Costa Rica Family Vacation

Day 1: San Jose - Arenal Volcano

We meet in San Jose, before a short drive brings us to the nearby village of La Paz. On a scenic series of trails our guide leads us to the first of many revelations this week: not one but five waterfalls, including the most picturesque—and wonderfully isolated—waterfall in Costa Rica. Your first helpful hint of the week: Please be sure your camera battery is at full strength! We’ll also enjoy an afternoon of magnificent bird watching, as this expansive property is also home to a humming bird garden and a jaw-dropping butterfly observatory. 

Day 2: Villa Blanca Cloud Forest

We wake this morning at Villa Blanca cloud forest. It’s owned by the former president of Costa Rica, who was—conveniently for you—the best man at the wedding of our country manager’s parents. This amazing cloud forest is often compared to Monteverde, but is delightfully less crowded—a real benefit when you’re trying to spot an emerald toucanet. 

Day 3: Arenal Volcano

We wake this morning at our hotel, located immediately across Lake Arenal from the volcano. If you can tear yourself away from the Egyptian cotton sheets in your bedroom, a breakfast of delicious local specialties awaits to fuel you for a morning walk that takes us around the lower slopes of the volcano, where we touch and inspect lava flows from recent eruptions. Arenal laydormant until 1968, when an earthquake caused a massive eruption. Since that time, the volcano has been erupting and throwing red-hot molten lava into the sky regularly, often about once every hour. 

Day 4: Carara National Park

After breakfast, we transfer to Carara National Park. Carara marks the only point in the western hemisphere where the tropical dry forest, stretching all the way down the coast of North America to Costa Rica, meets the south western lowland tropical wet forest. Our guided walk takes us through this unique "island" habitat, which is, among other things, the last major breeding site of the scarlet macaw. Other notables seen here include wood storks, rose ate spoonbills and crocodiles in the marshes, as well as white-faced monkeys, sloth and jaguars. Also found here is Lomas Carara, a pre-Columbian cemetery, covering 15 acres. 

Day 5: Manuel Antonio Park

We wake to the sound of squirrels, capuchin monkeys and iguanas eating breakfast, as the dining room at the hotel is open to the trees. Because of the slope of the mountain, it often feels as if we are in an elegant tree fort. Today is the first of two days of spectacular game and bird viewing at Manuel Antonio Park. While the park is small (only 1,685 acres), it protects are markable grouping of animals, birds, plants, trees and three magnificent horseshoe shaped beaches, each divided by primary forest and accessible by aseries of jungle trails. The park owes its biodiversity to the large number of trees, including bully, black locust, cow, silk and cotton, as well as the mangrove swamps, marshland and lagoons. The kids will be particularly delighted by the chance to get up-close and personal with the shy squirrel monkeys (found only here and on the Osa Peninsula) which are often seen frolicking in the trees overhead. We're also likely to encounter two and three toed sloth, raccoons, coatis and white-faced monkeys. Our walks include aneasy trail to Cathedral Point, where there is the lookout to Mogote Island, asite of pre-Columbian Quepo Indian burials. Overnight: Manuel Antonio Park Meals: B, L, D

Day 6: Manuel Antonio Park

On our second day in the park, we continue our wildlife viewing on a boat ride through mangroves where monkeys come up to the boat and there is a chanceof spotting silky anteaters, ibis, egrets, raccoons and basiliscus lizards—the velociraptor of Jurassic Park. (It’s your choice to explore by easily navigable canoe or wooden river cruiser.) Depending on your interests and abilities, you can opt instead for a day of whitewater rafting on class II through IV rapids. On return from a morning among the mangroves, lunch takes place overlooking the park. (If you choose rafting, lunch is away from the park). 

Day 7: San Jose

This morning offers the chance to relax by the pool or venture into the rustic fishing village of Quepos for exploring the little shops and cantinas. After lunch we transfer to San Jose where we part company. Meals: B, L