Costa Rican Nuptials

Ok everyone – if you haven’t already heard, we’ve finally decided to get married! We’ve chosen Playa Grande, Costa Rica for the wedding because it’s a place we’ve both always wanted to visit, it’s got great beaches, and of course the kicker…it’s got great surf! And as you know – we hate a holiday…

About Playa Grande http://www.govisitcostarica.com/region/city.asp?cID=23

GETTING THERE
The closest airport to Playa Grande / Tamarindo is Liberia; however this is not a big internationally serviced airport. The main airport in CR is San Jose. From the research that we’ve done (thanks Fran!), these are the options that we’ve found:

1. Fly into Liberia and stay in a Playa Grande / Tamarindo area hotel or house and pay separately for flight / lodging

2. Stay at an all inclusive hotel in the area with (Air Canada Vacations has a few offers, but check your local airline) - the package would include flights to and from Liberia airport

3. Fly into San Jose airport and take a 45 minute shuttle flight to Liberia airport and pay separately for flight / lodging

4. Fly into San Jose and drive from SJ airport to Tamarindo / Playa Grande, which is about 4.5hrs and pay separately for flight / lodging

Option 1 - Flight to Liberia, hotel or house in area
According to their website, Air Canada does not fly directly to Liberia at that time of year. Sites such as Expedia and Travelocity show flights with Continental and Delta Airlines from Ottawa and Toronto that connect at least once in the states. The duration for these flights varies from 6.5hrs to 22hrs. These include at least one or two stops at airports in the states and cost about $1100-1200.

Our thoughts - not a good option for those of you in Ontario, but if you live in Denver - right on!

Option 2 - All Inclusive package at hotel in area
The AC Vacations book for 2007 show three vacation packages in the area of Playa Grande near Tamarindo. There are three hotels that you can check out: Paradisus Playa Conchal (5 star AI), Tamarinfo Diria (3 star - not an all-inclusive), and Barcelo Langosta Beach (3.5 star AI). These are all within 45min of the Wedding House with Tamarindo Diria being the closest. Check out the CR map for an idea of where the beaches are in the area.

As far as Air Canada's website goes, they are not booking for September 07 dates (or any others around that time) right now, so it might be a good idea to go to a travel agent with this information to be sure that these packages still apply.

For those leaving from Ottawa, AC Vacations is great because departures from Ottawa are included in their packages.

www.aircanadavacations.com
www.solmelia.com/solNew/hoteles/jsp/C_Hotel_Description.jsp?codigoHotel=5891
www.tamarindodiria.com
www.barcelo.com/BarceloHotels/en-GB/Hotels/CostaRica/Tamarindo/LangostaBeach/Home

Option 3 - Flight to San Jose with Shuttle, hotel in area
This is, from what we’ve seen, the best option to get there.

Air Canada offers a return flight to San Jose for $610.00, departing on 01/09/07 and returning on 08/09/07. “Sansa Regional Airline" in Costa Rica does flights between cities domestically, and will transfer from the airport in San Jose to Tamarindo. You can go to their website www.flysansa.com to see that they have daily flights for $86US each way. This option is a lot quicker and less expensive than option 1 (flying into Liberia). You will have to book the regional flight separately for your travel between airports.

Option 4 - Flight to San Jose and Car Rental
This is an option for those who would like to make a road trip out of it! The coast is beautiful, I'm sure, and this might be a great idea to get around and see a lot while in CR. Be warned though, all reports say that the roads are pretty bad so unless you’re into off-roading, this may not be an ideal option. After the flight to San Jose (above), the drive is about 4.5hrs from San Jose airport to Tamarindo.

From Australia
Flights are in the range of $2500 to $3000. From Sydney, Qantas flies to San Jose with a stop-over in LA and Dallas – that flight is approximately $2660. Air Canada also flies to San Jose, and is approximately $2550. I’m speaking with a friend who works for Flight Centre who might be able to arrange a group rate, so let me know if you would like to contact her directly.

If you've got the time, the cash, and itchy feet, I'd even suggest looking into getting an around the world ticket - they're not that much more!

WHERE TO STAY
Playa Grande isn't a resort beach - it mostly has villas on the beach for rent, or small hotel accommodation. It's a surf beach, and the hotels aren't luxurious (sorry - no all inclusives here), but rather moderate and chilled out - very Costa Rican authentic...

If you are thinking of renting a villa on Playa Grande or another beach nearby, a good site is:

http://www.vrbo.com/ and search under Costa Rica, Playa Grande

Hotels nearby include:
www.ripjackinn.com
www.hotelcantarana.com
www.hotelbulabula.com
www.cabinascasaverde.com
www.hotel-manglar.com
www.hotelitosisisi.com
www.cool.co.cr/usr/turtles/

These are only a few choices of spots in the area - there are probably more, depending on how far you will be willing to stay from the party! From what we can figure out, Casa Muy Grande looks to be across from Hotel Cantarana.

Be sure to check out trip advisor - they have a few descriptions of a couple of the places.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g309245-Playa_Grande_Province_of_Guanacaste-Hotels.html

I’ll be updating this site with more info as I get it. Please let me know if you have any other questions, and feel free to post any comments / additional info that you want to share to help others organise their trip.

Can’t wait to see you all there!