Honeymoon: Costa Rica
Flight: American Airlines. We flew from Chicago to Boston to Costa Rica and back to Chicago for about $500 per person – a great deal! We did, however, have delays with any leg of the trip that involved O’Hare (no surprise there) and some really poor baggage handling wait times when we returned to Chicago at the end of the trip (apparently they “forgot” about a few carts of luggage from our flight).

Hotel #1: Peace Lodge at La Paz Waterfall Gardens – 10
This hotel is about 1 hour north of the Alajuela/San Jose area (airport). It is absolutely beautiful! The room (deluxe suite) was huge, had a bathroom that was as big as the bedroom, fireplace, waterfall in the bathroom, two jacuzzis, and a VERY popular hummingbird feeder. The staff was beyond nice and we were given bracelets to wear that signified that we were honeymooners. The food was excellent and you could eat in the restaurants or get room service at any time. For dinner, they offered a (delicious) 4 course meal for $35, or you could order a la carte. The drinks were great and we realized soon upon arrival that the prices of the mini bar in the room were the same as at the bar, so we felt free to enjoy the beer and wine in the room without feeling ripped off. The grounds were stunning, with main trails through the woods and along a river with 5 waterfalls. The animal exhibits were really fun to see, as well. We LOVED this place and would happily return any day!
www.waterfallgardens.com

 

Hotel #2: Villa Caletas (Central Pacific Coast, near Jaco) – 4
We could not wait to leave this place. Anything that didn’t have to do with our room was actually good. It has a fantastic view of the sun setting on the Pacific Ocean, the food was pretty good, and we had a great time on our excursions (zip-lining and a horseback ride on the beach). We hated our room. Within hours of arriving we found a very large beetle on one of our bags. When we turned out the lights to go to sleep, we could hear more, almost singing to us! We ended up sleeping with the lights on for most of the stay. We went for massages at the spa one day, and the therapist noted how tired my husband looked. He explained about the room and her only remark was “oh yes, we have snakes, too!” Clearly it is just a way of life for them. Our other major problem was with the bathroom. The tub/shower combination didn’t have a curtain around it, so we got water everywhere. Also, the water pressure ranged from a trickle to a low spurt, and was constantly fluctuating between the two. It was ridiculous and I gave up trying to wash my hair, fearing I’d never get the shampoo out. We had more water pressure coming from the sink. The longer we were there, the more bugs and insects we noticed… there are huge spider webs (complete with huge spiders) all over the property. It just wasn’t our cut of tea and left me feeling all squirmy most of the trip.
www.hotelvillacaletas.com

 

Transportation: VanTrans booked through Patricia at www.centralamerica.com - 10
This was the best decision we made!! I was toying with the idea of renting a car after reading some reviews of Costa Rica. In the end, the cost to rent or hire a driver was the same, so I figured we’d sit back and relax and let someone else do the driving. I AM SO GLAD WE DID! We never would have made it out of Alajuela. There are no street signs or ways to figure out where you are going. The streets are narrow, people walk in them as if there are no cars, cars pass other cars every chance they get… it was really something to see! We had some great drivers that told us about the different things we were driving past and about the country. They were all on-time (most of them early, actually!) and very courteous.

General tips:
More reviews on Costa Rica: http://www.angelfire.com/oz/honeymoonbio/CostaRica.html

Bug spray, bug spray, and more bug spray. Industrial strength, if you have it. They are out all day long and though we covered ourselves in bug spray, we still got eaten alive. They are BIG and leave BIG welts in their wake!

Remember a pen for customs forms. I forgot a pen AND the flight attendant never gave us the forms so we running around a bit at the airport just trying to get out of it.

My husband speaks fluent Spanish and I can understand most of it, so I knew we weren’t going to have a problem. We ended up speaking English almost the whole trip! They are clearly used to American tourists. The only place the Spanish was really helpful was with the hired drivers. The trips became a lot more informative once they found out my husband spoke Spanish!

You have to pay to leave the country. At the airport you have to pay this Departure Tax before you can even go to the ticket counter and check in for your flight. It was $26 for each of us (it seems as though it fluctuates from day to day, though). We didn’t have that much cash left at that point, and they only take VISA. So make sure you are prepared either way (thankfully we had a VISA card with us!)

We pretty much got away with using American dollars everywhere. Every bill comes with the breakdown in both currencies, and we were able to make change in the gift shop at the Peace Lodge. American money was harder to come by at Villa Caletas, but I needed to break a $20 for tips and that was the only time we had/used Costa Rican colones.