I, my wife and 2 children (10&15) have just returned from a fantastic holiday to Costa Rica. We spent 10 days touring the country an then 4 days at the end relaxing on the beach. I thought that I better write an article about it as everyone should go and visit this fabulous country, it is beautiful and the people are so friendly.

We decided after watching a TV programme about Costa Rica on BBC1 to enquire about a holiday to Costa Rica. We searched the web for Costa Rica Holidays and found a company called Costa Rica Holiday who is a specialist in travel to Costa Rica. We discussed with them what we wanted and they were ale to custom design something for us. The great thing about it was however that they were based in Costa Rica and were English. I could call a London number and speak to someone in Costa Rica at no extra expense. Well after revising the itinerary we finally booked and then we waited until our holiday!!

So in July we set off from Sunny old England via Madrid with Iberia to Costa Rica. As promised there was someone there from Costa Rica Holiday to meet us and they gave us a pouch with all the information we needed in. Our first night was somewhat of a blur as we were very tired indeed. However we arose early in the AM and took transport to Tortuguero as we were going to see the turtles coming onto the beaches. We stayed at Manatus Hotel which was a new luxury hotel in Tortuguero. We soon came to learn that most places are rather basic in that area and we were glad that we were staying at Manatus. Seeing the turtles coming onto the beaches and laying their eggs however was fabulous, and the kids loved it. It is a must see between July and September.

From here we went to the Arenal Volcano and were lucky enough to see the volcano glowing at night as the lava flowed down it. We stayed at the Lost Iguana Hotel in one of the Celebrity Suites and the view was jaw dropping. The service at the hotel was good and the food was excellent. One thing I particularly liked was the fact that very anywhere in the hotel you can see the volcano. We did some rafting on the Rio Arenal which was fun for the kids however a little tame for us. We later learned that the Rio Toro would have better for us however because our son was 10 we could not do it. We also visited the Tabacon Hot springs which is rather artificial ad crowded. I think the Eco-Termales would have been better however our Agent did say this but we had a friend who went to Tabacon and we listened to tem over our Agent.

We then boated across the lake to the rainforest in the clouds at Monteverde. This was a great area for a couple of days but I would not suggest more than 3 nights as with kids it can get boring. We did do the best Canopy tour, we had done one in Belize but this was a million times better!!! The Tarzan swing was the best!! We also walked the sky walk which was fun and gives a different perspective on the rainforest!!

Our beach location was the Manuel Antonio area. Our Consultant had suggested Santa Teresa as well however we felt that the activities on offer in Manuel Antonio would better suit the kids. We stayed at Si Como No which is a small hotel on the main road which had sweeping views of the Ocean ad rainforest. We really just relaxed here as the kids were tired and we wanted to relax before we had to go back to work.

The end of the holiday came sooner than we thought, 2 weeks went fast!! We had a great time and the itinerary we did would be great for an active family and also families wanting to see wildlife. We would highly suggest using Holidays in Costa Rica