Second location suggestion for 7 day trip

[Alison SF]

Our daughter tells us it is definitely possible to travel without renting a car, lots of private and public buses, but with your large group it might be cumbersome. We read in rental agreements from international companies that to access anywhere off paved roads you need a 4×4 or you have no insurance coverage at all. We were not able to rent a car from the DIY favorite company, though they were very friendly to communicate with, as they were all booked for when we are going in February. We did find one at a place called Wild Riders, who seem very knowledgeable and transparent in their costs. https://www.wild-rider.com/

We are also going to Arenal, and to several other spots, including the Osa Peninsula and the area around Parc National de Quetzal, as a couple of other suggestions.

[Nikki]

Hello pgiralt!

Thanks so much for your inquiry!

Deciding which place (or places) to visit during your trip is one of the toughest parts of Costa Rica vacation planning. It’s the very reason we created the Costa Rica Destination Tool that’s available on DIY Costa Rica. (The tool allows you to select the criteria that interests you the most, then instantly provides recommendations for places to visit that match your criteria.) Just to check, have you used the tool yet? I’m curious to know which recommendation(s) you received. If you haven’t yet used the tool, you can find it here: https://www.diycostarica.com/about-the-costa-rica-destination-tool/ (It’s free for DIY Costa Rica members, such as yourself, to access.) 🙂

With respect to renting a car or not, there are tons of advantages to doing so! But, whether or not you should rent a car depends on several factors, and largely, your comfort level driving in Costa Rica. For more information on this topic, don’t miss our related blog post:

Renting A Car In Costa Rica: Should You Do It? https://costaricatravelblog.com/renting-a-car-in-costa-rica/

I should also confirm that it is possible to travel in Costa Rica without renting a car. Actually, it’s very easy to do so; shared shuttle services and private transfer services in particular make it a breeze to get from destination to destination. As a large group, though, shared shuttle services can be costly. Since private transfer services are priced per route, not per person, they tend to be a more economical option for groups, so I’d recommend those to you (over shared shuttle services) if you opt not to rent a car. Of course, depending on the cost of renting a vehicle (especially a vehicle large enough to carry your group and luggage), as well as the number of private transfer services taken throughout the trip (depending on the number of destinations you decide to visit and their locations), the cost of using private transfer services may or may not be more expensive than the cost of renting a vehicle. To start, I’d recommend narrowing down the places you want to visit first, before deciding on transportation arrangements. Once you decide where you’ll station yourselves (even if it’s in two or more destinations throughout your trip) you’ll be able to calculate the cost of using private transfer services to get between each of the destinations, and then you can compare that to the cost of renting a car to see which is more/less costly.

Pura vida! 🙂

Owner of the Costa Rica Travel Blog • CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts) • Creator of DIY Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Destination Tool, the Costa Rica Recommendations Map and the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course • Author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, and 2023) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022) • “Travel Blogger of the Year 2020 – Costa Rica” (LUX Life Magazine) • Happy wife of a proud Costa Rican ❤️️
Want custom, private, one-on-one Costa Rica trip-planning help? Book an appointment with Nikki here.

[Nikki]

Hey Alison SF!

Thanks so much for your response and for offering to help a fellow DIY CR’er. 🙂

Thank you, also, for your comment about international rental car agencies. That’s a new tidbit of info that I haven’t heard before! I haven’t come across it being applied at Costa Rican car rental agencies, thankfully, although most do recommend that travelers rent a 4×4-vehicle, especially if they plan to visit destinations where roads aren’t paved. I think that policy (requiring a 4×4 vehicle in order to drive on a non-paved road) would be difficult for any car rental agency to enforce. Lots of destinations don’t have paved main roads, so enforcing that policy would essentially prohibit non-4×4 rental cars from visiting all of those destinations. Proving where the car did or didn’t go during the rental period would be difficult, too.

It’s too bad that our recommended agency sold out of cars for when you plan to travel, but I’m glad to hear that your communication with them was positive. 🙂 Unfortunately, I don’t have any personal experience with Wild Riders, so I cannot comment on them (to the positive or the negative). Regardless of who you decide to rent with (or who you decided to rent with, if that decision has already been made), don’t miss the car rental insurance-related information we provide in our articles about the subject, to ensure the rental quote you receive(d) is truly a complete rental quote, to avoid monetary surprises on the day you pick up the car:

Costa Rica Car Rental Insurance Information: https://costaricatravelblog.com/costa-rica-car-rental-insurance/
How Not To Fall For Costa Rica Car Rental Scams: https://costaricatravelblog.com/car-rental-scams-costa-rica/

As a side note, it’s nice to hear that you’re headed to Parque Nacional Los Quetzales! The majority of travelers don’t travel there, which is part of what makes the spot a hidden gem. Are you avid bird-watchers?

Pura vida! 🙂

Owner of the Costa Rica Travel Blog • CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts) • Creator of DIY Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Destination Tool, the Costa Rica Recommendations Map and the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course • Author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, and 2023) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022) • “Travel Blogger of the Year 2020 – Costa Rica” (LUX Life Magazine) • Happy wife of a proud Costa Rican ❤️️
Want custom, private, one-on-one Costa Rica trip-planning help? Book an appointment with Nikki here.

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