Arriving in paradise people look forward to a few days of relaxation. But what shall you do, when you get stuck in your holiday-everyday life, and relaxation just isn’t enough anymore? Here you can find some tips and recommendations regarding various activities with the hotel in Guanacaste as a home basis.
If you are staying with us, you can, of course, start with exploring the surroundings of the hotel. That definitely will keep you busy some time, due to the jungle location and the spectacular things coming with that. And you really should take your time to observe the many little or bigger peculiarities of the jungle. Here you have the chance to discover rare species of plants and animals straight from the hotel in an almost unspoiled habitat. Just keep your eyes open, that way you’ll be able to start your day with breakfast and see some pretty hummingbirds, which often romp about a special kind of plants in the restaurant area. Of course, there are a lot of other beautifully colourful birds as well, for example the pretty blue and white coloured white throated magpie jay, that often visits the hotel gardens and somehow is attracted to the mirrors of parking cars or motorcycles. Another wild animal, which can be easily found around here, is the iguana. There are quite a lot of them here and you can easily observe them for a few minutes. They often leave their hiding places and can be found in large amounts in the hotel garden
s. If you want to see monkeys from hard by you just have to listen carefully to the noises of the jungle – just follow the howling, it’ll lead you to one of the various groups of howler monkeys, that are native in this area.
They almost trustingly move around the hotel area. If you keep an eye on the palm trees you are probably going to see the native squirrel species, that just loves to eat from the coconuts of the gardens. The palm trees form the favourite spot of another animal as well; You are likely to see a coati climbing up and down the palm trees, what is definitely worth taking a photo of. No matter if you are in the hotel gardens, on your way through the jungle or to the sea; the Costa-Rican countryside offers a lot of opportunities to go explore and take some adventures.
Let’s go to the beach
If you need some change of scenery from the pool or just like being at the seaside, you should definitely go to the various beaches of the area – from wild beaches, over hidden bays to hurly-burly at a tourist beach, here you can find everything you want. If you are starting from the hotel area, it would be easiest to start with the closest beach, which would be Playa Buena Vista.
Playa Buena Vista is a quite extensive beach, that is very impressive at high tide as well as low tide. It is a wild beach, so you are probably going to find a lot of driftwood there, what kind of gives this place a quite special atmosphere. If you would like to have a beach for yourself for a day, this beach is the right place to go and a good tip, because often there is not a soul for miles around. What’s really worth going to is the turtle preservation station at the beach – there’s a chance that the volunteers of the station not only can tell you a lot about the project, but also show you some turtles. Sometimes you can even watch how the eggs are dug up or the little sea turtles are let into the ocean, and this is something that’s really worth being seen.
The next beach up north the Pacific coast is Playa Barrigona – an incredibly beautiful Beach with turquoise water and very fine, white sand. If you really want to spend some time in paradise, you shouldn’t miss the opportunity of going to this beach! Here you can really just relax for some time and thanks to the great amount of palm trees and other plants there is enough space in the shadow for everyone, and if you prefer lying in the bare sun that, of course, is no problem as well.
If you prefer a busier location you should head to Samara. At playa Samara you can find one good restaurant placed next to another – perfect for a day full of good food and a lot of fun at the beach. Whether you are just going to lie there or do some sports like surfing or kayaking is up to you. Another place worth seeing is Playa Carillo. Surrounded by countless palm trees it is located at an incredibly long and flat sand beach with a beautiful ocean view, where you can just be lazy and relax with an ice-cold coconut. Another recommendation at Playa Carillo is the observation area, that is located a bit distant, from which you have a gorgeous view over the whole bay.
Of course all the other beaches in this area are quite worth a journey, too. Here you have a wide range to choose from, whether you go to one of the beaches listed above or try Barco Quebrado, Islita or Garza – they all are quite special. So just go ahead and enjoy our beautiful beaches.
Trip to Samara
If you are – after a long time of relaxation remote from a lot of other people – in the mood of getting out and about, you should give the small town of Samara a shot. Samara is quite a busy place, a popular destination for a lot of tourists and thus a place full of opportunities for tourists. Between tons of postcards and souvenirs you can also find a lot of stores that sell clothes, towels and all sorts of beach supplies. There also are several banks where you can stock yourselves up with either Dollars or Costa-Rican Colon , and a post office to send some greetings home to your beloved ones and – in case of emergencies – there are pharmacies, a doctor’s office and a police station. Of course there are a lot of different restaurants, bars and food booths, where you can try national dishes as well as international ones or just slurp a tasty cocktail. What is quite special about this little town is that it almost completely joins in the healthy wave that’s viral right now, and has a lot of places that offer vegetarian or even vegan food only. So you will definitely find something tasty to eat. And if you want to have some action you are definitely right in Samara, too. Because whether you always wanted to drive a quad or motorcycle, in Samara you can rent anything your heart desires. Besides there are several different places where you can rent a surfboard, a canoe, snorkelling equipment or a kayak, or get the instructions to use those things.
Well, at a short trip to Samara you probably won’t be bored.
On the open sea
If you are a friend of the open sea you should definitely go on one of our organised boating trips. There are a lot of different activities to choose from, for example a trip on a fisherman’s boat to go and catch some fresh fish. Or just go on a whale/dolphin watching tour. All of our organised tours are really authentic and less touristic. With local experts you are going on an adventure in the open sea and can prove your skills while fishing or observing impressive whales and dolphins from up close. At the so called “sport-fishing” you are heading into the sea at Playa Garza and can book either a half day trip or a trip for the whole day. Let the local fishermen show you how to catch fresh Marlin or Tuna or how to fish a gilthead, and take your prey home with you. I’m sure you have never eaten fish that fresh, and maybe even caught by yourselves. If that’s to exhausting for you on your vacation, you should just relax on a trip to the open sea and observe impressive whales and dolphins in front of the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. You shouldn’t miss the chance of seeing those gentle creatures in their natural habitat.
So all aboard and let’s go!
Time for adventure
If you want to take an adventure during your vacation, I would highly recommend going on one of our exciting tours through the Costa-Rican countryside. Just go ahead and join us on a trip to the branches of Río Tempisque, where you can see breath-taking sceneries, a lot of exotic animals and most of all – the impressive crocodiles, which usually hide in the more remote corners of the riverside. This tours as well are organised by our team and have local experts as guides, so that you can see everything from a less touristic point of view, and get the chance to see some actual inside tips of the area, and not get into a tourist trap that isn’t worth its money.
Another trip at which the adventurous part is guaranteed is the horse tour through the jungle and the rivers, as well as at the seaside of the environment. You can choose between different trips and can book tours from 2,5 hours to a whole day. Ride along the various beaches of the area, cross a river on the back of a horse or explore the jungle with one of those beautiful animals. An adventure a real horse friend shouldn’t miss. And don’t worry if you don’t know how to ride; All of these tours are accompanied by professionals, who are showing you the area while making sure that you are going to have a safe experience.
We would love to help you organise and plan one of these tours.
For friends of sports
If that’s all still too relaxing for you and you really want to overexert yourself, we are more than happy to show you one of the action-packed and certainly exhausting sporting activities, like the canoe or kayak trips or surf lessons. Here we can either just help you to get the equipment, so that you can go ahead and try it on your own, or we can find an accompanied tour or lessons, in which you will have an experienced teacher and get to know the new activity step by step. No matter which way you are going to choose – A day full of action will be guaranteed.
As you can see we can help you to bring some change in your holiday everyday life and would like to organise a trip for you in paradise, if you are bored with relaxation only. Of course you can just put our tips and recommendations in practice yourself, but we would be more than glad if we could help you, to add some unforgettable moments to your vacation.
By Esther F.
Costa Rica travelnews Blog 