Costa Rica in rainy season: Bad idea?

May 12, 2009 5:26 PM

Suggestions for Central American vacation...We want a place to do the beach/pool/resort thing, but also a place with great photographic opportunity. Where to go?

A friend and I have decided to take a late August/early September "recharge" vacation. We were thinking Costa Rica, perhaps Belize. Yes, I know this is the rainy season in those parts, but I'm wondering if that'll be ok for what we want; we both want a place to relax, plain and simple. Lounge by a pool, head to the beach, typical resort behavior. And I'm wondering, even if it's the rainy season, surely it doesn't rain all day...does it? We are not set on any geographic location, but we've already been to Bermuda and Bahamas (insert Kokomo joke here) so we've kinda ruled those places out.

I guess what I'm wondering is- is it foolish for us to go to Costa Rica/Belize during rainy season? Do you guys have any other locations that would allow us to relax, but that is also picturesque, with the benefit of great scenery/hiking/nature to experience? I was looking into the Azores, but I'm having a bit of a hard time finding information about traveling there. All suggestions welcome! (Lastly, again, have ruled out Bermuda, Bahamas, Florida...) Thanks everyone!

posted by muxnaw to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

I was in Costa Rica in July in the rainy season, sorry, the "green season". In the middle of the trip, it rained for 4 days straight, and then was cloudy half the time when we got to the beach. Would not go back at that time.
posted by smackfu at 6:01 PM on May 12

We went at the end of last November and it rained for over half the vacation. Towards the end, we would get rain in the morning and then sun in the afternoon, so that was cool, but the first week, it rained really hard - enough to cause mudslides around the country. And the mudslides were serious enough that when we traveled from city to city, our bus service had to take major detours that doubled the traveling time. I don't know if this was unusual or not, but it definitely wasn't like rain in hawaii, where it will rain and then the sun will come out.

We still had a totally amazing trip and we hiked and did a bunch of outdoor things in the rain with ponchos, but it definitely wasn't a lay-on-the-beach, chill in the sun kind of vacation if that is what you are looking for.
posted by gt2 at 6:01 PM on May 12

Yeah, never been to Belize but Costa Rica many times. Entirely unpredictable at any time. Have you given any thought to Puerto Rico?
posted by repoman at 6:34 PM on May 12

Sorry, you said Central America. Let's see what the Belize crowd thinks....
posted by repoman at 6:36 PM on May 12

Its been almost a decade since my semester abroad in Costa Rica, but I think I recall the Atlantic side has a different rainy season then the rest of the country. A little bit of googling seems to indicate there isn't as much rain in late August.

I really liked Cauhita in Costa Rica. Great beach, snorkling, and good food. My parents also went a few years ago and head a great time.

There is also a national park there.
posted by akabobo at 7:01 PM on May 12

We went to Costa Rica in 2006 in the middle of August. We were on the west coast and went up into the Monteverde and Arenal regions. The coast was dry and warm, but the mountains were rainy. It rained predictably every day at 2PM for a couple of hours, but the rest of the time the weather was beautiful. It sounds like we got lucky, though, looking at some of the other responses!
posted by tybstar at 7:01 PM on May 12

I went to Costa Rica maybe ten years ago and stayed on the left/west coast at a weird little place called Iguanazul. It was (at the time) hell to get to, at the end of a dirt road that was more like a riverbed but once we got there it was a small place with both pool and ocean and when we went (I think early December) it was pretty well empty. It's not super resort-like in that there is (was?) only one place to eat and drink but we were mostly there to hang out and it was a great place for hanging out. I also went later to Monteverde. We stayed here and loved loved loved it. No ocean nearby though.
posted by jessamyn at 7:15 PM on May 12

I went to Costa Rica in March (peak tourist season) and it still rained on and off. It wasn't a big deal to me because I was going to see the nature. Costa Rica isn't really the best place to go for a beach/pool/resort type vacation. It's very different than the Bahamas in that it's still not very touristy. The hotels tend to be rustic (although, a Four Seasons opened fairly recently).

I see Costa Rica as a place to have an active vacation - zip lining, hiking, etc. I loved my Costa Rican vacation, but it was not a low stress, relaxing vacation. Some friends of mine recently went to Costa Rica expecting to just lay around at the beach and were very disappointed because of the rain and because the beach was more "rocky" than sandy.
posted by parakeetdog at 1:01 PM on May 13

Dominical, south of Manuel Antonio (easier reched from the inland route than the rather rough coastal route) in Costa Rica is fantastic. Sandy beaches interspersed with rocky outcroppings, jungle, hills, etc. There's hiking, nature, surfing, horseback riding, you can even do the active tourist zip-lining stuff mentioned above.
posted by Pollomacho at 6:43 AM on May 14