Hacienda Alcascia coffee farm is the only coffee farm in the world owned by Starbucks. Its a beautiful farm located on the southern slope of Poas Volcano about a 30 minute drive north of San Jose Airport in the Alajuela province of Costa Rica. Besides being an operating coffee farm, they also offer tours and have a gift shop and cafe.
Classic truck between parking lot and cafe
When we decided to go to Costa Rica, and knowing that we had an Airbnb in a major coffee producing region of Costa Rica, we knew that we would want to visit a coffee farm at some point. Since I personally drink about 2 gallons of coffee a day, I thought visiting a farm would be nice.
Wall art showing coffee growing regions of Costa Rica
I looked at quite a few local coffee tours, but Jenn found out that there was a Starbucks farm near where we were staying and suggested that. I was a little snarky about it, saying “Oh great, we’re going to go to Costa Rica to visit Starbucks. I mean, they’re so hard to find in the US.” In retrospect though, Jenn was right. This place was spectacular and if you’re anywhere near this, its an absolute must visit.
Coffee Bean Sacks on display near entrance
Starbucks History
A massive sliding door on the backside of the cafe has a sketch of the first Starbucks in Pike Place Market Seattle
Starbucks was formed in 1971 at Pikes Place market in Seattle. Since that time they have grown to over 35,000 stores worldwide. In my mind, Starbucks is largely responsible for getting Americans to drink flavorful coffee again. I can remember a time when Americans would only drink coffee flavored water produced by Maxwell House, Folgers or even Sanka. In the same way that the Boston Beer Company paved the way for microbrewers, Starbucks created a market for so many coffee shops and roasters in the US. My taste buds definitely thank Starbucks for that.
Coffee bean drying table
We’ve been to the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Chicago, which I would recommend if you are in Chicago. It is one of 6 reserve locations throughout the world. While the Hacienda Alsacia farm is not one of these reserve locations, it has a very similar feel. The architecture is modern and clean. There is art everywhere you look and everything is meant to enhance the experience with your cup of coffee.
The Cafe and Gift Shop
They chose a phenomenal location for the coffee shop and gift shop. It is perched on a what is essentially the southern slope of Poas Volcano, with the building cantilevered over the slope. There is a huge bank of folding glass doors that when opened completely expose the cafe to an amazing view. That viewpoint is perfectly centered over a valley between two ridges. Adding to the amazing view is a waterfall coming off the ridge on the right hand side.
A large square shaped bar area is in the center of the cafe area, with a variety of baked goods on display. There is quite a variety of seating areas in the cafe, nicely spaced out. The seats that were in the highest demand, of course were along the railing which overlooks the valley.
Waterfall on right hand side when looking out of the cafe.
On top of the amazing views, that the building is located at an elevation that in Costa Rica virtually guarantees pleasant temperatures. We were there on a crystal clear day, but I would imagine that fog probably isn’t uncommon in this area. Either way, I would imagine the sliding wall of glass doors is probably open most of the time.
Center bar at Hacienda Alsacia
We sat down in an area with couches near the railing. I ordered a pour over coffee, which I assumed meant a drip coffee, which it apparently isn’t. Pour over coffee is when they put the coffee grounds into some sort of filter and then pour hot water over it. I’m still not sure how this is different from a drip machine, but apparently I’m a knuckle-dragging moron when it comes to coffee.
There is a microroaster in the gift shop which both produces the coffee beans in the gift shop but also is used to demonstrate the roasting process for the tours.
Either way, what I got, after a painfully long wait (I need my caffeine!), was probably the smoothest cup of coffee I’ve ever drank. I normally use creamer, but they gave me a little bit of cream and some sugar, which I used at first. However, this coffee was so good that eventually, after I ordered a second pour over, I just drank it black.
Roasting beans
I don’t know if it was the Costa Rican beans, the pour over method, or the roast itself, but that was probably the best regular cup of coffee I’ve ever had.
The Grounds of the Farm
After we had our fill of coffee and snacks, we decided to walk around the property a little bit. There is a decent amount of the property that they allow guests to roam, even without paying for the tour.
Mural on the coffee processing building
There is a building behind the cafe that is used to process the coffee fruit into coffee beans.
Typical wildlife at Hacienda Alsacia
If you continue walking toward the back of the property there is a tree nursery.
Young coffee plants in the nursery
There is patio area in the back that allows you to get a really great view of the cafe as well as great views of the valley.
Much of the displayed art at Hacienda Alsacia are tributes to the farmers of the region.
Starbucks Hacienda Alsacia Farm Tour
Hacienda Alsacia offers a tour at the facility. It takes about an hour and a half to complete and costs $30 for an adult, $25 for students and $25 for seniors. Children under 6 years old are free.
The tour covers their tree nursery as well as their processing areas and the microroaster. We chose not to do the tour. Without the tour you actually can see a lot of the areas that are covered in the tour, but I imagine that you would get a much better understanding of the history and the process of making coffee by doing the tour. Two Weeks in Costa Rica has a very well written post about this tour if you are looking for more information.
Other Considerations
If you are planning to come to Hacienda Alsacia, I would recommend pairing it with either a visit to the Poas Volcano National Park, or to La Paz Waterfall Gardens Nature Park. Both of those parks are still a half hour drive from Hacienda Alsacia, but by Costa Rican standards, that’s actually a pretty quick drive.
Coffee tree with fruit growing on it
If you take the tour, you’ll probably be there for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, assuming you’ll stay for a coffee and visit the gift shop. If you’re not doing the tour, it’ll probably be an hour to an hour and a half so keep that in mind.
Rows of coffee trees
There is plenty of parking, with a paved lot on site and a gravel overflow lot across the road. and parking is free.
Starbucks logo behind cashier station
We had a great time at Hacienda Alsacia. The views are amazing and the coffee is delicious. They did an absolutely fantastic job creating an experience for coffee fans to enjoy a cup of coffee while learning something about the process of making this magical drink. I would highly recommend a visit.
The Blue Falls of Costa Rica are a group of seven gorgeous waterfalls set on a tributary to Rio Toro. The river is fed by runoff from the northwest slope of Poas Volcano and is a seemingly unnatural shade of blue due to a high concentration of aluminum sulfate. This aquamarine colored water flowing over rocky terrain makes for an unbelievable landscape of pools, waterfalls and rapids.
There is a tour company that maintains the Blue Falls as well as Catarata Del Toro, which is another waterfall on the same property, but it is on Rio Toro, not on the tributary where the Blue Falls are located. They take admission for both attractions and have a station where you can pay, use the restrooms and potentially get some food, although the snack bar was not open the day we were there.
When we arrived at the visitor center, we were greeted by a gentleman who asked us whether we would be doing Catarata Del Toro, the Blue Falls or both. We paid for the Blue Falls, and he gave us our wristbands for entrance and instructions to go back to our cars and drive up the road a bit and park in a different lot and enter there.
The first river crossing is literally a few inches wide. Only 2 people are allowed on this bridge at a time.
The crazy thing about this gentleman was that, while we were standing there, he also was giving instructions to other hikers and I’m not 100% sure, but it sounded like to one group of hikers he spoke in Dutch (maybe German) and another in French while he was talking to us in pretty flawless English. I’m pretty sure he probably speaks Spanish as well, but the fact that he was just switching back and forth between languages that quickly was amazing to me. I asked him how many languages he knew, and he just responded humbly with “oh, a couple”.
This was early along the road, as you continue to walk the rocks have been moved into the center of the road to operate more like a sidewalk.
We moved the car to the parking lot by the Blue Falls entrance and began our hike. There is a dirt road to follow for the first half to three quarters of a mile. The dirt road had basically turned to mud, which I’m sure is the case a lot of the time. There was a row of stones in the center where most people walk to avoid the mud.
Little “sidewalk” like rock formation to help hikers stay out of the mud
At the end of the road, we came across some signs pointing to where to find the falls. Three trails to the left – La Pintada, La Turquesa and La Celestial, and three trails to the right – Poza Azul, Las Gemelas, and Tepezquintle. Las Gemeles is one trail with two waterfalls.
La Celestial Waterfall
Makeshift stairs on the trail to La Celestial
We decided to visit La Celestial first. Once we started to hike down the actual trail to La Celestial, the trail became more like forest stairs for lack of a better term. The trail has been altered to be more like steps. As wet as this area is, I assume that without the steps it would be incredibly slippery.
There are metal stairs on the trails where the trail would be too dangerous without them.
There were other sections that had some makeshift metal stairs and railings. As we got closer to the falls, the steps made way to boulders. As we descended down the trail, the sound of the waterfall grew in intensity until finally the waterfall appeared in view.
La Celestial waterfall taken from the end of the trail
La Celestial is fairly wide with quite a bit of water coming over it. It’s probably about 30 feet tall and has a bit of a pool under the waterfall. I don’t know how deep the pool is because, I didn’t get more than about waist deep there.
The family enjoying La Celestial
The water is fairly cold, which wasn’t unexpected, since it is running off of a mountain, but it’s not so cold as to want to avoid it completely.
A group of rocks about 50 to 100 feet from the falls creates a pool under and near the falls which you can swim in.
We hung out there for about 15 minutes enjoying the waterfall and the cold water and then decided to go back to the trail to head over to our second waterfall, La Turquesa
La Turquesa
The trail down to La Turquesa seemed much easier than the trail down to La Celestial. There still was quite a bit of steps on the way down, however, once we reached the river, we came across a metal structure with a ladder. There was a guide there to greet us.
A fairly typical trail at Blue Falls. It’s been altered to be more like steps,
In order to get to La Turquesa, you have to cross the river. The guide showed us the right place to cross and helped us through some of the more treacherous parts of the trail, which at this point mostly consisted of stepping on wet slippery rocks.
Guide helping Jenn across the river on the trail to La Turquesa
There is a fairly brisk section of rapids that we needed to climb over to that was the last main obstacle to getting to the falls. In this section, we had to climb over a boulder to get there. The guide was very helpful in making sure that none of us slipped on the boulder.
You need to climb over this boulder to get to La Turquesa.
The reward for this hike is a probably one of the shorter falls here, but it has a really nice pool area where you can kind of relax a little and swim, if you can stand the cold water. I got in up to my neck, but Alex actually dunked his head. Emma bet him $5 he wouldn’t do it.
La Turquesa
This was a really calm and relaxing area to hang out in. We stayed for a little while and then decided to head back to the trail and go down one last trail.
Las Gemelas
We headed back up to the main trail, and we knew that we probably only had one more trail left in us. The hiking at the Blue Falls is somewhat challenging and some fatigue was beginning to set in. Jenn suggested we see Las Gemelas (The Twins). It was a great choice.
A metal bridge over the river at La Gemelas
Once we got down to the river from the main trail, we were greeted by a narrow metal bridge.
Once you crossed that, the trail mostly stayed dry on the left side of the river as we approached the first of the two twins.
The first of the falls at La Gemelas
This was easily the tallest of the waterfalls we had seen that day.
Once you walk closer to the first of the twins and can see further down the river, the second of the twins appear in view.
The second of the falls at La Gemelas
There is a location on the left side of the river, where both waterfalls can be seen simultaneously. This is a surreal spot.
Standing where both of La Gemelas can be seen.
At this point of the day we were pretty hungry and tired and were ready to head back. We hiked back to the main trail and then to our car.
Getting to Blue Falls of Costa Rica
We drove to the Blue Falls from Grecia, but in general if you are coming from San Jose or the Central Valley you will be coming over a fairly tall ridge on Ruta Nacional 708 from the south. I mention this for one specific reason, that is the steepest section of road I have ever driven on.
The steep section I’m talking about is a very new road, but as we were descending the mountain, I suddenly got terrified because I knew I would have to drive back up this mountain, and I rented a Geely GX3. It has a not at all impressive 102 horsepower, and I had 4 full-sized Americans that had to ride in this car up this insane grade. Long story short, we made it, it was terrifying and my speed going up this grade was about 5 MPH with the pedal on the floor. I would suggest maybe a more powerful car if you are going to attempt this drive.
Much of the drive is typical of rural Costa Rica with narrow roads, switchbacks, and limited visibility. We did come across some pretty sketchy bridges made of wood near the end of the drive. At one point I asked Jenn “Was there a hole in that bridge?” She replied as calmly as she could “Yep.”
If you are coming from La Fortuna, you will probably be coming down from the north, so you wouldn’t have the steep grade that we had to deal with. That being said, I have no experience with the roads from La Fortuna, so I don’t know what they are like.
What to Wear at the Blue Falls of Costa Rica
You need to be prepared to get wet and muddy. You also need to have shoes that don’t slip. This does present a challenge for me, because frankly I’m a big fan of wearing socks and you’re not going to want to wear socks. They are going to get wet and your feet are going to prune, and you will be hating your life decisions.
Rocks are wet and slippery. Make sure your shoes grip properly.
You will also be walking on some extremely slick rocks. Having a pair of water shoes that have excellent grip that you can wear in the water is essential. They should also be a good fit, because as you can imagine, wearing ill-fitting shoes on a hike without socks can cause blisters in a hurry.
The alternative to water shoes is to do what the guides do and wear rubber boots. I’m pretty sure the guides know what they are doing, so following their lead can’t be a bad idea.
As far as your clothes are concerned, again you need to take into account the fact that you are both hiking and swimming. A swimsuit might not cover as much as you want when you are hiking and hiking clothes might be too heavy and uncomfortable once you get them wet. I settled on a quick dry shirt and a pair of board shorts. That seemed to be a pretty good compromise. Keep in mind the trails are pretty well maintained so you probably don’t need to cover your legs from things like thorns.
Other Considerations
We didn’t plan out our day very well. We had a light breakfast before driving an hour to get to the falls. A couple of hours of hiking had made us pretty hungry and we had not brought anything to eat. We basically quit out of fatigue, but if we had decided to do all of the falls, it would have taken us a bit more time and we would’ve been extremely hungry.
I would recommend packing a lunch if you want to do the entire Blue Falls hike. I think you could probably do the whole hike in 2 or 3 hours, but honestly, why are you hurrying? It’s beautiful, chill out and swim in the pools for a while. If you’re really enjoying the hike, I would think it would take you at least 4 hours, maybe longer, and with the amount of calories you’ll be burning with constantly going up and downhill, you’ll probably want something to replenish your energy.
I took along a regular backpack, but this is a very wet area, and the chance of accidentally falling into the river is fairly high. I would recommend using a dry bag or a dry backpack. I was carrying everyone’s phones in my backpack, so had I fallen, it might’ve been a really bad day. A dry bag would prevent that.
At the beginning of the hike, they will offer you a hiking stick. Take it! It must’ve saved me from falling a dozen times – its slippery out there!
Also, keep in mind you are in a forest in Costa Rica – if you have ever needed bug spray and/or sunscreen, you will need it here.
How Much Does the Blue Falls of Costa Rica Cost?
Entrance fees for the Blue Falls of Costa Rica is $17 USD per person. If you plan to also visit Catarata Del Toro, then a combo ticket costs $25 USD per person.
Where you pay to get in, there are a bunch of tables where you can eat. There is a snack bar, but it was closed that day, so I’m not sure I would count on them having food available.
Tables at the lodge
There are a couple of bathrooms in the back, and we used them to change our clothes after the hike. Pretty much anywhere you go when you leave the Blue Falls is going to be a long drive and you’ll want to be dry for that drive. Also, there aren’t any bathrooms on the trail itself, so you might want to use it before you head onto the trail.
One of the hummingbirds at the lodge
I don’t know if tipping is customary, but we did leave a tip with the gentleman who was running the front desk. He asked us who the tip was for and we just let him know what falls we hiked at and he was happy to give the tip to the guides who were working those falls.
Hummingbird swooping in to the feeder
There is a hummingbird feeder in the lodge that gets a ton of activity with some very aggressive hummingbirds. Make sure you take a few moments to enjoy the hummingbirds as well.
Conclusion
If you have an opportunity to hike at the Blue Falls, jump at it. This was, by far, the most beautiful hike I have ever been on. Keep in mind that you should be in pretty reasonable shape to do the hike. It is wet, steep, and your balance will be challenged constantly.
Make sure that you come prepared and enjoy the beauty of Costa Rica. Pura Vida!
Playa Hermosa is a small, laid back beach town along the Pacific coast in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica. The sand on the beach is a little darker than you might expect because of the volcanic rock that helped form Costa Rica over millions of years. The bay around Playa Hermosa is crescent shaped and creates some stunning views, especially at sunset. It also makes for a nice stopping point for flights in or out of Guanacaste Airport.
Playa Hermosa is a Great Stop after Landing at Guanacaste Airport
The reason why we stayed at Playa Hermosa was simply that we didn’t want to drive at night. We had about a 3 to 3 1/2 hour drive from Guanacaste Airport to our Airbnb in the Central Valley near Grecia. Even though we landed around noon, by the time we got through passport control and customs, took the shuttle to the car rental place and finally got the keys to the rental car, it was around 2:30.
The problem with Guanacaste Airport is that almost all of the planes from the US and Canada (which are the majority of planes landing there) arrive between 10:30 and 2:30. Also, the airport itself isn’t really near many tourist spots. A lot of the typical stops for tourists are a bit of a drive from the airport:
La Fortuna – 2.5 to 3 hour drive from the airport
Monteverde Cloud Forest – 2.5 to 3 hour drive from the airport
Jaco – 3 to 4 hour drive from the airport
Central Valley – 3 to 4 hour drive from the airport
Driving at night in Costa Rica, if you aren’t familiar with the area that you are driving, can be tricky to say the least. Between the fact that the roads are narrow, curvy and unlit, the lack of street signs, and the fact that there are always people walking in the road, you might just want to drive in the daytime, at least at first.
Lodging in Playa Hermosa
For being a pretty small travel destination there are a number of choices of places to spend the night in Playa Hermosa, all of whom are small operators (your Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt points are useless here). For more expensive hotels, there are some villas on the north side of Playa Hermosa and Hotel Bosque del Mar on the south end. We stayed in the center of Playa Hermosa where you will find some modest boutique hotels.
We stayed at Huetares Hotel and Villas. It had a nice pool area, which we really enjoyed. The rooms were spacious but a little rundown, which didn’t bother us too much since we were just sleeping there one night and then moving on. Our room had two full bathrooms and two bedrooms, each bedroom had a single and a double bed. It also had a kitchen area which would’ve been nice if had stayed longer.
There was a questionable shower there with exposed wiring. At first I didn’t understand why there was wiring on a showerhead, but I think it was an instant water heater showerhead. Either way, I’m not sticking my head under a showerhead with exposed wiring – luckily there were two bathrooms and two showers, so we didn’t use that sketchy thing.
Yeah, I’m not taking a shower under this thing. I don’t feel like dying today.
Swimming at the Beach
The sand at Playa Hermosa is fairly pleasant. It’s not a white Cancun style of beach, this is a little darker with volcanic sand mixed in. This makes the water appear dirtier than at a white sand beach, but its really that the sand is just darker.
There is a first row of trees on the edge of the beach, then a path and then the rest of the trees which allow you to walk the beach in the shade.
The water is about as warm as at any beach I’ve been to. It was very pleasant to swim in and we did see a bit of fish activity while we were swimming. The waves were fairly gentle to moderate which also made swimming very pleasant.
Wildlife in Playa Hermosa
In the short amount of time we spent in Playa Hermosa, we spotted quite a bit of wildlife. At our hotel, we spotted an Iquana that was probably 2-3 feet long. There were also quite a bit of tropical birds that were flying around and chatting to each other. The squirrels that we saw were grey and reddish orange.
Two howler monkeys in a tree. You can also see in the tree, a couple of wires. That is the monkey bridges that have been built to allow the monkeys to cross the roads without having to use electrical wires or walk across the street.
What you really need to go looking for are the howler monkeys. If you don’t know where they are, don’t worry, you’ll hear them. I don’t know how many of them live in Playa Hermosa, but there are at least a dozen who spend a lot of time at the tops of the trees. Howler monkeys are known for being loud with calls that can be up to 140 decibels. We had a lot of fun watching them in the wild and they weren’t in the least bit concerned with us.
Dining at Sunset
Playa Hermosa is located on the west coast of Costa Rica, making it a beautiful place to watch sunsets. There are also a handful of restaurants along the beach making it a great place to have dinner on the beach while watching the sunset.
The majority of the seating at Aquasport is in the sand, which is exactly where you want to sit.
The restaurants that I noticed while we were there were La Casita del Marisco, Roberto’s and Aquasport. We chose Aquasport.
There was a large swing there that was in constant use throughout dinner.
I really liked the menu at Aquasport because it allowed us to try a pretty wide variety of food that’s not available in our hometown in Iowa. Alex got the Surf and Surf, which was mahi mahi and shrimp in a pretty interesting sauce. Jenn got the mahi mahi fillet, while I ordered the beef tacu tacu and Emma ordered a chicken causa. We also shared some patacones.
Chicken Causa – a Peruvian dish with layers of potato, avocado and chicken.
Most of the food was very good. The prices were a bit on the high end, but I wouldn’t have expected anything else considering Aquasport is directly on the beach.
A live band played during dinner. They played mostly American pop music covers.
We also had a few chiliguaros, which is a shot that has guaro (a Costa Rican liquor made of sugar cane, similar to unaged rum), tomato juice and tobasco served in a salted shot glass. We chased those chiliguaros with the national beer of Costa Rica, Imperial, which is a pretty descent pilsner.
Rope lights provide great mood lighting after dusk.
We enjoyed our dinner and the fresh breeze as the sun disappeared into the Pacific Ocean. The staff was excellent, the food great, and the sunset was spectacular.
A First Taste of Gallo Pinto
Huetares Hotel and Villas is attached to a traditional Costa Rican restaurant called Coco Viquez. They serve their breakfast the way that a traditional Costa Rican ‘soda’ does. It’s set up as a buffet where you get one plate, you tell them what you want and they fill the plate up for a set price, in this case $10 US, or 5,000 Colones.
There are two sections of this buffet, one with hot foods like gallo pinto, eggs, and sausage, and the cold section with cheese and fresh fruit
Traditionally a Costa Rican breakfast comes with gallo pinto, which is essentially black beans and rice mixed together. Gallo pinto is also not complete without some plantains, some meat – I had salchichon (a type of sausage), and as much fresh fruit as they can squeeze on the plate. We also got some coffee, which they served with hot milk, which is a nice touch to not cool down your coffee, but it was already 90 degrees outside, so I’m not sure it was necessary.
Must’ve eaten the papaya before snapping this photo. The papaya was amazing.
It was all very good and the staff was very friendly. I can see why this style of breakfast became a staple in Costa Rica, it’s fast, nutritious and is delicious. This is how fast food should be done.
Small Town Feel
Playa Hermosa is a very small area. We could pretty much walk the entire town in about 30 minutes. There really is only about a half dozen restaurants, a mini grocery store, a few hotels and a beach. I think that’s the real attraction to Playa Hermosa. There isn’t a ton to see, but the views are tremendous. There aren’t a lot of choices of places to eat, but the food is really good.
There were only really two streets to walk on in Playa Hermosa. No tall buildings, not a lot of traffic. It definitely had the feel of a small town.
Because the choices are limited, Playa Hermosa will force you to take it easy. Go ahead and spend a few hours on the beach. Have a long dinner in the sand as the sun dips into the ocean. Relax and unwind. Life is stressful and hurried, but that is not the vibe in Playa Hermosa. You’re not in America anymore, you’re in Costa Rica now – Pura Vida!
Moving Along
With our bellies full of Gallo Pinto, we got into the car for what turned out to be a stressful 4 hour drive to Grecia in the Central Valley of Costa Rica. I’m glad we had a chance to unwind from our flight before attempting that drive.
We spent less than 24 hours in Playa Hermosa, because we were using it as a stop before moving on to the rest of our journey. I have a feeling that we will find our way back to Playa Hermosa, there are a few other places that I would like to visit in Costa Rica, including La Fortuna, Jaco, and Manuel Antonio National Park. I can definitely see this being a stop over anytime that we might go to Costa Rica in the future, if we are using Guanacaste Airport. The proximity to the airport, the gorgeous sunsets, and the great food make it an ideal first taste of Costa Rica.
Booking our spring break trip this year was a different for us. This was essentially the first time that we’ve had an opportunity to book a family trip with both the experience of doing so, and the points to be flexible. When we booked our trip to Europe last summer, we didn’t have a bunch of points in various programs, and we basically had to book what we needed with the available points, and for us that meant that we had to work around United Airlines since that was where we had points.
This time it was much different, since we had significant amounts of points in Chase Ultimate Rewards and a decent amount of Capital One Venture miles. Ultimate Rewards transfers to 11 different airline programs and Capital One Venture miles transfer to 15 different airline programs (many of them overlap with Ultimate Rewards). On top of that, we also had a couple of American Airlines cards that we were working toward signup bonuses on, with no plans to use those AAdvantage miles.
What this meant was that we had a lot of different choices of ways to book flights. But we needed a destination. I was looking pretty hard at Madrid, Europe is off-peak in March and a flight from Chicago to Madrid is 34,000 Avios (transferable from Chase Ultimate Rewards) round trip and around $225 in taxes and fuel surcharges, through Iberia. That seemed like a steal to me, but there is that pesky problem of jetlag and Jenn wasn’t too thrilled about having to pay $900 for four flights (I know it honestly sounds silly, but this is apparently who we are now).
I wasn’t too excited about staying in the US, because in March you basically have Florida if you want to be warm, and that’s so overrun by drunken college students it’s hard to really enjoy it. A lot of the other places we thought about like Cancun, Punta Cana, Aruba, etc seemed to be both not really what we wanted and probably would’ve also been full of drunken college students. We wanted something different.
What About Costa Rica?
Jenn and I were having a beer at our favorite taphouse talking about spring break and I said “What about Costa Rica?” She looked at me a little strange, and said “Why Costa Rica, what’s there?” I replied “beaches, mountains, jungles, great food, it’s pretty much a tropical paradise.” Within a few minutes she was on Airbnb and somehow managed to find an absolutely gorgeous 3 bedroom Airbnb in the middle of a coffee growing region near San Jose for just $75 per night. Since Airbnb allows free cancellations, she booked it right there.
I think Jenn picked a good AirbnbThis kitchen is nicer than what we have at homeYou don’t get this view in Iowa.
Now that the rental was booked it was up to me to make the airfare work.
Beating my Head Against a Wall
The Airbnb Jenn booked was only a 40 minute Uber from San Jose Airport, so that’s fantastic. I started to look at flights coming to and from San Jose from our home airport in Moline, and it was pretty clear right away that we were going to want to fly American Airlines if we wanted to leave out of Moline. They were running a special that cost around 8,000 points to San Jose and about 20,000 points coming back, and I thought, that’s pretty good, I just need to wait until we earn our signup bonuses and the points show up in our accounts.
The problem was, Jenn got her bonus from a Barclay’s card and they very specifically mention that they could take 4-6 weeks for the bonus to hit her account. I knew what I wanted but the clock was ticking and availability is never guaranteed.
When they finally hit her account the miles for those flights had increased to 11,500 miles out, and 32,000 miles back and we didn’t have enough points in our accounts for the more than 160,000 miles needed. I started shopping around and found a flight itinerary that would cost 17,500 miles through Avianca Lifemiles for the way home and keep the 11,500 mile AA flight down to San Jose.
What The Hell Am I doing?
I set Jenn up with a Lifemiles account with the intention of moving 70,000 Capital One Venture miles to Lifemiles to book the flight. The flights would have to be out of Peoria (an hour and a half drive away), since that’s where the Lifemiles flight itinerary took us.
I almost pulled the trigger and then I looked at the itinerary once again. On the way out, Moline to Charlotte to Miami, with a 7 hour overnight stay in the Miami airport before taking off to San Jose. I wasn’t thrilled about sleeping in the airport, that’s not ideal. Then on the way back, we would leave San Jose in the afternoon, stop in Guatemala for an hour then fly to Washington Dulles airport, land at 1 AM, go through customs, catch an uber to Reagan National Airport, go back through security (probably at 3 AM) and wait for a 6 AM flight to Chicago and then another flight back to Peoria, where we would have to drive an hour and a half home.
There is no way that I don’t fall asleep at the wheel coming home after that mess of a flight itinerary. That doesn’t even take into account the number of things that would have to go right just to make sure that we made it back to Peoria. It was time to call an audible, this isn’t going to work.
Let’s Try Guanacaste Airport
When I started looking at LIR airport in the north of Costa Rica, it became so much easier. The flights were more direct, less stops and prices were good. Jenn and I looked through a few choices and while we could get a slightly cheaper flight, we could find good prices for flights with just 1 stop each, and given the fact that there could be snow in March, fewer stops mean a better chance of actually getting to our destination. Each flight had long layovers, but they were long enough to get hotels so they looked great.
The outbound flight is Moline to Chicago to Guanacaste with a 17 hour overnight layover in Chicago and the return flight is Guanacaste to Dallas to Moline with a 18 hour layover in Dallas. We will be able to sleep well, staying in hotels for each and we should be able to be rested and relaxed rather than stressed and tired. Much better, but unfortunately we now have a 3 hour drive from Guanacaste airport to the Airbnb as opposed to a 40 minute drive from San Jose Airport. Oh well, we were going to rent a car anyway.
The flights cost us 120,000 AAdvantage miles and $336.24 in taxes. The cash price total for the same exact flights would have cost us $2,888.48 which means that we saved around $2,550. That means that those miles were redeemed at 2.1 cents per point which is well above the normal 1.5 cents per point for AAdvantage Miles, so I’m happy with the value we got from the points.
Land in Costa Rica as Early as Possible
Here is a little side note that I’ve learned from my research – if you are going to fly to the Guanacaste Airport, you probably want to land early if possible. At first, I was a little annoyed that I couldn’t get to Costa Rica with a 1 day flight itinerary but the more I read I’m okay with it. The reason is that Guanacaste Airport is a regional airport and while it is the best airport to go to for a variety of places in the north of Costa Rica, it’s not really close to anything.
So, what’s the big deal, right? I can drive at night. Yeah, but you probably shouldn’t. It is generally not recommended to drive in Costa Rica at night. The reason for this is that the roads are rural, curvy, unlit, and not always in great shape. It’s never a great idea to drive in an unfamiliar country at night, but with Costa Rica being so rural, it’s really not recommended. Add in the possibility of mountainous terrain with no guardrails and it could get deadly. It’s especially not recommended in the rainy season, where it can get even more treacherous.
It is also of note that it gets dark early in Costa Rica. Since it’s fairly close to the equator, the times don’t change too much from season to season but basically you can expect sunrise to be around 5:30 AM and sunset to be around 5:30 PM. That means that we will be probably cutting it a little close with the 12:30 landing and a 3 hour drive (once you figure in customs, car rental counter and probably some lunch).
Booking the Hotels
Since both the flight to Costa Rica and the flight back have overnight layovers, we needed to book a couple of hotels. We’re not that picky about where we stay, but I definitely like things to be easy and Jenn likes free breakfast if available. On the way there, in Chicago Jenn booked the Springhill Suites because it had a free airport shuttle and free breakfast, for 17,500 Marriott Bonvoy points. It would have cost $129 with cash so it comes out to .7 cents per point which is less than the .8 cents per point that Bonvoy points are typically valued at.
I booked the Hyatt Regency DFW for one reason only. It was actually at the airport. We don’t even need a shuttle, just walk from the terminal to the hotel and vice versa. We burned my 1-4 category Hyatt certificate on it and it’s only a category 2 hotel, so I definitely could have done better. It would have cost $218 for that night, so I think the fact that I get that certificate by paying a $95 annual fee for the World of Hyatt credit card makes it decent.
How Do I Feel About the Bookings
I feel pretty good about these bookings. I tend not to worry too much about maximizing hotel certificates, because I’m really not a hotel snob. I’m not sure I could tell the difference between a category 2 and a category 5 Hyatt. Jenn used a few more of her Marriott points to book another night, it almost seems like she always has Bonvoy points when we need them.
I’m pretty happy about the flight booking. We get to leave from our small home airport and still only have one stop. The stops are all long enough to relax at a hotel instead of being uncomfortable at the airport. On top of that, we got good value for our American Airline miles. I had been slow to look at American Airlines because they don’t have any transfer partners except Bilt, but I’m going to have to work a little harder to keep some AAdvantage miles around because that was a good deal.
It always feels great to get a trip booked, because now I can concentrate on what we are going to do when we are there, where we are going to eat and what we want to explore. I have read that Costa Rica is not a place to “wing it” since destinations are typically far away and roads can be unpredictable. That’s okay with me though, I like planning out the fun stuff.
Newby to Expert Traveler 