Pura Vida! Costa Rica 2024

When you get accepted to a travel advisor trip to Costa Rica, even if you've barely been home all summer, you go. Costa Rica is firmly in my wheelhouse of adventure, so I was super pumped to go. This one was a whirlwind, but our group was outstanding and I'm so glad I had the chance to meet so many amazing local travel suppliers. Just to keep it interesting, my first flight delayed two hours and we weren't sure if the incoming aircraft was going to be able to land (fog again). They circled for quite a while and there was much rejoicing when they landed. Imagine all the people at a couple of airport gates watching FlightAware on their phones - it was like that! I only had one shot of making it to Toronto for my connection and thankfully, I made it with time to spare (coffee!!!). Met up with the amazing Lora, host extraordinaire, and some of the group - away we went. Flight to San Jose was uneventful and spent watching House of the Dragon. After we arrived and did all the airport things, we were whisked off to our hotel for the night (Radisson San Jose) by our amazing guide Michel and driver Melvin. And then I went to bed, because I like mornings and we had an early start.

Let's go! Checked out and ready for breakfast by 6am, site inspection of the Radisson following that. I loved all the art around the property and the indoor/outdoor dining. If you're looking for something with a pool and parking for a night in San Jose, it does the trick. Then we were off to the Holiday Inn San Jose Sabana for a trade show with nearly 50 local travel suppliers. This was amazing! A few hours of essentially speed-dating with all of them, getting a feel for their products and what they can offer. They are so genuinely passionate about their country and tourism and it was a real treat to be there. Next up, a site inspection (this is what we call it when they tour us around a property) and lunch at Gran Hotel Costa Rica. This hotel is nearly 100 and is now part of Hilton's Curio collection. It was one of the first upscale hotels in the country and it has a lot of period charm. It's designated as a historic monument, near the National Theatre and Gold Museum, and on the pedestrian Avenida Central. They served us a lovely lunch before it was time to hit the road to Monteverde. Our day had a series of delays so this was quite a long time spent in the bus, but it was worth it to get into this area of the country.

We made a pitstop at the mini market beside Restaurant Gran Parqueo (home of many, many amazing wooden sculptures). Then before calling it a day, we stopped for a site inspection and dinner at Ocotea. This fairly new boutique property is run by a mother/daughter team and the food was the best I had the entire trip. Wrapping up day one, we landed at Poco a Poco hotel and promptly went to sleep.

Refreshed after a great sleep, I packed up my stuff and did a little exploring before heading to breakfast. This small property has only 30 rooms, but beautiful grounds with some trails, so I did a little exploring. Breakfast was made to order and vegan friendly - a fab start to the day. Treetopia time! Up into the cloud forest we went! If you like zip lining, suspension bridges, climbing, swinging ropes, and more - you'll love this spot. The suspension bridges were my absolute favourite and we had an amazing guide take us through. There's teeny, tiny orchids all over the place that we never would have noticed without him. A lovely lunch on site as well, before it was time to check in to hotel number three.

We checked into El Establo, a stunning mountain property with views of the Gulf of Nicoya. The view from my room was outstanding and the grounds looked beautiful. With more time, I would have loved to do one of their night trail walks. We had a site inspection, complete with stunning sunset views at Hotel Fonda Vela, before we returned to El Establo for a very nice dinner.

We had a really early start the next morning, so with our box breakfasts in tow, we made our way to Puntarenas to catch a boat. We headed over to Tortuga Island with Bay Island. It's a two hour-ish trip and we were on the boat for about an hour before we left. Thankfully, there was coffee and beautiful views. I was less thankful for their entertainer who was not at all entertaining to me, but a lot of the others in the group found them entertaining. Tortuga Island is a private nature reserve, but a small section of it is open as a beach for tours. There's some activities you can do (paddle boards, snorkeling, banana boats, beach volleyball, and more) and tours include lunch. It was a relaxing few hours. We were only on the ship for about 30 minutes on the way back, and then we met up with a smaller boat that brought us to the port at Paquera - leaving us much closer to our next destination, Tango Mar.

Tango Mar is a beautiful property right on the beach. We stayed in the tropical suites - mine was at the top at the end and had a beautiful view. Room was a great size, comfy bed, great shower. We had a group dinner with the owner Hilde, who is absolutely lovely (and a total badass), to round out our day.

We had a later start the next morning, so I met Laura on my morning walk and we decided to go find the nearby waterfall. It was a lovely walk, before it got too bonkers hot, and we did finally find the shortcut. After breakfast, we had a site inspection at Tango Mar and we got to see the entire property, including most types of rooms the have available and the lookout area. After that, it was to the bus for the hour drive to Santa Theresa to do a site inspection with Diego at Nantipa. They treated us to a delicious lunch as well.

Nantipa part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World - is a beautiful boutique family-friendly property on the beach in Santa Theresa. Wellness is a real focus here (very common in Costa Rica) and the grounds are very serene and beautiful. I would absolutely stay here and I love that when building the resort, they barely cut down any of the trees. The beach is long and walkable. A great spot! On the way back to Tango Mar, we made a little grocery store stop for some goodies and then we were free for the afternoon to enjoy Tango Mar's lovely grounds. Another group dinner with Hilde (and a delicious cocktail overlooking the ocean before dinner) rounded out the day.

We had another later start for our final full day in Costa Rica, so I went off exploring more of the grounds in the morning. I loved having a place to walk around in nature - I adore the morning soundtrack of Costa Rica. Had a lovely breakfast conversation with our amazing guide Michel and then packed up to head to Cobano airport to catch our Sansa flight to San Jose. Our suitcases left on the bus earlier in the morning so that Melvin could meet us when we arrived at the San Jose airport.

This flight was so fun. A 12 seater is the smallest plane I've ever been in and the views were awesome! And so much faster than driving back to San Jose. From the airport, we immediately headed to Britt Coffee for lunch and a tour. Our guides Luis and Apa were hilarious and it was a nice tour - covering the basics of coffee, from plants to cherries to harvesting to drying to roasting - with plenty of samples along the way. If you're expecting to be hiking into the mountains to pick coffee, you would be disappointed. But if you want to learn about coffee, try some, and buy some - this is a great spot.

Following our adventures in coffee, we were off to our last hotel of the night - Hotel Grano de Oro. This hotel is beautiful - it used to be a mansion and has been converted to a hotel property. It's owned by Canadians and it has a lot of personality. My room was great - lots of space, a small terrace, nice bathroom. I also like the social project the owners are responsible for - Casa Luz, a home for adolescent mothers and their children and helps set them up for future success. We had a quick site inspection soon after we arrived.

Wrapping up our Costa Rican adventure, we had a dinner and a presentation with the other two groups of advisors who were touring other regions and the team responsible for bringing us to Costa Rica at Hotel Double Tree by Hilton Cariari. We didn't get to see much of the hotel, but the lobby and pool area was lovely. We had some pre-dinner schmoozing and then some dancing and speeches during dinner. It was a nice evening and many thanks go out to the lovely hotelier sitting at my table who helped me make sure there was no milk in my dinner!

A quick sleep at Grano de Oro and then it was time to hop on the trusty bus with Melvin one last time to head back to the airport. Grano de Oro even made us breakfast boxes for our early departure and I have to say my vegan option was delicious. Our amazing guide Michel was there to greet us even at 5am (and we were lucky - others in the group had to leave for the airport at 2am). San Jose airport is lovely. There was coffee and chilling before it was time to board the flight to Montreal. Finished watching House of the Dragon and then some randomness. Immigration was tedious as we had to go into the general immigration line instead of a handy dandy line for connecting and grab our luggage - but managed to get it all done with a few minutes to spare before my flight to Toronto. Uneventful flight, arrived on time, and grabbed a sandwich on the way to my last flight (the only one where I have managed to clear the upgrade list this year). My suitcase decided to party it up in Toronto, but arrived at my house the next afternoon.

This was such an amazing opportunity to meet with so many local Costa Rican suppliers. Their commitment to sustainability and eco-consciousness in tourism really resounds with me and it seems to be very successful for them. I am so glad I had the chance to go back to Costa Rica and it is definitely a country I would like to explore further. I think I left a piece of my heart there.

If you're thinking about a visit to Costa Rica and would like help planning your trip, reach out to get on my calendar. Ange out. PS: A couple of these images may not be mine... I blame Whatsapp photo sharing with a group of travel advisors.