TRAVEL

Travel Note

PASSPORTS

Please be sure you have a valid Passport to travel to Costa Rica. For U.S. passports, your expiration date must be at least 6 months beyond the date you are entering into Costa Rica. For example, if you are planning to arrive in Costa Rica on May 2, 2019, and your passport expires later in September 2019, this is not a valid passport. If you do not have a valid passport, they will refuse your boarding at the airport in the United States and you will miss out on going to Costa Rica for our wedding ☹. There is still a little time to get a passport or one renewed if you need to do so (you may now need to do this on an expedited basis). If you need to do so, we recommend to complete this asap. As an easy rule of thumb, be sure your passport expires in December 2019 or after (e.g. anytime in 2020 or any year later). Americans do not need any visa to go to Costa Rica. The only requirement is a valid passport.

Travel Note

GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT TRAVELING IN COSTA RICA

In our opinion, Costa Rica is one of the more advanced countries in Latin America, in terms of infrastructure, cleanliness and safety. This is particularly true in the Guanacaste region, northwest part of Costa Rica, where Playa Tamarindo is located. We visited Tamarindo in May 2018 and found it to be very nice and modernized, and Chris has been to the country about a half-dozen times in his lifetime. Having said this, with any foreign country or big city in the U.S., it is important to be aware of your surroundings at all times and do not carry open or easily accessible bags or purses (again, same goes in Los Angeles, for example). While you won’t see many, if any beggars or people try and bug you, politely say “no” and keep moving forward. There is plenty of information and travel tips online, so please do some research on what to expect with traveling in Costa Rica. This blog website is one we’ve used, particularly good for the budget traveler: https://www.costaricavibes.com/

Travel Note

LANGUAGES

Spanish is the primary language but you will find that most people speak English pretty well. If you don’t speak Spanish, you should be able to get by on English. Just about everyone that works in the travel and hospitality industries that have to interface with tourists will speak English. More than any other Latin America country we’ve been to, we find Costa Rica to be the most “English speaking friendly” country. That said, you may want to bring a simple Spanish language book or have an app on your phone for common Spanish phrases and word translations.

Travel Note

MONEY/CURRENCY

Costa Rica has its own currency, called the Costa Rican colon. However, U.S. dollars are widely accepted. We recommend you plan to use mostly U.S. dollars for your cash needs during your visit, and perhaps have a small amount of colons. If you buy things with cash, you may receive change in colons, so keep that in mind as you plan on how many colons you want to have (or not have when you leave Costa Rica). If you do want to get colons, the airport and hotel can make exchange, but we find the best currency exchange rates are by simply using your own bank’s ATM card at an ATM machine in Costa Rica (although you may need to check to see if your bank charges any foreign ATM/transaction fees).

Travel Note

WEATHER

The wedding date, May 4th, is just after the technical end of the “high season” ending on April 30th. The high season moves into the “rainy season”, but typically meaningful rains aren’t expected until starting at least in June, and the Guanacaste region is dryer than most other parts in Costa Rica. There may be some scattered showers but heavy prolonged rains are unlikely. We plan to have a tent for the wedding, just in the rare case it does rain. Expect temperatures in the low to mid 90’s for the highs, and mid 70’s for the lows.

Travel Note

OTHER TRAVEL INFO AND TIPS

Typical 110-volt outlets are at Hotel Capitan Suizo and likely at most other places. You should also plan to bring sunscreen and bug spray, although being at the beach bugs are less of an issue than in the jungle parts of Costa Rica. Internet seems to be pretty good and readily available. Many of the major phone carriers, like AT&T and Verizon, now offer something like a $10/day international plans for unlimited cellular phone calls and texts and a good amount of data, so please check with your carriers if you plan to use your cell phone. If you are going to use a credit card, debit card or ATM card, please contact your bank to make sure they know the dates you are traveling in Costa Rica. If you plan to rent a car for any reason, we can give you some recommendations and tips (including good tips on insurance requirements), please just let us know. The Waze app is excellent for getting around on the roads if you are planning to do any driving.

Flight

AIR TRAVEL - LIBERIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (CLOSEST AND BEST CHOICE)

Our wedding is in Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica. There is an international airport approximately one hour drive away at Liberia International Airport (airport symbol is LIR) and also known as Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport. Many of the big commercial airlines fly into this airport, including American Airlines, Delta Airlines, JetBlue, Alaska Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, Air Canada, Copa Airlines and others. Flying into this LIR airport is by far the easiest way to get to Tamarindo, and we recommend booking your air travel to this airport. Please evaluate air fares, including using apps like Hopper and Kayak. Hopefully you have by now booked your air travel, but if you haven't done so yet, we recommend you book your air travel asap. Once you book air travel, please kindly let us know your flight details.

Flight

AIR TRAVEL - SAN JOSE / JUAN SANTA MARIA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (SECOND CHOICE)

The only other international airport in Costa Rica is in the capital city of San Jose, called Juan Santamaría International Airport (airport symbol is SJO). This airport is approximately a 5 hour drive to Tamarindo. There are also small commercial propeller flights from SJO to a small Tamarindo airport, via either Sansa Airlines or Nature Air, but these approximately 1-hour flights while safe are not for the faint of heart. If you are considering getting to Tamarindo by arriving into Costa Rica at SJO airport, we can provide more information, recommendations and our experiences with travel to Tamarindo from SJO, including how best to rent a car and/or flying on the small propeller airlines. Once you book air travel, please kindly let us know your flight details.

Rental Car

CAR RENTAL

Renting a car is a good and viable way to travel in Costa Rica. Online websites often display affordable rates for car rentals, but there are usually hidden or additional fees. Insurance is a primary example, and sometimes the government required liability protection insurance is more than the actual rental fees. Please also pay attention to other insurance options and extra costs. Your credit card company may provide adequate insurance for certain coverage and, if it does, we recommend you get an insurance letter from your credit card company and confirm in advance it's adequacy from the car rental place in Costa Rica. Here is good info on renting cars: https://www.costaricavibes.com/renting-a-car-in-costa-rica/ Please feel free to reach out to us for further tips. The Waze app, on your cell phone, is excellent for getting around on the roads if you are planning to do any driving (with rare exceptions when you are in remote mountain or other areas without cell reception).

Travel Note

TRANSPORTATION FROM AIRPORT TO HOTEL

Getting from the airport to Tamarindo can be accomplished by a shuttle, private transportation/taxi, van/bus or renting a car. It is approximately a one-hour drive from LIR and a five-hour drive from SJO. Rosa, our wonderful concierge at Hotel Capitan Suizo, has coordinated options for local transportation at reasonable rates. Whether you are flying through Liberia airport or San Jose airport, if you are interested, please reach out to Rosa at concierge@hotelcapitansuizo.com and she will happily help you with booking reservations. Many of you are traveling on the same or similar flights as others and we and/or Rosa will very soon be following up with you by email to see if you want to book together a shared/group vehicle to travel to/from the airport and Tamarindo. See other Travel note for more info. If you are flying into the local Tamarindo airport, the Hotel Capitan Suizo is ~2 miles away. The Hotel Capitan Suizo can pick you up from the Tamarindo airport for a small fee.

Hotel

HOTEL CAPITAN SUIZO

We recommend that our guests stay at the Hotel Capitan Suizo, the place of the wedding, for at least the few days around the wedding date. We have made Hotel Capitan Suizo affordable. We have worked out blocks of rooms with discounted rates at Hotel Capital Suizo if you stay a minimum of 3 or more nights. The room stays include a fabulous free breakfast each morning at Hotel Capitan Suizo’s patio restaurant. In order to receive the discount, you must book the reservation directly with the hotel and not through a travel website or agency. Please reach out to Raul Esquivel at Hotel Capitan Suizo at email resquivel@hotelcapitansquizo.com to see if any rooms are still available and to book your reservation. Please see Travel Note on this website for more info on rates.

Travel Note

HOTEL CAPITAN SUIZO ROOM RATES (Raul Esquivel is representative at the hotel)

We recommend that our guests stay at the Hotel Capitan Suizo, the place of the wedding, for at least the few days around the wedding date. Please see more info in the other Notes of this website. Wedding date is Saturday, May 4th. Also, there is a “meet and greet” for our guests in town the afternoon before, Fri, May 3rd. ROOM RATES: first rate is 3 or 4 nights (20% discount) / second rate is 5 or more nights (25% discount). Superior: $200.00/night / $187.50/night Bungalow: $292.00/night / $273.75/night. Beachfront Bungalow: $324.00/night / $303.75/night - All rooms are 2 adults. The rooms have a sofa bed for 1 more at $40/night*. - Please add 13% sales tax. IMPORTANT: To get discount, please book directly with Hotel Capitan Suizo, and not through a travel website/agency. Raul Esquivel of the Hotel will reach out to you to do your booking. His email is resquivel@hotelcapitansuizo.com *For kids 4 to 12 years, they allow up to 2 kids on sofa bed at $24/night each.

Travel Note

UPDATE 1/22/19 (further UPDATE 4/5/19): PAYMENT PLAN FOR ROOMS AT CAPITAN SUIZO

By now, you should have completed payment on your Hotel Capitan Suizo reservation. The Hotel has included in your reservation confirmation some options to make payment. If you don’t want to pay Capitan Suizo for your room stay all upfront, Capitan Suizo has set up a payment plan as follows: 40% due 90 days before your arrival (so, now completed (February 1st)), then 30% due 60 days before your arrival (so, now completed (around March 1)), and the final 30% due 30 days before your arrival (so, now completed (around April 1)). Note: It is now pass the time to do the setup payment plan, so please work out your payment with Raul if you are still looking to book a reservation at Hotel Capitan Suizo. You can of course also make full payment if you don't prefer to deal with a payment plan.

Travel Note

UPDATE 3/4/19: TRANSPORTATION BETWEEN LIBERIA AIRPORT AND TAMARINDO/HOTEL

Rosa, the wonderful Concierge at Hotel Capitan Suizo can make arrangements for your transportation between Liberia Airport and Tamarindo/hotel. Please follow up with her. Here are options and prices: *Private Transportation (1 to 4 people + luggage): $95 cash *Shared Shuttle (minimum 2 people, may stop at multiple places): $25 per person cash *Small Minivan (up to 6 people + luggage): $100 *Big Minivan (up to 16 people + luggage): $180