Visiting Playa Del Coco, Costa Rica

Airport: Liberia (LIR) “Daniel Oduber Quiros International Airport”
Length of stay: 3 nights
Round trip flight price: (at the time of booking) From Los Angeles CA $292; From New York City $185

Getting There
If you are a U.S citizen a valid passport is required and it must be valid for the length of your stay in Costa Rica. U.S citizens do not need a visa to enter the country. For a full list of entry requirements click HERE. Once you arrive in Costa Rica you should have transportation setup to your hotel or vacation rental. Our Airbnb host picked us up, ask if yours will too. If you will be staying in a hotel and are new to Viator book transportation through them and get $10 off click HERE. You can also take the airport shuttle to your hotel or vacation rental, for more information regarding the shuttle click HERE. If you are taking taxi cabs at the airport, make sure you set the price ahead of time and that you know they are typically more expensive than setting up arrangements ahead of time.

Lets Talk Money

As we have recommended numerous of times with multiple destinations, do NOT exchange your money at the airport. You will always get paid less. Costa Rica uses colones as their form of currency and your American dollars can go a long way! Help yourself keep track of the conversion rates by downloading apps like XE Currency before traveling. Exchange your money through your bank (Bank of America offers this service to its members if you do it ahead of time) or at a local bank in Costa Rica. You can also get local currency by withdrawing money from an ATM in Costa Rica. Try to get the best rate possible by knowing what the current exchange rate is at. Majority of places in Costa Rica will accept U.S dollars but we found that we got better pricing by having the local currency.

Where To Stay

Liberia has multiple beach areas to choose from. For our trip, we chose to stay in Playa Del Coco (Coco Beach), which is small beach town in Guanaste. Our goal was to really get to see Costa Rica from a local standpoint and to also be in an area with nightlife options. We were very happy with our decision as we got a great local feel for the town the whole time we were there. Our Airbnb apartment was just a 5 minute walk from the beach. It did not offer much luxury but it did give us a low-cost option and a pool. If you are new to Airbnb get $20-$25 off your first rental HERE.

To get around in this area you can either take a $2 cab to the strip with the local bars and restaurants, you can rent a golf car from a local company, or if you intend on driving around Guanaste you can rent a car.

The beach in this area is a black sand beach and the water isn’t as light as in other areas due to the volcanic activity nearby.

Playa Ocotal is also a light 20-30 minute walk or you can take a $5 cab ride to it.

Below is a map of the other areas you can select to stay in:

Where To Eat
There are some options to select from in Playa Del Coco, they are mainly located in the strip where all the bars and restaurants are located. Around the area we came across small local restaurants often identified by the name of “jardin”. What we found to be the best in Playa Del Coco was the fresh Ceviche and fresh fish found in little huts. Other than that, we weren’t really blown away from the food options. Perhaps we didn’t have enough time to explore it all, we will go back soon and let you know. Note: any of the restaurants in the main strip will call cabs to take you back to your vacation home rental or hotel, just ask.

Casa Del Mar

Lizard Lounge

Jardin Tropical

What To Do
There are many options to select from at Playa Del Coco. Before we go into the different activities you can select from make sure that you arrange to visit Playa Conchal, the sand here is composed of millions of tiny crushed shells and the clear waters are a beautiful hue of blue.

Photo From: Creative Lunatics

Below we will go over just some of the activity options you have.

We went on a Catamaran cruise to Playa Jicaro to snorkel and loved it! The catamaran included food and unlimited alcoholic drinks. Price: $85 per person.

Visit Arenal Volcano. Walk through the Tropical Rainforest and relax in some of the best hot springs in the country. Includes lunch and dinner. Price: $175 per person

Picture by: arenalonline

Monteverde: walk in the infamous hanging bridges. You can also select to do 1 of the following options: Note: lunch is included. Price: $175 per person
-See the hummingbirds, reptiles and butterfly garden
-Zipline through the country
-Take a “real coffee experience” tour.

Take the Blue River hike. Hike 3 hours through the exuberant Costa Rican Rainforest. Experience beautiful sky-blue waters from the river. Visit a botanical garden to see a variety of botanical frogs and possibly you can spot some sloths. Price: $135 per person.

Palo Verde wildlife tour. 2 hours of River Safari. Wildlife sightseeing: monkeys, birds, crocodiles, iguanas and more. Pottery and coffee presentation. Lunch cooked on a wood stove. Price: $105 per person

Adventure Combo Tour: white water tubing, zip-lining canopy tour, rock climbing, rappelling, horseback riding, hot-springs, horseback riding and volcanic mud-bath. Lunch included. Price: $145 per person.

Nicaragua Tour: visit Granada colonial city, visit a group of islets by boat in the largest lake in Central America, visit the majestic active crater of Masaya Volcano and one of the largest arts and crafts market in Central America. Price per person: $165 per person

Where will you be staying on your next visit to Costa Rica? What places will you be visiting us? Have you gone? What were some of your favorites?