Manuel Antonio & Jacó
In the previous article about traveling around Costa Rica, we spoke about our short trip to Santa Teresa and Montezuma from Atenas, our pointbase in this beautiful country.
This time we’ll speak about another weekend destination: the Natural Park of Manuel Antonio and the city of Jacó.
Why to choose these destinations?
Manuel Antonio is a touristic park, located nearby the city of Quepos, which is well known for its natural beauties (you’ll find one of the top beaches in the world) and especially for the presence of is varied fauna. It’s one of the smallest parks in the country but you can’t definitely miss it if you travel to Costa Rica.
Jacó it’s a small hamlet located in the Pacific Coast province of Puntarenas, not so far from Manuel Antonio (around 1 hour by car). This little city is the perfect place for surfers or young groups looking for an active nightlife.
Getting to Manuel Antonio
If you are based in Atenas like us, there are mainly 3 different ways to reach Jaco and Manuel Antonio
BUS: from Atenas you can take the bus which will take you directly from Atenas to Quepos, and from there you can easily reach the park.
Price: xx
Duration: around 3 hours (comprobar)
Car renting
Price: xx
Duration: around 3 hours (comprobar)
Private transportation: if you are a big group leaving from Atenas, it might be a good idea to rent a private transportation to take you directly to your destination and back.
We can recommend Carlos as a driver: +506 6408 8706
Manuel Antonio
We decided to spend time in the Park during the day and sleep in Jacó two nights, so we left from Atenas at 6 a.m. to have the opportunity to enjoy the park as much as possible (opening hours Manuel Antonio: 7 a.m. – 4 p.m).
A daily ticket at Manuel Antonio costs $16 (a fair price, considering the park’s beauty). In front of the entrance, you’ll find many private guides offering to take your group or family on a tour. They have telescopes to show animals more closely. The park is full of fauna and you’ll see many animals anyways, but it’s up to you deciding if you want more information or not. Normally a tour lasts around 1 hour/90 mins and the price depends on the number of people in the group.
Inside the park you’ll find maps pointing the several itineraries you can follow. Enjoy your walk and then take rest on the stunning beaches of the park (don’t stop at the first one, the three of them are all special to see).
Eating in Manuel Antonio
Be careful, you can’t bring every kind of food inside the park. Anyways, there is a restaurant inside where you can buy salads, sandwiches or typical costarican meals and refill your water bottle (just 500 colones and reducing plastic use!).
N.B. If you bring food from outside, be careful not to throw away packages or anything which could be harmful for animals! Try to keep your stuff close to you because monkeys are professional stealers of food and objects unattended.
More questions? Visit https://manuelantoniopark.com
Jacó
Sleeping in Jacó
After visiting the park we drove about 1 hour to reach our hostel in Jacó, Beds on Bohio. We rented a private room with bathroom for four people (121.000 colones x 4 people with breakfast included). The place was cozy and the staff young and welcoming.
The first night we ate at their restaurant, Papas & Burgers, which we can surely recommend for a huge burger with homemade fries!
The ambience is laid back and perfect for surf lovers, just at 50 meters from the beach. The location is ideal also if you want to discover Jacó’s nightlife: right around the corner the main road is full of clubs where you can dance raggaeton until the sunset.
Eating in Jacó
Except Papas & Burgers, we can recommend Pachis Pan & Bakery for a coffee and a croissant (or empanadas) at breakfast, Frutas & Tablas for a filling fruit bowl before a beach day and Soda y Marisquería Mary Mar or Malecón Bar Restaurante Jacó for typical costarican food.
Costa Rica it’s not the cheapest country in Central America, but these places satisfied us for their quality/price ratio and they are also close to the beach and/or the main road.
What do to in Jacó
As we said previously, Jacò is the perfect location for taking classes or practicing your surfing skills. Nevertheless, there are other things that you can do in the city except chilling on the beach. For instance, we visited El Miro, a panoramic view from an abandoned house in construction reachable with an enjoyable walk on foot, horse riding or bike.
Some people also like to spend some time at Los Sueños, a marina with yachts, restaurants and shops right next to Playa Herradura, a small beach between the woods and the Pacific Ocean.
We stayed just one day and half so we couldn’t join many activities, anyways you can easily find tour operators offering different kind of experiences in the area, as the Waterfall Tour, zip line, ATV, etc. (check Adventure Tours Costa Rica, Costa Rica Tours Jaco, etc.).
Nightlife in Jacó
Jacò is famous for being a surfing paradise but also a lively city in the night. There are few free clubs on the main road so you can easily walk from a place to another. We went to Republik Lounge and Orange on Friday and Saturday night and we had a lot of fun dancing all night.
More useful information
In Jacó and Manuel Antonio credit cards are usually accepted without any problem due to the high amount of tourists and the many souvenirs shops.
We were a group of girls and we didn’t have any problem hanging out on our own, anyways locals usually recommend tourists to be careful in the night especially for pickpocketing.
Jacó is also known for being a prostitution area but to be honest it didn’t affect our staying in any way so our suggestion is just to be careful in the night like in any other touristic place around the country.
Do you need more information? Write an e-mail to cluster.atenas@gmail.com
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