When visiting to Costa Rica you have to see the beach right? This location offers both the jungle and the pristine untouched beach of Manuel Antonio. The country offers the most beautiful beaches, but they are not owned by the hotel properties. Costa Rica owns the beaches which makes them all gorgeous and not that polluted with high rise hotel properties. What does this mean for us, the tourist? More nature, nature, nature!
In this National Park you can hear the howler monkeys are you make your way to the beach. The hike is very moderate, as you travel on it with the guide you actually get passed by the locals in flip flops, so there is no need for hiking gear. You could probably do this tour on your own, but you don’t want to. Without the trained eye of the guides, you’ll miss everything, from the Golden Orb Weaver (who knew a spider web could be creepy, incredibly strong, yet gold and beautiful) to the green and black grass hopers and the most hard to find three toad sloths! Get the guide, use the guides! They know their history and the biodiversity that their country offers!
To cap of the visit to this park, I headed off to the beach with the rest of group and what a beach! This beach looks and feels practically untouched. Don’t expect beach chairs or drink stands, they take ecotourism in this park very seriously.
Since this wasn’t a true hard hike, shorts and tank top worked fine over my swim suite. Still though, this is Costa Rica, the greenest place on earth….a small rain jacket won’t hurt!