Archive for June 5th, 2009

Timeline Of A Typical Tour Of Costa Rica

Friday, June 5th, 2009

The average tourist spends anywhere between 7 to 10 days, but many tour companies are offering full 10-14 day tours. One Costa Rican-based company called Costa Rica Tours t offers tourists an 11 day tour where you’re doing different things for the entire 11 days and it’s very well planned out because you’re seeing a lot of the country on their itinerary.

The first night is usually when you’re getting settled into your hotel and then day 2 is when you start off by visiting a coffee plantation since coffee is one of the products produced out of Costa Rica that is also a mainstay in their economic background. Day 3 you’re visiting a village in Cartago to where the tour guide gives you some background information about a young girl witnessing an apparition (she testifies bearing witness on seeing the Virgin Mary) and then the tour continues on to another town where you spend the night at a plantation overlooking Lake Angostura.

Day 4 Your journey takes you to the small village of Tucurrique for a short cooking lesson from the natives in making tortillas and other authentic Costa Rican cuisines. Day 5 is a hiking adventure in learning about the Costa Rican indigenous people called the Kekoldi and you get a tour by a Kekoldi leader and you will spend a night at a hotel that’s just steps from the Caribbean Sea. Day 6 is a leisure day spent swimming, hiking, and even seeing wildlife on the Gandoca Wildlife reserve near the hotel.

Day 7 you’ll board a flight from Limon to Guanacaste to where you get to tour some of the most spacious ranches and beaches and spend a night at 4 star hotel near the town of Tamarindo. You’re on your own after the days’ activities which many people take it upon themselves to go sightseeing or soaking up rays and taking in other tours before continuing with their main tour group.

Day 8 is going on a tour of the artisian village of Guaitil where you can try your hand at some authentic pottery making with the Chorotega Indians who’s centries old tradition of pottery making is still the mainstay of this particular group of Indians. After you spend a good deal of time making a few pots and learning about pottery, tourists are encouraged to go check out the little gift and pottery shops in the town of Guatil. Day 9 takes you on a tour of Santa Rosa National Park which is home to the dry rain forest and a historical landmark for two important battle conflicts.

The tour makes a stop in the town of Liberia-the center of Costa Rica’s agricultural region to the northwest part of the country and later staying a night at a Las Espuelas a working cattle ranch. Day 10 You will return to San Jose to spend overnight at a luxury hotel in the downtown part of the city. Day 11 The tour wraps up with tours of the Gold Museum, National or Jade museum-this depends on the itinerary that’s planned at the time a tourist arranges a trip through Costa Rican Tours.

A final dinner is planned at an authentic Costa Rican restaurant that specializes in Costa Rican cuisine. You spend a final night before leaving for the airport the next morning at Grano De Orio. A tour like this would run a typical visitor about $2500-3000 depending on the tour package you select since student and group tours are usually cheaper since group rates start when you have 15 people or more to bring the cost per person down so that it’s cheaper and inexpensive to travel to Costa Rica.

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Friday, June 5th, 2009
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Finding Bargain Basement Accommodations

Friday, June 5th, 2009

One of the things I’ve noticed through my many travels is that people often give up on the possibility of a good deal before even trying to get one. The art of bartering seems to be a lost art as is the art of comparison-shopping. When it comes to travel and vacation, every penny that you save on accommodations, food, and transportation is one more penny you have to spend on entertainment and adventure.

There are certainly plenty of both to be had in the wonderful city of New York and a vacation here is much like Alice’s adventures in wonderland. There is just so much to do and see that it is almost impossible to know where to begin. I recommend making arrangements to save money before ever arriving in the city. One of the ways you can do that is by investing a little time each evening and making copious notes about whom you’ve talked to where and what they’ve had to offer you as far as price and perks for accommodations.

Most hotels today are quite willing to offer incentives to their guests in order to have warm bodies filling their beds. All good managers know that a filled bed earns them more money than empty beds under their care and the more money earned under their care, the more secure their positions. That being said, if you take wonderful notes about the other hotels you’ve discussed tentative arrangements with you are very likely to be able to strike a deal with one or more of them that is far more favorable then the original deal offered.

This of course, will not work if you are trying for a weekend that is likely to be a popular travel weekend so if you’re considering a popular holiday or extended weekend for your trip this is probably not the best idea and you should probably be glad for any offer you can find. That being said almost any other weekend on the planet is fair game unless there are some very large and popular local events that may be drawing a sell out crowd for the local hotel industry.

Back to what I was saying, you can often not only get a better price by going between two competing hotels, but also added perks like tickets to shows, free meals, spa packages at the hotels spa, gift certificates to the hotel gift store. There are often little things a manager is willing to do in order to get your business with the assumption (often correct I might add) that he will make up the differences in add-ons and other purchases.

Some managers may get annoyed and confuse being frugal with being cheap. Please remember to tip properly. It’s one thing to save money by being frugal and another thing to do so by simply being cheap. If you do not treat the staff well they will remember you long after you’re gone. But that’s another story all together. The trick is in always being polite when dealing with managers on the phone and going with your best deal.

It is also important that you realize the best deal may not be in the cheapest room. If you’re getting one or two meals each day of your staying and only paying $5 0r $10 more a day for the privilege then you are very well coming out ahead in the bargain, particularly if one of those meals is dinner.

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