International Archives – Parents with Passports

Costa Rica Travel Tips

July 2nd, 2023admin0 Comments

Costa Rica is a great place for a family vacation. You can be super active and do tours like zip lining and whitewater rafting, or you can relax and do easy hikes and soak in hot springs. With beaches and rain forests easily accessible around the country, there is something for everyone in Costa Rica. Don’t be afraid of the green season. The rainy (or “green”) season in Costa Rica is roughly from the beginning of May to the end of November. Most people instinctually want to go in the dry season (who doesn’t want sun in the forecast each …

Costa Rica Traveling Tours by Amanda Review

July 1st, 2023admin0 Comments

Traveling with a group of 16 can be overwhelming so I knew there would be a lot of benefit to working with a travel agent on this trip. I found Amanda through a FaceBook group and TripAdvisor, and she booked all of our tours and transfers. (We booked our own hotels because I thought it would be easier for each family to individually handle their reservations and figure out what kind of room they wanted, what they were willing to spend, etc.). I first reached out to Amanda to book a trip for spring 2022. But with covid restrictions still …

Tulemar Resort Review

July 1st, 2023admin0 Comments

Much of this trip to Costa Rica was a repeat for me and my husband, but part of the reason I really wanted to go back to Manuel Antonio was so that we could stay at Tulemar Resort. On our first trip our splurge hotel was Nayara Gardens in Arenal, and this time our splurge was Tulemar. Although Tulemar is an award winning luxury resort, I was most attracted to it because of its reputation for abundant wildlife on the property. I had seen so many pictures and videos of sloths hanging from the trees, monkeys playing on the balconies, …

Manuel Antonio Nature Tours Review

June 30th, 2023admin0 Comments

Our private guide for our group in Manuel Antonio was Edwin, the owner of Manuel Antonio Nature Tours. (See my full trip report here.) We met Edwin at the entrance to the park where he guided us through the security screening (no food is allowed to be brought into the park) and showed us the route we were going to take for our hike. Unfortunately for us, the main trail was closed the day we were there so we had to walk along a parallel road (the yellow line on the map below). Despite the slightly less scenic route we …

Manuel Antonio National Park

June 30th, 2023admin0 Comments

One of the highlights of my first trip to Costa Rica was our tour of Manuel Antonio National Park. The abundant wildlife and beautiful beach made the park a great place to spend a half a day. I was excited for our kids to get to experience it too. We had a private tour guide for our group of 16. Our travel agent arranged for a driver to pick us up at the hotel and we met our guide at the entrance to the national park. The main trail in the park leads to the beach, and the first section …

Rancho Típico Don Juan Review

June 29th, 2023admin0 Comments

My younger son and I had a fantastic day with Randall at Rancho Típico Don Juan. (See my full trip report here.) We were lucky enough to be the only people who were booked that day so we had a private tour. From beginning to end, Randall did a fabulous job hosting us on his ranch. This was so much more than a horseback riding tour. It was equal parts history lesson, nature exploration, and horseback riding adventure. The horses were obviously an integral part of the experience, but they were also largely a means of covering the most ground …

Manuel Antonio Horseback Riding

June 29th, 2023admin0 Comments

Although our group of 4 families did most of our activities together, we had one day in Manuel Antonio where we all split up and booked our own tours. While most did some sort of water-based activity (fishing, snorkeling, boat ride), my younger son and I went horseback riding. I narrowed down the choices to a ride through the jungle and a ride on a ranch. My son originally jumped at the jungle ride but once he looked at the pictures of the ranch, he quickly changed his mind. I booked the tour for the two of us and we …

Los Lagos Hotel Review

June 28th, 2023admin0 Comments

We split our time in Costa Rica between Arenal and Manuel Antonio. I knew that we wanted to stay at Tulemar Resort in Manuel Antonio. Since that was going to be our splurge hotel, we were looking for something a little more economical for the Arenal part of our stay. Several members of our group were also interested in hot springs. Since we didn’t necessarily want to spend the money or time for a day pass to one of the fancy hot springs, we decided to look for a resort that had its own hot springs. So with those two …

North Fields Coffee and Chocolate Tour Review

June 27th, 2023admin0 Comments

North Fields is a small family farm that grows both cacao trees and coffee plants. They offer a “farm to cup” tour, where you learn about everything from planting to harvesting to processing both cacao and coffee beans. After several days of more adventurous tours, this was a really nice change of pace. We meandered through the plantation, stopping at different stations to learn about the complex processes involved in making chocolate and coffee. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable and well-spoken. The tour was a great opportunity to learn about – and taste! – two of Costa Rica’s most important …

Coffee and Chocolate Tour

June 27th, 2023admin0 Comments

Our third day in Arenal was the only one where we had two different tours in the same day. In the morning, most of the group zip lined (a few opted out and relaxed at the hotel) and in the afternoon we all went on a coffee and chocolate tour. This tour was really more for the adults, although we hoped the chocolate part would be enough to keep the kids interested. We were picked up at the hotel and taken to North Fields Coffee, a small family-owned coffee plantation. Our group of 16 was in one tour group and …