Travel Log: Gulf of Papagayo, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

 If you follow me on Instagram you saw that I recently spent about a week in Costa Rica (9 days including travel days) with three of my dearest friends. Our itinerary included one night in San Jose to reset after redeye flights and ~12 hours total travel time from Seattle, two nights in Quepos to explore Manuel Antonio National Park (you can click on the links to read the posts), a stop at the stunning Starbucks Hacienda Alsacia Coffee Farm, two nights at the stunning Tabacón Resort & Spa near La Fortuna and Arenal Volcano that included a nature walk at the Mistico Hanging Bridges, and three nights in Guanacaste before flying home from the Liberia Guanacaste airport. Today I am sharing more on our final leg of our vacation spent in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica. While there are many beaches to choose from on the Pacific coast side of the country, we chose to stay on the Gulf of Papagayo because there were great hotels to choose from that are located roughly 20-30 minutes from the Liberia Airport. Please continue on to see more photos and details of relaxing three days in the Gulf of Papagayo region of Costa Rica.

We had multiple wonderful hotels to choose from, but ultimately chose El Mangroove Hotel in the Marriott Bonvoy network for its comfortable rooms, adults only pool separate from the family pool, multiple restaurants with daily breakfast included with our room, and beachfront location. We arrived in the afternoon, right around check-in, and wasted no time dropping our luggage in our room and heading straight for lunch and pool time. Later in the evening, we arranged a hotel shuttle transport to a nearby restaurant and bar for dinner and drinks with a pre-arranged pickup time to bring us back to the hotel. This made exploring the area easy, affordable, and safe.

The following morning, we took a walk up the beach before breakfast to work up an appetite. We saw monkey tracks, lots of little crabs burrowing into the sand, and a bunch of iguanas in and around the trees next to the water. It was so pretty and peaceful in the morning before all of the different tours and activities started. However, there were plenty of options for activities on land or in the water, depending on your preference. We were offered deals on horseback riding, ATVs, paddleboarding, and various sizes of boat tours that included snorkeling, cave visits, and more to think about before heading back to the poolside restaurant for our included breakfast and coffee.

After a full day relaxing at the adults only pool, we got ready to head to another nearby restaurant for dinner. Before we headed out, we learned that there were free drinks at one area of the hotel on Fridays and of course had to check that out. I am not sure if this Friday "happy hour" is an ongoing thing, but there were glasses of bubbly and cocktails being passed around along with small bites. Definitely something to ask about if you decide to stay at this hotel! 

We knew that we wanted to book a sunset catamaran tour during our visit to the Gulf of Papagayo, and we negotiated with one of the local vendors on the beach for a decent deal on our final night in Costa Rica. Because our final day happened to fall on a Saturday, there already were sunset tours scheduled that were not at capacity and we were able to join a tour that picked us up right at the beach in front of our hotel. The catamaran took us out to multiple locations including a snorkeling spot, a small secluded beach, fed us snacks and drinks, and then took us along the coast until sunset. We could not have asked for a more gorgeous day and sunset to finish our Costa Rica trip!

Have you been to the Gulf of Papagayo or another beach area of Guanacaste? If so, how did you spend your time? Please be sure to leave me a comment to let me know. Thank you for visiting my blog today and I hope you have a fantastic rest of your week!