Costa Rica Ultimate Family Adventure Itinerary: Osa Peninsula, Corcovado, & Central Pacific Coast
Hi, friends and new comers! Welcome back to another blog that I hope will inspire your inner adventurous spirit. If you are looking to plan a more active trip that involves hiking, nature, and animal encounters, but also some leisure beach days, then keep reading. This itinerary is a total crowd pleaser!
We just got back from another fulfilling trip to Costa Rica!! We have truly fallen in love with the Pura Vida way of life and can’t get enough of this beautifully diverse destination.
This year we planned a more complicated itinerary to remote destinations for exploration, mixed with touristy beach towns for leisure. The Osa Peninsula is located on the southwestern coast of the country and was the main attraction when planning our trip. It is home to virgin rainforest, Corcovado National Park (one of the most biodiverse places in the world), and beautifully rugged towns such as Puerto Jimenez and Drake Bay.
A repeat location on the pacific coastline is included for those who follow my website. We knew Brooklyn would adore one of our favorite touristy beach towns called Manuel Antonio. It offers the most visited national park in the country, beautiful beaches, and a plethora of amazing restaurants.
My previous write-up from last year’s trip was very, very lengthy. Seth and I traveled alone for that journey. I wanted to produce an all-in-one guide afterwards, but I am aware it was a long read. If you are not familiar with Costa Rica, I recommend reading that guide first. It includes important information about the country.
For this trip that required a more complicated planning period, I am in the process of writing an ongoing, easier to navigate Costa Rica blog series that will include:
- 10-day itinerary: Osa Peninsula, Corcovado, and Pacific Coast road trip.
- Entire trip recap, review, and booking links
- How to travel to Corcovado National Park
- How to book a domestic flight in Costa Rica
- Puerto Jimenez vs. Drake Bay
- Pacific Coast Road Trip: Complete Costa Rica Travel Guide
This blog is the first overview of the upcoming series that includes only our planned itinerary. Easy and straight to the point. I do not want to hold up anyone trying to get itinerary inspiration. I will link each blog above as I finish–so keep checking back (or subscribe for notifications below) if you are interested in doing a trip similar to ours!
| Day 1 (Friday) | – Fly into SJO – Fly from SJO to Puerto Jimenez – Hotel check-in, Puerto Jimenez |
| Day 2 (Saturday) | – Private Whale Tour, Puerto Jimenez |
| Day 3 (Sunday) | – Boat transfer to Corcovado NP – Luggage transfer to Drake Bay – Hike to Sirena Ranger Station – Ranger Station, check-in – Hike Corcovado |
| Day 4 (Monday) | – Hike Corcovado – Afternoon boat transfer to Drake Bay – Hotel check-in, Drake Bay |
| Day 5 (Tuesday) | – Free day, Drake Bay – Cano Island Snorkel Tour? Hiking? Beach Day? |
| Day 6 (Wednesday) | – River boat transfer to Sierpe – Pickup rental car, Sierpe – Drive to Manuel Antonio – Stop at Nauyaca Waterfall – Hotel check-in, Manuel Antonio – Dinner, Ronnie’s Place |
| Day 7 (Thursday) | – Manuel Antonio National Park early – Hotel beach & pool afternoon |
| Day 8 (Friday) | – Drive to TBD destination – Braulio Carrillo National Park? Cloud Forest? Caribbean Beach Town? – Hotel check-in, TBD |
| Day 9 (Saturday) | – Free day at TBD destination |
| Day 10 (Sunday) | – Drive to SJO Airport |
This trip’s itinerary had some fixed parts and some flexible parts, so we did not book all hotels before arriving. We wanted to wait and see how tired we would be after the Osa Peninsula adventures, and let our 13-year old daughter, Brooklyn, decide how to spend the end of our trip.
We had some thoughts for our to-be-determined destinations. Maybe Braulio Carrillo National Park for a canopy tour on their aerial tram, or going north for access to cloud forest. Or perhaps we would want more leisure time and find a Caribbean beach town close to SJO… the possibilities seem endless in Costa Rica!
All of our flights were booked in advance—from Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) to Osa Peninsula, then back to North Carolina from SJO. We also reserved a rental car to pickup in Sierpe after leaving Osa Peninsula so we could drive up the Pacific Coastline and have flexibility for the remainder of the week.
Did our above itinerary get followed to a tee without any modifications? Heck no. This semi complex trip has more room for things to go wrong. In my in-depth trip review to come, I will share ALL THE DETAILS of our travel snafus and how we solved each one.
If you are not a visual learner and the above map makes your head hurt, I truly apologize. With every blog I write, Seth wants to see a map included to tie it all together. That is how his brain works. Here is a summary of the above map, which is how my brain works:
- Fly from SJO airport to Puerto Jimenez airport.
- Boat from Puerto Jimenez to Sirena Station in Corcovado National Park.
- Boat from Corcovado to Drake Bay.
- Boat from Drake Bay to Sierpe.
- Drive from Sierpe to Manuel Antonio.
- Drive from Manuel Antonio to TBD (?) destination.
- Drive from TBD (?) destination to SJO airport.
When I tell you I mulled over the logistics to and from Sirena Station in the Corcovado National Park, I mean I obsessed for DAYS. Where would we leave a rental car? What would we do with our luggage? Are the roads during rainy season passable? Do we want to spend more time in one location or do two? Will the puddle jumper flight be scary or make us sick? See the short video of our domestic flight in Costa Rica at the end of this blog to see how we liked it!
Learning more about our options from locals, our excursion company, the hotels, and avid Costa Rica travelers really saved me. I will share all of the tips that are not well advertised, if at all, with links to book everything with ease. It could honestly save you countless hours of researching one million questions for each leg of the journey.
There were aspects of our trip that were NOT expected—information we both feel that travelers with kids will especially want to be advised of. We had an amazing, lovely time, but expectations and preparedness when traveling with impatient little humans is crucial.
Check back in a few days for the release of my next blog of the Costa Rica series. Subscribe below if you would like to receive notifications at no cost to you.
Thank you for your continued support and positive vibes!! It continues to amaze me just how much people I have never met can boost my spirits. You are all amazing!
-Amanda K. 💗
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6 responses to “Costa Rica Ultimate Family Adventure Itinerary: Osa Peninsula, Corcovado, & Central Pacific Coast”
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How did you book your stay at Corcovado National Park? 😊
It’s sounds like a fantastic trip!!-
Hey there!! I went with Osa Wild and they were amazing! I hoped to have that blog done by now but we are in hurricane Helene zone and I am way behind given the circumstances so I apologize I don’t have more instructions ready for you to go by. We started in Puerto Jimenez and then ended in Drake Bay. I love their flexible itineraries to see more than 1 area on the peninsula. They transferred our luggage between destinations while we were lodging at the Sirena Ranger Station. It was a flawless itinerary! ❤️
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Hi, I really enjoyed (and learned a lot) your prior Costa Rica blog article. We are a family of 4 looking to do Corcodova National Park in February. I only saw the one article about your trip there and was wondering if you had any more info on how you figured out all of the logistics and how they worked out. We were thinking of doing Puerto Jimenz or possibly Uvita and then to park flying in from San Jose. Then we were going to do Arenal and fly out of Liberia. I am just a little befuddled on how to book all the transportation. Thanks so much for all your effort with your blog. It is much appreciated!
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Hey Josh! So happy you came across my page. I’m glad to help with any questions you have! 🙂 I planned on having 4 different blogs from our recent trip finished by now but hurricane Helene has put me at a complete stop right now. We work in healthcare on top of all the chaos—so I am so behind but anxious to get back to it!
I researched for WEEKS for the perfect itinerary because I was worried about transportation between all the different destinations we wanted to see.
We flew into SJO, took a domestic flight with SANSA airlines to Puerto Jimenez, then started our Corcovado adventure from there with Osa Wild.
We boated from Puerto Jimenez to Sirena Station, then boated from Sirena Starion to Drake Bay. Osa Wild transferred all of our luggage between PJ and DB while we lodged in the jungle. It was flawless! I used their website to start booking our Corcovado trip but then modified via email correspondence because they are very communicative. Hope that helps!! Let me know if you have anymore questions 🙂
– Amanda ❤️
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Hi! Would you mind sharing where you stayed in Drake and Puerto Jimenez? Too many choices! Thanks!
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Of course! In Drake Bay we stayed at Hotel Margarita, and in Puerto Jimenez we stayed in Cabinas Jimenez. We were perfectly happy with both hotels and their convenient locations!
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