Costa Rica is fast becoming the Vacation Hot Spot! It is such a beautiful place and there are so many things to see and do in this tropical paradise. Mother nature provides you with fascinating volcanoes, mountains and rainforests, as well as beautiful beaches. As I was reading through my Fall Endless Vacation Magazine, I ran across a few interesting tidbits that you may want to check out when exploring the beauty of Cost Rica….

Best Small Town:

“All of two corners, with a school, soccer field and general store, Islita might have its profusion of candy-colored outdoor mosaics and murals. The town’s generous benefactor is the Hotel Punta Islita, set a bluff over the town and occupying much of the beachfront with its restaurant, pool and nine-hole golf course (www.hotelpuntaislita.com). The luxury resort financed Casa Museo – a contemporary art gallery that displays solo shows by Costa Rican artists, and also houses a workshop where a women’s collective produces some of the best Naive School art in the country. Visiting artists teach classes to members of the collective – women who wouldn’t otherwise be economic players in such a remote part of the country. All this makes Casa Museo the kind of feel-good, world-saving partnership that Costa Rica does so well.”

Best Beach Bar:

“You have to look hard to find this stylish bar on Playa Avellanas, a half-mile-long fingernail of sand six miles south of Tamarindo. You’ll sit under blue canvas umbrellas in low lounge chairs while waves thunder nearby. Palms and mangroves offer shade, and a tree stump is your cocktail table. Menu ingredients are all organic and local; food waste is composted; and the fryer oil is recycled into biodiesel fuel. That should ease the guilt of tucking into Lola’s beloved home-cut fries. And while you’ll find tart, fresh ceviche throughout Guanacaste, the pitch-perfect vibe here makes Lola’s the best.”

Best Beach Scene:

Hundreds of thousands of female Olive Ridley sea turtles ome to Guanacaste’s beaches to lay eggs. Every year, the females flock to the same dunes for three or four nights in a row. The season runs from July through December, peaking in August through October. The repeated event is called the arribada – arrival by sea – and can be experienced on guided nightwalks($7) at three beaches – Camaronal, Ostional and Grande. When the hatchlings are born (from October to February), visitors can volunteer to protect them during their crawl to the ocean. (www.pretoma.org; www.earthwatch.org)

Best Surf Town:

“Long before sun worshippers arrived, surfers claimed the crescent-shaped beaches of Guanacaste as their own. Open Pacific rollers break here year-round, to the left and the right, large and small, for beginners and addicts alike. Nosara is the Brigadoon of surf towns. Just off Highway 160 and set between three great surf breaks, it remains sleepy and sweet, almost untouched by the tourism boom. After a morning yoga class at Harmony, the eco-lodge on Playa Guiones, get your Zen on at the hotel juice bar, then try grinding the waves in body-temperature waters over sand-bottom shallows. At the Nosara Tico Surf School, a patient, procedure-oriented (and hunky) instructor will give you an individual lesson at $60 for 1.5 hours – less than you’d pay for a group class at most schools in Hawaii. It could be the greatest bargain boarding in the Eastern Pacific. (www.nosara-surf-school.com)”

Best Sunset Meal:

“When Playa Flamingo claims the title “The Next Riviera” – as it surely will – then chef Jean Luc Taulere will be the one to blame and to thank. The airy, swank Mar y Sol dining room pairs extravagant sunsets with fine dining. Taulere is an eighth-generation French restaurateur with an American culinary school pedigree. His farm-to-table vision might not seem so revolutionary in North America, but it’s entirely new under the Guanacaste sun. He brings an enthusiastic tropical palate to the conversation; his Coco del Mar is a riff on traditional bouillabaisse, accented with ginger and lime and served in a coconut bowl. For dessert, order the crepes – they’ll be flambéed at your table with papaya, mango or passionfruit.”

I hope you found this information useful for when you are planning your trip to the beautiful Costa Rica!!

Yours……in creating Experiences, not just Events!

Brigit Axton