One Week in Costa Rica for Families

When many families travel to Costa Rica, they plan a split stay with time at both the rain forest in the center of the country and the beaches on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts. We chose to stay just at the Arenal rainforest, to reduce travel time and make the most of our not-quite full week. If you have time for both, it’s the best of both worlds, but if your schedule is more limited, La Fortuna is a wonderful place to stay busy with plenty of relaxation time built in, too.

Have you ever been on a sloth search? Luckily they don’t move around much, sleeping 22 hours a day, so they are easy to track. Unluckily, they live very high up, making the chances of a sloth hug very small (they only climb down from very tall trees once a week to use the bathroom). Using a guide for this activity is key because they know where the local sloths live and they have high-powered telescopes to help you catch the perfect glimpse. We saw at least five three-toed sloths on our tour, including moms with babies and one very busy dad to all the babies named Walter, affectionately dubbed the Brad Pitt of La Fortuna.

If you’ve ever gone on Disney’s Jungle Cruise ride and wished it were real, this activity through Canoa Aventura is for you. This tour is perfect for kids who want to comfortably float down the river in a eight person inflatable raft. The adults are put to work for easy paddling, but the current does most of the work and you will not have to deal with large rapids.

Proyecto Asis was the absolute highlight of our trip. This wildlife sanctuary takes in injured and illegally kept animals such as parrots, macaws, monkeys and more, with the hopes of rehabilitating and releasing the ones who are ready and able to go back into the wild and protecting those who can't. We toured the grounds and got to know all of the local characters by name, then we volunteered our time, preparing food for the monkeys – chopping and weighing fruits and veggies. We then watched the monkeys enjoy the literal fruits of our labor, slurping down orange wedges with gusto.

In downtown La Fortuna, there is a small touristy area with restaurants and shops. We chose to eat at Casa Fortuna after multiple recommendations and we were not disappointed. The massive ceviche was so fresh and flavorful, the drinks were strong and you can’t get more kid friendly than ordering a mixed plate for two, which featured lots of grilled meats, garlic shrimp and fried items like fish sticks, fries, plantains and yucca. We were sadly too stuffed to try the flan or tarta de queso (cheesecake), though we would have loved to.

My kids loved this hands-on tour of a coffee and chocolate farm. The friendly guides, who are quick with a joke, enhance the tour, but it is fascinating seeing the different stages of taking coffee beans and cacao fruit from a plant to your table. In one of the tour highlights, we took turns grinding our own chocolate into bars, complete with mix-ins, like sugar, dairy and cinnamon. We also sampled freshly roasted and ground coffee, professionally made chocolates and even stocked up on more treats from the store for the ride home.

Yet another adventure where a guide is key, this dark tour around the grounds of Arenal Oasis shows you the smaller, easily missed creatures of the night, like poison dart frogs, venomous snakes, hairy spiders and busy leaf-cutter ants. It is a delight for the senses, from the misty dew of rainforest floor to the loud chirping of fingernail-sized frogs. Load up on bug spray and long pants and prepare to be amazed with all the creatures you probably wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.

The Mistico Hanging Bridges are not for the faint of heart, including those who hate heights and those who detest bouncy metal bridges, for there is a lot of both on this two mile hike. If you can brave it and remember not to look straight down, you will be treated to breathtaking views of the rainforest from high above and chances to spot more birds, monkeys and sloths. A network of 20 bridges snake you up and down the trails, with six being the secure, but bouncy metal hanging bridges. Tour at your own pace or use a guide for even more animal spotting.