Our Costa Rican Itinerary – the perfect kids trip

jaco beach No other trip we’ve ever been on has had people asking for details as much as this one.  It was really a good mixture of fun, relaxing, and adventurous.  Perfect for the whole fam!

We stayed at Casa Cielo Grande – and you can read all about our experience here.  Short version, we loved it (:  You can hire Daniel, part of the CCG, to take you where you’d like to go!

But here’s what we did:

Friday:  We arrived around noon, had lunch, and Daniel from Casa Cielo Grande took us to our casa.  We stopped at the grocery store for items for breakfast, coffee, and wine (:

We mostly just relaxed that day and checked out the casa.  We went to dinner next door at the Buena Vista hotel (which was very good!) and called it a night.

Saturday:  That morning we went to La Paz Waterfall Gardens.  It took us under an hour to get there.  It was my favorite thing we did while in CR.  So many amazing animal encounters, and a ton of waterfalls.  The butterfly atrium was my favorite and unlike anything I have seen!  la paz waterfallstoucans at la paz la paz waterfalls toucan

la paz waterfall gardens

We had a good lunch there and then went home to relax/swim/hangout before dinner.  JB and I went for a drink just the two of us next door at Buena Vista.

restaurant in alajuela with swinset for kids

That night we went to Mirador del Valle for dinner.  Everywhere we ate was family friendly, and even just looking at reviews of more in the area, most seem to have playgrounds.  Why don’t we do this in the states?

Sunday:  We woke up and went to Corso Lecheria to tour the organic dairy farm and strawberry farm.  It probably took about thirty minutes to get there.  It was such a well done tour, and I loved all of their organic practices.  You milk the cows, pet the calves, tour the strawberry farm, go on a hike, and enjoy the beautiful scenery!   We finished by sampling cheese that was made there, having a quick bite, and the boys played on the playground.

Then we headed to Hacienda Alsacia, starbucks coffee farm.  We signed up to do a tour, but quickly realized this wasn’t going to work with kids.  So we just hung out at the gorgeous grounds.  It really does feel like a winery – the coffee fields are so gorgeous!

 

*if we could do it again, I would start out by going to Alsacia for breakfast and coffee, and then go to Corso for the tour and then have lunch there.  The lunch smelled and looked amazing, and wish we would have had more time to enjoy that aspect of the farm.

Once again we finished the day by swimming and relaxing poolside at Casa Cielo Grande, and since we had such a good meal our first night, went back to eat at Buena Vista.

Monday:  We woke up and made the trek to the coast for Jose’s Crocodile Tour.  This wasn’t  my favorite thing because it made me super anxious.  But the boys enjoyed it!  Something to keep in mind, if you go – the tour is two hours long.  First hour is crocodiles and the second is birds… if you’re from florida the bird watching is a bit like staring out your window for an hour (:  But obviously I’ll never see anything like the crocodiles again!

  That afternoon we met up with my father in laws fraternity brother who lives in Jaco.  So we got a little taste of Jaco – which was a cute little surfer town!  Boys loved playing in the waves in the pacific, and hanging out in the hammock or playing in the sand during lunch.  

That evening Rosario, one of the caretakers of Casa Cielo Grande, cooked for us.  It was so delicious!  We ate on the beautiful deck and chatted about what a great trip this had been!

Tuesday:  We departed late morning!  Love how close CCG is to the airport!

 

If you have any specific questions, please ask away!  This was such a fun trip for the WHOLE family!

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