MANUEL ANTONIO NATIONAL PARK
Manuel Antonio National Park is located on the Pacific side of Costa Rica, just south of the city of Quepos, Puntarenas. It is well known for the beautiful beaches and hiking trails, with amazing wild life. We stayed at Hotel El Faro Beach Containers. Before you ask, yes, you will be sleeping in containers. As many of you know, Costa Rica has been placing efforts in Eco Tourism, and this is just another example of it. The containers are an effort by the hotel to The hotel is located right next to the entrance of the national park, making it very convenient to visit. This is the only property in Costa Rica with container rooms. It was really exciting to be staying at the hotel, and they provided complimentary breakfast, right next to an infinity pool with an insane view.
The entrance fee for Manuel Antonio National Park is $16 for adults. The park opens at 7 AM, and we slept in on our first day, thinking we will get to the beach when we want. What we did not realize was that there are enormous lines that we stretched down the street starting around 8 AM. There is some shade, but the line is mainly in the sun, which did not make the wait pleasant. The park can only allow a certain amount of people, so sometimes they make people wait until someone leaves the park before letting more people in. We finally got our tickets and entered the park. The national park is very large, and it is at least a 15 minute walk before getting to the beach. There are two sides, and we didn’t really have a method of choosing a certain beach, so we found some space and put our towels down. It is very hard to find food and water, so be prepared! There are so many different beaches to visit, but we only stayed on Playa Manuel Antonio. The maps were not the best, so we didn’t have a chance to see Punta Catedral or Punta Escondido.
The next day we booked a snorkeling tour with Planet Dolphin. They picked us up at the hotel, brought us to he pier and we started our day on the water. We some some glimpses of whales which was pretty insane, and the boat is very big so we had space to lie and rest before going snorkeling. The boat also has two slides, so you get a chance to go down those once the boat stops. They provided a decent lunch, and drinks (that you had to buy). The snorkeling was pleasant, we saw many colorful fish, but no real corals. It was alright, but if you do not have much time at Manuel Antonio, we do not recommend it. There was also a photographer on board who took many pictures, but it was like $80 per family for the pictures, and it just didn’t seem wort it.
