By M.Swint

Many families in the U.S. plan vacations every year, and most find themselves going to warm places such as the sunshine State, the State of Florida. Many visit Disney, Universal and Bush Gardens, the whole state is designed for family vacations. Maybe we should change our thoughts process when it comes to family vacations?

Thinking outside the vacation Box?

If you are looking for something different for your family, or giving your family a cultural experience, consider going to Costa Rica.  My family and I had the privilege of going to this beautiful country twice for family vacations. In 2010 and also in 2015. Note the photos displayed are combined for both years.

Why Costa Rica? Why not, first of all the people are very friendly and welcoming, also the local food is very good and the country is generally safe, each time we were there nothing threatened our safety as we drove across the country side, however there has been incidents in Costa Rica just like all other Central American countries, so be cautious.

Don’t believe the negative hype about Costa Rica.

• U.S. Citizens should always register with the State Department when going to a foreign country. ( STEP) https://travel.state.gov/

Adventures 
Now let’s touch on the Adventures of Costa Rica. In the picture at the beginning of this article, my son and I are whitewater rafting, my wife and daughter came along as well, this is an activity for the whole family ages 10 and up. We booked through the touring company http://www.sibutourscostarica.com/ very reasonable rates.$$

If you have a rental car you can get the most out of your Costa Rican Vacation. When we arrived in Costa Rica the rental car company picked us up from the airport at night, so we got our vehicle at night in a foreign country looking for our hotel (the recommendation is try to arrive in Costa Rica during daylight), we finally found our hotel in San Jose Cariari: The Hilton Doubletree Cariari Beautiful hotel.

The Hilton Doubletree in San Jose Cariari

Staying in San Jose near the airport, we got into our rental car and drove up the Volcano Po`as though it was too foggy to see the volcano when we finally got up there, we saw a lot of interesting sites along the way.  Following a bus from the volcano, we went to a beautiful waterfall the Costa Rican’s call     La Paz Waterfall. My daughter erased all my pictures that I captured, I was pretty upset at the time, but I figured I will go back their someday.

Po`as volcano crater & La Paz Waterfalls

Another adventure my family and I enjoyed was zip-lining which happens to be in the rain forest, however if you are in the rain forest guess what, it will rain 😬 so it started  storming 🌩 and the joy went away from my children, ok , me too, but I can truly say it was an adventurous excursion.

Family Zip-lining

Costa Rica has it all. Hiking near waterfalls and horseback riding.

Hiking Miravalles Volcano

Will you try a Costa Rican Mud Bath? My wife wouldn’t. Lol

Natural Hot Spring and Mud Bath

I’m a firm believer  that children need exposure to other cultures, I think it helps in there development, so why not start with a friendly country like Costa Rica. Staying  on the Pacific side of the country, in the Puntarenas area on my first visit, as well as the Guanacaste area our second visit, a rental car is your best choice, of course you have to rent a navigational unit, try this company Ace rental car https://www.acerentacar.com/ located in San Jose  (SJO) near the airport .

Where to stay?

Our first visit to Costa Rica we drove from the airport in San Jose to Puntarenas. We stayed at the Hilton Doubletree http://doubletree3.hilton.com.  All Inclusive $$$

The Hilton Doubletree is an Excellent 4 star hotel, All Inclusive. The Costa Rican style food was Excellent. The service was great and the entertainment is outstanding. Pools are very nice and the beach is somewhat rocky with dark brown sand, but it’s still nice. The grounds are well kept and they have a kids club, which is always a plus.

Hilton Doubletree Puntarenas

The Resort we chose for our second visit in 2015: The Riu Guanacaste, All Includive beautiful Resort off of the Pacific Ocean, breathe taking landscape. If you have ever stayed at a Riu Resort, it’s noted that their resorts can be somewhat repetitive, with food and entertainment, but overall it was a great resort for families and couples an so forth.

http://m.riu.com

Riu Guanacaste

Excursions on the second trip to Costa Rica in 2015:

• In-expensive, taking a ride over to Cortez Waterfalls, nice self-adventure.
• In-expensive, Taking your rental to the city of Guanacaste.

Another Excursion that was noteworthy: ATV Tour

The Cost?

Costa Rica? Will I go back? Most certainly,  this is not an expensive trip for families, trust me I’m a deal finder, and I won’t book unless it’s a deal ☺️ The going rates on airfare is about $350 to $400 per person round trip, the resorts are somewhat reasonable, but you have to keep on the watch for deals. A website that I use very often use for a gage on rates and so forth is skyscanner, I rarely book a package deal. https://www.skyscanner.com

If you decide to take the trip to Central America / Costa Rica, you will not be disappointed!  I plan to go back to Costa Rica in the near future, I am yet to visit the Caribbean side near Limon, I urge you to try something new, it could be a trip of a lifetime!

Please give me your feed back, suggestions and Ideas. Than You!

M.Swint/ http://www.swinttravelblog.com

Meet The Author 

Welcome to Swint Travel Blog! My name is Mark A Swint and I enjoy Traveling or you can say that I have the travel bug. The purpose of this website is to share travel ideas and travel tips that will invite inexperienced travelers as well as those who are well traveled get away and try something new. My family and I have traveled to many places around the United States as well as the Caribbean, Central America, and Europe. My goal is to get viewers and bloggers excited about going to see places you have never been. (Switching Careers) Living in beautiful Michigan all my life, I currently work in the Auto Industry, however it is my goal to switch to the hospitality/travel industry in the near future. There are so many places on my bucket list for travel, please feel free to share your travel experience with me so that we can have an exchange of ideas.

Thank you for visiting my website and I hope that the pictures and the travel tips get you motivated to try some place new!

Happy Travels!

M.Swint