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Costa Rican Honeymoon

Hola! Welcome to our Costa Rican honeymoon adventure. I can't believe its been over a year ago already! ❤

A little background (and budget trick): Jon and I got married right after moving back to the US from Singapore. We traveled across the world, bought a house, 2 cars, some furniture, etc. It was a crazy-exciting time in our lives, but what we really needed to fully enjoy this time was funds! So, instead of traditional gift registries, we did a Honeyfund (link). It was on Shark Tank (link) and basically is an online registry that allows people to pay for specific things on your honeymoon. It can help pay for anything you want: flights, excursions, meals, hotels, activities, etc! The Honeyfund is more personal than just giving cash, and it allows others to be excited and involved (from afar) in your honeymoon! It was the best idea ever and covered the majority of our costs. 💰💰💰 We are still so grateful!

The trip: We flew United Airlines to Liberia, the smaller lesser-known airport in Costa Rica. It was very cheap; so cheap that we thought the airline made a mistake. We got upgraded, and they did NOT have to drag us up the aisle to business class (too soon?)!✈ We rented a car, which was one of the highest costs of the trip.  It was worth it, but I wish we would've negotiated the price. We got a cute silver SUV with GPS, and it was perfect.

**Fun Fact: In Costa Rica, passengers can drink while in the car (****drivers can and should not****). This made for a lot of fun, atleast for me (the passenger most of the time).

 We covered a lot of the country in a short time. Here's a rough map of our itinerary (borrowed from a random site; link under picture):

source here
About our stops:

Arenal:  Our first stop was La Fortuna, home of the Arenal volcano - an amazing, huge, and active volcano in Costa Rica!!! We went straight there from the airport and it was a crazy (borderline dangerous) drive around this the volcano! We stayed at a really nice HUGE resort w/amazing spa and an awesome pool with slides. It was called Hotel Los Lagos, and y'all have to check it out (link here). We treated ourselves to a mud bath/massage/ I wish we had pics! It felt amazing. We went ziplining here, a MAJOR bucket list item and tourist attraction for CR. We also did some hiking! 🌄

Lunch at a random restaurant as we drove down the coast

 Manuel Antonio: - Here, we stayed at the best AirBnB ever: a modern place that had a private pool. I think I could've stayed there forever. We loved the little beach town of Quepos, and there was an amazing local restaurant with amazing food and amazing owners. I've searched high and low to find the name of it,☹ but be sure to check out some local hole in the wall places; they won't disappoint. Here, we did a several miles/several hour hike to Nauyaca waterfall (read this blog for more info on it!). It was beautiful, but hard! Then we had lunch at El Avion (link), called the "must see" restaurant in the area! They turned a huge airplane into a bar, and the food is great too!!  All our our down time in this stop was spent at the local beaches, local restaurants, and at our private pool!

Our private infinity pool

 Tamarindo - For our last stop, we made the long drive (6-7 hours I think!?) from Manuel Antonio to Tamarindo, the Pacific Coast side of the country. We were very lucky with our accommodations, and this final resort was top-notch. It was called Jardin del Eden (link here), which I assume translates into Garden of Eden, and it is so accurate! This place had an actual private garden on the beach, and it really was heaven. We had our own bungalow, great staff, great pool, and great food. We soaked up all the sun by the pool, explored the town, walked along the beaches, and tried different restaurants! We also did a booze cruise with snorkeling and kayaking (there are many operators to choose from).⛵ They served lunch on the boat, and we were impressed with the high quality food they served! It was really fun! There were also gorgeous sunsets here! 

Chillin in a garden on the beach = relaxing

Sunset on the booze cruise
What I wish we would have done here:  Parasailing. I think I've said this one or two times already, but it is a HUGE bucket list item of mine. Otherwise, our trip was perfect!

Overall, it was an amazing trip that was even more special because it was our first trip as husband and wife (and it was mostly free!). There's no one else I would rather be here with! We would love to go back to Costa Rica, and we are even looking 👀 at investment properties there. We dream of buying an awesome Airbnb rental/retirement and are doing our legal research already. As always, let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for traveling Costa Rica! It's one of the most relaxing places ever, and I know you will love it!


Xoxo 
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