Upcoming Trip to Costa Rica & El Salvador

For this year’s spring trip my girlfriend and I will be venturing to Costa Rica and El Salvador for a week long adventure! This will include 6 nights in Costa Rica and 2 nights in El Salvador! While we haven’t ventured to Central America yet we both think it fits our travel style of nature, hiking, adventures, and beaches. Plus it will great to get some much needed sun and relaxation! Our trip is broken down into 3 separate parts. The first part will be consist of adventures in the mountainous region of the Rincón de la Vieja National Park. From there we will venture forth to the peaceful Culebra Bay with a stay at the luxurious Andaz Peninsula Papagayo. The final part will be in El Salvador which is typically not a tourist destination but I am excited to explore the country.  Below are the basic details of my trip and I cannot wait to share my experiences!

Read up on some of my other Costa Rica and El Salvador posts!

The Setup: Upcoming Trip to Costa Rica & El Salvador

Part 1: Costa Rica Ziplining & Borinquen Resort

Part 2: Costa Rica, Andaz Papagayo, & Beaches

Part 3: El Salvador & Santa Ana Volcano

Flights

I was able to snag United award flights from Indianapolis to Liberia, Costa Rica for both me and girlfriend on United and Avianca flights. This was actually a very hard award ticket to find availability with all the other spring breakers trying to book tickets. I had to book the tickets back in October and even managed to get a nice little stopover in El Salvador. Excited for some pupusas! The award tickets were 35,000 miles each which isn’t a bad deal considering a typical round-trip to Costa Rica can cost $700+ during the busy season. It will be the first time on Avianca so that is kind of exciting but I don’t expect anything too special.

Flight times are nearly perfect, minus a long layover on the return leg. Hopefully I will be able to standby for an earlier flight, there are many between ORD and IND. Either way I will spend the time waiting at the United Club with my free passes I have.

Hotels

For this trip I did a combination of paid hotel stays and hotel award nights in order to maximize savings and time travelling. I will have full reviews on all the hotels after the trip.

1. The first hotel we are staying at is the Borinquen Mountain Resort and Spa for 2 nights which is the midst of the Rincón de la Vieja National Park. I got a really good Orbitz deal which included free horseback rides to a nearby waterfall. The hotel has pretty good reviews and makes it easier to do a lot of the activities that are offered in the region like hiking, white water rafting, and ziplining.

2. Next we will stay 4 nights at the luxurious Hyatt Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort and the best part is the stay is free! Thanks to a bunch of Chase Ultimate rewards I transfered over to Hyatt. The hotel runs 15,000 points per night and the typical price is $500 per night, so this is an awesome redemption! The goal of staying here is just to relax and explore the nearby beaches.

3. On the way back to Indiana we have a stopover in El Salvador where we will stay 2 nights at the Marriott Courtyard San Salvador. From here we take a tour throughout El Salvador and just take in the experience. This is a paid stay but it is pretty easy to get cheap hotel rates in El Salvador.

I don’t want to spoil all the fun yet, so I will just let my updates after the vacation speak for themselves…. Check back after my trip! Less than two weeks until I depart!