Manuel Antonio
By Jaimy de Vries
We heard there was not much to do in Manuel Antonio, but we found out in the contrary. Manuel Antonio has everything! It has abundant wildlife, lush green jungle and beautiful beaches. We loved this place and I would say it’s my favorite place in Costa Rica.
Our new place
We took a private shuttle for $50 from La Fortuna to Manuel Antonio. I think a good price for Costa Rican ways. Along the way we saw macaws. It was kinda cool to see them in the wild for the first time. My parents have a blue-yellow macaw. I could easy recognize the macaws in the wild by their very loud screams.
In Manuel Antonio we had a nice hotel with a hostel vibe. We had a private room and a shared bathroom and kitchen. It’s in the jungle with its own jungle reserve and it also has a swimming pool! The first days we hangend around the hotel.
We were in doubt if we wanted to go to another town in Costa Rica called Uvita, but we liked it here so much that we decided to skip Uvita and stay here. We found out Manuel Antonio had a lot to offer and all quite similar as Uvita. On the evening of arrival we met a brother and sister from Peru and played some cards together.
Hiking in the backyard
On our first day in Manuel Antonio we decided to have a relaxing day, we slept in…what has been a while, we made pancakes in the morning and went on a hike at the hotel’s trail system. It was a nice hike and a beautiful trail, very “natural”. Sometimes it was hard to find the trail. We saw some cool trees and a black green frog. It was so warm and humid we needed a refreshment afterwards, so we took a plunge in the pool.
Funny tree
Black green frog
Swimming pool at the hotel
After lunch we went again, because we only saw half of the trail system and were curious for more! Again we saw this cute little black-green frog and some pink mushrooms. Suddenly Jaron stopped and jumped backwards. “A snake! A snake!”. There was a big snake on the trail. I was surprised we stayed calm and weren’t that scared, but we were very careful of course. Jaron almost stepped on it, and it didn’t move at all. Maybe it is not a dangerous snake? We took a good look, his head was in the bushes, probably waiting for a frog to come by. The snake was on the trail, but still some space to go around. We discussed for about 15 minutes what to do: walk back or walk pass the snake. We had no idea what kind of snake it was and how quick he can be. After 15 minutes discussing we decided to walk passed it. We survived!!! From the other side we had a better look, it was bigger than we initially thought. I took a nice picture of him. Once we were back at the hotel I showed the picture at the hotel reception. The receptionist was shocked, “wow that’s the Terciopelo snake, and it’s big!” she said in Spanish. She looked quite surprised. I asked if it’s a dangerous one.
Fer-de-la-lance snake
She said yes it’s a very poisonous snake! We looked it up afterwards. Terciopelo turns out to be the most dangerous snake in central and south America, causing the most human deaths. Mostly because this snakes is more among people than other snakes. Damn!! We were so lucky nothing happend.
Manuel Antonio national park
The next day we decided to go for a guided tour in Manuel Antonio national park, a bit safer than wondering off on our own and risking the chance of stepping on dangerous snake….we thought. We took de public bus what was quite easy and walked 5 minutes to reach the main entrance. There was a guide that joined us and asked $20 per person for a guided tour. His lens looked a bit old, but it was a naturalist with a lot of experience. When the park openend at 7 am we were ready to go. Our guide spotted a lot! We saw all three types of monkeys that live in this area, we saw sloths – one eating and the other scratching his head. We saw weird-looking insects, one that looks like a squid and a grasshopper in the colors of a beetle. We also saw bats sleeping between banana leaves and on trees and different types of Iguanu’s, one called Jesus Christ lizard (can walk on water). The best thing was that we were, besides one woman, the only ones exploring the park. A nice thing about waking up early. Between 8 and 9 it started to get busy, groups with guides everywhere. Especially on the main trail, it turns out to be the best spot to see wildlife. Strange because you would expect it more on quiet trails. We saw all three types of monkeys on the main trail: howlers, white faced and squirl monkeys and two sloths that were active: scratching and eating. They’re only active 4 hours a day, so most of the time when you spot them they’re sleeping.
We were surprised by the nice souveniers shop. It was not so expensive and they had a lot of fun stuff. We bought some souvenirs and went on a mirador hike. We saw many many white faced monkeys. Later a mom with a baby, what was so incredibly cute. Dad was there too cleaning the baby from flus. The baby must hold on tight, because mom will jump and climb with him on her back.
We had lunch at the restaurant and took a little nap on the beach. Clouds started to appear and we left before it started raining.
White necked puffbird
Three-toed sloth having dinner
Jesus Christ Lizard
White faced monkey with a baby
Daily flu treatment
Sleeping fruit bat
Howler monkey
Ear infection
Poor Jaron! During our days in Manuel Antonio he started to get pain in his ear. Unfortunately it started to get worse and while we were in Manuel Antonio national park, what was a great and fun day… it was less fun for Jaron. He was in so much pain, that when we reached the beach at the park he laid down and took a nap because he couldn’t handle the pain anymore. We decided it was time to go to the clinic. We went to Quepos, a bigger town closeby with a clinic. Not a big surprise: he had an ear infection. It turns out to be quite common among tourist in Costa Rica, because you go from beach, to a river, to a hot spring which is often contaminated water.
Jaron having a nap on the beach, poor thing.
Zip adventure
The next day we overslept a bit, but that was okay. We wanted to head out to the beach and go on a zipline adventure that we saw on an advertisement the other day. We walked all the way to the zipline adventure what was around 45 minutes. It’s called Zip Coaster, here you can go on a thrilling ride for just $12 dollar. You have to choose to a quick roller-coaster zipline of 2 minutes, or a slow zipline-bike-ride of 15 minutes through the jungle. We decided to go for the scenic 15 minute ride, it feels like a better spend of our money. It was a funny attraction. We went so slow, like a sloth. We haven’t seen any wildlife expect some ants on the trees. But it was cool flying high in the trees. Once we reached the end the guides told us there is a sloth! A sloth!? Cool!! We were quite close on the same height as the sloth. It was active and trying to climb down. It was hard staying put and make a video of him because my bike slowly started to slide down. Once off the bike I climbed up to a viewpoint to have a good view of the sloth. The guide had a monocular to see it even better and explained us more about the sloths. He said he gets so nervous seeing the sloths taking the wrong way or the wrong branch. They out to be half blind and half deaf. This was a young sloth and needed much to learn. We saw him going the right direction on his way down, but halfway down he took the wrong turn and went up again. Eventually he was on a cable of the zipline attraction. This happens quite often. When it happens a worker must climb and grab him off the cable. The sloths are not happy with that, so they’ll try to scratch. While looking at the sloth we also saw some Coati’s running through the jungle. We were so excited and happy. Our $12 well spent!!
Ready for a zipline adventure
Is it a sloth? a monkey? No it’s Jaron!!
This is a sloth
Beautiful beaches
Afterwards we went to the main beach, Espadilla. It was quite crowded, but that makes it less boring. There is always something to see: girls having a fotoshoot, kids surfing on the waves, etc. The only thing I didn’t like were the many sellers trying to sell you drinks or food.
The other day we went to the Bienanz beach. A free and more remote beach that’s popular among locals. There are some facilities on the beach of locals offering beach beds, kayak and sup rentals. A little bit off the beach there is a bathroom and showers for extra money. There is no restaurant, so people bring their own food and drinks. We brought a little picnic with us with chicken wraps. It was fun at the beach. The waves were sometimes quite big making it fun to jump in the wave. You’re also surrounded by jungle, we saw a monkey and a baby sloth in the tree eating leaves. Later in the morning the water level started to get higher and higher. Our place was flooded too and I needed to run on the sea to grab our flip flops from floating away. We saw this happening to many others too. So we had some fun people watching.
Climbing the Ficus Root Vridge
Climbing the Ficus Root Vridge
Sloth
Goodbye dinner
During our stay we cooked all our meals. We were tired of getting out for dinner every time and cooking ourselves saves a lot of money too. We were happy we had a kitchen again. But on our last day in Costa Rica and to celebrate the “almost” end of our long trip at the American continent we went out for a fancy dinner. We dressed up and went to Ronny’s place, the best restaurant to enjoy the sunset. The weather was quite bad, it was raining, but we did had a nice view. We ordered a big pitcher of Sangria and choose some Italian dishes. It was nice!
Cheers on our Latin-American adventure!
Beautiful view
My guide for your Manuel Antonio trip
Most people stay here for one or two nights to see Manuel Antonio National park, but there is much more to see. I would recommend to stay 1-2 nights more.
- Recommended duration visit: 3-4 days
- Restaurants: Ronny's place for the best sunset views.
- Highlighted things to do: visit Manuel Antonio national park, visit the beaches, ziplining, rafting, diving
- Budget tips: Here everything is a bit more expensive than in the north of Costa Rica. Make sure you book a place with a kitchen to cook your own meals. You can save a lot of money with that. Or eat at a Soda.
- Best beaches: Playa Espadilla Sur, playa Manual Antonio, Playa Gemelas, Playa Biesanz, Playa Espadilla
- Our accommodation: Teva hotel
- My favorite activity: guided tour at Manuel Antonio national park, ziplining adventure.