Christmas break 10 day Costa Rica itinerary with kids – read about our trip and general Costa Rica travel tips!

We visited Costa Rica over Christmas in December 2023 and had an amazing trip! I spent a lot of time researching options and wanted to write down what all we did in the hopes that it helps someone else plan. For reference, at the time of our trip, our kids were 8 & 11. If you’re madly googling for family itineraries in Costa Rica, look no further and keep reading for our 10 days starting in San Jose and visiting La Fortuna, Monteverde, & Manuel Antonio.

My parents love to tell me about how cheap Costa Rica was 10+ years ago; and while I wish I had a time machine to go back and visit then, it’s pretty easy to see why it’s such a popular place for families to go.

Even though it’s a small country, I had trouble choosing destinations because there is a fair amount of overlap between regions. Some things I wanted to do, like watch sea turtles hatch, didn’t match with the season/month we were going. Other things I considered felt like a big gamble, driving time wise, like going whale watching in Uvita. We ended up taking a very “classic tourist” route – hitting up the La Fortuna area near Arenal volcano for hot springs, the cloud forest in Monteverde for wildlife watching & ziplining, and then the Manuel Antonio area for more wildlife and the beach. I find a lot of useful information searching & asking questions in travel facebook groups! Here are a few favorites:

We definitely hope to return; I’d love to go further south into the Osa Peninsula to visit Corcovado National Park, mostly for the wildlife, and to explore a less touristy area.

Here are some other posts you might be interested in while you’re here!

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General tips for traveling to Costa Rica

First, I want to start with some general things I wish I’d known before visiting Costa Rica – or things that I only did because I did a lot of researching and want to make it easier on you. Please leave a comment if you’ve been before and have something you think should be added to this list! These are in no particular order.

Some hikes and for ziplining, they required/highly recommended closed toe shoes to prevent fire ant bites and ensure traction.
Costa Rica has strict car seat laws and police are known for targeting rentals/tourists and ticketing them if they aren’t abiding, be sure to review and pack accordingly.
Costa Rica also has strict car rental insurance laws – if you rent from Hertz, Enterprise, etc. you can expect to be hit with a very large fee upon arrival, more than you prepaid or expected. We booked with Adobe through another blog that had a discount, My Tan Feet, and had a great experience. We paid $997 for an AWD for the 10 days and used our American Express Gold card’s insurance to avoid the extra fee.
A lot of places close earlier than you might expect – check restaurant hours and plan meals accordingly!
We needed more cash than we ever have on a trip before – it was cash only for tolls while driving, for laundry at the hotels, and for a towel rental at Baldi Hot Springs.
The souvenirs were 100% the same at most places! No need to walk through multiple souvenir shops or worry about finding something you like better at another city, it was very, very similar almost all the places we went.
The gas stations are full service – they pump it for you.
There are poisonous trees along the popular beaches – figure out what the manicheel tree is before you go and lean on one!

If you’re visiting Manuel Antonio know that they search your bags; you can only use reusable water bottles and take no food in.
It’s not uncommon to get motion sickness while driving; many of the roads even between major cities can be curvy and steep. We packed our favorite motion sickness glasses and had no trouble.
This isn’t unique to Costa Rica, but I know it is often a first international trip for lots of folks; kids menus were rare, even at ‘touristy’ restaurants.
This applies everywhere, but just in case you aren’t familiar, elevation creates temperature changes! It was way colder in Monteverde than anywhere else we went, because it is up in the mountains.
Toilet paper is thrown away in the trash cans next to the toilet, not flushed! At least one of our hotels had a big fine if you forgot.
The ketchup is different – if your kid (or you, no shame) are ketchup-dependent, you need to pack your own.

The wildlife is very different in each region/season – and some creatures you are more likely to see at night vs. during the day. If you have your heart set on seeing a specific animal, you need to do your research because sloths aren’t going to be on a night tour in Monteverde and you can only find the tree frog with the blue sides near La Fortuna (out of the 3 cities we visited), not down in Manuel Antonio.
I booked tours via Viator and Get Your Guide – and in almost every case, it wasn’t more expensive than booking directly with the company itself which isn’t usually the case. This gave me more flexible cancellation policies and rewards on their sites! Make sure that it notes your guide has a viewing scope if that is important to you! In my opinion, it makes a huge difference. I really like being able to read reviews in one spot and see realtime availability; of course you can find Tripadvisor reviews for most companies and book directly as well.
Folks recommend using Waze, the app, to navigate but we had trouble with it loading properly and fell back on Google Maps, had zero issues whatsoever using them and downloaded the whole area for offline use.
Some places had unexpected timelines and guidelines for ticket purchases – for example, one of the biological parks you could only buy online tickets 2 days prior, and in person tickets had a gigantic line.
There is a rainy season (May- mid November) and dry season (mid November-April), which has a strong effect on water levels when it comes to foliage, wildlife, and water safety. Frogs and mushrooms are more prevalent during the rain season, obviously everything is more lush. But, most importantly to me, river rafting and waterfall swimming/hiking will be extremely different experiences with different water levels. When I was researching and reading in facebook groups, I read about multiple people feeling like they got in over their heads when there was a big rainstorm and providers reassured them the river or waterfall canyoneering was still safe, and then it felt dangerously high/fast. In general, keep in mind that OSHA doesn’t exist there, lawsuits are totally different, and you really need to be more defensive, risk assessment wise, than you would in the US.

What we packed for 10 days in Costa Rica for December

We are very light packers, carry-on only. I took notes and figured I’d share a loose overview of what we packed, clothing wise, I didn’t have any regrets! All of our hotels offered laundry services, which was great. This isn’t an exhaustive list of what was in our bags, but things that I thought were useful specific to this trip.

Clothes:
- Feet: 3 pairs of merino socks, keen hiking sandals, & hiking shoes
- Bottoms: 3 pants, 2 shorts – all quick dry/athletic matieral
- Tops: 5 tshirts, 2 long sleeve shirts, rain jacket – all quick dry/athletic matieral
- Heads: 1 sunhat & sunglasses, 1 bug net per person (these were not super necessary, but I was happy to have them when we did a night hike with flashlights that drew bugs in)
- Other: 2 bathing suits per person – we all do shorts & rashguards so sunscreen isn’t a big budget burner!
Toiletries:
- Sunscreen & bug spray – these are very expensive once you get there so come prepared!
Gadgets:
- Tripod for family photos
- Wet phone bag for the beach
- Quick try towels for the beach
- UV flashlight – this shines scorpions bright blue if you want to see them on night hikes (or if you just want to make sure they aren’t in your bed at night)

Christmas Break 10 day Costa Rica itinerary with kids

I’m going to write a separate blog post with a big overview of all the things I considered doing while we were there (including things we didn’t end up doing); but for our first trip, I decided on following the “classic” route and visiting La Fortuna with the volcano and hot springs, Monteverde with the cloud forest, and Manuel Antonio with the beach and rainforest. I am happy with that choice, although if we go back I want to go further south and find more wildlife in the Corcovado National Park and over to the east coast to find some turtles! Scroll to the very end of this post to see a map of our stops.

We went in mid-december until the day after Christmas. I was really, really nervous that it would feel super crowded because it is ‘high season’ but literally the only time that it felt busy was at Manuel Antonio National Park, the one day. I would not avoid visiting the area at that time of year again – although prices are definitely higher!

Here was our itinerary! An overview was that we chose to spend 2 nights in La Fortuna, 3 nights in Monteverde, and 3 nights in Manuel Antonio. In retrospect, I would recommend more time in La Fortuna instead of Monteverde, but maybe my opinion would’ve been changed if we hadn’t caught a cold front while we were there.

Day 1-

Arrived to San Jose airport and picked up our rental car from Adobe, who met us at the airport even when our flight was 5 hours late and arrived at 3 am in the morning. We then went and spent the night at Holiday Inn Express San Jose Costa Rica Airport. It was a *fantastic* place for the first and last day of our trip, highly recommend. Really clean, nice pool, and close to a Walmart and Denny’s – which yeah, I know, but when you are exhausted it’s nice to have easy, walkable, familiar food. Their free breakfast was the most extensive of any IHG we’ve ever been to, and super tasty.

Everything I read recommended not trying to drive at night, which I second. It wasn’t bad driving in San Jose at all, but lots of weird one way roads and roundabouts that would’ve been stressful in the dark.

Day 2-

We got up slowly and ate our free breakfast, exchanged US dollars for colonnes, and hit the road. The drive from San Jose to La Fortuna was about 3 hours and pretty quiet. Checking into our small, family-owned hotel gave us some relaxation time – Cabañas del Rio is the only hotel stay I’d highly recommend from our trip. It was little apartment style rooms, with a warm pool to swim in, and a mini patch of rainforest on property! This would be the perfect spot especially for people with younger children, since you could do a night hike without a night drive and late bedtime.

We explored the small patch of land upon arrival during the day, then settled in and swam, and did the free guided night tour with the staff at night. We saw multiple species of frog & toad including emerald poison dart frogs and blue jeans poison dart frogs, and a highlight with a vampire bat eating fruit! My kids *love* leaf cutter ants so those were another big hit, and a rhinoceros beetle by the pool felt like a cherry on top. I regret not taking a guided nature hike here, I later learned it was the most likely area we were visiting that would’ve had an eyelash viper.

Day 3-

I was really torn on how to spend this day – I waffled between multiple different waterfall hike options but ultimately went with places closer by so we could hopefully catch a peek of the volcano not under cloud cover. We started the day hiking down to La Fortuna waterfall; even starting relatively early around 8:30 am, it was pretty packed by the time we got down to the water. We’re spoiled, coming from western North Carolina, and don’t love sharing nature space so I should’ve known better and gone with somewhere further away and more remote, but it was very pretty. Lots of folks were swimming at the base or over to the side, where the river was shallow.

The volcano was out in the sunshine once we left, which was such a nice surprise! We decided to pop over to Arenal Observatory Lodge & Spa on a day pass to get a closer look, they have a tall observation tour, trails, a restaurant, and more on property. This was a beautiful property; we saw several coatis wandering around and very few other people. In addition to going up in the observation tower, we hiked out to a waterfall and hanging bridge on the property, and the kids used their small swingset.

Wrapping up our busy day, we popped into Baldi Hot Springs resort with a day pass. Filled with natural hot spring water, this place was huge, with multiple different temperature pools. The small kids area was great for all ages while the multiple water slides were a broken bone waiting to happen. My kids had a good time, don’t get me wrong, but after looking up specific reviews of the water slides after we left, I’m thankful none of us got stitches or a concussion. The slides were incredibly fast, bumpy, and there was very little supervision at the base of them. Definitely fun at your own peril! Wild slides aside, this place felt like a nice blend of relaxation and family friendly; I was worried that Tabacon would be too quiet and peaceful and didn’t want to deal with huge crowds at the free, wild hot springs down the road.

Day 4-

We woke up and took the most treacherous drive of the trip, heading to Monteverde (about 3 hours). This route was very, very bumpy and slow going – totally safe and doable with a 4wd and patience, but I can see how it would stress people out who were not used to driving in the mountains. We took our time, enjoyed the scenery, and started our visit out with our first guided nature hike, Monteverde night tour. Prior to this guided hike, I thought we would do a mix of guided and DIY hiking, given that we’d rented a car. We have pretty solid hiking experience, regular wildlife spotting at home and while traveling… but after one hike with a trained guide, Dani, I decided all of our hikes in Costa Rica would be guided! The things he could spot and then focus his scope on were blowing our minds.

He also was very skilled at taking amazing photographs through the scope, something I missed with some of our other guides! Here highlights were that we saw a side-striped pit viper (adult & juvenile) and toucans.

Our time in this area, we stayed at the Dreams Lodge Monteverde. The staff here were so kind and warm, but the room itself was absolutely freezing and loud. The shower was either burning hot or lukewarm and I didn’t love that they fed the monkeys for the guests, just felt too intrusive. I wouldn’t not stay here, if we didn’t have better options, but I definitely wouldn’t recommend it, either.

Day 5-

I did a lot of research on different zipline options in all of Costa Rica, and decided that it sounded like the most fun to zipline in the cloud forest. I picked Treetopia Park (formerly known as Sky Adventures Monteverde) because it had self braking cables instead of stopping yourself with your hand. I have prior back issues and cannot safely zipline – but I was able to buy a Sky Trek ticket and ride the cable car up with them, and then stand at the top and watch them go off the first zipline (then I rode the cable car back down and waited until they were done!).

The staff and facilities were all great; the weather was colder and windier than anticipated and we wished we had warmer clothes for this portion of the trip! The kids were cold and wet by the time they were done; if not for that, we could’ve easily snuck another exploration in here but we went back to the rooms to recuperate.

Day 6-

We started the morning with a day hike through the Monteverde Biological Reserve, one of the most popular areas in Monteverde to look for wildlife. Parking here was challenging, I did not realize that roadside was hard to come by and my husband ended up having to turn around, drive back to the lot with a shuttle, and hustle back on the shuttle before our tour. This area initially felt really crowded, but once we got hiking it quickly became quiet and felt the most jungle-y of anywhere we went, with lush greenery and vines everywhere. Highlights were spotting a quetzal bird, several coatis hunting for food, and then enjoying the nearby hummingbird cafe that we walked to (hummingbirds here are eating off traditional feeders).

In the early evening, we squeezed in a coffee/sugar/chocolate tour at Don Juan Tours. At face value, my kids were not super thrilled about this tour, but they ended up loving it and were glad that we went. It’s short, sweet, and interesting even if you aren’t a coffee drinker (I’m not). They loved processing the sugar cane to make the best lemonade we’ve ever tasted!

Day 7-

We woke up this morning and hit the road to travel from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio (3.5 hours), with a very touristy stop at the “crocodile bridge” along the way. My kids love crocodiles & alligators so this was a no brainer when it was right on the way, but I wasn’t mentally prepared for how intensely touristy half of it would be. The other side you can also park easily and there are not a zillion stores and vendors, so on our way back to the airport we were wiser and parked over there. Just be mentally prepared for heavy traffic, lots of peddlers, but seeing the crocodilians will be worth it.

After checking into our hotel (Hotel La Posada and Jungle – again, wouldn’t warn people off but wouldn’t recommend it. Staff were not super friendly, parking was a nightmare, but great location and fun pool), we headed out for a Rainmaker night tour that focused mostly on frogs. This was the first tour we took where the guide didn’t have a scope, and I really wished he had – going forward I’ll be sure to check the details and only book tours with them! We spotted a glass frog but were too far away to get a good view. The food was good on this tour and we had fun seeing so many different frogs up close.

Day 8-

Arguably the most famous area of Costa Rica, we had booked our tickets for a Manuel Antonio National Park tour well in advance; which was seemingly the only place that we really needed to have had reservations in advance. They don’t sell any walk-up tickets into the park and tours are hard to come by around Christmas as well. This felt a little bit like the hiking Disneyworld; it is a small park and the main trail for wildlife is not very long. This leads to each tour group slowly waiting and taking its turn to look at the same animals. We saw some unique animals despite the crowds – tent-making bats, a small boa, Christmas crabs, and lots of sloths, but I did not love the overall vibe with the crowds.

We opted to explore the beach by ourselves, which was beautiful but also pretty busy, along with iguanas and monkeys trying to steal all your stuff. It was markedly less crowded than the nearby public beach that I walked to after we left the park, but I’m not sure that the extra hoops and costs you have to go through would be worth the quieter sand.

Our dinner meal this day was the only one that I think was noteworthy – the infamous El Avion. Obviously a tourist trap; my kids got a big kick out of sitting in the plane and the food was surprisingly good albeit pricey.

Day 9-

We spent the day at the hotel pool and walking in the little town, wrapping up our trip with a Manuel Antonio Herping Tour. I was skeptical of this tour, because it was held very close to town, but we didn’t regret taking it when our guide found us a venomous fer-de-lance; one of the snakes my kids wanted to see the most. Our guide worked really hard here; we also spotted a few other snake and frog species, scorpions, geckos, and a few birds.

Day 10-

We wrapped up our trip with a drive back to San Jose to return our rental car (2.5 hours), slept again at the Holiday Inn Express nearby, and then flew home!

General tips for traveling to Costa Rica

What we packed for 10 days in Costa Rica for December

Christmas Break 10 day Costa Rica itinerary with kids

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