There is a phrase in Costa Rica that you hear everywhere. Pura Vida. Pure life. It is a greeting, a farewell, a philosophy and a state of mind all at once. By the end of ten days in this country I understood it completely.
Just me and Freddy. He was 20 months old. We did cloud forests, hanging bridges, a volcano hike, a wild sloth tour and the most iconic transfer in Central America. We ate empanadas from a little soda next to our hotel and spent every afternoon in La Fortuna watching the volcano from a pool.
This is how we did it and exactly how you can too.
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## Getting There and the Route
We flew into San José and spent our first night at the Fairfield by Marriott near the airport — a sensible buffer night after a long travel day with a toddler before heading straight into the country the following morning.
The route we followed is the classic Costa Rica triangle and it is classic for good reason. San José → Monteverde → La Fortuna → San José. Three completely different landscapes, three completely different vibes, connected by some of the most scenic transfers in the country.
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## Monteverde — Cool Air, Cloud Forest and Jungle Vibes
**10th October – 14th October**
**Stay: Camino Verde B&B**
**Getting there: Group shuttle from San José, depart 7:00am**
The group shuttle from San José to Monteverde winds up into the mountains on roads that get progressively narrower and more dramatic as you climb. By the time you arrive the temperature has dropped, the air feels different and the landscape has completely changed. You are in the cloud forest now.
Monteverde has a vibe entirely its own. Cool, misty, green in a way that feels almost unreasonable, with rain arriving every afternoon like clockwork and clearing just as reliably. It is jungle energy — dense, alive, everything growing over everything else — but at altitude, which gives it a freshness that the lowland jungle doesn’t have. I loved it immediately.
The Camino Verde B&B was perfectly located — right in the middle of town with a little soda restaurant next door where we became regulars almost immediately. Simple, cheap, delicious Costa Rican food. We ate empanadas there more times than I can count and Freddy approved of everything on the menu. When you are travelling solo with a toddler having good food within walking distance of your accommodation is not a luxury, it is a sanity saver.
**Selvatura Adventure Park — Hanging Bridges**
Our first big activity was the hanging bridges at Selvatura Adventure Park and it was spectacular. A series of suspended walkways through the cloud forest canopy — some of them genuinely high, genuinely long and genuinely swaying — that take you through the treetops at a level you would never reach on a ground level trail.
The views into the forest from up there are extraordinary. The sounds are extraordinary. Everything is alive in every direction and you are moving through the middle of it.
At 20 months Freddy was in the carrier for the bridges — sensible given the height and the movement underfoot — but he was alert and engaged the whole way through, pointing at everything with great authority.
**Monteverde Cloud Forest — Guided Hike**
The guided hike through the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve was one of the highlights of the entire trip. Our guide was brilliant — the kind of naturalist who can spot a sleeping bird in a tree from thirty metres and make you feel like you are seeing the forest for the first time even if you have been in jungles before.
The cloud forest is unlike any other environment I have walked through. The trees are draped in moss and bromeliads, the path winds through sections of genuine mist, the light filters through the canopy in ways that make everything look slightly magical. With a guide pointing out what you would otherwise walk straight past — insects, birds, fungi, the extraordinary variety of life packed into every square metre — it becomes a completely different experience from a self-guided walk.
**Ranario de Monteverde — The Frog Place**
A short walk from our hotel was the frog ranarium — a small attraction that is easy to underestimate and genuinely brilliant. Dozens of species of Costa Rican frogs in naturalistic enclosures, many of them tiny and jewel-bright, including the famous poison dart frogs in their extraordinary electric colours.
For a 20 month old this was pure magic. Small, bright, moving things at exactly toddler eye level. Freddy pressed his nose against every enclosure with tremendous focus and I am fairly confident this is where his interest in small creatures was permanently cemented.
*Stacey’s tip: Monteverde is cool — pack a light layer even if you are visiting in the dry season. The afternoon rain is reliable so plan indoor activities or build it into your day. The little sodas in town are significantly cheaper than the hotel restaurants and often significantly better.*
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## The Jeep Boat Jeep Transfer — Monteverde to La Fortuna
**14th October, depart 8:00am**
I need to give this transfer its own section because it deserves one.
The Jeep Boat Jeep from Monteverde to La Fortuna is one of those travel experiences that is as good as everyone says it is. You start in a jeep winding down from the mountains to the shore of Lake Arenal. Then you cross the lake by boat — a proper open lake crossing with the volcano ahead of you the whole way, growing larger and more dramatic with every minute. Then another jeep on the other side into La Fortuna.
The moment the boat clears the shore and you see Arenal Volcano sitting perfectly above the far end of the lake with its classic cone shape reflected in the water — that is a travel moment. One of those views that makes you feel like you made exactly the right decision coming here.
Freddy sat on my lap for the boat crossing and watched the volcano approach with appropriate seriousness. It was a brilliant morning.
*Stacey’s tip: Book the Jeep Boat Jeep transfer rather than the longer road route between Monteverde and La Fortuna. It costs a little more and takes the same time but the lake crossing with the volcano view is worth every penny.*
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## La Fortuna — Volcano, Sloths and Pool Days
**14th October – 18th October**
**Stay: Casa Luna Hotel & Spa**
La Fortuna is everything Monteverde is not — hot, lush, lower altitude, buzzing with energy and dominated completely by the enormous presence of Arenal Volcano sitting above the town. You see it from everywhere. You wake up and check if it is clear. You go to sleep hoping it will be clear in the morning. The volcano sets the rhythm of every day.
Casa Luna Hotel & Spa was a beautiful property — big, well appointed, with multiple pools that became our afternoon ritual for four days. After active mornings the pools were exactly what we needed. My only note for anyone booking is that it sits about ten minutes by taxi from town which adds up if you are eating out regularly. If I was returning I would book somewhere closer to the centre of La Fortuna for easier access to the town’s cheaper restaurants and sodas. The hotel itself though was genuinely lovely.
**Arenal Volcano Hike — Guided**
The guided hike through Arenal Volcano National Park was one of those experiences where the company of a good guide makes everything better. The trail winds through old lava fields — dramatic, otherworldly landscape where the volcano’s history is written in the rock — and through forest that has grown back in the decades since the last major eruption.
And then Freddy, at 20 months old, decided he was going to walk.
Not the easy flat section at the start. The hard part. The rocky, uneven, this-is-actually-a-lava-field part. He set off with complete determination and covered nearly a kilometre on his own two feet across terrain that plenty of adults find challenging. Our guide was delighted. I was simultaneously proud and terrified in the way that parenting a determined toddler in a national park requires you to be.
He was amazing. He is always amazing.
**Wild Sloth Tour — Guided**
The sloth tour was one of my favourite experiences of the entire trip and I say that as someone who did not expect it to be.
This was not a sanctuary visit — this was a guided wildlife tour into the forest around La Fortuna specifically to find sloths living wild in their natural habitat. Our guide had the kind of eyes that come from years of looking up into the canopy and could spot a sleeping sloth tucked into a tree fork from a distance that seemed impossible.
We found several. Two-toed and three-toed. Adults and juveniles. Moving with their extraordinary slow-motion deliberateness through the canopy above our heads.
There is something about seeing a wild animal in its actual habitat — not a cage, not an enclosure, just going about its life in the trees above you — that is completely different from any zoo or sanctuary experience. Freddy looked up at his first wild sloth with enormous eyes and then looked at me as if to confirm that yes, this was a real thing that was actually happening.
It was fantastic. I would do it again tomorrow.
**Town Days and Pool Afternoons**
We built in a full chill day in La Fortuna — wandering into town, eating at the sodas, doing absolutely nothing with any urgency. This is the Pura Vida philosophy in practice and with a toddler it is not laziness, it is essential. You cannot do structured activities every single day. The unscheduled days are often the ones that produce the best memories.
And every afternoon, without fail, we were in the pools at Casa Luna watching the clouds move around Arenal and deciding that this was a very good life indeed.
*Stacey’s tip: Book accommodation closer to the centre of La Fortuna if budget is a consideration — the town sodas are significantly cheaper than hotel dining and the walking access makes spontaneous days much easier. The wild sloth tour is worth every penny and I would prioritise it over the more popular hot springs visit if you have to choose.*
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## The Journey Home
**Group shuttle La Fortuna to San José Airport, 18th October, depart 8:00am**
**Final night: Hilton Garden Inn San José Airport**
A final airport night in San José before flying home — the sensible buffer on the return journey, same logic as the arrival night. We arrived back in Barbados having done ten days in Costa Rica, just the two of us, at a pace that worked for a 20 month old and left us both wanting to go back.
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## Practical Information
**When to go:** Costa Rica has two seasons — dry season December to April and green season May to November. We travelled in October which is technically green season and yes it rained every afternoon in Monteverde. The rain is warm, it is predictable and the landscape is extraordinarily lush. I would go again in October without hesitation.
**Getting around:** Group shuttles between destinations are efficient, affordable and well set up for tourists. The Jeep Boat Jeep is the only way to travel between Monteverde and La Fortuna.
**The classic triangle route:** San José → Monteverde → La Fortuna → San José is the right route for a first Costa Rica trip. It covers the two most iconic natural environments in the country efficiently without backtracking.
**Travelling with a toddler:** Costa Rica is one of the most toddler-friendly destinations I have visited. The pace is relaxed, the people are incredibly warm with children, the activities are varied enough to keep both of you engaged and the infrastructure for tourists is excellent. At 20 months Freddy handled every single day of it.
**Budget tip:** Eat at sodas — small local Costa Rican restaurants — wherever possible. The food is better, cheaper and more authentic than hotel dining. The little soda next to Camino Verde B&B in Monteverde was one of the best eating decisions of the trip.
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## Would We Go Back?
Already planning it.
Costa Rica got under my skin in a way that only a handful of destinations have. The Pura Vida philosophy is real — it is not a tourist slogan, it is the actual rhythm of daily life there. Slow down, eat well, spend time outside, appreciate what is in front of you.
Ten days, just me and my 20 month old, a volcano, a cloud forest, 120,000 — wait, wrong trip. A sloth in a tree above our heads and a toddler who walked a lava field because he decided he was going to.
Pura Vida.
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