Quepos & Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica, with a toddler
Before having a child, my husband, Dane and I loved to travel. Every summer we would take a big trip and go on smaller ones throughout the year. Then, the pandemic happened, and we had a baby in the middle of it all. Travel seemed so very far away.
Back in September 2022, we realized we had a JetBlue credit that was about to expire from a trip that got cancelled due to the pandemic. We knew our daughter, Ariadne, would be able to get fully vaccinated soon, so we decided it was time to try traveling again, this time with a toddler. We looked at a few places, but ultimately chose Costa Rica, specifically the Quepos/ Manuel Antonio region, based on price, climate, Covid safety, and reading lots of experiences from parents who had traveled with kids.
February is the dry season in Costa Rica, and although that means it is technically the “busy” season, we did not find it to be crowded at all. That being said, we started our days early because toddler, so I can imagine that perhaps things were busier in the afternoon when we were usually napping. But, we went to some popular restaurants and never waited for a table.
Literally everything in Costa Rica is outdoors, and even the supermarkets are large and open air, so if you are still concerned about Covid safety the way we are, the lifestyle in Costa Rica makes safety easy. We literally never had to wear a mask once we got going in our rental car!
We chose to stay in an Airbnb versus a resort as we find Airbnbs to be better for our travel style, even more so now with a kid. We like to grocery shop and eat some meals in, particularly breakfast. Since Costa Rica has many beautiful beaches, being able to pack lunch and spend the day on the beach was also essential. We thought the location of our Airbnb was pretty perfect. It was just outside the main town of Quepos (3 min drive) and everything we wanted to do was located 10-20 mins away.
Day 1
From Fort Lauderdale Airport, we flew JetBlue to San Jose, Costa Rica, which is only 2.5 hours. Costa Rica does have two airports, but San Jose is the closest to the Quepos/ Manuel Antonio area. Still, the drive from the San Jose airport to Quepos can take anywhere from 2-4 hours depending on traffic. There is public transport (big tour type buses) that goes there, but since we had a toddler, we opted to rent a car so that we would be able to move freely throughout our trip. I will admit, this afternoon drive felt like it took forever, but we stopped for food a little more than halfway through and that certainly helped.
*If you are going to rent a car, do it early. I got a quote through this blog post that was around $900 and for some stupid reason didn’t reserve it. We ended up paying about $1400 through Sixt. They were great, but way too expensive.*
We finally arrived at our Airbnb around 6:30PM and started getting our daughter ready for bed since it was 7:30PM home time.
Day 2
On our first day, we decided to kind of get the lay of the land. Quepos has a super cute and well kept playground that overlooks the water. We loved it! Along this strip is also where you will find the Quepos sign, which is fun to take photos by. Across the street is the town of Quepos, which is only four square blocks. It is full of great restaurants and lots of little shops. We had a delicious breakfast at Coffee Stop and a great dinner at Tentación. Both were very kid friendly.
We spent the afternoon at the pool at our Airbnb, which was a nice way to watch the sunset that is so beautiful in this area.
Day 3
We got up early and headed to Playa Biesanz for a family beach day. We looked up this beach prior and thought it would be easy to get to. It. Was. Not. First, finding the little entrance to the beach was confusing because Google Maps made it seem like you could drive down the road to the sand and you absolutely cannot. Once we realized this, we parked with other people along the main road, found the entrance gate, and proceeded down a pretty steep hike. The challenge was that the ground was all little rocks, so it was pretty precarious getting down, especially holding a toddler. Overall, it took us about 10ish minutes.
Once we arrived at the beach though, it really took my breath away. Biesanz is in a little cove, so the water is super calm and amazing for swimming. There were lots of other families with babies and kids of all ages. There was even a woman sitting on the edge of the water, nursing her baby while she watched her toddler play. It was so cool to see everyone just living their best lives!
Our daughter really loved this beach and she had her first fresh coconut here. They sell some small snacks, but we definitely should have brought a cooler with lunch so we could have stayed longer. The beach has a ton of natural shade from trees, so there’s no need to pay for chairs and an umbrella. My one regret is that we did not bring a packable beach blanket. It would have helped so much throughout the whole trip! Next time I’m bringing one like this.
I won’t lie, the hike out of the beach was hard, but I still felt it was worth it and would do it again. My husband, on the other hand, was like absolutely not. So take from that what you will.
Day 4
After much Googling, we decided to head to Playa Espadilla because we wanted to avoid another hike. Part of this beach is free and open to the public, but the other part is part of Manuel Antonio National Park (Espadilla Sur). The public part is super easy to get to as you can literally park your car steps from the sand and walk right in. There is a beach front cafe area that is very busy, but if you walk a little further down to the right, you can have more privacy.
While this beach is beautiful and easy to get to, the water is very rough and is better for adults and older kids. We more or less spent our day sitting on the sand and letting the water come up to our legs and looking for pretty rocks. Our daughter had a great time, but we didn’t really get to swim like we would have liked. There is also a ton of shade here from the trees, which really helps in the strong Costa Rican sun.
Day 5
After two beach days in the sun, we needed a break, so I was glad we had booked a tour for Manuel Antonio National Park through Airbnb Experiences. Make sure you check that there are park entrance tickets first for the day you want to book the tour as you have to buy these separately and they do sell out. Make sure to buy them HERE as this is the official website. You will have to create an account, but it is quick and easy.
We met our tour guide, Jason, near the entrance of the park and our group had 7 other people in it, which was a great size. Manuel Antonio park has tons of animals, but they can be incredibly hard to spot. I was grateful for Jason for being able to spot the animals, show them to us through his amazing scope, and tell us so much about them. Ariadne couldn’t really get the hang of looking through the scope, so Jason used this attachment for his phone that he uses to take close up pics and videos to show her the animals. He was so patient with her and always made sure she got to see!
At the end of the tour, you end up at the beaches of the park, which are some of the most beautiful in all of Costa Rica. Although most people stay after the tour to enjoy the beach, it was a lot for a 19 month old and we felt it best to head back to the Airbnb for a nap. It was about a 25 min walk out of the park, but it was all flat along a boardwalk.
That night we had dinner at El Avion, which was so cool! There is a real plane inside that has been converted into a bar, but they have the cockpit intact and you can go inside. This is also an incredible place to enjoy the sunset. It took our breath away! The food was good too, so it is definitely not a place to be missed.
Day 6
We looked up Parque Nahomi and it said that it was a park for kids and they could also swim, but in reality, we found neither of these things to be true. The park had broken swings and was in full sun, so we really couldn’t use it. While there is technically water access, it is all rocky and there was no safe way to do it with a toddler. I am not sure why people said they swam there with kids, but I would definitely skip this no matter how old your kids are.
Instead, we headed to lunch at Marina Pez Vela, which is an ocean front area that has restaurants and shops. We ate at Runaway Grill with a beautiful view of the marina and it was super yummy! Afterwards we had incredible Italian gelato at Gelateria Amorosi. I would have loved to have spent an evening at Marina Pez Vela as there were lots of big open spaces for kids to run around and even little Adirondack chairs for them to sit.
In the later afternoon, we headed to the Quepos Market for some shopping. Vendors set up on Fridays from 3pm-11pm and Saturdays from 6am-12pm to sell fresh fruits and vegetables. They usually have the market directly behind the central bus station in the middle of Quepos, but we were told that sometimes it is on the waterfront. Ariadne loved seeing all the fruits and picking them out. The prices were great and the produce was the most delicious we had there.
Day 7
I asked Dane if he would rather do the hike to Biesanz beach again or pay to enter Manuel Antonio National Park and visit one of the beaches we passed when we were there for our tour. We ended up paying the enter the park again because we felt it would be easier to get to the beaches since, if you are going straight to that part of the park, the path is all along a boardwalk.
It definitely ended up being a good choice as we were able to use our stroller on the boardwalk, which made the 20 minute walk much easier. From the park entrance, you can take the boardwalk path to the right, and then when it splits, take the narrower path (Sloth Trail) that says it leads to Playa Manuel Antonio.
Although the park has several beaches, we chose this one because it is in a cove like Biesanz, so the water is super calm and great for swimming, especially with young kids. Not to mention it’s listed as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world! Ariadne loved swimming here, but she especially loved the little tide pools created in the rocky area. She saw hermit crabs, snails, and even an eel!
There aren’t any vendors selling things here since it is in the park, but you can bring fruit and sandwiches. Just be careful because our oranges were almost stolen by the monkeys! Also, check the tide because as it got closer to the afternoon, high tide came up super high and we were glad we were making moves to leave as there wasn’t much beach left.
Day 8
We got up super early for our drive back to San Jose since we had had such a long drive on the way there. Leaving at 7AM was definitely the right choice because we made the drive in less than 2.5 hours. After returning the rental car, we were a bit early for our flight, but the San Jose airport has lots of shops and places to eat, so we found the time went by fast. We let Ariadne run up and down the concourse several times, and that was good for getting out some of that toddler energy.
Final Thoughts
I am so glad we chose Costa Rica and the Quepos/ Manuel Antonio area for our first trip with our daughter. Costa Rica is incredibly kid friendly and everyone was always so kind to us. We also saw so many other families and we never felt out of place. I loved that everything was outdoors so we didn’t have to stress about Covid safety at all. Driving around between Quepos and Manuel Antonio was simple (seriously, it is one main road), and we found so many awesome things to do. I also noticed a ton of adult only resorts and lots of experiences that would be better for older kids and adults, so I feel like this is a great area to visit no matter who you are.
If you are nervous about flying with a toddler, check out my post on tips for making it easier!
