Looking for where to stay for your trip to Costa Rica?
The country is filled with gorgeous resorts, beautiful boutique hotels, welcoming hostels and wonderful little Airbnb’s immersed in culture!
So with all these great options how do you choose where to stay in Costa Rica?
First things first, you need to choose which area you want to stay in.
There are seven provinces in Costa Rica: San Jose, Heredia, Alajuela, Cartago, Puntarenas, Guanacaste and Limon.
Let’s break those down a little:
San Jose: If you like cities rich in culture and filled with fun Saturday markets and lovely architecture, home to the beautiful capital of the country
Heredia: North of San Jose – touches the Nicaraguan border
Alajuela: Features stunning views, coffee and chocolate plantations and home to the beautiful Volcan Poas National Park
Cartago: Home to many more of the volcanoes of Costa Rica – we stopped here for Volcan Irazu!
Puntarenas: Covers most of the Pacific Coast, if you love gorgeous beaches and surf towns – this is your spot! Also holds the gorgeous Manuel Antonio National Park, a must see in Costa Rica!
Guanacaste: One of the most diverse regions of the country, this province has cloud forests, volcanoes and resort beach towns, all in one!
Limon: The Caribbean coast, features some beautiful national parks and banana plantations!
We chose to stay half our trip in Puntarenas and half in Alajuela – we also traveled to Cartago and Guanacaste! It is important to note that if you are driving in Costa Rica, they don’t use street addresses, so get ready to maybe get lost a few times!
What’s your travel style…
If resorts are your thing, we would recommend checking out some of the five star resorts in Guanacaste!
If little hidden bungalows are your favorite try out Puntarenas in the lush forest with beach views.
If you like a little adventure we would recommend a volcano view in Alajuela!
We chose Airbnb for each of our stops, and were more than pleased with the hospitality and accommodations!
Our first stop in the little beach town of Dominical had the most perfect views:
Our next stop in the city of Alajuela, was nestled next to a coffee plantation and peaked right over to San Jose and the volcanoes of the area!
Wherever you choose to stay in Costa Rica, we know you will love this country! The views are so diverse and serene, it is a perfect spot for anyone from avid adventurers to relaxed beach goers!
Want more on Costa Rica?
Some photo inspo… 15 photos that will make you want to go to Alajuela immeditaely
5 Tips For Visiting Costa Rica
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10 Responses
This is really useful, thanks for that!
Costa Rica is definitely a country worth visiting I think. Haven’t been there yet but if I go I’ll keep this in mind when I’m searching for a place to stay. 🙂
OK, Costa Rica looks amazing. I love the way you’ve given information on each of the seven provinces. I want to spend time in them all now.
Super helpful to break down the various areas as that’s often the hardest thing to figure out when travel planning.
The views of the water are lovely! And waking up in a coffee plantation would be heaven, I love coffee! The five start resorts are definitely my style.
Nature of Costa Rica is superb! Can’ t wait to visit Costa Rica and see all those beaches, volcanos and wildlife!
This looks incredible! I want to drop what I’m doing and go there right now! I love staying at airbnb. I feel like the reviews are accurate and you save so much money!
Those are all great ideas and I want to do all of them. Guess I will need to make sure I stay awhile when I do finally make it to Costa Rica.
What gorgeous pictures!! I went to Costa Rica last year and absolutely fell in love. I’d love to go back and explore the country some more one of these days! 🙂
I love how you broke down where to stay by region and what there is to do there. I am dying to see the cloud forests but had no idea Costa Rica had so many diverse regions. Thanks!
Your article is going to be pretty useful for me as I’ve been wanting to discover that country since a long time, and that it is still on my short term bucket list. thank you for it !