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To Costa Rica from El Salvador...advice/suggestions?

To Costa Rica from El Salvador...advice/suggestions?

Old Mar 14, 2011, 3:14 pm
  #1  
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Question To Costa Rica from El Salvador...advice/suggestions?

My family of four is living in La Palma, El Salvador for a year working with a church here and we need to leave the CA-4 in April to renew our visas. We'd like to visit Costa Rica and enjoy a few days of vacation to do this. We're exploring the best way to do this without spending huge amounts of money. King Quality has a bus route from San Sal to San Jose but it's over $100 per person and that's a grueling 18 hour bus trip with 2 kids so we're looking for airfare deals as well as hotel deals. Someone told us there's a ferry from El Sal that goes to Costa Rica and we'd love to consider that option. We don't have a car, but we have a friend who we can pay to drop us off at the airport or a port, but we don't want him with us all week so road trip with him is out of the question.

What suggestions do you have for where to stay, what to do, how to get there for a family with a 14-year-old and a 10-year-old? And how to do it on a budget? Looking for 4 or 5 days of fun and relaxation. Our visas expire April 17 which hits right at Holy Week so we'll probably try to leave here on the 14th or 15th if possible.

My daughter is fascinated by the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua so we may try to do a day trip up that way--but since that's a CA-4 country, I assume we either need to do that our first day or after being in Costa Rica for 3 days. So many things we want to see/do on one trip and we're trying to narrow those down and keep this in budget. Any help/tips appreciated!
Thanks!
-Lori
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Old Mar 14, 2011, 3:20 pm
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Welcome to Flyertalk, monlor.
I am moving your thread to the Central America Forum.(Travel & Dining>The World>Central America)
Please follow there...
Thanks..
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Old Mar 14, 2011, 9:25 pm
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I'm not aware of any ferry service between El Salvador and Costa Rica, and I cover both countries for a large guidebook publisher. That doesn't mean the service doesn't exist, but I've never heard of it.

I see that flying with Taca is going to be in the low $300s round trip, as long as you don't fly on the Friday-Saturday-Sundays bracketing Holy Week. Then it seems to shoot to $400-500. That takes you to San Jose, which is nowhere near the Nicaraguan border. (If you've never been to Costa Rica, you'll see that the highway system is nowhere as good as it is in El Salvador.) Even if you're already in far northern Costa Rica, a day trip to Nicaragua is difficult to do on your own.
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Old Mar 20, 2011, 7:19 pm
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Seem to recall my fomer coworker who lived close to San Juan del Sur said there was a LOCAL ferry between Nica and Costa Rica. Of course you'd have to get there, and not sure there is immigration there.

Many moons ago had a Nica girlfriend who lived in Costa Rica and she used Tica Bus, but I see that prices have skyrocketed

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Last edited by EmailKid; Mar 21, 2011 at 12:56 pm Reason: Tica Bus, not Tico Bus
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Old Mar 20, 2011, 8:37 pm
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Tica Bus is going to comparable in price to King Quality, about $100 round trip and the bulk of two days traveling. (You have to overnight in Managua.)

Tica Bus also goes in the other direction to Guatemala City and on to Tapachula, over the border in southern Mexico. Tapachula has a Comfort Inn and Holiday Inn Express, but it's hardly a tourist destination. You'd still have a ways to go before you could get to San Cristobal de las Casas, the big tourist draw in the Mexican state of Chiapas. You'd be in a non-CA-4 country at least.
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