Hi Kayla,
How long are you going to be there? The Osa Peninsula isn’t the easiest place to get to, but it’s beautiful. You’ll get plenty of nature and beaches there – I’m not sure there’s a great deal of nightlife there, though.

Anyway, let me know how long you’ll be in country, and I’ll give you more suggestions.

I’m jealous :)

Ryan

If you feel like driving all the way across the country (actually only about 5-6 hours), Puerto Viejo is a relaxed party town. A little less touristy than the west coast, but still plenty of vacationers. It’s on the far South East tip near Panama, but watch out because I think there is another Puerto Viejo up North somewhere.

The Osa area is great, but there’s little to no nightlife there. Go to Osa for the nature experience, visit Isla del Caño, visit Corcovado National Park, go on a boat trip on the Sierpe River or Golfo Dulce. If you’re limited in time, I highly recommend flying to Palmar Sur, Drake, Golfito or Puerto Jimenez and then continue from there to your destination.

If you want a combination of beach/nightlife, an alternative would be Quepos/Manuel Antonio. Beautiful beaches inside the Manuel Antonio National Park, a nice enough, pretty popular beach just outside the park and a very lively night scene at the bars and clubs around the beach in Manuel Antonio. If you’re more into the party scene and less into nature, you could consider the Jaco area, but I just don’t think it’s as nice. If you spend time in San Jose, there’s lots of very popular night spots. Quick recommendations would be the new Jazz Cafe in Escazu (very cool building, live music every night), Mas Tekila Bar & Restaurant in the Itzkazu Plaza, also in Escazu, El Pueblo in Guadalupe (lots of bars, restaurants, live music, dancing), Castro’s Bar in Barrio Mexico (one of the most popular dancing spots in town and always lively until the wee hours of the morning), El Cuartel de la Boca del Monte near downtown San Jose (the best place in town on Monday nights, live music and a very lively crowd, Fiesta Casino near the airport in Alajuela (live music, good food, gambling). If you have any questions, just ask. Here’s some links that might be useful:

http://www.kaboodle.com/machaves/costa-rica-links.html

Have a great time!!

Pura vida,
mario

Nature + beaches = Puerto viejo.

Great place to disappear.

Head to the beach at playa hermosa, stay at Cabinas las Olas, head into Jaco for nightlife.

I agree that the Osa Peninsula is a great place for nature and wildlife, hiking, maybe a little kayaking, scuba diving, etc. But I don’t think there’s much nightlife there. Although I think they’ve put in a road since I was there (we had to fly in and land on a tiny GRAVEL runway!), it’s still pretty remote.

Since the sun rises and sets about the same time all the time (around 4AM and 4PM) we found ourselves going to bed pretty early in the Drake Bay area (Osa) and getting up early to look at birds, etc.

I think you’ll want to stick to the west side of Costa Rica for the tourist areas and their nightlife. Most of the stuff we did was more like eco-tourism.

I was 23 and single when i went last year with my best friend, and some suggestions/observations i will say are:

go to playa dominical & the town of dominical on the west coast. gorgeous. and the hospitality is unparalleled. this is where i went to surf camp (green iguana). great people, and really great place to learn how to surf. cheap and amazing food too.

observations include the fact that most tico men are both ridiculously in shape and gorgeous. oh- and most of them are surfer boys. even better. ha.

have fun!

The coolest thing about Costa Rica, aside from the lush countryside and friendly natives, is the world
travelers you’ll meet. People come from everywhere. We’re going back again
this year (for two weeks in Nov/Dec). We’ll be visiting Osa for the first
time and staying at what appears to be a very cool eco-resort.

There is no shortage of cool stuff to do elsewhere, it all depends on your
budget and how much time you have.

If you are into nature and adventure activities, the Arenal area has plenty
to do. We stayed at Tabacon, an incredible resort with natural hot springs, quality (but overpriced) restaurants on site, and very nice rooms with a view of the volcano. If you stay there, get a room without a view and see the volcano from the river (people congregate here at dusk to watch the lava flow) or talk your way into dinner up at the lodge (a separate resort).

The Tabacon hot spring area has a swim up bar that was pretty happening.
Nearby, you’ll find terrific hikes, waterfalls, zip lines, lakes, national
parks, etc. The zip line with a view of the volcano is a must-do activity.
So is the evening volcano watch up at the lodge. The restaurants in town
are a better deal and offer more indigenous food options than the
resorts.

For part of our time in Arenal, we hung out with a gay couple that had great things to say about the Manuel Antonio area, so that may be your best bet for nightlife. I can dig up some more info (waterfall hikes, tour outfits, etc) about Arenal if you decide to go there.

We also stayed at Tango Mar in the Tambor region on the coast. That resort
was more affordable and had more people your age (My wife and I are in our
mid-forties).

Evidently, it was the site of the TV show “Temptation Island,” (we didn’t know that until we got there). The pools are terrific, the outdoor restaurant overlooks the beach and had very good food, and the other guests were fun to hang out with. The beachside rooms were the best
deal there.

We had a mountainside villa, but they were kind enough to move us into one of the beachside rooms when we found a scorpion in our villa. The other advantage of those rooms is that they are closer to the bars,restaurant and pools.

Bring a small cooler for poolside; the in-room beers are a better deal than the pool bar. They do however, make incredible mango daiquiris at the pool.

We’re avid photographers, so we like to get up early in the AM and go take
hikes, etc. I wish I could tell you more about nightlife, but that wasn’t
our priority in CR. There are some bars/restaurants/shops in the nearest
town, I think it’s called Montezuma. We went there by horseback and tried
another zip line, but the one in Arenal is better.

Here are a few tips; avoid the rainy season (May-October), they call it the
Green Season, but that is BS. Don’t be afraid to rent a car because the
roads aren’t as bad as people say. Buy a good map before you leave the
states. www.itmb.com has some good ones.

If you speak any Spanish at all,
you’ll have no problem getting around. We don’t speak much Spanish at all
and we got around fine. Don’t leave anything of value in your car, a couple
we went horseback riding with had everything stolen.

There are two local airlines for short local hops, Sansa is the worse of the two. Bring a flashlight, because power outages are not uncommon. Bring an extra memory card because your digital camera will fill up fast. Also, bring along at least one current guide book: Lonely Planet and Eyewitness Travel Guides are handy.

Mucho Gusto,

Jay

How long are you going to be there? I can recommend you some other places. Anything you need just let me know: angelo_eg@hotmail.com I’ll be more than glad to give you any specific advice you need.