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Any suggestions on where to stay for approx 8 days?
Would love a plcae that has a/c AND internet access!
Chip
Hey Chip
I found a little beach town that was teriffic… Cauhita.
There is a new Wi-FI network now setup by one of the businesses in Cauhita.
It is right next to Cauhita National Park and doesn’t have the flavor of Limon. Limon is a place I don’t care to visit again.
This would make a great base town. There are many places to stay with rooms and A.C. We stay ed one that was on the beach and adjacent to the NP. Each room had air conditioning and was very comfortable. Cauhita is a small walk around town with many amenities to explore. You won’t go wrong in this town.
Now the killer. I can’t remember the smal hotel that we stayed in, but i had a sloth hanging from the tree, outside my room. Real cool. The hotel has a website, but I can’t find the link. We had arrived in town and had no problem finding a room. It is definately a sleepy town.
Google Cauhita and you will be able to find several great places to relax.
Let us know how you like Cauhita, if you stay there.
Bill MAes
Edited on Jul 02, 2006 06:57
I stayed here on my last visit and thought it was great. Right on the beach with a Cococnut Grove for your yard.
http://www.villasdelcaribe.com/Now why do you need a/c?? It always cools off as soon as the sun goes down and many people ask for blankets. This coast maintains a pretty constant temperature and never gets over 93 degrees in the heat of the day and gets down into the 70’s at night. With a fan, everyone is cool and comfortable. In the shade, it is always fine.
Also, will you have a car? If not, you will want to stay closer to a town center, Cahuita or Puerto Viejo. If you will have a vehicle, which can be a pain, you can stay further out.
Good luck!
http://www.cashewhilllodge.co.crMy husband, 4 year old and I will be going to the carribean coast (6th trip to CR, first to the carribean side) and are planning to drive there. We should have our rental car by 2:30 at the latest and were wondering if we could make to the Carribean side by dark, hopefully south of Limon? We want to make it to Puerta Viejo. Any thoughts or advice? Or if needed, is there any cool place to stay on the way that would be worth the overnight. Frequent flier miles are dictating the length of our stay to 9 days and we plan to spend 4 on the Carribean and 4 by Jaco to attend to some business. By the way, we always get AC and a pool when we are in CR because we have had many a sleepless night tossing and turning in wet sheets because of the heat. Of course that was on the Pacific side in April. HOT, HOT, HOT! We are from WI and I guess we get hot easily. By the end of our trips we get acclimated to the heat and end up missing it. Any advice on fun things to do and places to stay. we are looking for a kind of funky town with a Carribean pulse that is safe to walk around at night with restaurants etc. and places my son could have fun .
I was going to say Punta Uva – more quiet for you and your 4 year old, until you said “funky town with a Caribbean pulse”. Cahuita and Puerto Viejo fit that bill perfectly. Puerto Viejo attracts the younger party crowd more than Cahuita, and they’re both closer than Punta Uva. Leaving Alajuela, or San Jose, at 2:30 pm is too late to make it there by dark, although you should hit the coast by then. If you have reservations, driving along the coast in the dark isn’t too bad. The highway from San Jose to Guápiles can be treacherous at night, and I wouldn’t recommend it. Add a little fog (a nightly occurrence there), and you can barely see the yellow line between the road and the precipice.
Both towns have hotels with pools & that all-important a/c for us Wisconsinites. I honeymooned in Guanacaste in April 20 years ago and hugged the a/c more than my wife!
I was wondering too about Puerto Limon and the crime scene there. Is is easy to get lost navigating around it in the dark? (we had that trouble around Alejuela and San Jose in daylight!) Or is it more like the pacific side where there is really only one major road when you get to the coast? We have our eyes on a few larger “resorts” by Puerto Viejo so finding them should not be a problem. I know we got lost over by Montezuma once in the dark looking for some obscure rental and it was not fun! Ok, not really lost but totally misjudged the amount of time it takes to take the ferry over there and then drive. But, then this all becomes part of the adventure and keeps the trip interesting. The reason I say this is, getting lost does not bother me but driving in the dark, lost, in areas that have high crime with a 4 year old makes me pause and remind myself how hard I try not to be a stupid Gringo. So all in all do you recommend trying to drive from San Jose Airport to Puerto Viejo? When is sunset and how long should we expect the drive to be? It just kills me to waste a day in San Jose when we could be out exploring new places that are more our style.
There’s pretty much only one road, and anyone will be happy to tell you how to get there along the way, including in Limón. Giving directions is one of their national pastimes. While I don’t generally recommend traveling anywhere in CR at night unless you know the road well (as you know, it’s enough of a challenge driving in CR during the day), sounds like you’ve already done it and survived.
5-6 hours would probably get you there from San José, 6-7 if you’re a slower driver. Leave yourself another 1-2 hours to rent the car and get out of San Jose, more if you’re coming from Alajuela (Airport). Make sure you take the “Pista de Guápiles”, as going through Cartago would be a much longer drive.
The sun sets around 6:00 p.m. in the winter, and 6:10 p.m. in the summer. It’s only 10 degrees North of the equator, but that didn’t stop them from instituting daylight savings time for a short while many years ago…don’t ask me why.
Make sure when you go that you are able to visit one of the Friday or Saturday markets. The food in Limon is different then in other parts of Costa Rica.
In fact the culture is very interesting. Most of us go place looking for fun and that is good but remembering some things about the people and the culture is even better.
If you meet someone from that area who can share information with you about the people and the culture. In the Province of Limon there is a greater cross sections of culture then in any other area in Costa Rica.
You see the Chinese, African, Spanish, Indian, and many other cultures that have been a great influence.
Have a good trip, in August the have a Festivity that celebrates their African Heritage. The parade is very interesting because you see faces of many colors.
Cool! we will be there over the weekend! I love open markets. maybe we will change our mind on our investment and go for the east side! any other advice would be appreciated. i find this kind of input better than anything in the guide books!
Koty
There is a nice little Saturday morning market in Puerto Viejo, if you do travel down that far. My favorite was the sweet organic chocolate, also homemade breads and cakes, yogurt, you name it. Get there early though, as the best stuff is gone by 9:30 am. Its’ right off the main road, to your left as you travel through town (going south).
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