The Perfect Costa Rica Trip Itinerary for Couples
Costa Rica is an incredible country that allows you to instantly get in touch with nature. It was just the two of us – my husband and I – traveling for my 40th birthday celebration, so we knew it had to be somewhere tropical, because that is who we are, what we love. With its rural and natural beauty, and the most amazing wildlife, from loud monkeys to macaws and adorable sloths, Costa Rica is where we chose to go. I am so thankful we did. 10 days in this beautiful, remote place is exactly what we needed. Now, this Costa Rica trip itinerary differs from a lot of our other trips because our kids were not with us, so it was not as action packed as usual and there was a lot of lounging at the resorts we stayed at (which is a good thing…right?).
We woke up early on Day 1, started the day with my favorite coffee and Laird’s superfood creamer. This is seriously the best. Knowing this is waiting on me every morning is what gets me going. We jumped on our flight at 6:30 am in RDU with a connection through Atlanta landing in San Jose at 11:30am local time. We rented a small compact car and drove three hours to La Fortuna. This place is magical. A rainforest with amazing views of the Arenal volcano. It is a MUST SEE when in Costa Rica. Everything we did in La Fortuna was with a spectacular view of this volcano. It seemed surreal.
We checked into our hotel, Nayara Springs, where we stayed during the first leg of our trip. This is by far one of the best family hotels in Costa Rica. We pulled up to the front entrance and the greeter met us with warm cloths to wipe our hands and an amazing welcome drink. We could finally relax after a long day of travel. And we did a lot of relaxing the next 5 days with panoramic views of the volcano.
We face timed the kids to show them where we were staying. Maven has been asking to visit Costa since that moment, so we have a plan to bring the kids back here one day soon. Nayara Springs is adult only, so we will stay at the sister property, Nayara Resort Spa and Gardens, when we make the trip back.
We hung out in our amazing villa, ate dinner and then in the jacuzzi on the porch.
I went back to the villa to get Dallas and we headed to breakfast. The views of Arenal from the outdoor restaurant were fantastic. We had an amazing breakfast with the most delicious Costa Rican coffee, then I headed over to yoga. We chilled for the next 4 days, eating, drinking, relaxing and just taking it all in.
The main pool area is gorgeous.
One night, we headed to EcoTermales Hot Springs and had dinner there. A huge buffet of Costa Ricans delicacies. It was something to remember. The thermal springs range from 99° F to 106° F and there is also a freshwater waterfall and pool if you need a change in temperature. This is a cool place to check out with a full bar at the hot springs. We enjoyed it here and the food was unbelievable.
My 40th birthday, I woke up to this. Then started the day with a green juice.
We stayed on property all day – there is so much to see here.
I went to a yoga class with the amazing Christina Kajal.
We grabbed coffee and went on a sloth hunt.
Passion fruit and rum was my birthday drink. The bartender made sure we were well taken care of.
We did a coffee tour while in La Fortuna – because we love coffee – and especially Costa Rican coffee. This employee was busy picking coffee beans and stopped for a minute so we could take his picture. So happy. Costa Rica is known as one of the happiest countries on the planet – here is the proof. Then we placed beans in a roasting drum, and they turned like a rotisserie. When the beans smelled right, medium roast, they were poured out, cooled and grounded where when then made coffee to drink.
On Day 6, we were a sad couple loading our car, having to say goodbye to all our favorite people at Nayara. Driving away from this little piece of heaven was hard. We drove almost 4 hours and what an adventure it was. We saw wind turbines all over the country. Costa Rica has run almost entirely on renewable energy for 300 days out of the year for a few years now. It is impressive, such a clean environment, another reason that makes it the happiest place on earth. We drove through so many little towns along the way and finally stopped at a roadside restaurant to eat lunch.
We finally arrived in Tamarindo and drove through town, which is located on the beach. We headed over to our hotel, Capitan Suizo Beachfront Boutique Hotel. We stayed in the beachfront bungalow for 5 days. The atmosphere and temperature were a stark difference from the rainforest, so it took us a few days to adapt to the heat. The beach was outside our front door on one side and the gorgeous pool on the other.
We had an outdoor shower in the back and monkeys jumping from tree to tree over my head. Showering with monkeys’ overhead is an experience!
We went into town each day so I could take a yoga class in the morning, then next door for a smoothie at Costa Juice. We typically went back to the hotel in the afternoon and Dallas would surf. Afternoon showers would often hit, and we would sit on the porch until they passed. That was our little routine every day while In Tamarindo.
One day for lunch, Dallas could not wait to buy from this guy, so he had that. I had something else.
We also ate at a restaurant on the beach, named La Purruja Restaurant and Bar and La Pachanga, and were serenaded by a local violinist. Hilarious and he was so good.
Also, El Coconut was great.
Our last full day mostly included this.
That night we walked down the beach to take in the very last sunset. It was fantastic.
There always seems to be a debate over which is better – Costa or Hawaii – and now that I have been to both, I would have to go with Costa Rica and a big part of that is the travel time. We are on the east coast, so it is much easier for us to get in and out quickly. Costa Rica, we will see you soon, and next time with the kids.
