Eight years later, my husband and I are finally going to have our honeymoon! We're thinking about Costa Rica. We've never been, and I'm wondering: is it possible to do BOTH beautiful beaches and hot s
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Cat:Central and South AmericaForum:0EE6C0BA
Cat:Central and South AmericaForum:0EE6C0BADiscussion:706aa7d0-fec1-4d55-aeac-9523c31d1130
Eight years later, my husband and I are finally going to have our honeymoon! We're thinking about Costa Rica. We've never been, and I'm wondering: is it possible to do BOTH beautiful beaches and hot springs in a 5- or 6-day trip?
From my research, it seems you have to pick one or the other. I'd love to find an easy way to spend a few days at a beach resort, followed by a few days at a hot springs spa/resort. Is this possible without too much trouble/hassle traveling in between? Thoughts are much appreciated!
Yes, it is possible. The absolute destination for hot springs in Arenal, if you have 6 days, you can split it between 3 nights at one place and 2 nights at the other, depending on your preferences. You could land at LIR where you´ll have lot of nearby options in terms of beaches and from there transport to Arenal. Beaches in Guanacaste are wide, you could check Flamingo, Tamarindo, Conchal. Another option would be Manuel Antonio-Arenal, landing at SJO, you could go to Arenal first and then head Manuel Antonio, this is a three hour trip from the airport . Hope this helps!
We did 6 days between Arenal, Monteverde, and Playa Conchal in March 2011, and I didn't find the travel to be too bad. 3-4 hours between each destination, but Arenal to the beaches is probably 4-5 hours around the lake, if I had to guess. Arenal to Monteverde is pretty slow-going, but a cool experience if you decide to add Monteverde to your itinerary.
If possible I would recommend flying into or out of Liberia for at least one leg of the trip, many of the Guancaste beaches are relatively close to LIR (2 hours +/-). We did Playa Conchal and stayed at Conchal Hotel in Brasalito, which is a small, typical Costa Rican beach town. We were able to stay the night at the beach and then leave Conchal the next morning for our noon flight.
There is a much larger and pricey resort also right at Playa Conchal, depending on what you are looking for. I recommend researching the different beaches to pick the one that best suits what you are looking for, because I understand the scene varies considerably.
In Arenal, we did a late afternoon hike to view the volcano and then went to the Springs Resort for their hot springs
