Costa Rica - Travel Advice

[Jay Max]

This question is for anyone that's been to Jaco- me and a few buds are going down soon and I was wondering how safe the area is. I read where tourists were being held up at gun point or roughed up by thugs for cash (mostly San Jose). Any general tips other than the obvious pointers? Like, are there any particular bars we should definitely avoid? What's the latest time we should be out and about? Do any of the Ticas have "pimps" to look out for? Are police even visible?

Thanks

[Superman06]

Not having much luck in finding a cheap flight to SJO from the Washington D.C. area. Hoping to find a charter if possible. Very flexible on when I travel after Jan. 2007. Any help appreciated.

[Ace00]

Some pointers for newbies.
Chase Star is the expert advisor about the scene in Costa Rica especially San Jose. Mark his every word.
RBrandon is the expert on saving money in San Jose. Listen to him and his places to go.

Now to become your own expert:

Here is a quick tip.
Every evening at 5 P.M. sit down at a table near the door to the street at the Blue Marlin bar in the Hotel Del Rey. Hotel of the King.
If you see some guy or guys sitting near you ask them:
"See our tea?" Yes, CRT. Like in Costa Rica Ticas. Google that and follow the links. Free.

If they do not know what you are talking about, forget them.
If they say YES, then strike up a conversation and buy them a round. It will be the best contact you can have there. Be friendly and learn the ropes from them. There is a Costa Rica Tica club called VIP. It costs $39 but is well worth it in your contacts with others, alone. Also you get substantial discounts at the ZB and Prez and elsewhere. So go the the google link, read the discussion board and join in. Keep reading the discussion board for good information. Do more reading for every question is answered there. The same guys posting info here are there under similar names like RBC100 and Prolijo.

[Ace00]

Another fall back is the Hotel Europa Central.

[Johnny Sax]

Don't underestimate or discount the Hotel Asia.

They have done extensive renovations and have brand new clean, tiled,
rooms with hot water and towels , televisions and a lock box for $11.00 per day...that's all day as in 24 hours.

It's a real Hotel!

The new lobby is clean and on the first floor...with 24 hour security and most importantly... chica friendly..

This is a real deal!

Wow, I'm amazed.
And they also still offer the rooms on the first floor to street hookers and such, for $6 or so per hour?

Anyone know if the Hotel Principe over in the "other redlight district" has finished renovating? Years ago, it was my place of choice to stay because I was living in CR on the coast, had little money to spend, but occasionally came into SJ for some fun. Stayed on the top floor of the Principe for $14 and although noisy it was above the street noise to some degree.

I checked it out in March and they had changed the desk to a "cage" style which told me maybe the area had gone further downhill, crime wise, (it's just up from the Caribe club (club with private rooms)). But they were renovating which made me wonder how it might be to stay there once they are done, and how much it would cost.

I have not heard back from Sportsman's lodge, Morazan and Castillo, am waiting for a return e-mail. At this point I STILL do not know for sure if the deal is on or not, so I am just doing exploratory inquiries. I did hear from some other guys that many of the hotels are full, and a quick check of the Sportsman's Lodge site showed it was full. Though as you say, there may be cancellations and what not.

I liked it better back in 94, when I had Costa Rica to myself! (-;

[Member #2666]

Don't underestimate or discount the Hotel Asia.

They have done extensive renovations and have brand new clean, tiled,
rooms with hot water and towels , televisions and a lock box for $11.00 per day...that's all day as in 24 hours.

It's a real Hotel!

The new lobby is clean and on the first floor...with 24 hour security and most importantly... chica friendly..

This is a real deal!

[Prolijo]

If by most you mean the DR, Pres or SL, you're probably right, but it doesn't hurt to check as there may be last minute cancelations. It also might help if you told us what places you have already tried. For example, have you tried the Clarion Amon Plaza? Its a bit further out of the Gulch (but then so is the SL) but is definitely chica friendly. How about the Castillo? They have summer rates as low as $51 INCLUDING tax and if you finally bite the bullet and join CRT as many here have been suggesting you can get a discount of as much as 35% on top of that. That's a $125 savings just on your hotel bill if you're there for a week which would easily offset the $39 cost of membership a few times over.

Did you happen to read the series of posts just a few messages down on arriving in SJ w/o reservations and the Holiday Inn and Morazon Hotels? My understanding is that the Gran Hotel is not particularly chica friendly (though I have no idea what chica guest fee they charge). I've also heard their rooms inside look far less "Gran" than the hotel does from the outside. Since you're now well advised to take a cab when going to the BM after dark where-ever you're staying it really doesn't matter quite so much how close to the gulch you're staying and in fact might be a bit safer the less time you spend hanging out in that particular part of town. There are no shortage of monger alternatives in and about downtown. You could also try the Hotel Europa, Hotel Doral or even the BW in the zona roja.

As far as the pay by the hour places. I sincerely doubt you'd want to rent any of them by the day. The Motel Eden on the Tibas Hwy rents out 6-12 hours at a time and has been suggested as a very nice place that might make for good overnight stays, but I don't know whether they'll let you check in to the same room 24/7. What are you going to do if they won't, pack up your bags and move to another room twice a day or worse carry your bags around with you until they reopen for the day? To be completely honest, I really don't know if its possible or not. Check it out and let us know what you find out as I know there are many others who have wondered about that.

[Johnny Sax]

Due to circumstances beyond my control I could not book a room until tomorrow, and I arrive in San Jose next week (the 22nd).

Any ideas on a chica friendly hotel at this late date? I know most are full at this point?

Anyone know if the Gran Hotel (not the Gran Via, but the old famous Gran Hotel next to the theater) allows chicas? and at what price?

I may have to stay at a non-chica hotel.

Any ideas on hourly rooms to use? I mean, besides the Hotel Asia?

Thanks for any ideas!

[Ace00]

Recently there has been a number of street armed robberies between the Blue Marlin Bar in the Hotel Del Rey and the Presidente Hotel two blocks away. They have occurred aside of the Horseshoe casino on Calle 9 between Ave 1 and Ave Central across or in front of the New York Bar. They happen at 8:30 at night or later. Recently at 8:30 PM. Three or four thugs surround the victim who is robbed at the point of a machette or pistol.

So take a taxi or walk in a large group but do not walk alone or ever when drunk.

And of course never carry your passport or valuables or wear expensive jewelry. Carry only the cash you need for the night. Leave your gold watch at home and wear a cheap watch. I carry a dummy wallet to throw away.
I also use a neck pouch.

If you have to use an ripoff taxi parked outside the Hotel do it. Try to set the price first. Or try to catch one on the street outside. As much as I do not like to do this, even I will change my habits.

UPDATE AS of MAY 21:
The situation is even worse than I could believe. More armed robberies on the streets. Everywhere downtown in the popular areas. At night for now.

It is a war zone and no police to be found patrolling the areas where we would walk.

[Ace00]

Sad to report the Hotel Gran Via is now closed. Not that good anyway from recent reports.

[Rzoll77]

I bought a package to san andres in March. It would have been 200$ for 3 nights at the cheapest hotel. Hotel Tone, but I read about it on the internet and decided to upgrade. Extra 100$ but not on the beach, close though. Sol del caribe.

I am glad I went by myself because I never got so much free p#ssy in my life. A 25 yr old colombiana at the hotel pool swam up to me and said we are the only single people here. Medellin

She left the next morning and that afternoon a beautiful 40yr old colombiana by the pool. Cali

The next morning troling the beach a 34 yr old colombiana waved me over. Bogota.

And all the women wear the dental floss thongs.

Talked to another gringo here in san jose and he got alot of free p#ssy there also.

Good place to go to renew your visa but leave the novia at home

[Travel Addict]

TRAVEL FROM SAN JOSE TO CARTAGENA OR ISLA SAN ANDRES CHEAP!
A Tico friend pointed me to
www.destinostv.com
TRAVEL FROM SAN JOSE TO CARTAGENA OR ISLA SAN ANDRES CHEAP!
If you want to see Costa Rica AND Colombia, here's a tip:
A Tico friend pointed me to
www.destinostv.com

They often, but not always, have super-cheap charter flights and packages to Cartagena & Isla San Andres.

They charter a whole TACA jet a couple of times a week, and sell packages with hotel for much less than the airfare would cost you otherwise. The plane stops each way in Cartagena and Isla San Andres. You do pay airport tax coming and going CR and Colombia about $25 each. They also have some other interesting specials on the website to various destinations. Highly recommended. You have to pay with credit card or bank transfer, and you don't get your ticket til you get to the SJO airport, which made me nervous. But they have a stand right next to the TACA counter on days they do flights and everything went as smooth as butter. They handed me my boarding passes and vouchers. The "all-inclusive" hotel was right on the beach in San Andres, and had once been once, but was really run down (no hot water, phone broken) and the "all-inclusive" meant stale sandwiches and for some reason all you could drink OLD MILWAUKI beer, LOL, but heck it was virtually free. Isla San Andres is a beautiful tropical island which belongs to Colombia, very small, mostly black people who speak some English. No major action there, pretty much BYOG. VERY few gringos, mostly Colombians and Panamanians on vacation. completely safe they search the fuck out of you when you arrive to keep weapons off the island. Check it out.

[Prolijo]

...The Brazil thread has a nice primer on useful Portuguese phrases - it would be nice if there were a similar Spanish guide here. ....

BTW I've just arrived in San Jose. Before coming here, read a guidebook which suggested walking up to Holiday Inn to get lower rate - it worked: $75 as opposed to $90 quoted on the internet. There is an ad at the airport for Holiday Inn saying one can just go there and get a room - if a room is not available, the 1st night is free (don't know how that works). Haven't taken a tica back to the room but another monger at hotel told me they are charging $25 to bring a girl in - ridiculous. I've never paid anything in Thailand.

BTW, for all you multi-cultural mongers if you check around that site you will see that it covers virtually every other language known to man including Portuguese http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlan...tuguese.1.html

As for the Holiday Inn offer, that is probably pretty safe for them to do since they probably always have vacancies at this time of year. If you don't mind going to CR without a reservation and you want to take advantage of local rates, you could also try the Morazon. It is only 1 short block from the HDR/BM/KL (and not across the sometimes dangerous after dark Morazon Park like the HI is). Also they only charge a much more reasonable $3 chica fee which the'll often waive if you negotiate that in advance when you check in (or bribe the nightclerk the first night you bring a chica back). Any monger that stays at the HI and pays $25 chica fees should have his head examined (right before he hands in his international monger ID card). And finally the Morazon has local rates as low as $35/night for rooms that are just as nice as those at the HDR for $55/night (and probably nearly as nice as the $75/nt rooms at the HI). What's the catch? If you try to reserve a room there ahead of time, they've been known to screw up the reservations. However, if you're just planning to show up there anyway, what do you really have to lose. The worst that will happen will be that they don't have a room and you're no worse off than you were before. After all, there's always that room at the HI. During the rainy season finding a room somewhere is never the problem. Rooms at the more popular monger hotels such as the HDR, Prez, and SL are what usuallly require reservations

[Patbutter]

Chase - Thanks. That´s excellent

[Prolijo]

You might want to also check out this site with spanish slang for many countries (mostly mexico):
http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlang/ht/Spanish.1.html