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Costa Rica really isn’t that far from the U.S., so you can definitely visit the country in one week. As with visiting any country for a week, there will obviously be things you don’t see. However, this One Week Itinerary for Costa Rica that starts from Liberia and ends in San José allows you to see the best things Costa Rica has to offer—the beach, rainforests, volcanos, and the city.
Day 1 – Arrive in Liberia, Shuttle to Tamarindo
In this one week itinerary for Costa Rica, you fly in to Liberia and fly out of San José. When you land in Liberia, take a shuttle to Tamarindo. The shuttle will take about 1.5 hours. Once you’re in Tamarindo, check into where you’re staying and head to the beach.
For a relaxing hostel with workout classes and a pool, check out La Botella de Leche.
If hostels aren’t your thing, check out any number of hotels in Tamarindo or Airbnbs.
Tamarindo is a pretty small town, but it’s filled with lots of shops and restaurants. It’s definitely been influenced by tourism over the years, but there are plenty of cool places to check out.
Day 2 – Tamarindo
For Day 2 of your one week in Costa Rica, you obviously can’t go wrong relaxing on the beach in Tamarindo all day. However, if you want to see a little bit of what Tamarindo has to offer, do an estuary tour in Tamarindo.
The Tamarindo estuary is located just north of the city. You can either walk from Tamarindo to the beginning of the estuary where there’s a small brown building and hire a guide to take you up the estuary, book a guide through your hostel/hotel/Airbnb, or you can book one in advance.
The Tamarindo estuary is a beautiful nature reserve that’s home to a wide variety of wildlife which you can easily see on a tour. Obviously, the amount of wildlife you see depends on your luck, but the guides generally know where the animals are and how to spot them so you can see them.
This is why we recommend hiring a guide at most national parks in Costa Rica. On the estuary tour, we saw tons of animals, including crocodiles, various species of birds, iguanas, and howler monkeys.
As the estuary tour only takes about 2 hours, you’ll have the rest of the day free in Tamarindo to enjoy the beach, take surf lessons, or even visit a nearby beach if you want. At the very least, we recommend enjoying your time at the beach because it’s not necessarily going to be as sunny or warm in the rainforest where you go next.
Read our full Tamarindo Travel Guide for what to do in Tamarindo.
Day 3 – Tamarindo to Monteverde
Day 3 of your one week itinerary for Costa Rica begins with an early morning shuttle (normally around 8 a.m.) from Tamarindo to Monteverde. The ride from Tamarindo to Monteverde is pretty smooth most of the way. However, the final ascent up to Monteverde is an unpaved, winding road.
Warning:It will be difficult to sleep, read, eat, or generally look down from the road on this part.
When we finally got to Monteverde, Becca ended up vomiting from the car ride up to Monteverde. This is one of the not so fun sides of travel that doesn’t always show up through our blog.
Casa Jungle in a fantastic place to stay in Monteverde. It has a small, shared kitchen, breakfast, and private rooms. Their staff is incredibly kind and helped us set up a bunch of different activities in Monteverde.
There are many other hostels and hotels to book in Monteverde as well if Casa Jungle isn’t what you’re looking for.
Once in Monteverde, you could immediately go zip-lining, to one of the two cloud forest national parks, or hiking. Due to Becca’s upset stomach, we saved those activities for Day 4.
Later at night once it got dark, we went on a Night Walk. There are about 3 different wildlife night walks in Monteverde. We did the Kinkajou Night Walk and had a great experience. We highly recommend doing this because you’ll see so much wildlife as the jungle really comes alive at night. Plus, it’s a pretty cool experience to simply be in the jungle at night. When you’re walking with your group, go to the back of the group, turn around, and cover your flashlight for a second. The pitch black jungle and its sounds will give you aneerie, yet peaceful feeling.
Once it gets dark, one of the best things to do in Monteverde is a night walk in the jungle because at night is when the jungle really comes alive!
There are about 3 different wildlife night walks in Monteverde all of which are pretty similar. While you cannot guarantee what animals you will see on a night walk in Monteverde, there is a very good chance you will see quite a bit of wildlife because the guides know where to spot al the different animals.
Read our full review of doing a Night Walk in Monteverde, Costa Rica.
Day 4 – Monteverde
On Day 4 of your one week itinerary in Costa Rica, get up early and check out theMonteverde Cloud Forest Reserve.
The cloud forest has tons of wildlife and rich biodiversity. There’s a bus that leaves from the center of Monteverde and takes you directly to the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. We recommend getting there early because there is often a line to get in, especially during peak seasons. As mentioned earlier, we recommend paying for a guide. We guarantee you’ll see way more wildlife and learn more than if you don’t hire one.
Head back to Monteverde and get some lunch after visiting the cloud forest. In the afternoon, head out to one of the Monteverde zip-lining places! We opted to go with 100% Aventuraand couldn’t recommend it enough. The zip-lining was really fun and exhilarating, especially the “Superman” cables where you were strapped in facedown flying like Superman across the rainforest canopy.
If heights aren’t your thing, check out 100% Aventura’s other offerings like ATV riding, horseback riding, or their hanging bridges tours.
After the adrenaline rush of zip-lining, get some dinner and relax in Monteverde because you’ll be on the move to La Fortuna tomorrow morning.
Day 5 – Monteverde to La Fortuna
Day 5 starts with an 8 a.m. ride from Monteverde to La Fortuna. There are a few different ways to get from Monteverde to La Fortuna, but we recommend the jeep-boat-jeep.
The boat helps you cross a lake faster than driving around it, and it’s a nice change of pace from the bumpy car ride. Plus, oince you get to the boat part of the ride on Lake Arenal, all the bumpy roads are done! FOR THE REST OF YOUR COSTA RICA ITINERARY!!!
After the short ride across the lake, there’s just a quick, smooth ride into La Fortuna (maybe 45 minutes max).
La Fortuna basically runs off tourism nowadays, so there are a ton of options for you here. They have everything from canyoneering to easy, relaxing nature walks.
One of the best things to do in La Fortuna is visiting the sloth travel.If you haven’t seen a sloth in Costa Rica yet, doing the sloth trail in La Fortuna will almost guarantee you to see a sloth…or 8!
Again, make sure to hire the guide when you go. They are able to point out sloths as well as other wildlife that you probably wouldn’t spot on your own.
After the nature walk, you’ll probably want some time to relax and pamper yourself.
Check out The Springs Resort & Spa. Here they have thermal pools heated by the nearby Arenal Volcano. The thermal pools have natural minerals provided by the volcano that help heal and rejuvenate the body.
The Spring Resort & Spa has a two-day pass for about $65 (price may vary depending on the season). This is a good deal for one of the best thermal pools in La Fortuna. To save money while you’re there, pack some snacks!
Day 6 – La Fortuna
In the morning, head to the La Fortuna Waterfall. It’s about 45 minute to an hour walk from La Fortuna, but you can also take a taxi there. We took one there and decided to walk back.
There’s a butterfly garden at the top of the waterfall, and after a short, but steep, hike down you can see the bottom of the waterfall and swim in it. It’s pretty cool seeing it and is something cheap and fun to do in the morning.
In the afternoon, you can do another nature hike around the Arenal volcano. There are plenty of options, but we recommend Desafio.
On the nature hike by Arenal, we saw toucans, snakes, anteaters, and various other animals. Plus, you get to go on the other side of the Arenal Volcano.
During our stay, we could not see the Arenal Volcano at all from La Fortuna. It was completely covered by clouds the entire time. However, with this tour and hiking to other side, we got this beautiful view of about 90% of the volcano…
At night, head to the hot springs atThe Springs Resort & Spa again because, after all, you still have that two-day pass! Check out all their different pools and just relax because chances are you don’t have these thermal baths at home.
Day 7 – La Fortuna to San José
On the last day of your one week itinerary for Costa Rice, head to Costa Rica’s capital city, San José, in the morning (another 8 a.m. departure). If you have time, check out the city center in San José and the area near the university. Obviously, you may have to go straight to the airport since you’ll be leaving from San José.
San José is often skipped over as tourists in Costa Rica immediately head to the beach, volcanos, or rainforests. In recent years, however, San José has really tried to do a lot to make San José more attractive to visitors. It still might not have the same pull as other major cities in Latin and Central America, but it’s worth checking out.
Hopefully, this One Week Itinerary for Costa Rica helps those of you who are traveling to Costa Rica and flying into Liberia and out of San José. It was difficult for us to research this type of travel itinerary for one week in Costa Rica, so we wanted to write up a travel itinerary that might help you out since flying into one city and out on another can be challenging.
If you’re still looking for reasons to visit Costa Rica, here are 20 Photos That Will Make You Want to Visit Costa Rica.
What other recommendations would you have for a one week itinerary for Costa Rica? Are there places or things we missed?
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