Visiting soon and need to plan

look for the web site             orbitcostarica

advice for where to retire in the central valley

@mail66 Thank you, that's a nice summary. Looks like a good advisor regarding homes.

Now I need someone to advise where to stay during our vacation.

my wife just came back from playa hermosa in guanacaste and said hotel there bosque was quite nice and not crowded like tamarindo which is close by

the big problem with first time visit is the distances are so far that most do not realize to visit only one or two places outside the central valley

Yes, I did check drive times and we're only headed north for 3-4 days after visiting numerous towns around San Jose. Told my husband we really needed 3 weeks.

In the past, I've suggested that you begin by making a list of your needs, wants and things to avoid. Armed with that, you'll be in a much better position to search locations than wandering around with no specific plan.

You talk about towns around San Jose. Fine, but they'll be very different from the beach locations in Guanacaste. If you want hot weather year 'round, Guanacaste is for you. If not, look elsewhere in the Central Valley where three-quarters of the population lives.

On our first trip to Costa Rica, looking for retirement options, we took a four-day trip around the Central Valley that was oriented to aspiring retirees. We saw three towns each day and came away utterly confused by what we'd seen, and that didn't include any coastal areas.

If you set out with a sense of where you want to end up, your time will be better spent.

@Jtuck2...All this so called 'expat community'evaporates in the rainy season ! Just about all from the U.S.in Costa Rica are closed out or shut off from any true authentic connection....What we see and quite frequently is Americans in trouble and falling into the same trap again.....The ones that do want to share something,it is usually like they are reading from a script,'how they are the original first comer to Costa Rica and so on'..Then they will share their secret knowledge on how they made it $$$$$....And convince you to invest into what many find out too late,was a mere---Ponzi.The beach hamlet of Nosara,their favorite slogan among gringos is'Keep Nosara Weird',where cars and marriages meet their end....

@daveandmarcia

Thank you for your input. The other day we decided to give 1 day to each town of interest surrounding San Jose. I really wanted to have time to explore more areas further south to get immersed in nature, but my husband only had 2 weeks available this time.

We will also head up to Fortuna and the surrounding area for a few days. I think that's all we have time to fit in.

From all that I've been reading lately on several forums, I know we don't want to live permanently (year-round) in Costa Rica. Maybe part-time, but I understand that also poses difficulties. I am heeding what people are saying.

But we feel that the US isn't the same country we were born into. We're sad to see how it's deteriorated in so many ways.

We're not so much beach people. I've read that beach living can get too hot and humind and require expensive A/C for extended periods. That said, we don't want to go too low in temp, either.

Where did you end up if you moved to CR? 

@edwinemora  Hello Edwin, I guess you mean that expats either shut their doors and hibernate during rainy season or they leave?

Sounds like you haven't had great experiences with gringos. We're not all alike...just as ticos aren't.