SCvdL@aol.com asked 9 years ago
Hi! We will be coming to Costa Rica at the end of March. We found a great house for our week in Nosara through a real estate website called Surfing Nosara and the people with whom we have been communicating seem great. The only problem is we are unsure how to confirm that the company is reliable and legit — especially because they only accept payment through paypal — and do not accept credit cards. Do you have any suggestions or know anything about the company? Also, we will be renting a car at the Liberia airport and driving from there to Nosara. Is it your experience that cars we rent through your partner really will be less expensive than the ones on Expedia or other websites once the mandatory insurance is added? Finally, any special recommendations for things we must see or do in Nosara? Thanks so much for your help!
Jenn and Matt Staff answered 9 years ago
Hi SCvdL,
We are familiar with the Surfing Nosara website but have never done business with them personally. Our recommendation is to call them and try to find out more information so that you feel comfortable paying through PayPal. You might also check to see if the same vacation rental is listed on another site like VRBO or Airbnb that has more payment options.
For the rental car, yes you should be very cautious of the larger companies that don’t specifically have a Costa Rica website for their rental cars. If you find a good price make sure to read all the fine print and maybe even email them to ask about the mandatory insurance. This can’t be declined so once you arrive in Costa Rica you will definitely have to pay it. We like Adobe because they have good customer service (everything is shared with you up front) and their fleet of cars is typically less than 3 years old and well maintained. With the discount, we’re pretty sure that you will get one of the best prices out there, especially for the quality of the car you will get.
As for recommendations for Nosara, definitely check out our post: Nosara Trip Planning Essentials. Also our friends at Boca Nosara Tours recently added a kayak tour up the river/estuary that looks really fun!