Costa Rica 5 Day Roadtrip

Hola hola. I am back and with a new blog post for you! I just returned from a 5 day road trip with my boyfriend and I can’t wait to share all the details with you. I must say, this was a soul recharging trip. We enjoyed it so much! From spending time with joyful people to eating lots of great foods and being in Nature, we did a little bit of everything. The quick route is La Fortuna, San José, Turrialba, Siquirres, Cahuita, Puerto Viejo, and back to La Fortuna. You will find a lot of information here. Enjoy!

First of all, huge shoutout to Adobe Car Rental. This road trip was thanks to them who provided us with the transporation we needed to make it happen. Adobe is the local car rental company we trust and we are so grateful they helped us have a safe and fun trip. Use code NT46J with Adobe to get a 10% discount on your next car rental in Costa Rica.

Now, this trip was more personal than touristic, but we still managed to do some tourism, visit friends, and have a lot of fun. The areas we visited have lots of places you can go and I will give you some recommendations at the end of places you could visit if you take this route and are looking for more tourism.

So, what inspired the trip? My boyfriend wanted to visit the beach. He grew up in the Caribbean side of Costa Rica and he really missed the beach. I wanted to travel, as always, and visit Turrialba to see some friends. He also had an appointment in San José. So we decided to put it all together and take a trip to attend the appointment, pass by Turrialba, and visit the beach. In that way we met all of our needs during the trip. Btw. This was our first trip together!!! So exciting right? And he proved to be an amazing travel partner. Cheers to many more trips together.

Now, here is the itinerary we did:

• Day 1 - La Fortuna to San José

  • The closest Adobe Care Rental office to us is in Ciudad Quesada so we took an uber to the Fortuna bus station and then a bus to Ciudad Quesada to pick up the car. It was around 8:30a.m. after picking up the car so we decided to get on the road a drive a little bit before stopping for breakfast. I realized that we were going to pass Zarcero so we decided to wait until then to eat. Zarcero is a town well known for its park full of shaped cypress trees. It also has a gorgeous church built in 1910. It took us around an hour to get there. We ate some delicious food at a local soda and then visited the park and the church. It was impressive the smell of the cypress trees around the park. Before leaving Zarcero, we drove about 10 minutes uphill to a viewpoint of the town. Now it was time to get to the city. Nothing says welcome to the city more than some good traffic. We drove straight to our airbnb in Escazu to check in. Our hosts were amazing and allowed us to check in a bit early. We were in urgent need of a nap before dinner. We went to bed late the night before so we were exhausted. The nap felt glorious! Once we woke up we got ready and went to get pupusas as an appetizer because we had dinner plans with friends somewhere else. We met up with our friends at El Jardin de Lolita in Barrio Escalante where we spent a couple of hours of quality time eating great food. El Jardin de Lolita is a market style place right next to the train tracks so it was awesome having access to a diversity of foods and seeing the train pass. After dinner we returned to our airbnb to rest. That was day 1 of our roadtrip.

  • Recap - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGdgmCPJHME/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

• Day 2 - San José to Turrialba

  • Day 2 started bright and early. My boyfriend had an appointment so we woke up, packed up, checked out of the airbnb, and headed to the appointment. We stopped to get a quick breakfast at a Colombian restaurant where we had the best almojabanas, pan de bono, and empanadas. I was so dang happy to find almojabanas. I wanted to eat them all to be honest. Part of me still wants to go back and get more, but oh well. I spent some time at a local coffee shop waiting for him to be done. After the appointment we went to Pollen Keepers in Barrio Escalante to get some local raw honey. They are amazing so go check them out. Next stop was downtown San José. We love the chinese / asian food in town and we wanted to get some before driving off. After parking, we made a last minute decision of visiting the National Museum of Costa Rica. I wanted to learn more about the history of Costa Rica and I saw my boyfriend knew a lot, he is a certified guide, so I asked him to teach me and he took me to the museum. I loved it there and learned a lot so I recommend you visit it when you are back in town. After the museum we enjoyed our chinese food and then left the city for the mountains. Let’s go to Turri (short for Turrialba)! That was such an insane drive. There was so much fog and very thick in some areas. It lasted easily 1.5 hours of the 2 hours drive. Despite the fog, the drive was gorgeous and we talked the entire way about life and travel. Once in Turri, we checked into our airbnb and wow wow wow. What a gem we found. That airbnb was incredible! We had dinner at Soda Maga with our friends Lynne, Chris, and Tess from Wearsos. The food was spectacular and the company even more. We then returned to our airbnb for a date night. The incredible hosts had painting supplies at the airbnb so we did a paint night together. Such a fun and cute idea. Thank you so much!

  • Recap - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGyTMBPJ_-P/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

• Day 3 - Turrialba to Cahuita

  • On this day we woke up early as we wanted to go to the Turrialba National Park, but we were not sure if we needed an official park guide or if my boyfriend’s certification as a naturalism guide in Costa Rica counted and we were exhausted from the previous night so we decided to sleep in and rest. We ate sandwiches at the airbnb. After breakfast we checked out of the airbnb and went to visit a friend who is a local potter and ceramics person. Marielos was such a soul recharging visit. We both needed to hear about life, love, loss, and just being a human serving the world and passionate about creating. Thank you Marielos!!! Btw. If you find yourself in Turrialba wanting to learn about Pottery then hit me up because Marielos is your person. After leaving Marielos we were on our way to Cahuita which is where our next airbnb is at. We stopped at my boyfriend’s home on the way, visited the river, and ate some patinadas (giant beef patties) in Siquirres. We arrived to our airbnb in Cahuita later at night, but so happy and full of food so we took it easy that night. We actually created a fort with the bed sheets and the bunk bed and slept in it. How fun!!!!

  • Recap - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHOYxjhJ_mH/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

• Day 4 - Cahuita and Puerto Viejo

  • It’s finally beach time babies!!!! After resting this morning we got ready for the beach and headed out to Cahuita. We wanted to visit the National Park so we had some patis and some breakfast right around the corner at Del Rita Patty and at Soda Kawe. Afterwards we went inside the National Park and spent the afternoon there. When you enter the Cahuita National Park through the main entrance in the town center all you have to pay is a donation to help the park. They also have great services like bathrooms and outdoor showers to rinse (no soap allowed). What a blast and what a gorgeous park. We saw monkeys, a raccoon, tons of hermit crabs, and just beautiful Nature all around us. We saw lots of great drfitwood at the national park, but of course left it all there. I wanted driftwood to create some art for my passion Authentic Narratives Art. So once we left we wanted to visit some local beaches to try to find some driftwood that we could actually take with us, but it started raining. We took this as an opportunity to enjoy a snack at a Gustibos bakery. OMG! Their chocolate, Nutella, and dulce de leche cake was insane. I thought it was going to be a diabetes bomb, but it turned out to be just perfect and not super sugary. Please go try it out! I am still dreaming about it. We then walked around a little bit and visited Wanderlust to see local brands and vendors. Dinner this night was at a recommended local soda, Shekina. Probably the best rice and beans we had the entire trip. Definitely recommend! We then headed back to our airbnb to get some rest before the travel day ahead.

  • Recap - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DHjkxt1Jx_Q/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

• Day 5 - Cahuita to La Fortuna

  • Last day and we were not ready to finish the trip, but it was time to go back. We started really early as we wanted to make the best of it. We went to see the sunrise in Cahuita. It was cloudy and you could barely see the sun, but we still enjoyed our time. There is something so special to be up at that time of the day when most people are still sleeping. We then went to Puerto Viejo to visit the famous natural water pools on the beach. At that time of the morning all the surfers were heading out for their morning surf and it was great seeing them catch some waves. I truly respect what they do. We walked for about 15 minutes until we made it to the pools. The sun came out for a bit and it was gorgeous. Soul recharging time in Nature in the early morning when the world is quiet. Afterwards, we drove to Cocles and spent a little time there enjoying the views. Soon after, it was time to finish beach time so we went to Soda Kawe to have some breakfast and went back to our airbnb to pack and shower. On the way back to La Fortuna we had some goals: 1) get some driftwood for my art, 2) buy some local coconut oil, 3) find pan bon (pan de negro), and 4) get some food. We were on a tight schedule as we had to return the car by 5p.m. in Ciudad Quesada, but we first needed to stop at home in La Fortuna to drop off all our belongings. Good news, we found all we needed and we made it right on time. Well, maybe a few minutes late, but Adobe was amazing and waited for us to get there. Mission accomplished!

  • Recap - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DH1dQTOpGBe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Do you like this route, but are looking for more tourism to do? I got you! You can also start this route in San José instead of La Fortuna and just skip the town of Zarcero. Here are some places you could visit in the route that are more touristic focused.

• San José - You can visit the Mercado Central, Mercado de Artesanías (Artisan Market), Jade Museum, Gold Museum, Costa Rica Art Museum, National Museum of Costa Rica, and the National Theater. If you want to explore the neighboring towns, you can go to Salón de Patines in San Pedro for some roller skating or go hiking at Hacienda La Chimba. There are the nighboring towns of Escazú, Santa Ana, and Barrio Escalante for higher end shopping and food.

• On the way to Turrialba - You can stop at Cartago and look at the famous Basílica de los Ángeles, the ruins, and the central market. You could also leave early San José and go to Irazú volcano or stop at the Carlos Durán Sanitarium Viewpoint.

• Turrialba - So many amazing places to see including taking a pottery class with Marielos, visiting Cataratas las Trillizas, Wearsos, Nortico Cacao Farm, Catie gardens tours, or Turrialba National Park.

• On the way to the Caribbean beaches - You can do rafting in the Pacuare river. I highly recommend! I did this in a previous trip from San José to the Cahuita and LOVED IT!

• Caribbean side of Costa Rica - Parque Nacional Cahuita (walking, snorkeling, boating), Alouatta Lodge Canopy, lots of food, natural pools in Puerto Viejo beach, surfing lessons, Cocles, Manzanillo, and Refugio Nacional Gandoca Manzanillo. You could do boating tours and go snorkeling.

To summarize, this trip was AMAZING!!! We are so grateful with Adobe for helping us take time to take care of ourselves and enjoy the gorgeous country of Costa Rica. We took advantage of every minute we had and truly enjoyed our time. We disconnected from the routine, connected with each other, spent tons of quality time together, and took a lot of pictures and videos for our page together “Viviendo Marquitas” (go check us out <3).

If you are visiting Costa Rica do not forget to book your car with ADOBE and get a 10% discount code with code NT46J! Or scan the QR code on the right.

Thank you for taking the time to read this blog post. I hope you enjoyed it! If you have any questions regarding this itinerary do not doubt on reaching out. If you need further support planning your visit to Costa Rica remember I offer consultancy services to help you plan your road trip.