Costa Rica Honeymoon

Rob: The night of our wedding and reception, we took a red-eye flight from Phoenix to San Jose Costa Rica. Upon arrival, we rented a car and traveled to the Monteverde region. There, we stayed for two nights at the Hotel Belmar, a luxury hotel situated on a mountainside in a cloud forest. It so happened that my brother Bill and his family were on a 3-week vacation in Costa Rica at the same time, so we were able to go ziplining and have dinner with them while we were in Monteverde. We also hiked to a waterfall, visited a bat museum, and did a night forest tour where we saw snakes, frogs, sloths and very large stick insects.

Next, we traveled to the Las Catalinas region, which is on the western coast and known for its beaches. We opted to search for a small hotel near a beach when we got there so we could play it by ear. We arrived after dark and struggled to find a hotel with vacancy, but eventually stumbled upon Qunita Essentia, a cute little beachhouse-style bed and breakfast with a hippie vibe. It turned out to be a fun place to stay for the next three nights. During that time, we visited some of the beaches nearby, including Playa Danta and Playa Flamingo. We also did some kayaking, snorkeling and paddleboarding. While paddleboarding, we were graced with a whale sighting, as a mother and baby humpback whale passed right by us. Our efforts to follow them around the bay extended our time in the sun and resulted in some unfortunate sunburn.

The last leg our trip was down south to the tip of the peninsula, where we stayed at the Lattitude 10 resort for the next two nights. This resort had luxury hut-style accommodations with open windows surrounded by beach and jungle, where crabs came and went along the floors as they pleased. There, we mostly relaxed and enjoyed the beach. We also went on a horseback ride around the area and enjoyed fish tacos and smoothies by the pool.

At the end of our trip, we took a ferry from the peninsula to the mainland and stayed one last night at an AirBnB-type house near the airport before flying back to Phoenix. 

For more photos of our adventures in Costa Rica, see here.