutter ants. The highly social leafcutting ant is named for its habit of cutting and carrying leaves back to its underground nest. They do not eat the leaves, but instead, use the leaf fragments as compost to grow fungus gardens that they then feed off of. They are not dangerous, and were easy to spot as they were big black ants with green leaves on their backs.

Penas Blancas Safari Float

We had a Peñas Blancas Safari Float tour arranged for the next morning. An adult ticket was $60/each and a kid ticket was $30/each. As we slowly floated down this river, we enjoyed the sights and sounds of a number of animals – but most of their sounds were trumped by the howler monkey. Howler monkeys are the loudest of all monkeys, and were particularly vocal that day warning us that this was their territory, and to stay away. No problem. While sitting down for lunch we were graced by the presence of a really, really large iguana. I thought it was going to eat Greg.

Animal Sanctuary

Back at the hotel that afternoon, we visited the on-site Animal Sanctuary. It was empty, so we had a private tour where we were given the chance to pet a toucan. Apparently toucans are very affectionate, and will cuddle in your lap, and make a soft purring sounds as they are petted. Just like Greg. We were also offered the option to touch a baby sloth, which is (I guess) illegal in Costa Rica, but who could resist that kind of offer? At the end of the tour we crossed paths with a bullet ant. The bullet ant is known for its extremely painful sting that has been compared to the same discomfort one would experience after being shot. The bullet ant is currently the highest on the “Schmidt Sting Pain Index” with a rating of 4.0+.

From the Animal Sanctuary, we took the “school bus” down to “Club Rio” to check out the spring fed pools there. While walking between pools, we spotted a large gopher bunny rabbit looking thing that stopped us in our tracks. Friend or foe? We really had no idea. The funny thing about traveling in a foreign country is that you have no idea what can actually hurt you. Anyway, after lounging in all the pools at Club Rio, we returned to the upper part of the resort for another few runs on the “Monkey Slide” before it started to rain.

The next morning, we were sad to leave “The Springs” as it was the nicest hotel any of us had ever stayed in. On our way out of La Fortuna, we made one last stop at Organic Fortuna for breakfast. Roy ordered the Banana Pancakes, which were gluten free, and possibly the best gluten free pancakes any of us have ever tasted.

Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve

Our next stop was the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. Here we paid $25/adult to enter, kids were free. Cloud forests are found in tropical regions where the clouds intersect with the mountain ranges.  This particular Cloud Forest is located on the Tilarán mountain range in Northern Costa Rica, at an elevation of 5000 feet above sea level, so it was cooler than other parts of Costa Rica. Biodiversity is an intrinsic characteristic of the Monteverde Cloud Forest, with an estimated 50% of Costa Rica’s biodiversity found here. There are 11km of trails to explore, and we walked through most of that without a single complaint from Roy or Greg. So very kid friendly.

That night we spent the night at Trapp Family Lodge – Monteverde — the closest hotel to the Cloud Forest. It was a “no frills” establishment, but did offer free ice cream which was a nice touch. We were under the assumption that we left “little dog” at this hotel, which caused us a bit of a panic when we were on our way to our next destination. Luckily, “little dog” was spotted hiding underneath the seat of our rental car.

Playa Tamarindo

The roads on the Guanacaste Province were challenging — mostly unpaved and full of potholes the size of a small house. As a result, driving to Tamarindo was an adventure, but Doug was up for it. When we finally arrived at the Ocho Artisan Bungalows in Tamarindo, we were greeted with the usual, fresh mango juice. While we waited for our “bungalow” to be ready, we went for a swim in the pool which was located just steps from the beach and a mangrove full of “cocodrilos”.

Once we were checked into our artist bungalow (Grandma would have loved the decorations) we drove to Playa Tamarindo. Known as the Golden Coast, with its pristine beaches, clear blue water, and a wonderful climate year round, Tamarindo is a popular destination for tourists. Not huge beach people, we jumped waves and then headed to the Parque Nacional Marino Las Baulas, specifically to Playa Grande. It is here that Leatherback Turtles, an endangered species, visit to bury their eggs in the white sand. This park was founded to protect these magnificent creatures and their reproduction process. We were not able to see any turtles while we were there, but did enjoy exploring the warm waters of the surrounding mangroves.

We went out for dinner that night at Enea’s – Homemade Italian Food. Then back to our hot pink bungalow to sleep. Doug was not impressed with the construction of the bungalow, as we were basically staying in a well decorated tent. We noticed that when we ran the water for the shower, the place was covered with ants. This bothered Doug, but I was content knowing that they were just standard ants and not the “bullet” variety.

Santa Teresa

In the morning, we packed our bags and made the drive to Santa Teresa. Continued A Roadtrip Through Costa Rica: Part Two.