Matt438 asked 8 years ago
Hi guys,
I am flying to San Jose for four days in Mid October with a friend from college. We are both in our mid 20’s so we are trying to find the perfect adventure/nightlife/traveling time balance. We both would like to practice our Spanish with locals as well!
I am thinking the following:
Day 1- Run around the city of San Jose
Day 2- Early bus to Jaco and stop for either Jose’s croc tour or just looking for crocs by the river bridge. Relax in the city and beach
Day 3- Either zipline and/or atv and/or scuba. As long as we get a good jungle tour and experience. We are planning on this in either Jaco or Manuel Antonio.
Day 4- Back to San Jose for Paos and coffee tour or just hanging in the city depending on how beat we feel.
So here are my concerns:
Is this an optimal schedule for the time that we have in regards to adventure, nightlife, and limiting travel? Also, will the trails and jungles near Jaco be similar to Manuel Antonio? I mainly would like to see beautiful jungles, monkeys, sloths, and if possible Tucan Sam.
Thanks for the help,
Matt
Jenn and Matt Staff answered 8 years ago
Hi Matt,
Four days isn’t a lot of time to visit Costa Rica but it looks like you have maximized it in your plans. I would stick to Jaco (and not Manuel Antonio) for a couple reasons. In October, it is really slow for tourism, but Jaco is a bigger town and has more going on as far as nightlife, restaurants, bars, and tour companies being open. Some things might be closed but overall there will be more open. It might be a little harder to see the wildlife vs Manuel Antonio but if you go on a zipline/atv tour there is always a chance. The jungle is really lush that time of year but isn’t as close to town as Manuel Antonio. If you can squeeze it in, Carara National Park is a good option to go to see jungle, wildlife, and birds. We have seen monkeys, a toucan, and some Scarlet Macaw parrots there. The other thing Jaco has going for it, is that it is closer to San Jose, so with just 4 days you wont spend the extra hours driving/taking the bus there. Hope this helps you out, have fun in CR!