Oddbean

while i havent been there myself, way south on the pacific, is corcovado. its very remote, and people go there to get into nature. uvita is on the way, so youd have to stop in bitcoin country. corcovado is about as far south as you can go without getting into panama, so if that seems too out of the way for your trip, like i said, monteverde is a popular option for getting into the wild, and its near arenal volcano. note that there are two airports you can fly into, san jose and liberia. liberia is much smaller and frankly a better experience. consider that based on your specific plans. another really cool remote option is the southern part of the nicoya peninsula, for example mal pais. montezuma is a cool nearby town too. samara and nosara are known for surfing, but if you are new to surfing youll probably want a calmer beach. in general its not hard to find surfing and horseback riding at beach towns. if you decide to go down the pacific coast, dominical is a cool beach town, and a good place to try surfing. this is on the way to uvita (and corcovado). theres a waterfall called nauyaca nearby that is fun to hike to and swim in the pool (better for dry season probably). renting a car, and preferably a 4x4 if youre going remote, is the best option (not cheapest). it gives you the freedom to go where you want when you want. pretty much highly recommend this unless you plan to be in more major destonations where public transit is more available. driving is a little crazier than places like the usa, but doable.

thank you for all this information! i’ve been looking at both flying into San Jose and Liberia. so far Liberia seems like a better option for me in terms of where i want to go. but i’ll look more into the places you recommend that is all the way south. i guess if i’m going there San Jose will be a better option

nicoya and arenal and monteverde and beaches of the northwest are all really great options, so into and out of liberia is the way to go unless you decide you really want to go to the south. still doable from liberia but obviously further to start. there are domestic flights too from either airport.

also, do you think me (female) travelling alone should be okay? and are there places i should take precautions and think twice before going to? so far i’m considering the caribbean side (maybe north) and the nicoya peninsula

in a group is best, but costa rica is generally very safe, especially outside of the cities. if you dont know where youre going, downtown san jose can be sketchy, downtown limon can be sketchy, Jaco, a very touristy beach town that is more about partying, can be sketchy. try not to be too alone like on a beach, stuff like that, but in general you wont have issues. the sun rises early and sets early in costa rica, and generally its good to follow that vibe, early rise and early sleep. smaller towns and rural is generally very safe. people are so nice. and youll meet people at hostels or whatever, depending on where youre staying. to summarize, dont hang out in downtowns of bigger cities, especially at night, generally limit being alone at night and limit being alone on beaches. if you stay in san jose, lets say for one night because of traveling out of that airport the next day, i would recommend staying in an area called escazu, which is very modern with good food and coffee shops. there are some hotels near the airport i could recommend too, but it depends on budget and what youre looking for.

having cell service is a good idea. you can either set that up with your current provider or you can get a local sim for cheap. if you do neither, id highly recommend downloading the map of the areas you are going on google maps, because gps works even without cell service. also, if you are needing driving directions, i highly recommend using waze over google maps. google maps has better maps to look at, but waze navigation is much better. google maps navigation has literally taken me to the bank of a river expecting me to cross it.