Travel Tips for Getting Around on Your First Visit to Costa Rica

When you travel somewhere for the first time, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Costa Rica is a fairly small country, as far as land area, but it is grand in adventure and discovery. Here are a few travel tips for first-time visitors to Costa Rica.

Take your time

When you try to put together your Costa Rican vacation, we recommend that you plan to see both the beaches and the mountains. However, we recommend that you allow yourself plenty of time in each place so you have time to enjoy each location. Not only that, but give yourself plenty of time to get from one destination to another. Don’t rely totally on the internet to tell you how far and how long it will take to get from point A to point B. Many of the best places in Costa Rica are located in remote areas, and you will need to allow extra time to travel along small, windy, muddy roads.

Transportation

Many places are only accessible with a 4WD or All Terrain Vehicle. No one is more serious than eco-tourism than Costa Rica, which means that despite luxurious accommodations, giving you an authentic Costa Rican experience means minimizing our carbon footprint and disrupting the natural surroundings as little as possible. This will sometimes mean that the trip to your hotel, lodge, or cabina can be a little rugged and rough.

Travel apps

We highly recommend that you get a working phone plan with data. The easiest and cheapest is to get a local SIM card at the San Jose airport, or any supermarket or “pulperia.” Once you have that, download the travel app Waze. Everyone in Costa Rica uses Waze and it is constantly updated by users so that you can easily avoid roadblocks, traffic, or construction.

Transportation to Pacuare Lodge

Pacuare Lodge nestled deep in the Pacuare Rainforest. Once you get here, you will be living in the height of sustainable luxury, with private suites overlooking the mountains, rivers, and rainforest. But, getting here will require you to be picked up by our staff and driven to the lodge in 4WD vehicles and driving a 6-mile gravel road to the lodge. The only other way to get to our lodge is by river rafting the Pacuare River to the lodge, so, your adventure begins before you even arrive.

When you visit Pacuare Lodge we will pick you up at the airport and drop you off again so you won’t have to worry about finding your own way. Once you arrive at Pacuare Lodge you can experience the best of Costa Rica like exclusive adventures, gourmet locally inspired cuisine, and world-class luxury accommodations.