Hotels in Costa Rica welcome children and encourage parents to bring them . Guanacaste is growing in popularity as a vacation site, but families can still experience the unspoiled beauty of Costa Rica here.
Located in the northwest portion of the country, the province extends in the north to Nicaragua and includes much of the Nicoya Peninsula, referred to as the Gold Coast of Costa Rica on the Pacific Ocean. It also includes parts of Arenal and Monteverde, two popular vacation destination areas. Liberia, the capital of the province, offers a more cowboy and cattle ranch ambiance. There are a variety of national parks, wildlife refuges and biological reserves in the area.
You will find the large, often new, resort-style hotels on the Pacific Coast and generally smaller boutique hotels or bed and breakfasts throughout the rest of the province. Extremely high-end resorts such as the five-star Mangroove Resort & Spa in Playa Panama and one of the most popular family hotels in Playa Hermosa is Villas Sol, a four star, all inclusive beach resort that is a great value. Medium-size hotels such as Tamarindo Diria in Tamarindo offer lots of activities for the entire family including surf classes for 6 years and up. Small boutique hotels like Bosque del Mar in Playa Hermosa, where families can stay on the beach and enjoy time together, offer reasonably priced family rooms. Bill Beard’s also offers 2 & 3 bedroom villas and 2, 3 & 4 bedroom homes
Activities abound for families in Guanacaste. The beach-style resorts feature a wide variety of water activities such as surfing, kayaking, windsurfing and scuba diving. Some hotels offer tennis, golf, hiking, sailing and horseback riding. Most offer a pool and Bill Beard’s offers tours to various national parks, volcanoes, rain forests and Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. Guests can visit a rain forest, a cloud forest or a volcano or watch turtles nesting, as well as enjoy sport fishing. The whole family can watch for spectacular birds, monkeys, crocodiles & scarlet macaws on our wildlife observation river boat tour.
While many tourists enter the country through Juan Santamaria airport (SJO) in the Central Valley, a closer alternative for guests to the Guanacaste area is the Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport in Liberia (LIR). Liberia is the capital of Guanacaste, and this airport may be more convenient for a family traveling. Additionally, Nature Air & Sansa fly domestically to small airports throughout the country, including several in Guanacaste.
The rainy or euphemistically termed green season in Costa Rica is from May until mid-November. The dry season is from mid-November until April. Much of Guanacaste is drier than the rest of Costa Rica; the rainy season is shorter, and it normally rains only part of the day or night.
Hotels charge a premium for the dry season, so bargain hunters will find better prices during the green season. The most expensive time to visit Guanacaste is during the Christmas or Easter holidays, when a peak season premium is charged for hotel rooms.
Guanacaste Province is a sparsely populated, largely rural region that covers the northwestern Pacific coast of Costa Rica. While larger cities such as Liberia in North Guanacaste, Nicoya in south Guanacaste and coastal Samara serve as convenient hubs, it is the unspoiled landscapes of remote beaches and numerous national parks that are the major attractions for visitors of all ages. Among Guanacaste’s many attractions, most are particularly suitable for children, who are sure to delight in spotting monkeys and toucans in the forests, snorkeling in the shallows of a protected cove or taking a boat trip through a wildlife-filled estuary.
Guanacaste’s Pacific coastline offers many beaches, some more suitable than others for family fun. Among the beaches with well-developed tourist facilities, such as kayak rentals, boat trips and on-the-beach horseback riding, are 2.5-mile-long Playas del Coco, Playa Hermosa, Playa Conchal & Playa Flamingo. Children can have fun exploring tide pools that reveal tiny fish and a variety of mollusks. In addition to the beaches of the coast, Guanacaste has some waterfalls with pools suitable for swimming. The Llanos Del Cortes Waterfalls, outside the town of Bagaces, are particularly scenic, with lush vegetation all around and a sandy beach off the natural swimming spot created at the bottom.
Seven national parks are in Guanacaste Province, each with its own family-friendly attractions. Rio Tempisque and Palo Verde National Parks both offer tours to see crocodiles, birds and monkeys. At Santa Rosa National Park, one of the largest in Costa Rica, you may see sea turtles on one of the two beaches, and white-faced monkeys and Congo monkeys in tropical dry forest.
Adventurous kids may like to soar through the forest canopy, riding the combined half mile of zip lines that make up the Congo Trail Canopy Tour near the town of Flamingo & Playas del Coco. Older children of 14 years can go whitewater river rafting and younger ones from 12 may enjoy whitewater river tubing.
Bill Beard’s has been working in Costa Rica since 1970 combining air fare, transportation, accommodations & activities for families & groups. We offer privately escorted tours to all parts of the country from the beach including Arenal Volcano and Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve. Our service doesn’t cost you any more than booking it yourself and in most cases, it’s a lot less. Our goal is to arrange the vacation you wish to have at the lowest possible cost. Read about us on Trip Advisor and see what others have to say.
For a complete list of our tours in Guanacaste: GO HERE
Have you seen our new DVD on scuba diving, fishing & adventure in Costa Rica? If not: GO HERE
See customer comments on Trip Advisor: Go Here
Our agents can set up the itinerary you want throughout the country. Bill Beard’s reservation office is located in La Fortuna, Costa Rica in the shadow of Arenal Volcano, behind the Catholic Church near the world famous hot springs.
CONTACT: Direct: 954-453-5044 FAX: 321-400-1404 Toll free: 877-853-0538
Office Hours: 8-6 CST M-F & Sat 9-5 CST
Bill Beard Costa Rica LOCAL number 2479-7089 from 9-5 PM when you are in Costa Rica.
e mail anytime agent@billbeardcostarica.com
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