Travel Guide: Jaco, Costa Rica for 6 days

3 WORDS TO DESCRIBE COSTA RICA: PURA VIDA, RAINFOREST, PACIFIC OCEAN

ESTIMATED COSTS: $1,500

ITINERARY:

  • Jaco - 6 days

WHERE TO STAY:

  • Near Jaco Beach - long strip of restaurants and bars

    • We stayed at the Los Suenos Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort (Marriott points come in handy)

    • Initially we planned our trip in San Jose, but it was too hard to figure out transportation to all the activities we wanted to do

    • Next time we visit I would like to spend a few nights in Arenal (Arenal Volcano), Monteverde (best ziplining / rainforests) and near the Atlantic Ocean (heard that’s where all of my black brothers and sisters live)

WHAT TO VISIT:

  • Nauyaca Waterfall

    • 3 Options to get to the waterfall

      • Hike - free99 (it’s too far, please pay for one of the options below)

      • Pick up truck - $25/32

      • Horseback riding - $80

  • Manuel Antonio National Park

  • Ziplining - Rainforest Adventures Jaco

BEACHES:

  • Manuel Antonio Beach - White Sand Beach (ranked top 15 beach in the world)

  • Jaco Beach

WHERE TO EAT:

  • El Hicaco Restaurant - nice seafood restaurant on the beach

  • Rioasis - awesome seafood pizza

  • Graffiti Restro Cafe & Wine Bar

  • Soda Jaco Rustico

  • Emilio’s Cafe (Manuel Antonio)

WHERE TO PARTY:

  • Orange Pub

  • Jaco Blu Beach Club

  • Black Marlin Beach Club

  • Off the Hook Hookah

OTHER TIPS/TRICKS:

  • Hotels

    • Request to get your room cleaned daily

    • Masks required while walking through the hotel

  • Transportation

    • We used a driver for our entire trip and he helped us out so much with coordinating activities and being our personal tour guide. I would 100% recommend Marco Bernardo, marcotnt.com/mbernardo873@gmail.com, he’s native to Jaco, on time, respectable and his English is excellent! Communication while in the country will be through WhatsApp

      • Estimated Costs

        • To/from airport - $200

        • To/from Nauyaca Waterfall - $220

        • To/from Manuel Antonio - $160

    • Transportation to/from airport (per way price)

      • Bus - 4hrs - $7

      • Taxi - 1.5hrs - $100-130

      • Hotel - $130

    • Uber - Curfew is 10PM, if you are out past 10PM you cannot catch an uber and will need to catch a taxi (locals can help you if needed)

  • COVID

    • Travel insurance is required

    • Fill out a HealthPass form, available 48 hours before boarding

    • Not required to get a COVID PCR test to get into the country

    • You are required to get a COVID PCR test to return to the US

    • Money Exchange: $1 = 500-600 colones

      • Bring US dollar and exchange for local currency at a local bank

      • Avoid the airport, they have the worst exchange rates

      • Some banks have a cash limit per day of $100/200

      • Bring a debit card if you need more cash

      • Only bring denominations of $20 or less, bigger bills are not widely accepted

      • US dollar and cards are widely accepted, we never exchanged our cash for colones

    • Gratuity

      • Tipping is less common in Costa Rica, but the people do make lower wages so it’s nice to tip

        • Restaurants - 10% gratuity is always included on the bill or menu prices

        • Servers usually don’t bring the bill unless you ask for it because they think it’s rude to kick you out

Mariah Scott