Vacation planning best practices, Central America edition?

July 13, 2022 4:15 AM

I'd like to explore options for low-key family beach vacations in Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica and/or the Caribbean. Budget is limited, though, and I don't feel as confident about mapping the intersection of "nice, safe, consumer-friendly experience" and "good bargain" in these countries, as I do in US or western EU. Specific suggestions are also welcome, but in general, what's the best process here-- as in, where do I start looking for destinations and services? How do I vet what's trustworthy? What are best practices for locating something affordable but not sketch?

To clarify, I expect the proportion of great vs. not-great services and destinations is roughly the same across US and these destinations, but I don't trust my own read of the shopping landscape quite as well, particularly online and across linguistic/cultural divides.

My planning game even in the US is pretty basic, involving the standard USA travel web (VRBO/ AirBNB/ TripAdvisor/ Kayak/ Google) and reading lots of online reviews. If that should work for farther-flung destinations, too, then great! But otherwise, any suggestions for better sites and processes would be much appreciated.

posted by Bardolph to Travel & Transportation (4 answers total)

We have stayed in Air BnBs in Puerto Rico and Vietnam by using the same vetting strategy you describe here and it has worked out pretty well for us. We also just returned from a stay at an all-inclusive beachfront resort in Costa Rica. It wasn’t exactly a budget vacation but I thought it was pretty reasonable. If you MeMail I can share more specific info about that trip.
posted by gnutron at 6:23 AM on July 13, 2022

I recently planned a trip to Costa Rica, and disagree with the common classification you find online that it's "expensive." I mean, yes, I supposed compared to some Central American countries it costs more, but it's not hard to plan a budget vacation there if you're coming from much of the US - it obviously depends on where you are, but I've seen tickets as low as $180 RT from where I am. And while you can spend a boatload on fancy all-inclusive resorts, various tours/ziplining/etc., 4x4 car rentals, you can easily avoid that -we'll be mainly sticking to hiking, swimming, with a few cheaper wildlife tours thrown in. For Costa Rica, I found these three sites helpful. One thing to keep in mind with Costa Rica is because it's popular, if your goal is not to be surrounded by a bunch of American tourists the whole time, you'll want to go at least slightly off the beaten track.
posted by coffeecat at 10:46 AM on July 13, 2022 [2 favorites]

In Mexico, I’ve found that small, family-run hotels/inns are the best bets for good value for money. They often have pretty basic rooms but lovely grounds/common areas, delicious breakfasts, and great customer service. This, this, and this are good examples.
posted by lunasol at 8:10 PM on July 13, 2022

I travel similarly, and can directly recommend the following.

In Costa Rica -
El silencio de campo, a lovely little hot springs hotel. arenal. Tree house hotel Costa Rica, we stayed in hummingbird house, and extended our stay we loved it so much. They deliver warm coffee and stock the bird feeders on your treehouse every morning, and it’s the loveliest possible way to wake up. Outside Arenal
The blue banyan inn, tucked away behind a palm farm with a monkey rescue on site that you can visit and the hotel helps support and the most incredible banana pancakes. Quepos

Dominican tree house villages, Samana. The food was incredible- having a zip line and waterfall swimming hole onsite was most beyond, magical oasis iN the jungle- cried when we left.

Can also recc specific airbnbs in Mexico City if you message me.
posted by beignet at 7:49 PM on July 17, 2022 [2 favorites]