I arrived in Costa Rica with no expectations, and to be honest, no plan to like it. All I’d heard was that it’s triple the price of anywhere else in Latin America and Americanised into a Truman show for tourists. But I have to admit, I love this country. This may be because I met up with my friend from home, Paisley and we hadn’t stopped giggling since we joined up in the Liberia bus station. Or it may be because, after all of our efforts, we succeeded in hiring a car, making Costa Rica our literal oyster, but here is why I believe Costa Rica has some magic.
Hiring a car was the best thing we could have done and one of the reasons our trip ran perfectly, but it was quite the quest to find one. After travelling for 7 months, all by bus, I decided it was time for a treat and what better than to drive around Costa Rica by car! It allows you to see more of the country, stop in towns you would have never seen before, it is faster than taking the bus with each destination we stopped at being roughly 2 to 4 hours from one another, and it works out cheaper! If you wanted to take a taxi from one beach town over to the next, it would cost about $35, we paid $330 for a week split between 2 people. And here is how we did it…
I travelled from Nicaragua so decided it was best to meet Paisley in Liberia’s bus station, as we’d planned to access our first stop, Playa Hermosa by bus. After finding each other in the bus station, we sat, had a laugh about our journeys and got in the taxi of a man who took us around the entirety of Liberia in search of a hire car. All of the cars were giant 4×4 and we couldn’t work out why (we soon did), and they were all way out of our budget at around $800 for a week, we were only looking to spend about $50 a day. We had no luck finding an old crusty car that we could use, so the taxi driver showed us through the rivers, stopping at viewpoints to see 7-foot crocodiles and joking with the locals, we headed to Playa Hermosa.
Within Playa Hermosa there was absolutely nothing going on and not much of a tourist scene, nonetheless, we were on a mission to find a car. We got in contact with a few locals eager to give up their cars, however, due to insurance and other reasons, we decided it was best to continue the search. In total, we went to 3 towns, asked about 20 locals and we found one! In Coco beach, the next beach from Playa Hermosa, I continued to ask the locals where I could find a cheap car. And it worked out perfectly, we ended up getting a small Suzuki for a week costing $50 a day, $350 for a week. Now it felt as though our trip had truly begun. So if you think you cannot get a car due to the prices, shop around, nothing is impossible. Just make sure there is a contract and insurance as the roads are very bumpy and not well designed. This leads me onto why most cars were large 4x4s and why locals told us we need a larger car, in our tiny Suzuki and being the only one that could drive, the responsibility fell into my hands as we drove through beach and mountain range in 2nd gear due to the severe lack of power in our car. But it was worth it and I felt very proud of driving on opposite sides of the road, especially after selling my car a year ago to travel. So my top tip for Costa Rica, try and hire a car, we ended up staying in 5 different cities over 7 days. Driving 3-4 hours to every destination went by quickly because the views were the most scenic car journeys I had ever been on. Driving along the highways and back roads you are constantly surrounded by mountains and greenery. I have to say I think Costa Rica is one of the most visually appealing countries I’ve ever been to, there’s a reason tourists flock to this country year after year.
Costa Rican locals are among the friendliest nation I’ve met. In towns like Jaco and Tamarindo, we spent more time with locals than meeting other backpackers. This makes me think maybe what makes Costa Rica extra special for me is the company because I can imagine staying in hostels and getting around by bus would be difficult and the backpacker scene isn’t as prominent here for me in comparison to other countries. Tico’s (local Costa Ricans) often speak good English but I got the most practice of Spanish during my time here, they are friendly and always keen to chat. Sometimes we had strange encounters with people trying to sell us tours or get us to go in a taxi, just be persistent in saying no to things, if you have a feeling something isn’t legit, it probably isn’t. Overall, Tico’s are great and keen to help you.
Playa Hermosa and Playa Coco
We just needed somewhere to relax and reset for a while, Hermosa provided exactly that because there is absolutely nothing going on there. We stayed in Hotel Villa del Sueno for 2 nights, it was next to the beach and had a pool, it was perfect for relaxing but more aimed at families. Remember in Costa Rica many places in the country have the same name like Puerto Viejo and Hermosa. The Playa Hermosa we went to was between Liberia and Tamarindo. Next to Hermosa is Playa Coco, it’s the next town along about a 10-minute drive. Here was a town with bars and a nice beach yet again, what I noticed about CR is how every beach town is more or less the same. Beaches, bars, fancy restaurants and souvenir shops. So after visiting these places, they are off of the main touristic path, but there isn’t too much happening there.
Tamarindo
I only stayed in Tamarindo for one night, a friend said he got culture shock from being in Nicaragua to suddenly being around American families, now I get easily overwhelmed, but I don’t think Costa Rica was as touristic as I was expecting. Tamarindo was a nice place, but not my favourite. We stayed in Hotel Marielos, surrounded by a strange surf garden, then we went out for drinks and then to a local club filled with tourists and locals. I think Tamarindo is a good place to party, but it wasn’t what I was looking for in a perfect backpacker destination.
Jaco
Jaco is the place where we chatted with most locals and surfers. We stayed in Hotel Marisol it was a bit grubby and unserious which we like because they are more relaxed, it was out of the centre but only a 10 minute walk across the beach to reach the main areas. The beach is large and filled with tourists, but I never like to relax near the sunbeds, I walk further down the coast to have my own space. We went out with some locals from our hotel and ended up in a bar with only locals, we had a great time. Spontaneous random nights are always the best and we made friends with a group of surfers from San Jose. Jaco was a nice place but we mostly just chilled on the patio beach and cleared our hangovers, I don’t think there is much to do there apart from that.
Puerto Viejo
We got to Puerto Viejo at around 9pm after giving the car back and travelling from San Jose to Puerto Viejo de Talamanca. I expected it to be similar to Belize, true Caribbean island life. It was a beautiful place with a coastline of volcanic sand beaches and things to do. To get around most people ride a bike to get to separate parts of the coast. There is also a jaguar reserve centre, nearby national parks and good beach nightlife. I stayed here for 4 nights and I think it was enough to see the town. The people were friendly but I didn’t feel as safe in comparison with some other places in Costa Rica. It was a great way to end my time in Costa Rica before heading to Colombia!
Budget
My original budget for Costa Rica was to spend on average 40pound a day, 20 for accommodation, 10 on food and 10 for any activities. This was not including the car, but the car cost $25 each per day, so in total, I spent about £50 a day. Yes, it’s expensive here, but I think backpackers’ price ranges scare them away. We got a private room every night and split the costs for everything, the rooms throughout 6 different cities ranged from £15 to £25. A great meal in the evenings was averaging around 10 pounds and the other 10 I would spend on drinks in the evenings or smoothies in the mornings. So spending £40 to £50 a day doesn’t work out to be too bad if you break it down. The petrol for a full tank cost £20. I knew this was the most expensive country I would visit and with a total of 11 days in Costa Rica, I spent around £500 and would rather not think about it. To put this into perspective in other countries my budget for everything is £30, around £800 a month. I was spending almost double this. So, yes Costa Rica is more expensive than most places, but its beauty and nature outweigh the price. Things kept adding up like petrol, staying longer in hostels and random price bumping in restaurants. This is the most expensive country I have been to in this length of the trip, so a week and a half is enough.
To conclude, Costa Rica is a paradise and there’s a reason there are so many tourists. Although I had a great time, it just doesn’t suit a budget backpacker’s demographic. it seemed the backpacker crowd was more teenagers having gap years, the entirety of Central America is beautiful, with Nicaragua just above it and you can spend only £25 a day there. It all depends on budget and perspective, I loved Costa Rica, but am well aware that there are cheaper countries that offer the same things.
Bevs Backpacking📍 
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