We just returned from an amazing week in Costa Rica! Our good friend Stacey had wanted to make a trip to the rainforest, so we decided to tag along and I’m so so glad we did. It was a fabulous week full of good food, rainforest adventures, and lots of pool time! We used Latitudes to book our itinerary and our first stop was the organic coffee plantation Finca Rosa Blanca.

Finca Rosa Blanca has individual apartment-type rooms, we had two right next to eachother, Pino and Higuron.  Both had balconies and super-comfy king beds.  We absolutely LOVED staying here, the food was quite simply out of this world, and it was such a tranquil, beautiful spot.  This was our view from breakfast:

We took the tour of the coffee plantation and heard about all of the work it takes to grow coffee!  No wonder it costs $4.90 for my latte!

This is what a coffee bean looks like before it’s shelled, dried and roasted.

Then we got to taste some different types of grounds.  Was so interesting to see how the different methods of producing coffee make it taste differently!

After two lovely nights at Finca Rosa Blanca, we made the 4 hour trip to La Fortuna and the Arenal Nayara.  If you are visiting Costa Rica, I highly recommend hiring transportation (this is what we did) - don’t try to drive yourself!  The roads are quite simply terrible.  That 4 hour trip?  It was a 90 kilometer distance. 

Our room at the Nayara was very pretty.  We had an outdoor rain shower and jacuzzi tub, as well as super comfy beds.  Travelers take note: I was disappointed in the service from the front desk staff here, and their website states there is high-speed internet in each room.  There is not internet in-room and what you can find in the common areas is very slow and unreliable.  I wasn’t pleased that their website advertised something they didn’t have, and although the bar and waitstaff were amazing and the rooms are quite nice, I would not stay here again.

Our first rainforest excursion was a hike at the base of the Arenal volcano.  We saw all sorts of beautiful flora and didn’t even get rained on!  That night, we visited The Springs Resort (if I were rich, this is where I’d stay!) and played in their hot springs.

The next day was waterfall rappelling!  This was seriously freaking awesome.  Hard work, but so worth it!  The highest waterfall was over 200ft, and we loved traipsing through the spring water in the Costa Rica heat.  This excursion was through Desafio Adventure Company and I would highly recommend them.  Our guides were so friendly, we felt super safe, and we had a fabulous time.

And last but not least, we went ziplining!  This tour was through Arenal Paraiso, and I can’t even describe how amazing it was to fly through the jungle.  We had been ziplining before but nothing like this.  There were 11 ziplines, and the longest was over 200ft off the ground and 1200ft long.  And you flew 40 mph!  It was crazy awesome and if you visit Costa Rica, this is a MUST do for you, seriously.

There you have it, our whirlwind week in Costa Rica!  We absolutely loved it – so fun, relatively inexpensive, and even though it was rainy season, it didn’t bother us much, and we definitely didn’t have anything stopped because of the rain.  In fact, we got lucky and it really only rained while we were ziplining, which actually made it even more incredible. 

Have you visited Costa Rica?  Did you go to Arenal?  I have heard awesome things about Guanacaste and Manuel Antonio too, but with as long as it takes to get anywhere, we couldn’t do it all!

*rappelling images by Desafio Adventure Company, ziplining images by Arenal Paraiso, all other images my own. I was kind of proud of my picture-taking skills this time around! :)