Coast Rica & travel times per day

[AZlady]

So I am looking at booking our first AbD.
I contacted AbD about daily travel times.
they stated
Day 1: 15 minutes
Day 2: 6.5 Hours
Day 3: 6.5 hours
Day 4: 1.5 hours
Day 5: 3.5 hours
Day 6: 30 minutes
Day 7: 45 minutes"
I am concerned about day 3 & 4.....due to the 6.5 hours of total travel time. Those who have done it.....(or any AbD) does it seem like too much traveling?

with that said, my hubbies idea of a great vacation is laying on the beach

So I am trying t find a great vacation we can all enjoy. Our kids are 14 & 11.

I do get nauseous w/ too much motion...but don't get sick....just fell crappy .

Any guidance would be great!

 

[tchrrx]

When we've been on our other trips, I don't think we were ever on the road for more than three hours without a break of some type. I think on the Costa Rica trip the drive is broken up by visiting a pineapple plantation one day. I'm not sure about the other day, but I am fairly certain it will have a break time too.

 

[hybridvl]

Good questions i was also curious about some of them. Thanks for asking.

 

[TeamSy]

I'm not sure how helpful my post will be as we haven't done the ABD tour. We have, however, done Costa Rica on our own. We wanted a true relaxing vacation, with a little adventure, and this locale definitely hit the spot! We stayed at the Four Seasons Papagayo, which I highly recommend!

Anyway, I'm thinking your long travel days are your days to Arenal. We stayed nowhere near Arenal, but hired a private tour through the hotel to visit for the day. It was about 3 hours each way and TOTALLY worth it! The Sky Trek there was the BEST ziplining ever, and do not miss the Tabacon hot springs! Walking the volcano is truly terrifying, but amazing.

I don't know where you'll be coming from, but the trip to Arenal, aside from being long, is very twisty. I'm sure you will make a stop along the way, but it's definitely not an easy drive, especially if you hate being on the road for that long. It took us a little longer because we arrived days after a huge earthquake, so pieces of the road were missing! We also frequented a lot of road blocks (mostly cows).

Regardless, Costa Rica is an amazing country! Also, if you have the time the river boat in Palo Verde is just like the Jungle Cruise in Disney World, only with real animals - so awesome and another must do!

Have fun!

 

[Pakey]

I did Costa Rica two years ago. I had initially signed up for AbD but ended up having it cancelled by AbD. I booked my Costa Rica vacation through Costa Rica Expeditions, which had been recommended by someone on another AbD thread.

Anyway, we went on a longer itinerary than AbD's but did go to the same places in addition to some other locations. The travel times are probably pretty accurate. Since ours was a private custom trip through CRE rather than a guided tour, I chose to have charter flights to transport us from each destination to cut down on the bus/boat time. I had initially not had that but after getting estimates on travel time, I made the decision that the charter flights were worth the money.

The majority of roads are two lane types of roads with limited passing opportunities. Some were even gravel roads with very slow travel.

I do question the travel time on day 2 which is a custom charter from San Jose to Tortuguero. We did this too, on a small bush plane that seated 4 and it was not 6.5 hours, even with the transfer to boat on the Tortuguero river to get to the hotel. The flight is under an hour. AbD's website shows that a flight is taken so there's no way it could be 6.5 hours unless the website is wrong and ground transportation is used. If that's the case, then yes it would be a 6.5 hour travel day.

 

[tufbuf]

We did CR last summer and like what the pp said, day 2 does not involve a 6.5 hour drive. The plane ride is less than an hour and once in Tortuguero, you are either on foot or on a boat looking for animals. The day 3 drive involve a 45 minute or 2-hour boat ride to get to the bus to go to Arenal. We went in the rainy season so we did the 45 minute boat ride. The drive from the station to the restaurant for lunch is probably about two hours. After lunch, you stop at the pineapple plantation which is about an hour or so drive and the drive to Arenal is about another hour, hour and a half. It's not that bad. It's slow because of the roads as well as traffic. The drive out of Arenal to the next hotel has a 30 minute winding drive which may affect you if you have motion sickness. Hope that helped.

 

[familygoboston]

Our trip was a while ago, and the itinerary has changed, but it never feels like that much time...there are always stops for tours and diversions, even just potty breaks.

Pakey, I may have been the one that mentioned CRE- we used them for part of our trip before ABD was doing Torteguero. Since then, I've recommended them to friends traveling for their 25 th wedding anniversary, (just the 2 of them so an ABD was not really in the cards for them) and they were treated like royalty! They arranged a private dinner outside at Tortuga lodge for their anniversary; they came home raving! (In a good way)

AZ lady, Hope you enjoy your trip!

 

[Pakey]

Our trip was a while ago, and the itinerary has changed, but it never feels like that much time...there are always stops for tours and diversions, even just potty breaks. Pakey, I may have been the one that mentioned CRE- we used them for part of our trip before ABD was doing Torteguero. Since then, I've recommended them to friends traveling for their 25 th wedding anniversary, (just the 2 of them so an ABD was not really in the cards for them) and they were treated like royalty! They arranged a private dinner outside at Tortuga lodge for their anniversary; they came home raving! (In a good way) AZ lady, Hope you enjoy your trip!

Yes, it was you!! We also did private dining at Tortuga Lodge and again at Hotel Nayara in Arenal (an amazing hotel). CRE was definitely a good recommendation. We actually met the agency owner at Tortuguero and chatted with him for an hour about his passion for the country. I'm so glad you had provided that company info for me.

 

[AZlady]

Thank you all for your guidance!
I'm excited. Now I have to get passports!

 

[familygoboston]

Yes, it was you!! We also did private dining at Tortuga Lodge and again at Hotel Nayara in Arenal (an amazing hotel). CRE was definitely a good recommendation. We actually met the agency owner at Tortuguero and chatted with him for an hour about his passion for the country. I'm so glad you had provided that company info for me.

I thought I remembered that thread!

Yes, Michael is very hands on!! We met him too, as he was flying on our small plane charter to Tortuga Lodge. We had a long talk about ABD...he was very interested as Disney had just started and I think he was assessing the competition! I don't think he has much to worry about, as much as I loved my ABD, CRE offers some very unique customizable itineraries