Lost you camera on the beach? Luckily, you bought travel insurance for Costa Rica!
No credits, no refunds, no substitutions.
That’s the standard line in travel – and one that, unfortunately, mostly applies to Costa Rica. As with airfare, event tickets, prepaid hotel reservations, and other travel-related expenses, most, if not all of your Costa Rica vacation reservations are non-refundable.
So, in a word – yes, you should absolutely purchase travel insurance for Costa Rica.
What Is Travel Insurance for Costa Rica?
Travel insurance, sometimes called trip insurance, is a simple-but-comprehensive insurance policy that provides financial protection before, during and after your vacation. (Note: Don’t confuse travel insurance with travel health insurance; they’re two very different things!)
Knock wood, but if something were to happen – illness, travel delays, inclement weather, etc. – to interrupt, disrupt, or influence your trip, your travel insurance covers your losses. Standard benefits extend to recouping trip expenses and covering medical emergencies, lost luggage, and other unexpected events.
So, why do we recommend travel insurance for Costa Rica trips? Well, back to that bit about nonrefundable prepayments…
Remember: Reservations are Prepaid
Most, perhaps all of your reservations – your Tamarindo vacation rental, activities, equipment rentals, airport transportation, rental car, etc. – will be fully prepaid, before you arrive.
And that means, if you miss your flight, or get sick, or fill-in-the-blank, you won’t receive refunds for missed reservations: unslept nights at your vacation rental, airport shuttles not caught, surfboards not surfed, ziplines not zipped – all those much-awaited activities and fun, missed due to snow that grounds your flight, or a last-minute bout of strep throat, or a missed connection at the airport.
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Planning A Corporate Retreat in Costa Rica: Why Tamarindo (+ 3 Incredible Venues)
/in Corporate Retreats, Costa Rica, Group Travel, Tamarindo Retreats, Tamarindo Travel Guide /by Erin RaubTalk about an incentive: Plan your next corporate retreat in Costa Rica!
What better way to thank your employees for a job well done – for outstanding performance, superior leadership, and everything else they do to go above and beyond – than with a corporate retreat in Costa Rica?
This is the out-of-the-box incentive, whether it’s a well-earned corporate getaway, an annual meeting, intimate tête-à-têtes, or management/leadership retreats. There’s sun. There’s sand. And there are endless opportunities for bonding: surfing and snorkeling, ziplines and sunset sails, volcano hikes and hot springs soaks.
And so, we’re going to kick off our Guide to Corporate Retreats in Costa Rica with this post. But, we promise – there’s so much more to come!
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Looking for Great Tamarindo Meeting Space? Try Pangas!
/in Corporate Retreats, Tamarindo Retreats, Tamarindo Reunions /by Erin RaubIt’s easy to see why Pandas Beach Club is one of our top choices for Tamarindo meeting venues
Located at the northern end of Tamarindo and cozied up to the estuary, the beachfront Pangas Beach Club frames a picture-perfect Tamarindo meeting space: timelessly elegant and yet also beach-casual, and serving up some of the freshest-from-the-sea gourmet dishes.
All told, it’s no surprise that Pangas is a perennial favorite for group meetings, corporate events, and all those other business-casual moments more suited to putting your feet up, than buttoning up. Yes, obviously, we love it here.
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Tamarindo Day Trip: Guide to Palo Verde National Park
/in Nature & Wildlife, Tamarindo Daytrips, Tamarindo Travel Guide, Things to Do /by Erin RaubPalo Verde National Park is famous for its birdwatching (pictured: a roseate spoonbill)
One of Costa Rica’s seemingly greatest contrasts, spectacular Palo Verde National Park is home to a resounding dichotomy: rich and vibrant wetlands that simultaneously house one of the world’s foremost examples of tropical dry forest.
A contradiction, indeed, and one that works beautifully.
Palo Verde’s unique setting is owed to the Río Tempisque, which ebbs and flows over this otherwise arid region. The result is somewhat other-worldly, with sun-drenched dry forest unfolding over parched limestone, which then cozies up to rushing river and muddy habitats.
It’s a major watershed, a protected wildlife sanctuary, and an important dry forest, all rolled into one. And it’s absolutely fascinating.
Rincon de la Vieja National Park Overview:
Location: 16 miles south of Bagaces
Founded: 1978
Maximum Altitude: 879 feet (267 meters) above sea level
Area: 45,492 acres (divided into two sectors: Las Pailas and Santa Maria)
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Telephone: 2200-0125 or 2661-4717
Entrance Fee: $12 adults / $5 children
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In Our Daypack: What to Carry on Your Tamarindo Day Trips
/in Costa Rica, Tamarindo Daytrips, Tamarindo Travel Guide /by Erin RaubHere’s what to pack for your Tamarindo day trips. Just add sun! And sand. And Tamarindo. Adventure awaits!
Beyond our general Costa Rica packing list, you’re going to want a day pack. Well, at least, you’ll want one if you’re anything like us. We carry our day packs everywhere. Because, when you’re vacationing at a beach that borders on tropical dry forest, which cozies up to jungle waterfalls, that then spill into sapphire ocean… well, who knows what the day’s adventures will bring?
Obviously, what you throw into your daypack depends on your personal beach style. There are the standards – bathing suit cover-ups, sunglasses, sandals/flip-flops, a good book, etc. – that we know you’ll pack. But there are a few additional things you really wouldn’t want to forget. Here are our musts:
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Wildly Fun: Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge
/in Nature & Wildlife, Tamarindo, Tamarindo Travel Guide, Things to Do /by Erin RaubTake a kayak tour into the wilds of Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge
Saltwater jungles. Lumbering leatherback sea turtles. Otherworldly mangrove estuaries. Winding canals. Lizards, running on water. Behind-the-scenes boat tours. Yes, Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge is fascinating and often, a bit magical.
We admit it freely: We love our wildlife refuge! Even more so because it encompasses our entire coastline. Indeed, almost anywhere you walk on Tamarindo’s beaches, you’re walking through the Tamarindo Wildlife Refuge.
But it’s about a lot more than just the beach. Indeed, while – in wildlife refuge terms, at least! – the beaches serve as important sea turtle nesting sites, there’s more to see here. More, to the tune of incredible mangrove forests, connected through winding saltwater and brackish canals. It’s wildlife central and it’s right in our backyard, if only you know where to look.
Overview:
Location: Tamarindo
Size: 953 acres (385 hectares)
Altitude: Sea Level
Contact (Tempisque Conservation Area): 2686-4967 / 2686-4968
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Top 5 Honeymoon Vacation Rentals, Bungalows and Hideaways
/in Costa Rica, Tamarindo Wedding Guide, Vacation Rentals in Tamarindo /by Erin RaubWelcome to honeymoon bliss. Welcome to five of our favorite Costa Rica honeymoon villas.
Tucked into Costa Rica’s north Pacific coast (and the jungles of the Osa Peninsula), this spectacular country welcomes honeymooners to some of the world’s most secluded, most beautiful and most dream-worthy Costa Rica honeymoon villas and vacation rentals.
They’re lovely. They’re private. They’re all yours. And yes, they’re even a little bit extravagant. Because if there’s one moment in life to indulge, we believe it’s on your Costa Rican honeymoon.
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9 Ways to Upgrade Your Tamarindo Vacation
/in Nature & Wildlife, Tamarindo Daytrips, Tamarindo Travel Guide, Things to Do /by Erin RaubThis moment can be yours. All yours. Welcome to our favorite upgrades to your Tamarindo vacation!
So, you’ve done it. You’ve finally booked your trip to Costa Rica. You bought the airfare. You reserved your Tamarindo vacation rental. And you’re thisclose to your dream Tamarindo vacation.
You have just a few details to iron out. Well, maybe more than a few.
Because you have no idea what you want to do while you’re here. Or rather, you know exactly what you’d like to do. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough time to do it all. Well, not unless you’re here for six months.
So, what’s a traveler to do? Prioritize, that’s what. Because, as difficult as it may be to narrow down your Tamarindo vacation preferences, it’s an unfortunate necessity. Your trip (and your sanity) deserve it. (And don’t worry, whatever you can’t fit in now will be perfect for your next visit!)
Luckily, we’re here to help. We’re here, on the ground. We’re here, doing it all so you don’t have to. We work with delighted travelers every day. And so, we know – we know the best upgrades, must-book tours, and other activities you can’t miss on your Tamarindo vacation.
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Travel Insurance for Costa Rica: Do You Need It?
/in Costa Rica, Costa Rica Travel Costs, Tamarindo Travel Guide /by Erin RaubLost you camera on the beach? Luckily, you bought travel insurance for Costa Rica!
No credits, no refunds, no substitutions.
That’s the standard line in travel – and one that, unfortunately, mostly applies to Costa Rica. As with airfare, event tickets, prepaid hotel reservations, and other travel-related expenses, most, if not all of your Costa Rica vacation reservations are non-refundable.
So, in a word – yes, you should absolutely purchase travel insurance for Costa Rica.
What Is Travel Insurance for Costa Rica?
Travel insurance, sometimes called trip insurance, is a simple-but-comprehensive insurance policy that provides financial protection before, during and after your vacation. (Note: Don’t confuse travel insurance with travel health insurance; they’re two very different things!)
Knock wood, but if something were to happen – illness, travel delays, inclement weather, etc. – to interrupt, disrupt, or influence your trip, your travel insurance covers your losses. Standard benefits extend to recouping trip expenses and covering medical emergencies, lost luggage, and other unexpected events.
So, why do we recommend travel insurance for Costa Rica trips? Well, back to that bit about nonrefundable prepayments…
Remember: Reservations are Prepaid
Most, perhaps all of your reservations – your Tamarindo vacation rental, activities, equipment rentals, airport transportation, rental car, etc. – will be fully prepaid, before you arrive.
And that means, if you miss your flight, or get sick, or fill-in-the-blank, you won’t receive refunds for missed reservations: unslept nights at your vacation rental, airport shuttles not caught, surfboards not surfed, ziplines not zipped – all those much-awaited activities and fun, missed due to snow that grounds your flight, or a last-minute bout of strep throat, or a missed connection at the airport.
Read more
Tamarindo Day Trip: The Fascinating Rio Celeste & its Waterfall
/in Tamarindo Daytrips, Tamarindo Travel Guide /by Erin RaubTamarindo day trip: Rio Celeste, one of the world’s most incredible sights!
Once upon an ancient time, a god decided to paint the sky. Blue, he said, as he picked up his brush – the sky shall be blue. And so, the god chose his paints and began to smear the sky in swaths of cerulean, sapphire and turquoise.
As he painted, the god reached down to Earth to clean his brush. And his brush touched a river. And thus, the river also turned blue – sky blue, as the hue would be known, after the god finished his work. The Celeste River, as the river would be known, one day.
Or so the story goes.
Of course, there’s a scientific explanation for Costa Rica’s Rio Celeste. One that has everything to do with volcanic minerals – with oxygen, aluminum, and silicon, suspended in water and refracting light.
But we prefer the more romantic explanation. It’s fitting for this special river, baby blue in hue and proof, if ever there were, of real-life alchemy – of the mundane becoming something magical. Because here, the water is really, truly blue. Scoop it up with your hands – blue. Immerse your arm – blue. The Rio Celeste is really, truly the blue of a sky-blue crayon. Of a god’s leftover sky paint.
If we are vague, let us be clear: Don’t miss this Tamarindo day trip. Just don’t!
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Big Five: More Costa Rican Animals You Can’t Wait to Spot
/in Costa Rica, Nature & Wildlife, Tamarindo Travel Guide /by Erin RaubThe keel-billed toucan is one of our favorite Costa Rican animals!
A promise is a promise! In our first overview of Costa Rica’s Big Five, we came clean and admitted we couldn’t narrow it down to just five Costa Rican animals.
After all, Costa Rica is home to a whopping 6% of the world’s total biodiversity, in space as small as just 0.3% of the Earth’s surface. That’s packing it pretty tight, in ratio terms. Pretty tight under any terms, really. Because, did you know? Costa Rica is home to an estimated 500,000 species (including 1,251 species of butterflies alone!).
Admittedly, that would be a lot to see while you’re here. In fact, it may be a tad over-optimistic to hope you’ll see them all. So, in our continuing mission to help you narrow it down, may we present our next round of our Big Five: 5 more Costa Rican animals to put on your must-see list:
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