Visiting Costa Rica for 7 days?

Seven days is perfect! Because of archaic roads, it takes a day (or at least most of a day) to get from one place to another in the country.

Jaco Beach is a beautiful area. It is one hour north of Quepos/Manuel Antonio. The problem with Manuel Antonio is that it is VERY expensive. All the hotels are four or five star with four or five star prices. Even going out to eat is pricey there. It's gorgeous, but very very pricey.

Dominical is 3 hours south of Quepos, and would probably be perfect for your dad. It's more laid back, casual. Small town. People there are very friendly, and you can get a condo on the beach for very cheap.

If your dad is the exploratory kind, a trip to Tortuguero would be lots of fun. It is a bit tricky and it costs a little more than most other trips, but it is SO worth it! Tortuguero is on the Carribbean side of the country. You travel through the surrounding area in canoes through little rivers and streams. There are no cars. It is so much fun!

Buy the Frommers guide to Costa Rica. It will give you lots of great tips and prices and phone numbers for all these places.

HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!

7 days is perfect,

First of all, go to the bookstore and buy the Frommers guide to Costa Rica. It is so helpful and full of information.

Definitley go to Manuel Antonio. Take a guided hike through the forest. It's amazing! We saw monkeys, sloths, bats, iguanas, a snake and more. The plants were beautiful too. The walk is pretty flat so your dad shouldn't have a hard time through it. There was a group of seniors that were in the tour we went through. I think the name of the tour guid company we took was Blue Iguana Tours (Not sure though). Bring water! It gets hot.

We went on a crocodile safari tour. A boat ride that in which you will see many different birds and of course, crocs. It was amazing.

Take a boat ride to Tortuga Island. Its an uninhibited island thats beautiful!

I didn't go to Arenal but I heard it's really nice.

The canopy rain forest tour was slow paced and very beautiful although we didn't see any wildlife. Right place, wrong time.

Enjoy! You're going to love it and so will your dad.

BTW - if you're on a budget, Mar de Luz has really nice rooms and a nice pool, beautiful landscaping and it's not expensive. It's in Jaco. Definitley stay in Manuel Antonio for a few days though. It's really nice there.

Don't forget the Deet and Malaria medicine. Just in case. Better safe than sorry.

Did you mean 7 or 14 days? The longer the better really. There is so much to see and do. Of course, you have to plan around your Dad's activity level. There can be a lot of driving to see these different places. Start with what you want to see and go from there. Beaches, jungle, animals, adventure, relaxation, golf... Check out Puerto Viejo, Monte Verde Cloud Forest, Arenal Volcano area, and Manual Antonio National Park to start. Frommers is a good starting point but does not list everything.

7 Days!! Plan it well!! Make sure where you are going and how you are going to get there. I suggest you plan for in land trasportation before you get there if possible. There are so many great places to go to that time goes very quickly. If you are looking for Mountain area I recomend Rincon de la Vieja area. There is a nice hotel called Hacienda Guachipelin that is surrounded by beautiful waterfalls, rivers and mountains.

Beach area options are endless: Manuel Antonio and Playa Tamarindo are very hot turist spots. I went to CR for 4 months and still ran out of time.

Best suggestion: don't try to see the north area and the south area in just one trip....driving in Costa Rica takes A LOT of time due to road condition and distance from place to place.

Well if you are beach kind of guy Guanacaste, Costa Rica would be the best spot. The beach is right there and so is the forest, beautiful. Here are two websites that might be helpful for you.

http://www.costaricahomepages.com/places_to_go/bea...

http://www.costaricainternetdirectory.com/beaches....

I went for 10 days in July. There is so much to do and see you cannot spend enough time there.

Definitely visit the volcano region. We stayed at tabacon resort and had a great view of the erupting volcano from our room. I would also do canopying, white water rafting and hiking. There is so much to do I doubt you can do it all in 7 days.

I work with companies that bring retired people and they love Punta Leona Hotel in Jaco Beach. Is really nice place

Also this hotel has 2 beaches 1 gray sand beach and other with Withe sand, and the view is great. (See the picture below)

in 7 days id spend 4 days in Manuel Antonio and 3 in La Fortuna

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