This article focuses on how to plan your multi-city land vacation with me. Winter/early Spring is when I have the highest requests to begin planning multi-city custom trips – a.k.a. built from scratch. These include places like the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, and Costa Rica.
Plan your multi-city land vacation Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash
You’ll learn more about what goes into the making of these custom trips. I’ll share one little secret – it takes time! Hours and hours go into your custom trips as I try to build out the trips multiple ways to get you the best options for your specific trip objectives. You may not even see some of the earlier attempts as I plan out your itinerary.
Question: Have you ever been on a multi-city land vacation? This could be on an escorted or organized tour. Or, you may have traveled without an organized group such as visiting Rome/Florence/Venice independently.
Plan your multi-city land vacation Photo by Asli Yilmaz on Unsplash
Have you ever planned a multi-city trip with me? If not, let’s get planning your dream trip today. Just click here.
While I mentioned Rome/Florence/Venice above as an example, how about Reykjavik, Iceland, Edinburgh Scotland, and a side tour to the Isle of Skye? (Planned for a client earlier in the year.)
Have you spent hours online doing research?
Are you looking for someone to help you organize all of the details of your dream trip? We’re talking:
airfare with different cabins/classes of service
transfers
hotels with complicated room configurations
tours/excursions
dining
trains
travel insurance
golf
theater/event tickets
And, how about if I wrap up all of the details into an app you can download onto your smart phone? Click here to start planning your multi-city dream trip today.
Learn more about my travel planning packages. Click here to dig even deeper into multi city land vacation travel. Finally, read this post on how to pack for great tips.
One of my past guests recently booked a Barbados third-party shore excursion along with three other third-party shore excursions with much trepidation. She was led to believe there is great risk by not taking the shore excursions offered by the cruise line. “What if we get left behind?” is a common question we hear at Daydream Excursions; we use providers who will guarantee to get you to your next port if you get left behind. And the chance of getting left behind is quite low but makes an excellent scare tactic! Let me arrange your shore excursions for a more authentic experience and potentially put more money into the pockets of the hard working locals in your destination.
Green Monkeys (Chlorocebus sabaeus or Chlorocebus aethiops) grooming, at the Barbados Wildlife Reserve, Saint Peter Parish, Barbados. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Her is a review of one third party shore excursion in Barbados. This review comes courtesy of Angela and James from Phoenix. See their trip to Costa Rica as well.
This was one of our favorites- the cave was really nice (almost so nice it looked fake!). The tourism board spent a lot of money on it making it really well lit, informative, had an attached education center with videos, etc.
We had our only female guide of the trip and she was great. Good sense of humor, polite, etc.
The lunch was good and the wildlife reserve was really different than anywhere I’d ever been– it was almost like a zoo that you walk through, with the animals just crossing the path in front of you! You literally had to watch out so you didn’t step on a turtle and the deer were so close you could almost touch them. We were getting ready to leave with no monkey sightings (hugely disappointing for me because after seeing only 2 monkies in Costa Rica I was dying to see some). However, we heard they were “back” so we stayed a little longer here than I think we were supposed to but were able to see lots of monkeys including a mama with a baby on her belly! So cute.
We then went to a nice beach where we had lawn chairs and umbrellas waiting for us (ironically the beach was next door to what was supposedly Richard Branson‘s house- like if he was there, he would share the same beach as us!). It was really overcast and eventually started raining so it wasn’t our “Best” beach day, but would have been quite nice had the weather cooperated.
Overall, I think this one was the best value for the price: 2 distinct “activities”, plus beach, plus island tour, stops for pictures, plus lunch and a drink at the wildlife reserve. So after this, you can see why the St. Lucia tour wasn’t that exciting- this had a lot more to offer for what I think was similar prices.
Ready for ten essential places to visit in Costa Rica? Last week, we featured an introduction to Costa Rica’s geography and how to get around. Now we will review what you can do and where whether you want to experience anything from active adventure to just relaxation. Once again, actual travel guest photos are provided.
1) San Jose is the capital of Cost Rica where most flights arrive. Due to the early departure from San Jose of many flights, you will notice that lots of itineraries will have either a pre or post night in San Jose. What do you do there? How about a city tour and visits to the museums or visiting a nearby spa or coffee plantation? Some of my travel guests visited the convenient mall to pick up last minute souvenirs.
2) Caribbean Coast – Puerto Limon is the big port of call for many Panama Canal cruises. The big draw in Puerto Limon is the Tortugerro canals to see the wildlife. Tortugerro has kayaking and turtle nesting from July through February. Some land tours include a trip to Tortugerro and depart from San Jose (around 7am with a stop for breakfast.) You’ll normally stay in a small Eco-resort/lodge for a couple of nights and return back to San Jose to pick-up the rest of your tour.
3) Central Valley cloud forest is around a one-hour ride from San Jose. This area has an elevation of 4-5,000 feet. The El Silencio Lodge & Spa offers a resort for yoga and healthy dining. You can also visit the Poas Volcano or enjoy river rafting.
4) Arenal Volcano is near the town of La Fortuna.
Arenal Sky Tram
Arenal is the one of the biggest attractions in the country. This is the place for Zip lines, thermal springs, waterfalls, horseback riding, and most of the things you’ve heard about in Costa Rica.
Do not forget about Lake Arenal for boating and more. This area is about a three hour ride whether coming from Liberia or San Jose. La Fortuna is good for local cuisine and shopping while about a ten minute taxi ride from most hotels.
Monteverde Trapp Family Lodge
5) Monteverde, the big cloud forest.
The area features the largest zip line in Costa Rica which is ¾ mile long in Selvatura Park. There is also a great canopy tour. For those who want to stay on the ground level of the cloud forest, there is a butterfly garden and hummingbird exhibit. Please note: Monteverde will have some of the country’s more basic/rustic hotels (read in-between the lines if you want luxury and AC.)
6) Quepos/Manual Antonio features beautiful beaches and a national park. This area is about 3-4 hours from San Jose. Manuel Antonio National Parkwas established in 1972 by Costa Rica to preserve the biodiversity of one of the most beautiful areas in the world.
Manuel Antonio Park
This area features several luxury boutique hotels. The nearby forest features lots of wildlife including little crabs. Visit the trail around Punta Catedral for some spectacular views.
Further, you can experience a wide variety of tours and activities with canopies and waterfalls Visit Quepos for some nightlife.
7) Punta Arenas is a popular cruise stop on Panama Canal transit itineraries. This area has the closest beach from San Jose, about 1.5 hours. Punta Arenas is about 2.5 hours from Liberia in the Northwest. This area has a good combination of beach hotels with activities.
8 ) Nicoya peninsula is a peaceful/eco-location with small villages, fishing, snorkeling ,and “turtle beaches.” There are resorts along the beach and opportunities for eco-tourism. This area is popular with ex-pats and has some of the best surfing in the world. This area has some of the most rustic highway systems, so patience is the word when traveling in this region. Tamarindo in the extreme Northwestern edge of Nicoya Peninsula, is where you will find many hotels in Guanacaste Provence.
9) Guanacaste Province is the place for the larger beach resorts both All-Inclusive or European Plan (no included meals). If All-Inclusive is mandatory, then base your trip at a beach resort in Guanacaste. As mentioned above, part of the Nicoya Peninsula lies in the Guanacaste Province The weather is warm and dry (Tropical dry forest) through the North American Winter making this area a great choice for your Costa Rica vacation. This area is very close to Liberia Airport but also accessible from San Jose. You can also do day excursions to experience volcanoes and river rafting.
10) Jaco, I have two things to say about Jaco: surfing and fishing. Jaco is a great place for surfing and there are lots of fishing boats/charters right there. Jaco is also due west of San Jose which makes it quite accessible. If you crave a familiar US brand, Jaco is home to a Marriott resort and golf facility. Note that the The beaches are not the best in the Country. For the best beaches, go up to the towns of Guanacaste Province or further South down the West Coast.
So, there you have it. What are the places that you want to experience? Start filling out your planning survey to get a better idea and we’ll get your custom Costa Rica trip ready.
Dreaming about Costa Rica’s unique biodiversity and rich nature activities?
Looking for a compact-sized country offering beaches for relaxing or surfing, and mountains/volcanoes for exploring?
Would you like to mingle with nature in a cloud forest, or a rainforest?
Want to raft, zip-line or do a tree-top canopy walk?
You can experience all of this and more in Cost Rica, a country the size of West Virginia. This post features pictures from actual travel guests; they have enjoyed their own unique custom planned itineraries to Cost Rica. They experienced the natural wonders Costa Rica on their own terms with just as much action or relaxation as desired. Hotels range from small boutique hotels in the Cloud Forest of Monteverde to large US based chains in San Jose.
Problem, Costa Rica does not have super highways like the US. Not sure how to get around Costa Rica’s different regions, or how many regions you can explore within your time in Costa Rica? You just need a custom crafted itinerary.
Getting to the different regions takes advance planning. Let’s start with flights. Most flights from the US will go into the Capital, San Jose (airport code SJO), in the center of the country with some flights going into Liberia (airport code LIR) in the Northwest. If you’re wondering which airport to go to, here’s the inside information.
San Jose has the most flights and is a great starting/stopping point to tour multiple regions of Costa Rica. If you want to have a single home-base at an All-Inclusive resort or North American style hotel near the beach, then Liberia in Guanacaste Province is the right call. From Liberia airport you can transfer to most hotels in under an hour and have the option for day trips for rafting, volcanoes, zip-lines, etc. directly from your resort or hotel.
Three ways to get around:
With a pre-planned multi-region tour, you may be met at airport by local representative/ground operator. Shared shuttles are economical way to get around the different regions of Costa Rica; shuttles leave 1-2 times per day (not including more frequent airport shuttles).
Private transfers are also available for the convenience of 2-4 people. Private transfers are especially good if arriving in-country in the afternoon when scheduled shared transfers are not available.
Rental cars are available but use a GPS. Note: roads may not be paved or clearly marked and renting a car to tour Cost Rica is not recommended.
Things to do and facts (just a taste, we’ll explore in more depth in a future issue):
Rafting and canopy tours from SJO, Arenal, Guanacaste, Jaco, and Quepos
Whale watching from Dominical Area and Manuel Antonio
Zip Lining
Thermal Springs
May to November is green or rainy season which may be dry in the morning and rainy in afternoon
