Journey to Quepos, Costa Rica
When we asked Daniel where he wanted to go for his graduation trip the only criteria he gave was that it be somewhere with a beach. So when a deal for roundtrip tickets to Costa Rica for $300 showed up in my inbox (thanks to Scott’s Cheap Flights, now rebranded as Going!), I couldn’t resist. As one of the few countries open to travelers, we decided to book the flights and then navigate whatever requirements were necessary when the time came. I admit, it has been a bit more involved in this post-Covid climate, but I’ll share more about that in a separate post with step-by-step instructions that will hopefully make it easier for other travelers to Costa Rica!
We arrived in Costa Rica at the San Jose airport around noon, made our way through customs, shuttled to the Budget car rental office, and hit the road to Quepos by mid-afternoon. Our car rental experience with Budget was so much better than our previous car rental experience with Hertz here in Costa Rica. We were able to decline the additional coverage by booking with our Capital One Visa card, which provides car rental Collision Damage anyway. So our total for the 6-day rental came to just under $200!
The traffic was as crazy as before in San Jose, but after we got out of the city, the drive toward Quepos was much more pleasant. The scenery along the way was gorgeous!
We arrived in Quepos at dusk and wound our way through the narrow streets. It reminded us of some of the mountain towns in Colorado, albeit of a more tropical variety!
Our 2-bedroom 2-bath Airbnb apartment was even nicer than anticipated, boasting a full kitchen, spacious living area, and expansive balcony overlooking the Pacific coast.
After getting settled in, our first order of business was dinner. We walked up the street to the Falafel Bar for a filling Mediterranean meal. It was sufficient, but not as tasty as our favorite Meddy’s back home.
We discovered that the beach was closer than we realized, so we ended the evening with an excursion to the shore. The walk down was filled with the sounds of the jungle and a few bright stars poked through the cloud-strewn sky. What a glorious end to our first day back in Costa Rica!
