Las Gemelas waterfalls and all the trek to get there remain an incredible memory. It is completely off the beaten path and we had the place just for ourselves! 

We definitely loved our different guided tours in the tropical forest because, without our guides, we would have only saw monkeys and coatis, but the real show of the tropical forest remains the things that your entrained eyes won’t see! The bionic and experimented eyes of our guides made us able to witness fabulous encounters. From the deadly Blue Jeans Frog to the Bullet Ant, from the Eyelash Viper to the Jesus Christ Lizard… The animals experience we had in Costa Rica was wayyyy much better than the one we had in Amazonia.

We did two different rafting day trips (one on Rio Tenorio and one on Sarapiqui River). Both trips led us in the middle of the wilderness and were a fun way to visit these nice landscapes. One of our regret was not to have been able to do the Pacuare river rafting which seems to be the best of all and where landscape seems to be truly amazing.

Some of the luxury hotels we have done in Costa Rica are a true and unique experience by themselves. For instance,  laying in your private swimming pool while listening to howler monkeys is the perfect balance between the experience of being totally in the wilderness and in the middle of the tropical forest, and in the same time being in an incredible 5 star hotel, with literally no bugs in the room, an incredible service, where everything is basically oriented toward your well being.

Poza Azul in Alajuela was one of our favorite places in Costa Rica. We were almost alone and were amazed by this surrreal scenery. The turquoise color is due to the minerals brought by the Poas Volcano, water is cold but definitely worth it!

Irazu’s Volcano is really beautiful, we were lucky with the weather and had the chance to observe the turquoise lake inside the crater surrounded by an endless see of clouds!

The atmosphere of the Cloud Forest is unique. Early in the morning or late in the afternoon we were captivated by this natural movie set. Wherever you  would lay your eyes, the compact fog would make it impossible to see 20 meters in front of you…

One of the cutest, nicest animals we have encountered as of today! We could have stayed three hours observing mommy sloth with her baby progressing slowly in the bush 🙂

One of the best experiences we had was travelling through the wild Mal Pais on our ATV crossing rivers, hills, forests… The landscapes are stunning, and what a thrill when you speed up on the deserted beaches with the tropical forest in the background!

The secluded place located close to the border with Nicaragua is a paradise for animals. Doing the safari on a boat offers a really different experience than the ones we had by foot. You are going at a slow pace, you’re just a visitor in the animals’ world. Capuchin monkeys, sloths, iguanas, spider monkeys, caimans… with more than 200 different species the Cano Negro is also real birders’ heaven.

Okay, it is less remote, less off the beaten track than the Cloud Forest, but we were still bewitched by the amazing color of the Rio Celeste in the Tenorio National Park. You’ll see the waterfall, but you will also enjoy the beauty off the turquoise river everywhere in the park.

It was one of our regrets but we didn’t have time to visit the Corcovado National Park that is said to be the most intense place on earth in term of biodiversity. It is located in the Osa Peninsula, a bit far from San Jose but next time, for sure we will get there!

Instead of going in crowded public hot spring, pick an hotel which has their own private ones like the Nayara Springs. After a long day trekking, one of the biggest highlights of all our trip was to enjoy a cocktail in our private hot springs pool, alone and totally immersed in the rain forest…

We didn’t feel it was worth it to visit the Arenal Volcano National Park as we saw it from almost everywhere (from our room, restaurant, roads, zip lining tours…) and many locals told us the park in itself was not so interesting.

Frankly, we have been to many other parts of the world where the snorkeling was much more breathtaking, visibility in Costa Rica is not great most of the time and places and it is not known to be a great place for snorkeling. But, after all the treks and forest experience you will have had in the tropical or cloud forest, surely a little bit of snorkeling will be welcomed! We went to Tortuga Island, and despite all that, it brought some very nice diversity to our trip. Next time, we may do a trip to Caño Island (near Corcovado) that it said to be the best diving spot in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica is a land of incredible waterfalls, Bajo Del Toro or Catarata Del Toro was one of the most impressive of them. With its 82 meters, its power, and its Jurassic Park feel, we just loved the place.

Unfortunately, we are not surfers, but according to our surfer friends, Costa Rica is one of the best destination! In their completely biased opinion, it is the number one thing to do in Costa Rica 🙂

To Be honnest we usually do not like to do these types of activity when we travel. It is usually too touristy and gives us the impression to be in a attraction park… We hesitated to do it in Costa Rica as it is knowned to be a good way to have a different perspective of the forest and the Canopy. Choose carefully where you do it, some hotels in wild area have their own and they probably do not have this DysneyLand vibe. We did it in the Arenal park and even if it was not the highlight of our trip the zip-lining was fun, brought a different activity than the one we had done and a little bit of adrenaline!

We really favored the Sunset over the Island of Las Catalinas, the sun over the Pacific is offering you a great opportunity to take ones of your best shots here!