Before starting, some highlights:
- La Fortuna Waterfall is amazing and beautifully powerful and a must-see
- The 3 – 3.5 hour drive from La Fortuna to Monteverde has gorgeous views and is a fun drive
- Seeing wildlife will be highly likely at Arenal Volcano National Park (my friend even spotted a Toucan)
- Costa Rica is very clean and it looks like their efforts to protect the environment are taken seriously
Things to be aware of:
- Many of the hikes/parks in parts are privately owned reserves
- Tap water is drinkable
- Most night tours online need to be booked at least the day before
- You can pay for mostly anything with USD
- If you’re using alltrails.com to find trails in Costa Rica, it can be a bit confusing. I tried 3 times to find the highest rated hike in La Fortuna, and failed to locate it each time, ending up somewhere else.
Best advice before you go:
Visit the exact place that provides the best opportunity to see a lot of wildlife and plan accordingly. If you’re backpacking through Central America, ask yourself what about Costa Rica is appealing to you and if you could find the same thing in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, etc for less money.
Okay, now….
As a premise to what I’m going to write, you must know I only spent 1 week in Costa Rica, most of the time in La Fortuna and Monteverde, and 2 days at the beach a couple hours away in the touristic zone.
I’ve never spent less than 3-4 weeks in a country, so this was out of the ordinary for me. As a long term traveler, ‘fast travel’ gives me anxiety, but I did it anyway.
Typically it’s difficult to formulate an opinion about a place without having enough time there to fully evaluate it, but in this case, I truly believe my conclusion is not egregious. That conclusion is Costa Rica is a bit underwhelming and overpriced.
There are 4 major reasons for this:
Let’s get into the compaining!
1. THE FOOD IS NOT GOOD
The food was pretty bad everywhere, and expensive. I tried an assortment of local and international dishes and the best meal I had was just okay. It was baffling how restaurants were charging United States prices for bland or poorly prepared dishes. The other problem was that finding good food at a grocery store was even difficult. I was constantly craving a decent meal. There were barely any street vendors, nice fruterias, just nothing. It wouldn’t have been a problem if the food was cheap and it was easy to find quality stuff to cook. This was not the case, unfortunately.
2. VERY TOURISTIC
There was a underlying resort feeling, which was positive and negative. The tourist infrastructure was well developed, every place had AC and hot(or warm) showers, and the roads were easy to drive (I rented a car with my friend). However, many places felt like little theme parks. I heard much more English than Spanish as if I was in an American territory. It’s was hardly my vibe in that sense. I’m not a “tourist hater” or anything like that, but from my perspective, Costa Rica has adopted the tourist destination identity too much. It was missing the cultural and language difference I enjoy in visiting foreign countries.
3. EXPENSIVE
I will admit that the prices shocked me a bit. Everything is expensive, from the food to the tours. I saw some cool things while I was there, but it all came with a price tag that I found myself comparing to other countries that I had visited, such as Costa Rica’s neighbor, Nicaragua, or even Mexico, Colombia, and southeast Asia. A quick example is surf lessons in Nicaragua being like 40-50% cheaper.
So, is it really worth the premium? You tell me.
As more of a budget traveler, I think other countries in Central and South America give you a better bang for your buck for an overall experience. Maybe I’m jaded because I’ve seen so much, but that fact also allows to judge things a bit more harshly.
4. ONE DIMENSIONAL
Costa Rica, ONLY from what I have seen, is very reliant on nature tourism. I completely get it, though. You sell what works and you sell what you have. Obviously the business plan is working, but for a lot of travelers it will leave them wanting more. IN MY OPINION, the country is for a vacation, or an all-inclusive touring company, travel agency, etc. It’s really not for the solo backpacker, which is what I am. You may be different.
CONCLUSION
I am fully aware that there are several other attractions that I didn’t see and probably should have, but I was strapped for time.
I had a day trip planned in Manuel Antonio National Park and couldn’t make it on my last day. Maybe that would have changed my opinion a bit, or maybe I would have got there and thought it was overhyped. I would have also liked to visit Corcovado National Park as well, but it was too far away.
Let this be a lesson to expect the unexpected when you travel fast. If you only have a week in Costa Rica, plan WISELY. Don’t let my experience stop you from doing anything you’ve planned, but I hope you’ve left with a new point of view.
