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Anyone ever been all the way down to the border with Panama in CR?   Hilton has a pretty sweet looking property in Puerto Jimenez and I am racking up a shit ton of Hilton points I could use.  Looks like a drive I don't really want to do.  I can fly Sansa down from SJO.   Is it worth is to go that far down?  I was just in Boca Chica Panama and I do like that it feels really off the beaten path.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g309284-d23584149-Reviews-Botanika_Osa_Peninsula_Curio_Collection_by_Hilton-Puerto_Jimenez_Osa_Peninsula_Provin.html#/media/23584149/679061415:p/?albumid=101&type=0&category=101

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On 4/18/2023 at 2:03 PM, midtown said:

Anyone ever been all the way down to the border with Panama in CR?   Hilton has a pretty sweet looking property in Puerto Jimenez and I am racking up a shit ton of Hilton points I could use.  Looks like a drive I don't really want to do.  I can fly Sansa down from SJO.   Is it worth is to go that far down?  I was just in Boca Chica Panama and I do like that it feels really off the beaten path.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g309284-d23584149-Reviews-Botanika_Osa_Peninsula_Curio_Collection_by_Hilton-Puerto_Jimenez_Osa_Peninsula_Provin.html#/media/23584149/679061415:p/?albumid=101&type=0&category=101

There is pretty much nothing in Puerto Jimenez itself but it has access to good fishing out of there or Golfito. Also some world class surfing nearby. The draw down there is Corcovado National Park which is absolutely amazing.

Ive spent a ton of time in Golfito but I’ve only flown through Puerto Jimenez. The flight from SJO stops there before flying across the Golfo Dulce on the way to Golfito. It’s a 3 minute flight.

Edited by justhookit
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14 minutes ago, justhookit said:

There is pretty much nothing in Puerto Jimenez itself but it has access to good fishing out of there or Golfito. Also some world class surfing nearby. The draw down there is Corcovado National Park which is absolutely amazing.

Sounds damn good to me.  Maybe Ill spend a few days down there and then jump up to MA for a few days.

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Anyone ever been all the way down to the border with Panama in CR?   Hilton has a pretty sweet looking property in Puerto Jimenez and I am racking up a shit ton of Hilton points I could use.  Looks like a drive I don't really want to do.  I can fly Sansa down from SJO.   Is it worth is to go that far down?  I was just in Boca Chica Panama and I do like that it feels really off the beaten path.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g309284-d23584149-Reviews-Botanika_Osa_Peninsula_Curio_Collection_by_Hilton-Puerto_Jimenez_Osa_Peninsula_Provin.html#/media/23584149/679061415:p/?albumid=101&type=0&category=101
Its my favorite areas in Costa Rica and I've been all over the Pacific Side. It's very much off the beaten path. Not much in Puerto Jimenez, but there is enough. Further down the road there is very little tourism (yoga retreats, a few restaurants and bars) but some awesome beaches. Playa Tamales, Playa Sombrero is one of my favorites and there is no sign. Matapalo is a gorgeous beach and great break. Many great beaches beyond that it gets even less crowded then completely off grid. I would explore that area. Decent internet service up to Matapalo.

Pavones across the Gulf is even more remote, bring cash as there is no ATM in town. It's more of a surf town and can be completely empty or packed to the gills with surfers depending on the infrequent swell. Unless you are trying to surf the second longest left in the world, I would explore the other side of the Golfo first.

You don't need 4wd up to Matapalo, I'm unsure beyond that. The road is much better than 6 years ago. You do need a car. It's easily 7hours by car from SJO so try and get flights to PJ. They were completely book last trip so we had to drive. It took forever to get to Pavones and the road sucks after Golfito.

Get a boat for a day and explore The Gulf. It's a freaking gorgeous Fjord. You can snorkel, and catch some small tuna and deceny snapper in calm seas.

Went to mass in PJ and all the locals ride thier horses and leave then tied up outside. It's quite the sight, all these Ticos in full western wear and cowboy hats speaking Latin
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  • 2 months later...

Firming up our plans for CR.  Arriving 8/2 to Liberia.  We're staying three days at Rio Celeste Hideaway Hotel up in the jungle / mountains, then five days at the JW Marriott on the beach south of Tamarindo.  Me, wife (no pics) and two kids (15 & 11). Booked a full-day offshore trip.  The rest is kind of up in the air.

Any must-do activities or restaurant recs in Tamarindo?

And, I'm really trying to figure out if we're going to rent a car or not.  I have one booked, but trying to figure out if it makes sense to do that or rely on a charter service given how spread out we are.  Just looked and the JW is 30 minutes from Tamarindo.  We're more "eat in town / explore" than "hang out at the resort" people FWIW.  So, we're more likely to run around than stay camped out at the beach for five days.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry for not keeping up with this thread, but we’re pondering going somewhere new in Costa Rica just before the school year starts. My wife is saying “Los Suenos” looks fun. I normally take my boys offshore for half a day, so nothing serious like what some of you guys do, but we’ve caught tuna and wahoo and barracuda many times in CR, Grand Cayman and The Bahamas, so it’s fun. Anyway, outside of that we just do the beach and golf and so forth for a few days. 

Any experiences in that area or thoughts? Wondering if it is a good option not too far from an airport. 

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2 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Sorry for not keeping up with this thread, but we’re pondering going somewhere new in Costa Rica just before the school year starts. My wife is saying “Los Suenos” looks fun. I normally take my boys offshore for half a day, so nothing serious like what some of you guys do, but we’ve caught tuna and wahoo and barracuda many times in CR, Grand Cayman and The Bahamas, so it’s fun. Anyway, outside of that we just do the beach and golf and so forth for a few days. 

Any experiences in that area or thoughts? Wondering if it is a good option not too far from an airport. 

Los Suenos is fine. Get a condo or house on the property instead of staying at the Marriott. Your wife and kids will love the pool at the hotel. The golf course is really pretty but not always in the best of shape due to all the rain. The “beach” there is not as nice as elsewhere.

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Sorry for not keeping up with this thread, but we’re pondering going somewhere new in Costa Rica just before the school year starts. My wife is saying “Los Suenos” looks fun. I normally take my boys offshore for half a day, so nothing serious like what some of you guys do, but we’ve caught tuna and wahoo and barracuda many times in CR, Grand Cayman and The Bahamas, so it’s fun. Anyway, outside of that we just do the beach and golf and so forth for a few days. 
Any experiences in that area or thoughts? Wondering if it is a good option not too far from an airport. 
Tulemar, my dude. You're welcome.

And go fishing with @justhookit.
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Any dinner/late lunch recommendations on the way from SJO to Nuevo Arenal?  Planning on going the east route through la Fortuna around the volcano but it looks equivalent to go the west route.

Would be 6 adults and 3 kids  (including a baby). Nothing fancy, but looking for a good casado pit stop on the way up there.

We land at 1pm and probably have 2 or 3 cars.  Just don’t want to have some of our drivers doing to much nighttime jungle driving (based on their daytime, city driving).

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On 7/15/2023 at 8:31 AM, closetojumping said:

Sorry for not keeping up with this thread, but we’re pondering going somewhere new in Costa Rica just before the school year starts. My wife is saying “Los Suenos” looks fun. I normally take my boys offshore for half a day, so nothing serious like what some of you guys do, but we’ve caught tuna and wahoo and barracuda many times in CR, Grand Cayman and The Bahamas, so it’s fun. Anyway, outside of that we just do the beach and golf and so forth for a few days. 

Any experiences in that area or thoughts? Wondering if it is a good option not too far from an airport. 

Tulemar. You won't be disappointed. 

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2 hours ago, Wally Pryor said:

Tulemar. You won't be disappointed. 

My wife booked us at Flamingo Beach in a nice condo at a resort, 100 feet from the beach. It had good reviews and was only 45 minutes from Liberia, so it won out for her. I had her read a bit of this thread and her concern when researching Tulemar was the drive for the kids. They travel a ton, but that's about 10 hours door to door for a 4 night stay, returning the night before school starts. Y'all rec it strong enough that we're considering a longer trip to there in the future, with or without the midgets in tow.

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17 minutes ago, closetojumping said:

My wife booked us at Flamingo Beach in a nice condo at a resort, 100 feet from the beach. It had good reviews and was only 45 minutes from Liberia, so it won out for her. I had her read a bit of this thread and her concern when researching Tulemar was the drive for the kids. They travel a ton, but that's about 10 hours door to door for a 4 night stay, returning the night before school starts. Y'all rec it strong enough that we're considering a longer trip to there in the future, with or without the midgets in tow.

You'll want to go back to CR again. Tulemar will still be there. 

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20 hours ago, closetojumping said:

My wife booked us at Flamingo Beach in a nice condo at a resort, 100 feet from the beach. It had good reviews and was only 45 minutes from Liberia, so it won out for her. I had her read a bit of this thread and her concern when researching Tulemar was the drive for the kids. They travel a ton, but that's about 10 hours door to door for a 4 night stay, returning the night before school starts. Y'all rec it strong enough that we're considering a longer trip to there in the future, with or without the midgets in tow.

Playa Conchal is considered the best beach in CR and it is right next to Flamingo. It’s worth a visit. Other than that I’ve only spent a day in Flamingo. Coco Loco on the beach is really good and I am sure there’s some good stuff in the new marina there. A few friends of mine just spent 10 days there fishing and hanging out if you need some more recs.

Tulemar is really nice and recommended so highly here for a reason, but there are a ton of other really nice options too. And you can always fly Sansa from SJO to Manuel Antonio. Fifteen minute flight that works great if you can time your arrival early enough in the day.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 4/25/2023 at 9:47 AM, justhookit said:

There is pretty much nothing in Puerto Jimenez itself but it has access to good fishing out of there or Golfito. Also some world class surfing nearby. The draw down there is Corcovado National Park which is absolutely amazing.

Ive spent a ton of time in Golfito but I’ve only flown through Puerto Jimenez. The flight from SJO stops there before flying across the Golfo Dulce on the way to Golfito. It’s a 3 minute flight.

@justhookit

Any guide recs out of PJ? Going there after Thanksgiving. Just want some eating fish so not sure what might be best option. Offshore or inshore for grouper/snapper. 

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17 hours ago, Shaddie said:

@justhookit

Any guide recs out of PJ? Going there after Thanksgiving. Just want some eating fish so not sure what might be best option. Offshore or inshore for grouper/snapper. 

http://4costaricafishing.com
This is the best outfit down there. The head guy Bobby McGuinness is kind of a prick, but he can fish. He runs their big boats though and it sounds like you’d be fine with their smaller boats.

Edited by justhookit
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On 7/17/2023 at 12:00 PM, closetojumping said:

My wife booked us at Flamingo Beach in a nice condo at a resort, 100 feet from the beach. It had good reviews and was only 45 minutes from Liberia, so it won out for her. I had her read a bit of this thread and her concern when researching Tulemar was the drive for the kids. They travel a ton, but that's about 10 hours door to door for a 4 night stay, returning the night before school starts. Y'all rec it strong enough that we're considering a longer trip to there in the future, with or without the midgets in tow.

We flew down and had a driver going back to minimize car time. 

We didn’t crash and die going down to Manuel Antonio, although we took off from a dirt runway outside of Arenal, with a buzzard sitting at the end of the runway, so that was a positive. Although three weeks later that same plane did crash and kill some people. So, my recommendation is a bit iffy. 

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  • 2 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Anyone coming down this year? Going on month 2 right now and here until late April. They changed the entry stamp from 90 days to 180 which makes things a lot easier. I’ll be back for all of July and August too.

Prices are noticeably up for almost everything, still a bit cheaper than Texas but not by much anymore. It’s also much more crowded than I’ve ever seen it.

@immamac my last Burnt Endz koozie went overboard while we were fishing the other day. Need more por favor.

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1 hour ago, justhookit said:

Anyone coming down this year?

I've got a few other CA countries to hit including Guatemala next week but might look at a trip during rainy season aka Octoberish. Its been too long

Edited by midtown
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  • 2 months later...
On 2/6/2024 at 10:26 AM, justhookit said:

Anyone coming down this year? Going on month 2 right now and here until late April. They changed the entry stamp from 90 days to 180 which makes things a lot easier. I’ll be back for all of July and August too.

Prices are noticeably up for almost everything, still a bit cheaper than Texas but not by much anymore. It’s also much more crowded than I’ve ever seen it.

@immamac my last Burnt Endz koozie went overboard while we were fishing the other day. Need more por favor.

72629162819__BDF456EB-5CCF-417B-BEC4-B22C19E42589.jpeg

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90dce9e2-bef3-4805-ad07-9d0c96d7c379.jpeg

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We are binging the kids and my in-laws down the last week of May. Staying at a house in Tulemar. I booked the Caribsea and Sportsman for a full day trip. 
I’m in desperate need of a vacation so it can’t get here soon enough. 
How is the real estate market these days? Every time we go I get closer and closer to pulling the trigger on buying a place down there. 

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15 hours ago, 4HE said:

We are binging the kids and my in-laws down the last week of May. Staying at a house in Tulemar. I booked the Caribsea and Sportsman for a full day trip. 
I’m in desperate need of a vacation so it can’t get here soon enough. 
How is the real estate market these days? Every time we go I get closer and closer to pulling the trigger on buying a place down there. 

I think it’s a fairly good time to buy. The market definitely seems softer than it was the first 2 years after Covid. I’m currently in the process of buying something.
They are struggling a little bit with the cartel violence but so far it really isn’t spilling into the general public or tourists. But I’m definitely a little more cautious about where and what time of day I go somewhere than I was even just last year.

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