GraceFirst to rec
“My boyfriend and I went to Costa Rica a few months ago and had a blast!
1) My top rec would be Manuel Antonio national park. I’ve traveled a lot, and it has the best effort to variety and quantity of wildlife ratio that I’ve encountered anywhere in the world. Most of the trails are flat and incredibly easy, so I’d classify it more as walking than hiking. It gets crowded and hot, so it’s best to get an entry time that’s as close to opening as possible.
2) eat at sodas. Sodas are locally owned small restaurants (mostly along roadsides). Everything we had in a soda was twice as good and a quarter as expensive as the food we ate in restaurants in the heavily touristed towns
3) for food, you have to try patacones (mashed beans on fried green plantains) and gallo pinto (breakfast dish of eggs with rice and beans). Delicious and traditional :)
4) if you go to the Arenal area, there are plenty of hot springs resorts that are beautiful and relaxing. We did a day pass to Tabacon, but there are dozens of options around there”
