Today we’re going back to Costa Rica since we only got to explore La Fortuna last time!
We’re gonna be starting off in Manuel Antonio, a small oceanside village. You can explore a wide variety of activities from their National Park to their water sports!
If you plan on visiting the Manuel Antonio National Park, I highly recommend getting a guided tour! During their peak tourism season, they only allow 600 people into the park, at a time. But don’t worry! With a tour guide, they are able to get in line early in the morning and save you a spot! It’s completely worth it:)
Once inside, you can walk around and explore the rainforest. The biodiversity is breathtaking — you can find up to 109 species of mammals and 184 species of birds! Some of the most popular animals you can encounter include sloths, iguanas, monkeys, and snakes. You can even enjoy some hiking, while taking in the breathtaking view!
Once you’ve hit your adventure maximum and just want to relax on the beach, you can head over to the extensive coast. Because the number of people allowed into the park is so limited, the beach is rather spacious and uncrowded. Fortunately for me, I wasn’t too lonely as a couple of iguanas decided to share our spot in the shade!
Personally, I spent a lot of time at this particular beach. It was rather relaxing and calming. All you could hear were the waves crashing, feel the heat beating your skin, and smell the crisp ocean air. It was amazing. To say I returned to my hotel burnt, is an understatement.
Aside from the National Park, you can also spend some time walking around the village and doing some shopping at their shops. I found they have an extremely unique jewelry collection as they incorporate a large variety of stones and beads into their designs. It made for the perfect gifts:)
You can also take part in some sports including surfing! I’ve always wanted to learn and I saw this as my shot. They have surfing lessons available right at the beach and can have you riding a wave in about 2 hours! Unfortunately for me, my below-average beginner skills were no match for the people who had grown up surfing in Costa Rica:(
For good eats, my favorite restaurant was El Wagon. Their specialty is pizza
(which was very good), but my favorite item on the menu was their strawberry-banana smoothie, hands down!!! I went back the next day just for a smoothie…
But jokes aside, the ambiance was phenomenal. From their mosaic tiled floors, to the gorgeous view of the rainforest, to their rocking chairs at each table. It was lovely. The vibes at this restaurant screamed Costa Rica.
If you have any additional time during your trip to Costa Rica and have already explored La Fortuna and Manuel Antonio, remember to give San Jose a visit! San Jose is the capital of Costa Rica and the perfect city to close out your trip!
Filled with monuments, museums, and amazing architecture, it’s a beautiful place to walk around. The perfect mix of urban development and historic architecture is breathtaking!
You’ve now spent ~a day in the life~ with me in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica! I hope it brought some more insight to the different attractions encompassed in this small, but beautiful, country:)
I love how you gave us two sides of Costa Rica! While your other post was more focused on the waterfalls and nature-y vacation, this was a more sightseeing/urban description. Additionally, the national park tip is quite useful sounding. San Jose sounds beautiful… I’m a sucker for historic architecture. I truly enjoyed another dose of Costa Rica!
Do the shops have set prices or do you barter for goods? In Asia, many of the open markets involve intense bartering that can leave the more weak hearted tourists a little short changed. Also, I could get lost for days in a museum, so I think I would enjoy San Jose.
You can actually bargain for cheaper prices, similar to the markets in Asia! I actually think this is really cool because it’s so different from the ‘set price’ system we have here. I’ve found that you can bargain in markets in India, as well as street vendors in NYC:)
I agree with Rachel that showing both sides of Costa Rica, both Urban and the ‘rural’ nature areas, was a really cool idea. Personally, I really like seeing and learning about the history of an area and it seems like San Jose is a really good place to do that. The architecture in the pictures you included looks amazing, and the photos of the beach made me reminiscent of summer. Cool post!
This sounds like such a beautiful place! That restaurant, with its open walls, seems like the perfect amount of outdoors for someone like me, who isn’t the biggest fan of the natural world. Apparently, this isn’t an uncommon architectural feature in south/central America, and it really provides a strange, but not necessarily unpleasant, contrast to the architecture style in the capital, San Jose. This sounds like a super fun trip!