Costa Rica things to do?

[EthanTheHeathen]

Hey everyone,

So the wife and I will be traveling to Tamarindo, Costa Rica for a week at the end of March/beginning of April (WITHOUT our 2, 4, and 6-year-olds!) with a couple of friends. I'm just wondering if anyone who is familiar with the area has any recommendations of things to do. I'm not looking for non-stop adventure, just some nice places to hang out. Local bars with live music? Nice places to eat? Other suggestions? Just thought a bunch of musicians might have an idea of what is cool (not super touristy) to do in Tamarindo.

[6jase5]

I'm going soon as well but not during your trip. We always do the adventure though, whitewater on the Pacuare, hot springs (with a lot of adult beverages) in Arenal, canyoning in several locations, blah blah. Tamarindo is a pretty chill town. I like El Jardin the hotel and Monkey Bar. Usually it's obvious to see where people are going on a particular night.

[slobake]

I was there about 10 years ago. There is a great resort called Si Como No (Yes, Why not). http://www.sicomono.com/They had a theater that showed movies every night for the kids. Nice bar and resturaunt and near Manuel Antonio National Park. In the park we saw several sloths, a peccary or two, lots of birds and monkeys. Beatiful clear blue lagoons for swimming but don't leave any food on your towel or the monkeys will steal it.
There is also a town named Fortuna near an active volcano. We stayed in a funky hotel where the room flooded every time we took a shower. The people running the hotel didn't seem to mind the just moved us. So we kept or baggage packed and off the floor and moved to another room every morning.
There were two resorts near Fortuna one had a parking lot packed with tour buses and you could hear the loud rock music from outside. We went to the one the locals recommended, no music just a stream of nice warm water flowing trough the lush vegetation. The water is heated by the volcano and the resort is far enough away that you don't get burned. http://www.fortunawelcome.com/arenal...o-hot-springs/
We payed a local farm boy to take us on a nature hike through the jungle. We learned a lot from him.
I love Costa Rica once you get away from San Jose. A lot of the roads don't have signs and there are potholes the size of volkswagons, it helps if you speak some Spanish.
There are small stands by the side of the road where they cook chicken over wood, the chicken was really good. Also the Licuados are really good too as well as the platanos.
I'm jealous, I'm sure you will have a great time.
Did you know that Costa Rica is the only Central American country without a standing army?

[elgecko]

Zipline. For some bizarre reason, everyone who goes to Costa Rica ziplines. In my mind, Costa Rica is chock full of trees and ziplines.

[MatticusMania]

Originally Posted by elgecko

Zipline. For some bizarre reason, everyone who goes to Costa Rica ziplines. In my mind, Costa Rica is chock full of trees and ziplines.

I was going to go ziplining when I was in Maui, but I didnt want to pay quite as much as they were asking. Id rather sit around and drink. I saw some ziplines when I was on Catalina, but I cant imagine they were very long rides.

[Jothabass]

I'm from Costa Rica, so I can recommend you a pair of good places!!!
If you like beaches, Guanacaste it's the place to go!! Tamarindo it's one of the most beautiful beaches in Guanacaste, but you can visit also Conchal (entirely covered by sea shells); it's really close to Tamarindo, and Playa Grande (between Conchal and Tamarindo) it's beautiful too!! These are located at Las Baulas National Park, where baula turtles go to put their eggs every season.
If you like a special place, there a place called Rio Celeste (Blue River) where you can find a incredible blue river, and many goods family hotels; here http://www.riocelestehideaway.com/ you can find some pics, and there's a lot of tourist guides who can give a nice tour.
If you like volcanoes, the best one to go its the Poas volcano : it's the biggest crater of the world, and you can see the crater very close!! This is how it looks https://www.google.com/search?q=poas...iw=768&bih=928
Another beautiful place it's the Arenal Volcano, where you can see the Arenal in eruption... It's a beautiful show, and unforgettable http://www.arenal.net/arenal-volcano.htm

If you like to go and see some music, the best place to go its Jazz Cafe!! The have shows almost every day, and you can see really good musicians playin there!. There are two,locations: the one in Escazu has the best location, its the nicest place, but I enjoyed much more the San Pedro location!! If you can catch these two bands "Swing en Cuatro" http://youtu.be/LWpDdoSceNQ http://youtu.be/nqoeAcVAa1E or "Escats" http://youtu.be/dLPPt89zM3Y on your visit, will be great!! These are the best bands around, and have incredible musicians!! This is my former band, playing at Jazz Cafe Escazu, some time ago...
http://youtu.be/8DzAj53eTRg

Tell me what you want to do, and maybe I can recommend you some place to visit or stay!! Hope this helps!!

[MJ5150]

You can spend the evenings pulling bot flies from your scalp.

-Mike

[Relic]

My wife is from Costa Rica. Anything I could possibly recommend is already in Jothabass's post.