24 days in Costa Rica - trip planed by Serendipity Adventures
Costa Rica | Jun 10 - Jul 4, 2023

E
Etai M.
San Jose, CA | Reviewed on Jul 09, 2023

Serendipity Adventures (Sergio and Charlotte) were amazing! Building the custom itinerary to match our specific needs, and being available during the trip for questions and assistance.

The KimKim platform is excellent and super helpful during the planning stage, but there are a few things that can be improved during the trip itself when we wanted to look up our next destination and plan details:
1) accessing the trip details requires an active internet connection, which isn't always available.
2) There's no way to access the plan details directly, it requires several clicks and is quite annoying!
3) Especially for longer trips (ours was 24 days), because each time you have to load the trip details from scratch it's a pain to scroll through the itinerary to get to right place, it would be nice if the page opened on the current date :)
4) A dedicated app, or integration with another app (like TripIt) would be a super valuable feature!

Hotel Reviews
La Carolina Lodge
Bijagua

This was, by far, the highlight of our Costa Rica trip! This lodge is amazing, perfect for a family stay of 3-4 days. The food is excellent, the staff is super friendly, and access to the river and the outdoor hot tub are a real treat. If you do one thing in Costa Rica, go here!!

Authenticity & Character
Location
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Hotel Hacienda Guachipelín
Liberia

The hotel itself is great, and offers a great variety of attractions. However the fact that it's so isolated and the only dining options are so expensive was an issue for us.

Authenticity & Character
Location
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Hotel Los Lagos Spa & Resort
Fortuna

A great place to stay in the area of Arenal. The pools and slides were a hit with the kids, and proximity to attractions and a wide range of restaurants made it a very convenient location.

Authenticity & Character
It's a very touristy resort, but the slides and pools (regular and natural hot water) were a big plus with the kids.
Location
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Trapp Family Lodge Monteverde
Monteverde Costa Rica

Hotel itself is decent, but not one I would recommend for families with children. There's nothing to do at the hotel itself and food there is expensive, which meant we constantly had to drive to/from the hotel. Add to that the fact that the roads are terrible which made each drive a real pain. We would've preferred a more central location in Monteverde, and only have to drive the one time into the park.

Authenticity & Character
The rooms on the ground floor of the main building (under the lobby) felt like going into a dark basement. And the automatic flood lights in the hall were very disruptive (any time someone walks in the hall it lights up the entire room). Perhaps the rooms in the other building would've been nicer.
Location
The area is beautiful and the proximity to the Monteverde park is an advantage, but having to drive for every meal or activity (on terrible roads) was a real pain.
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Los Altos Resort
Manuel Antonio

Amazing hotel and perfectly located. Our only complaint was that the beach wasn't quite what we expected (a bit of a hike, and the beach itself isn't very inviting and quite small). But we loved the pool area and enjoyed the other beaches in the Manuel Antonio area.

Authenticity & Character
Location
Staff
Cleanliness & Comfort
Local specialist: Sergio Bolaños