Excursion opinons for Costa Rica

cherole · September 9, 2006

Hi all,

I'm trying to sort out excursions for Costa Rica. for an upcoming PC cruise on Celebrity. I'm intrigued by the 8 hour journey to Manuel Antonio National Park.

Any been on that before? Is it worth the 2 hours bus ride *each way*?

Is the hotel lunch good or cheesy?

Can you roam around enough to see interesting stuff? (I.e. I'd love to see wildlife, nice beaches).

Thanks for any opinions!

JoeyandDavid · September 9, 2006

Cheryl I am watching this thread closely myself!

TheSkipper · September 9, 2006

Where are you disembarking in CR?? My experience has been that almost everything is a two hour bus ride.

jbond · September 10, 2006

Are you disembarking on the Caribbean side or the Pacific side?

We have visited the Pacific side three times. As the Skipper said, almost everything is about a two hour drive away, but it's worth it. We did a tour through the rain forest the first time. Second time we did the aerial tram through the rain forest and last time we went out to Sarchi. The countryside is absolutely beautiful. We docked in Puntarenas. Almost nothing there and it's very untidy. Away from the port, everything changes. The people are very friendly and very patriotic. They truly love Costa Rica.

cherole · September 10, 2006

We will be on the pacific side.

Specifically hoping for feedback on Manuel Antonio National Park excursion for Celebrity if anyone has done that.

Gracias!

TheSkipper · September 10, 2006

OK, JBond is right from the Pacific side almost everything is a couple hour ride, so I would recommend you go to the area that sounds best to you and not get hung up on the bus ride.

Hope you find someone who has visited that park and can answer your questions regarding the sights there.

We also went to Sarchi on our last cruise and enjoyed it very much.

Hang in there you may yet get the specific answers you are looking for.

JoeyandDavid · September 10, 2006

Skipper, can you type a few sentences about your impression of Sarchi ?

Shari2 · September 10, 2006

My sister-in-law and I also went to Sarchi. The tour was called a Sarchi shopping tour, but we went mostly to tour the countryside. It was a 1 1/2 hour ride each way. We enjoyed the ride in a nice air-conditioned bus and had a tour guide who was really nice and was trained to answer all questions. He told all about Costa Rica and even walked to the back of the bus to answer people's questions. The shopping was at a store that had home made crafts. They also had t-shirts and shot glasses and things. Sarchi was a pretty small town if I remember right. Everyone was very friendly to us.

My DH and brother-in-law went on the rain forest tour and they loved it. They also toured a butterfly farm on the tour and stopped for a nice lunch. It did rain in the rain forest, by the way. :grin:

Cherole...Welcome to Cruise Crazies...sorry that I don't have any information about the National Park for you.

TheSkipper · September 10, 2006

Joey,

As Shari said Sarchi is a small town famous for hand painted Ox Carts. Sounds wierd, but they are fantastic. You can buy them in all sizes; however, when we finally decided to get a large one to use as a bar the bus was about to leave and we had to pass. Did get a small one which is on our desk in the library. Watching the guys paint them was most interesting. All down free hand not stenciled or traced. Got some great video of the painting process. We also bought some great Costa Rician coffee there. All in all a very pleasant day.