laurodactyl asked 7 years ago
Hello!
We are super excited to go to Costa Rica the first week of March. We have a 5 and 8 year old. The more I read about CR, the more I wish we had a month to explore! I’ve read about how fantastic the Nicoya Peninsula is and how great the mid-pacific coast is (Quepos/Manuel Antonio), AND how great the caribbean coast is (Puerto Viejo)! Oh yeah, AND how great the volcano and La Fortuna are! One thing I hate is wasting an entire vacation day driving. We don’t have a ton of time in the country (6 days). We want to have a chill vacation. So, how do I narrow it down? Pacific Coast or Caribbean coast? What’s better for kids? We will need to have beaches/water that little kids can swim in without scary waves (are there beaches to avoid?). And then once we choose east coast or west, we need to narrow it down further to whether or not we want to venture out to the Peninsula. We plan to stay at AirBnB’s. Anyway, if you could only pick one area where/how would you choose? Or we could potentially squeeze in two locations, but they can’t be in vastly different areas of the country. Thank you so much! I love your website!!!
Jenn and Matt Staff answered 7 years ago
Hi laurodactyl,
Great that you are planning your trip with the little ones. Manuel Antonio might be a good spot for the 6 days. It’s only about 2.5 hours from SJO so not a bad drive. There are some beaches that are better for swimming/wading and lots of wildlife, which the kids always love. You could also take a day trip farther south to the Costa Ballena to explore. Squeezing in another destination might feel rushed but some people do visit La Fortuna for a few nights as well.