One of my favorite things to do when it comes to trip planning is to research and create an itinerary. Sometimes I think I enjoy that even more than taking the actual trip…
I plan to do a separate post about my process for creating an itinerary (the process, templates, websites I use, etc.) but for now I wanted to share our 10-day travel itinerary for our recent trip to Costa Rica. It felt like the perfect balance of adventure and relaxation.
Day 1 (Travel Day)
- Arrive in Liberia and pick up car rental (since the airport is so small, most car rental companies are located off-site. We used Sixt and have no complaints)
- Drive ~3 hours to Arenal Volcano area
- Check into Amor Arenal hotel
Day 2 (Arenal)
- Horseback riding around Arenal Volcano. I highly recommend Don Tobias!
- Lunch in downtown La Fortuna at Soda Viquez for the quinessential Costa Rican dish—Casado.
- Drive 10 minutes to visit nearby La Fortuna Waterfall. There’s a $20 fee to get in and then it’s about 500 steps to the bottom…
- Dinner at Jalapas which has beautiful views overlooking Arenal. Reservations can be made via Whatsapp.
Day 3 (Arenal)
- Balsa River White Water Rafting. We booked with Arenal Rafting which was really reasonable (about $70 pp) and included roundtrip transportation + lunch.
- Dinner at Don Rufino in downtown La Fortuna
Day 4 (Arenal)
- Tabacon Hot Springs. You can’t visit Costa Rica without a trip to the hot springs! We purchased the day pass (about $80 pp). They have packages which includes lunch or dinner, but I don’t think the price is worth it.
- Dinner at one of the hotel restaurants, El Rancho.
Day 5 (Arenal)
- Ziplining at Sky Adventures. We did the “Sky Trek, Walk & Tram” tickets but the “walk” is NOT for the faint of heart! It was more like a treacherous hike.
- Lunch at nearby El Patio Al Carbon
- Dinner at Tico Grill at hotel (Korean bbq style restaurant)
Day 6 (Arenal → Bagaces)
- Drive 2½ hours to Río Perdido Resort
- Dinner at hotel. There’s only one restaurant at the resort where you have all your meals, but fortunately the food was amazing!
Day 7 (Bagaces)
- Massage at the hotel Spa, which was included in the room package we booked
- White water tubing. This was a last-minute booking that we made after having a blast with the whitewater rafting.
- Dinner at hotel restaurant
Day 8 (Bagaces → Papagayo Peninsula)
- Drive 1½ hours from Bagaces to Papagayo Peninsula to check into the Andaz Resort
- Empanada cooking class on-site
- Dinner at Chao Pescao in hotel (reservations available on OpenTable)
Day 9 (Papagayo)
- Nacascolo Beach for the day, which is the Andaz’s private beach club, accessible by free boat ride.
- Lunch at Meso located at the beach club (reservations available on OpenTable)
- Massage at the hotel’s Onda Spa
- Dinner at Ostra in hotel (reservations available on OpenTable)
Day 10 (Papagayo)
- Lounge by the adult’s pool
- Ceviche cooking class on-site
- Dinner at Pesce in Four Seasons (The Andaz has a free shuttle service to the nearby Four Seasons resort which I highly recommend a trip to!)
Day 11 (Travel Day)
- Drive 45 mins to Liberia airport for car rental drop off
- Lunch at nearby La Choza de Laurel to avoid airport food
- Board the plane. Adiós!
