Costa Rica was originally supposed to be my first ever solo trip in December; however, a snowstorm in NYC cancelled that itinerary, and one of my childhood friends decided to join me on my rescheduled trip in January. I had heard that Costa Rica was a great place to visit to have a good mix of relaxation and adventure, and I knew from my Guatemala experience that Latin America is very safe to solo travel and gets lots of young adult travelers. Still, the trip ended up exceeding my expectations, not just because the activities and nature were beautiful, but because we somehow managed to meet 50+ people in a week that we had real stimulating conversations with. There is something really fun about traveling the hostel lifestyle and having that shared experience, and I look forward to doing it again soon. The only things I would have changed about this trip were a couple of the methods of transportation and perhaps some logistical tweaking on scheduling, but regardless, Costa Rica should be high on everyone's travel list.

Day 1: Outbound Flight + San Jose Exploration/Travel Recovery Day

• Uber to JFK for a 9:30 AM departure on Jet Blue to San Jose

• Use the Stray Cat Hostel Airport Shuttle Pickup Service to get to the hostel and put stuff down before leaving to get food at Cafe Rojo after spending 2 hours in an immigration line

• Walk to Barrio Escalante after as it is the nice area with restaurants, bars, and other attractions and pop into Cafeoteca for a coffee (one of the world's best coffee shops) and then Costa Rica Beer Factory

• Check out El Jardin de Lolita, an outdoor food court with lots of options and some games to play as well

• Uber back to the hostel and spend the night talking to other travelers

  • We met a Norwegian guy here that was doing a full Central America trip before heading to India for a wedding and another guy from SF that was backpacking down from Costa Rica to Panama

Day 2: Travel to La Fortuna + La Fortuna Exploration Day

• Get picked up in an Interbus shuttle from Stray Cat to Argdivan Hostel

  • There is one rest stop in the middle to get snacks and water so be mindful of getting hungry and maybe eat at the hostel first in the morning

• Put stuff down at new hostel and go eat lunch at Soda Sabores Lulu

  • Arroz con pollo and casados became the meal we would eat every single day and this was our introduction to them (really good food) as well as bebidas which were fruit juices that were really good as well

• Relax at the hostel for a bit and take a nap (my friend had an interview to do so I read a book for a bit and talked to some people at the hostel before taking a quick nap)

• Uber to Mistico Park which is a nice hanging bridges based park that takes a couple hours to walk through

  • It is pretty steep in some areas and definitely was not a walk in the park but required us to have water and take some breaks

• Uber back to the hostel and eat dinner at Soda Viquez (more casado) and then grab a beer at Lava Lounge

• Head back to the hostel and hang out with new friends

  • We met a trio that had met earlier in another city and happened to have the same itinerary. It included a yacht/scuba instructor from the Caribbean, a recent graduate from the Central Arkansas University, and a recent graduate from Pitt. We ended up drinking with them for hours and had a great time

Day 3: La Fortuna Excursions Day

• Get picked up by the tour group for the full day excursion which we would definitely recommend since it helps you see all La Fortuna has to offer in one guided tour group:

  • Volcano Arenal hikes

    • These hikes were pretty but it was foggy and misty so the views themselves were okay at best

  • Jungle Walk

    • Walking through the rainforest was really cool as the biodiversity is amazing and we saw many animals like sloths, toucans, frogs, bats, etc.

  • Lunch

    • Casado buffet style at a partner restaurant with the tour guide

  • Butterfly Garden

    • There were 100s of butterflies in the garden with all colors and sizes

  • La Fortuna Waterfall

    • The walk to the waterfall was first a downhill hike (which was really steep on the way up) but getting to the waterfall itself was a really treacherous and risky path where we almost fell multiple times

    • Swimming in the waterfall area was amazing though and definitely something outside of our comfort zone

  • Maleku people co-op

    • We went to a village of the native Costa Rican Maleku people and they showed us a lot of their cultural artifacts and taught us some of the language 

  • Hot Springs

    • Thermal hot springs created by the volcano that were set up in a string of 7 pools that you could go through and each one got hotter. We got drinks here as well through the tour guides

• Get dropped off back at the hostel and then head to dinner at Tierra Mia for another round of casados before going to Bar Charlies, which seemed like the only nightclub in Costa Rica

Day 4: Travel to Monteverde + Monteverde Exploration Day

• Take an Interbus shuttle from Argdivan Hostel to Monteverde Backpackers Hostel with the same concept of one stop in the middle

• Put stuff down at Monteverde Backpackers and then go to Cafe Monteverde to have some coffee and then eat at Taco Taco for one of the first non-casado meals of the trip

  • We met a guy from Seattle/Texas that we ended up talking to for about an hour here and killed some time

• We also met two girls from Germany at the hostel who recommended checking out this tree structure about 15 minutes away that was good for a quick activity and was just a cool natural phenomenon

• After coming back from the bridge tree, we took a taxi to Cerro Pincho for a couple hours to sit and watch one of the most magnificent sunsets I have ever witnessed

• Return to the hostel and eat dinner at Tico y Rico (another casado) before heading back to the hostel to relax

  • We ended up meeting many people at our hostel that night and talked to them for a few hours, including a guy from Germany that loved the NFL, a guy from London who was traveling all of Central America, a guy from Saudi Arabia who was traveling for a bit, and a girl from Seattle who was basically a digital nomad

Day 5: Ziplining + NFL

• Get picked up by 100% Aventura to head to the ziplining park

  • The ziplining experience was one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. There are 12 total ziplines, 2 of which are over 1 mile long and there are also 2 that you can do while in a Superman position which really gives you the feeling of flying

  • The coolest thing about the park though is there an option at the end to do a Tarzan swing which is basically just a free fall and it was one of the most adrenaline inducing things I have ever done and now cannot wait to go skydiving at some point

• Return to town and eat lunch at Boca 2 Cafe with another round of casado

• Walk around for a bit, stopping at a coffee shop, before heading back to the hostel to grab our friends who we had agreed to watch football with since it was the AFC/NFC Championship games

• Post up at Bar Amigos for 7 hours, drinking beer and watching both games with all of our new friends and meeting many more people that came in and out while we were there

  • We met a couple from Manchester by the Sea, a friend group from Denver, a hippie/yoga instructor from Santa Barbara, two women from St. Louis, an ex-financier from Indiana, and many more people that we talked to for hours

• Grab ramen and random snacks from the grocery store to eat for dinner before heading to bed

Day 6: Travel to Manuel Antonio + Manuel Antonio Exploration Day

• Take an Interbus shuttle from Monteverde Backpackers to El Plinio Hostel with the same structure as the previous sets of shuttles

• Put stuff down at the hostel and then take the public bus to Quepos to eat lunch at Soda Sanchez for another round of casado before walking around the boardwalk and town for a bit and taking the bus back to the hostel

• Meet three girls at the hostel that were living in our room and go to the beach with them on the bus, swimming in the ocean for a few minutes before eating at a beachside restaurant with them

• Head back to the hostel to chill in the common area with some more new friends before heading to bed

Day 7: Surfing + Final Night

• Get picked up and driven to the Manuel Antonio Surf School where our instructor Marlow, gave us wetsuits and had us practice how to stand on a surfboard first on some wooden planks that were suspended on ropes and then on a board in a pool

• We met three guys from Maine here that were all friends and were staying at this school since they were friends with the owner and talked with them a lot

• Head to a private section of the beach that literally no one else was on to have our surfing lesson

  • We were taken about 50 feet out into the ocean and Marlow would push us from the back and we would attempt to stand up and ride the wave to the shore -- my most successful run was probably 5 seconds of being on the board

• Since we were with the owner's friends, we got to go to the place where they make the surfboards too and check that out before heading back to the hostel

• Head to El Avion, a restaurant made around one of the actual planes used in the Iran Contra Affair, for lunch before heading back to Quepos to spend the rest of the day walking around the town, getting coffee and souvenirs, and relaxing on the beachfront

• Eat dinner at Rest y Civechera and then try a drink local to Costa Rica before heading back to the hostel and packing

Day 8: Shuttle to San Jose Airport and then flight to JFK (lots of delays)