Costa Rica - The Travel Connection, LLC

COSTA RICA REVIEWS

Romantic Honeymoon Adventure - 3 stop

You don't have an idea how EXCELENT it was!!!

We loved all the places we stayed both the Peace Lodge and the Springs are AMAZING and Cala Luna is very pretty and cozy and close to town without all the people around!

We did just 1 change when we were there; we changed the final excursion (zip line) for another horse back ride trip and it was beautiful! They took us back riding at the beach!

It was definitely a great experience and thanks so much for all your help!

Family Spring Break

It was fantastic! Costa Rica is such a beautiful country and we have so many wonderful experiences that I know we will never forget. We especially loved the Arenal area. The tours were amazing (fun, beautiful, educational, well lead, etc). We are still sore from the horseback ride! The Manoa is an ideal hotel. We enjoyed our time at the Riu - there were many positives there. Unfortunately, their beach was inundated by red tide and it was more of a "party" atmosphere then we like . We ended up taking a side trip to Tamarindo which was amazing. I just loved being in Costa Rica and appreciated your guidance/recommendations. We met a couple who only stayed at the Riu and we spoke about using your expertise/ services to really make our trip a complete experience. It was so nice to not have to think much about logistics and just immerse ourselves in the beauty before us!
Thank you so much!

Winter Getaway

Arenal and Manuel Antonio

It was perfect! We had a wonderful time. The hotels were wonderful, the
food was delicious and now we are talking about another trip to the
Guanacaste area. In Manuel Antionio we parasailed and jet skied with the
dolphins. We had the best tuna at El Avion
and more than a few drinks! In Arenal - we loved Don Rufino.
We couldn't be more pleased with the trip. Thank you for everything!

Late Summer Multi-Stop Trip

Where do I start? We had a fabulous trip to Costa Rica! Of course when you go on vacation you expect to have a great time, but this trip exceeded our expectations! I am so used to being in control, and I found it a bit hard to hand over our trip planning to you but I can't thank you enough. We totally enjoyed the itinerary and the excursions you booked for us. I am so grateful that we had transportation arranged for us at every junction as well. I cannot imagine having to navigate the crazy zig zag Costa Rican roads. The drivers and tour guides were amazing. I was so impressed with their timeliness and knowledge. They willingly shared their knowledge about their country with us and stopped at every opportunity to capture a view of "los monos", which we loved! The hotels were fantastic! The service, the food, the amenities were top notch. I thought we might be disappointed by staying at the Four Seasons and "missing out" on a true Costa Rican experience, but I definitely was not. Doug's recommendation not to upgrade our room there was right on target. We were on the first floor but had a better view from our room than any other floor. We saw the ocean perfectly from our porch. Normally we don't prefer to be up at 4:30 in the morning, but when the howler monkeys woke us one morning we didn't mind one bit! We thought this was a wonderful time of year to visit Costa Rica. We did have short periods of rain, especially in La Fortuna (but what do you expect in a rainforest?), but the weather never interfered with our plans. In fact, seeing the lightening light up the volcano was such an awesome sight. We also felt fortunate to visit during the "off season". On all of our excursions we were the only two people with the guide so we got very personalized attention. The restaurants were empty and we never needed reservations. Pete even learned about a cooking class at the Four Seasons and we got to meet 2 of the head chefs! One even came to our table at dinner to speak to us.

Just a couple of things that might have been helpful to know…

- The volcano hasn't erupted in 8 months. This definitely did not ruin our trip by any means but some other travelers might be really disappointed.

- Apparently you can see whales and large sea turtles near the Papagayo Peninsula. We had read that snorkeling wasn't great in Costa Rica and did not even consider signing up for a snorkeling trip for that reason, but we met some travelers at the Four Seasons that took a snorkeling trip through the hotel and got to see the turtles and a mother and baby whale. Perhaps this was just a very lucky opportunity.

- Also the Four Seasons does not do a good job telling you about their excursions or daily activities. You really have to make sure to ask about these things if you are interested. They are more than happy to help you with anything you ask about though, you just have to know to ask. They have some great free activities too and some are only available on certain days of the week, so you need to know to plan if you want to participate in them.

- The roads are really crazy and if someone is prone to motion sickness this would be a big deal. It might be a good idea to recommend travelers with this issue to take along a motion sickness medicine or patch, etc. We were grateful to fly out of Liberia when we left and not have to drive back to San Jose!

Again, we can't thank you enough. Our trip could not have been more perfect, the perfect mix of activity and relaxation for us. We were just glowing with excitement about our trip when we returned. We can't wait to visit again sometime

Winter Costa Rica - multi stop vacation

We had a wonderful trip. Everything was perfect, great guides and beautiful accomodations. We will refer our friends and family members to you and hope to work with you in the future. Thanks so much!

Winter Arenal and Jaco/Manuel Antonio Getaway

I just wanted to let you know what a perfect trip you planned. Everything went without a hitch - transportation and guides were excellent - and our room at the Royal Corin was incredible! Los Altos and Marriott were very good also, but compared to Royal Corin, just soso. Really, they all were excellent. When we arrived at Los Altos, we had expected a one bedroom suite type arrangement, only to find that we had three bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths. We could have invited more to come with us. All of our tours were very good, and I especially enjoyed the Carrarra National Park. Our guide, Victor, was incredible. He even took pictures with my camera through his spotting scope so I would have good pictures of the birds, lizards, bats and flowers we saw.

Thank you for all of your hard work

Arenal and Guanacaste trip

Riu Resorts

Our trip was fabulous! We really enjoyed our time in Arenal and loved the hotel there.

We weren't very impressed by the RUI. The hotel was open to locals that weekend and it was overrun with children. We don't mind children, however, many of these children were unsupervised and were jumping and swimming around a lot near the bar area, which I think should be strictly adults only. The food wasn't that great and neither was the room. The best part about that stay was the scuba diving we did. The instructors were very knowledgable and helpful and we really enjoy it! The hotel pool was much better and more relaxing on Monday once the locals left but then that was our last day :(

Also, you might want to give Costa Rican travelers a heads up about the roads. I got a little queezy during our transfers. It would have helped to have some dramamine ready. Please also give a heads up to travelers about the cost of sunscreen and medicines at the resorts. It was $40 for sunscreen and $20 for a small box of benedryl. We also paid $38 for an underwater camera.

All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed our trip! Thank you so much for your help!

Honeymoon at the Paradisus Playa Conchal

Wonderful!!!

They were so great at Paradisus!

A trip we will remember forever!

Thank you for all your help.

Yep!! We did a ziplining combo tour and a day at the spa!!

Food was wonderful. Our next trip will be to the Paradisus Palma Real…we heard even better things about that resort!

Summer Couples Trip...

We loved our zipline tour. But our favorite was white water rafting and scuba diving the best!

Our best meals came for the local towns.....

Winter Costa Rica Adventure - Belize for previous trip!

We had a great trip. Royal Corin was really nice. The view was amazing and the breakfast was really good. We had so much fun on the waterfall rapelling and kayak trip. We liked Trapp Family but it is very loud. You can hear everything but being so close to the reserve made it worth it. The only thing we wouldn't do again is the horse back riding. It was ok but I wouldn't recommend it. The day at Saltura (sp?) was so amazing. We also loved Diria in Tamarindo and the surfing. The only thing was that it wasn't long enough. We had such a great time. We're hoping to travel there again. Thanks for helping us come up with an awsome vacation

Summer Trip to Costa Rica

The hotel at Magic Mountain was the best and the volcano and zipline was something else. Yes I did it will the cheering on of the others from the group and finally got on a boat Sun. the day before I was leaving. Unfortunately the marina is not right across the street from the Flamingo and Flamingo Bay Charters could not help me. Walked around the pool every day looking for someone to share a boat with me to no avail. So Sat. afternoon made a deal with a Captain that the Flamingo uses, for $200 less than what she was asking. Caught a huge Mahi Mahi and had a huge sailfish on but he broke the line when I was reeling him in, Dammit.

Walked the beach or roads around the town of Flamingo and met alot of expats who had businesses. Met the owner of Mar Y Sol, who invited me up totake pictures from their balcony and then invitied me to come for dinner that night, it was the last night before Holiday for them and the meal was the best ever. Her son is a 4 star chef and sent over hor'dovores that were specialties of the house. Was there with 2 other people that I had met on the zip line in Fortuna that were also staying at the Flamingo. Have hundreds of pictures and lots of great memories. I only wish that the drivers spoke more english, those sure were some long drives, lol.........

Thanks again for all your help and am forwarding pics.

Return Trip to Villas Sol, Costa Rica

Summer 2009

We went to Ricon de la Vieja volcano
and did the horses, ziplining, natural steam room, mud baths. It was at
Borinquen Resort. It was really nice. Saw some white face monkeys and toucans
in the wild on the way up there. Really cool. We did the beach hopping ATV
tour again, but this time they stopped and let me pick up shells! My
husband, went on a fishing trip with some people we met at the resort and caught
mahi mahi and wahoo and had the restaurant cook them that night. It was really
good. Went on some snorkel boats from Hermosa Beach. My friend really enjoyed the
trip and already wants to go back! We had an older villa this time, but it had
a great upstairs patio with table and chairs, and the AC worked really well.
Let me know any info you find out about Tahiti while you're planning your trip.
Would love to stay in one of those over the water huts. What a dream come
true!!

Couple Loves Tours in Arenal and Paradisus!

Spring 2009
Paradisus Playa Conchal

It was GREAT! We had a wonderful time! And the Sunset Tours group was grrrrrreat! We love love love the boat tour---that was so worth the money!

And Paradisus---WOW. That resort was beautiful. Thank you again for everything you helped set up.

March Honeymoon to Costa Rica - Arenal/Manuel Antonio

Thank you Renee,

Our trip was awesome. We really liked it and it worked out perfectly with half at a resort and half in Arenal. I wish I had planned a longer trip now. Thank you again for all your assistance. It worked out very well.

Family Winter Break in Costa Rica

The trip was incredible. I cannot thank you enough. It was the perfect family vacation. Plenty of R&R by the beach, but lots of adventure activities too! They were so nice at Casitas Eclipse. We loved all of the tours. My older daughter was scared at first with the zip line, but did great! We loved Manuel Antonio. We took your advice and did the sunset cruise and it was truly a high light. We went on the Katamaran and it was fabulous. Arenal was nice too but it did rain and we never saw the volcano. We did a great horseback ride and then hiked to a waterfall. We also did the hot springs that afternoon. It was just an incredible, memorable week and I can't thank you enough for creating such a wonderful trip for us.

Thank you again for everything.

Lapa Rios a highlight for Honeymoon Couple

The honeymoon was great and we were impressed how smoothly all of our travels and reservations went. The Lapa Rios was amazing and we cant wait to go back sometime. It was beautiful and definitely the best food we have ever ate. Thanks so much

Graduation Trip to Costa Rica

I really loved white water rafting. That was definetly my favorite, followed closely by the Canopy tour. The guides were fabulous. We were lucky at Arenal--it was pretty clear when we were there. We met several people who didn't get to see the volcano clearly. I would say that I preferred Quepos to Arenal. The beaches were beautiful!! We got to eat at El Avion, which was really cool. I loved the bar in the airplane!
I saw tons of monkeys! They were everywhere. At the Playa Manuel Antonio, a group of monkeys and racoons ran around for awhile. We also saw sloths, tons of birds, frogs...I brought back tons of great pictures. It was the best vacation I've ever been on.

The trip was amazing!! Everything was perfect--thank you so much for all of your recommendations and everything that you did. My dad and I had the time of our lives. I loved everything about Costa Rica and didn't want to leave. In fact, I am hoping to go back next year. Thank you again.

Family trip to Guanacaste Region of Costa Rica - Villas Sol

Summer

To answer your questions -- we speak no Spanish, maybe some common words, but had no problems because Costa Ricans have to learn English in school we found out! It's a bit broken. We did two excursions with Vargas Tours, which I found on TripAdvisor.com. Ricardo, the owner, took us to a place called Miramar, which is a two-hour drive from Playa Hermosa. It was awesome. It was 25 ziplines and two rappels down through a true rainforest. We went over 11 waterfalls. The small hotel we started at was called Hotel Vista Golfo. We rode horses to the top of the mountain. It's not a touristy place yet. It was a little pricey, $175 pp, and farther than I really wanted to go, but I'm glad we went. Ricardo was great, very personal man and knowledgable. The other excursion was a beach-hopping ATV tour, which was fun. The hotel had a free sailboat ride for two hours and a free kayak tour and snorkel tour, which is just snorkeling around the rocks on the beach. My favorite part of the trip was the villa we stayed in. It was so nice and huge. I'll never be able to stay in a regular hotel room again! The food was very good in my opinion. A lot of typical Costa Rican food at every meal. It was good quality food, not your Golden Corral buffet. The specialty restaurant was really good, very fancy. Not much nightly entertainment, but we were in bed early every night because the sun comes up in Costa Rica at 5:00 a.m. and we never slept in and we were very active the whole trip!!!! We would definitely go back to Villas Sol. Oh, and we didn't get our villa with a plunge pool because it was some kind of big holiday there the weekend we arrived and the hotel was full with locals celebrating so they didn't have one of those villas available, but they front desk said they weren't as nice as the one we were in. I guess we stayed in one of the newer ones. Very nice

Honeymoon Couple loves Manuel Antonio

Summer

Manuel Antonio couldn't have been more beautiful. We attempted to bring
a six-pack of Imperial into the park and were quickly told that we would
need to leave the beer behind. So, we drank a couple beers
around 9:00am and left two for our friends working the entrance. On our
way into the national park we saw two three-toed sloths and about 20
monkeys. Once we showed up at Playa Manuel Antonio we set up camp on
the beach and nearly lost our travel journals to a couple of curious
raccoons. I was able to get some wonderful pictures of the monkeys,
raccoons, and iguanas from where we were sitting on the beach. The best
place we ate at was in Manuel Antonio. The name of the place is Cantina
and is part of the Casa Verde hotel. It has an amazing atmosphere and
the food is incredible! We ate there three out of the six nights we
spent in Manuel Antonio. We convinced several other travelers to eat at
Cantina and they thanked us profusely for the recommendation.
The Rental Car was so much fun! We had a blast driving in Costa Rica!
It was like a life-sized game of bumper cars. The streets were
absolutely terrible in some locations and I don't think I got of first
gear on some of the roads. However, that just made the trip that much
more of an adventure. The vehicle we had was perfect for the roads in
Costa Rica.