Honduras (Bay Islands)

May 11, 20251 Comment

CITIES (but really islands) VISITED:

Utila
Roatan

PRO TIPS:

Bring crisp, “perfect” USD to exchange or use as most places will accept it and then you will get change in Lempira. This helps avoid ATM fees.
Utila has a pretty cash centric economy but some places accept credit cards with a 4% processing fee (so I avoided that at all costs)
Roatan is more built up so I found that I could use my credit card at most places (with no processing fee!)
English is widely spoken on both islands!
Both islands are filled with tourists, with an emphasis on first time divers as the Bay Islands are known as the cheapest place in the world to get certified. These are well trodden spots 🙂
If you don’t mind a dorm sleeping situation a lot of dive shops offer free or discounted accommodation.

CITY: UTILA

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at the Mango Inn as it was free through the UDC dive shop. There were 4 bed dorm rooms, which was nice as they were pretty quiet. Room was clean & bathrooms were always available with hot showers (although I preferred a cold shower as it was HOT in Utila). The only downside was that it was a 15 min walk to the dive shop, which for early morning dives wasn’t ideal.

WHERE TO EAT:

Josie’s is the cutest little cafe right at the pier. It’s only open until 2pm but I went three days in a row after diving for breakfast/lunch (I don’t like eating before morning dives). Each day I had an everything bagel with eggs, bacon, avocado & caramelized onions – YUM
The Local & the Gringa is another popular eatery. I had breakfast there my last day on the island.
Baleadas Mama Rosa – I had my first baleada here which is a local Honduran dish made of a big flour tortilla filled with a refried bean paste and fillings of your choosing. I liked the egg & avocado one!
Che Pancho made a great smoothie.
Gaga’s Grab & Go Restaurant is tucked away from the main road and has fabulous food with large portions. They also do free delivery so it’s a great option on a rainy day.

WHAT TO DO:

The main thing to do here is diving! Either for fun dives or to get certified. The Bay Islands are known as one of the cheapest places in the world to get certified so prospective divers flock here! I chose to do my fun dives with Utila Dive Center (UDC). Overall I had a positive experience but it also wasn’t the most amazing experience. It was probably the biggest dive shop I’ve ever dove with and it was run efficiently & professionally. However, it was a little impersonal. That being said, they have a morning boat dedicated to fun divers so you aren’t stuck with newbies 🙂 I appreciated this. There’s nothing worse than having to end a dive early because someone new is sucking through their air super quickly. Additionally, it was great that my accommodation was included in my dive package. I paid $255 for 6 dives in May 2025.

Beyond diving, I made time to walk around with my camera, especially at sunset. There’s a great spot at Underwater Vision Dive Center to catch the sunset. I also had a massage with Nora, who I just found because she has signs up on the street. It was a pretty basic setup in her house but the massage was awesome! It was $50 for an hour.

Lastly, randomly there was a fishing competition while I was on the island so I joined some new friends to go to part of the final weigh in, which was silly and different.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I would say I enjoyed Utila but it wasn’t my favorite stop. The diving definitely didn’t blow me away. We didn’t really see anything particularly spectacular. There haven’t been whale shark sightings in over a year. I didn’t see any dolphins between dives. It was a cute island, but I much preferred the Corn Islands for diving and for vibes.

CITY: ROATAN

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Hotel Chillies in West End. I snagged a private room for $34 per night and I literally booked it the day before arriving as I last minute decided to leave Utila to spend my last 3 nights in Honduras in Roatan. The hotel is very basic (more like a homestay) but the room and shared bathroom was very clean & comfortable. There’s a tiny shared kitchen and wifi worked. No hot shower in the part of the hotel I stayed in, but I craved cold showers at all times of the day since it was so hot so that didn’t bother me at all. The location is perfect as it’s in the center of town and is across the street from the beach. I would definitely stay here again. There’s also a dive shop as part of the hotel so that was incredibly convenient!

WHERE TO EAT:

The Shack makes fabulous burgers but they are really known for their onion rings. Def worth a visit!
Crisp is a cute little cafe with YUMMY smoothies and smoothie bowls. Obviously I went a few times 🙂
Sandy Buns was sadly closed while I was here (owners were on vacation in Italy at the time), but this is a famous bakery in town. DON’T SKIP coming here.
Sundowners is a beach bar that was packed every night. They seemed to have live music every night and I also attended a Trivia Night.
Yahongreh? – Very conveniently located on the hotel property. Yummy breakfast & smoothie options.

WHAT TO DO:

Once again, diving is a big driver of tourism in Roatan. Snorkeling, lying on the beach and drinking yourself silly are also popular pastimes 🙂 Once again, I honestly wasn’t overly impressed with the diving so I opted to skip more diving after I did one dive.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I think I liked Roatan more than Utila but I still am not feeling like I will return to the Bay Islands anytime soon. There are other islands in the world I have enjoyed more 🙂

BUDGET FOR 7 DAYS IN HONDURAS:

If you aren’t a diver, then a visit to the Bay Islands will be quite affordable. But if you are going to the Bay Islands, you are probably a diver, or learning to become one 🙂

Accommodation: $102 ($14.5 per night) – spent 3 nights in a private room in Roatan ($32 per night), but my accommodation in Utila was free because it was included in my dive package!
Food: $140
Activities: $350 (7 dives + 1 massage)
Local Transportation: $90 (2 ferry rides + a few taxis)
Miscellaneous: $45

Total: $727 (Daily average: $104)

Transportation to next destination: $230 (Flight to Belize City)

Nicaragua

April 30, 2025May 6, 20252 Comments

CITIES VISITED:

Ometepe – glorious island in the middle of Nicaragua Lake made up of two volcanos
Granada – colorful, colonial city
The Corn Islands (Little Corn) – magical car-less island known for its tranquil days & shark filled scuba diving
Leon – charming university city known for its volcano sand boarding and its heat

Other destinations to consider:

Popoyo
San Juan Del Sur

PRO TIPS:

Bring crisp, “perfect” USD to exchange or use as most places will accept it and then you will get change in Cordobas. This helps avoid ATM fees.
Bring some small USD bills for entry/exit fees that pop up at airports and land crossings in & out of the country.
Chicken busses are a cheap way to get around the country, but take care of your belongings. A quicker (but more expensive) option is shared shuttles.
Rent a scooter in Ometepe. It’s one of my favorite things I did in Nicaragua.
Knowing some Spanish definitely helps in Nicaragua as English is not widely spoken (but Google Translate does wonders).

CITY: OMETEPE

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed one night at Hospedaje Soma because I was arriving late via the ferry and didn’t want to traverse all the way to the other island after a long travel day. Also some friends I met in Colombia 10 months ago would be leaving early the next morning so we decided one night in the port city would be perfect! The hostel was great- it had a pool and AC, which was such a treat! The staff were incredibly generous and even let me store my big backpack there for a few days while I took my smaller backpack with me on a scooter to the other side of the island. Would happily stay here again.

The next three nights I stayed at Urrica Loca in Balgue on the other side of the island. It’s a very cozy, cute hostel. Easy to meet people but not loud. There’s a kitchen and fans for every bed. Plenty of hammocks and picnic tables for chilling. Great location off the main road. Would highly recommend.

WHERE TO EAT:

Café Campestre is a cute restaurant in Balgue that’s a favorite amongst backpackers. Plenty of food options and nice ambiance
El Pital (which you can also stay at) is a great trendy spot for sweet treats, great smoothie bowls and fabulous drinks. It’s had a beautiful deck over the lake with beautiful views of one of the volcanos. Filled with backpackers. It’s actually a cacao farm so you can also do a cacao tour! I went twice for the vibes and swimming
Pizzeria Mediterranea bar ristorante for some yummy pizza
Breakfast at the hostel was also great- especially the overnight oats!

WHAT TO DO:

My absolute favorite thing to do was rent a scooter for my whole time on the island. I just loved the freedom. I rented from here and had no issues 😀
Visit Ojo de Agua for some swimming in a manmade pool but with lovely fresh water. We also did one of the hikes inside the park to see some monkeys. Your entrance fee (~$11) also includes $5 to spend inside the park
Do a cacao tour at El Pital (they offer Spanish and English tours so find out their schedule) they only had a Spanish tour while I was there so I did mine in Spanish!!! Pretty cool 😎
Scooter around the entire island!!
Visit any pop up markets that are on (we went to a Saturday art market)
Go to Playa Mango for sunset. We had spectacular sunsets here

Other ideas (but that I didn’t do)

Hike either of the volcanos. One requires a guide, the other doesn’t. Both would offer great views but think about which volcano you’d want to be able to see from up at the top
Kayak at sunset
Go kite surfing or get lessons
Hike Cascada de San Ramon (if you aren’t a confident scooter driver then the hike is significantly longer or you can try to hitchhike part of the way)

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Wow I really loved it here! Having a scooter really made all the difference as I could be completely independent on what to do and when. Also it was quite unexpectedly social. I got to see Tammy (studied Spanish with her in Colombia in May of last year) and her BF for a night. Then I met Tessa (Dutch) and Cat (Australian) who I did the cacao tour and then sunset/dinner. Then Tessa and I spent 2 days scootering all around. While at El Pital I randomly ran into a British guy who I spent 2 days with in Cambodia exploring Angkor Wat. Lastly at Ojo de Agua, Tessa and I met a lovely local couple and chatted to for a bit. Then I ran into them the next day at El Pital and they offered to make us a local/typical dinner and bring it to us at our hostel to enjoy together. It was one of the highlights of Central America so far. Just so generous! I also loved that my Spanish is at a level where I can have dinner with locals now.

CITY: GRANADA

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

De Boca en Boca is a backpacker favorite. Lots of dorm rooms to choose from. The personal fan in each bed was enough to keep me cool at night. There’s a locker for your stuff. The outdoor common area has tons of seating and hammocks. There’s a pool table and a tiny pool to cool off. Free breakfast was great and changed each day. There were also tons of activities during the evening to meet people and they organized plenty of day trips you could sign up for. It’s in a good location, but I wouldn’t walk alone at night anywhere in Granada. 9/10

WHERE TO EAT:

I grabbed dinner to go from a yummy Mexican spot called Burrocks around the corner that I’d recommend for good, cheap food. It was convenient to grab and then bring it back to eat at the hostel since I didn’t want to walk late on my own.

For brunch/lunch I’d check out Cafe del Arte and The Garden Cafe. Both had lovely ambiances but not the cheapest.

I found a smoothie/bowl place (Pitaya) that was great. I wish I’d found it earlier in my stay in Granada.

WHAT TO DO:

I was burnt out from the go go go pace of Ometepe so I mostly just chilled while here.

I did a walking tour, went to the dentist and had a massage (90 min for $35!!). I also did a ton of booking of hostels and flights for the rest of my Central America trip.

Other popular options:

hike a volcano
Take a cruise of the Islets in Lake Nicaragua
Treehouse party

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I liked Granada and all its charming, colorful architecture, but I wouldn’t say I fell in love with it. It’s worth a stop in any Nicaraguan itinerary, but I wouldn’t say you need more than 2-3 days. Also a girl at the hostel got beat up while coming back to the hostel late at night, so just be sure to be aware of your safety while here.

CITY: THE CORN ISLANDS

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed 4 nights at Christina’s Guesthouse which was perfect! It was a 5 min walk to the dive shop and 4 min to most restaurants on the islands. Room had AC, a fan and a little table to sit at. Rocking chair outside the room. There’s no electricity at hotels from 6am-1pm so be prepared for that. It was such a treat to have a private room! I slept fabulously. 10/10

WHERE TO EAT:

The Shack– I had breakfast here twice and both times got the coconut French toast highly recommend!
Desi’s – I loved the pancakes and avocado/chicken sandwich here. Smoothie was also good!
Tranquilo – activities most nights and food was good. They also have a cute little library you can check books out from.

WHAT TO DO:

SCUBA DIVE! I did 6 dives in 3 days, including a night dive with Dolphin Dive. The main attraction is the high chance of seeing hammerhead sharks! Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate while I was here so we couldn’t get to the hammerhead filled dive sites. Given this, I wouldn’t say my dives here were all that spectacular with the exception of the night dive. We saw a nurse shark, doing lobsters, crabs and then the highlight was when we spent 11 min kneeled down in the sand and all turned off our lights. After a minute of our eyes adjusting, we were surrounded by bioluminescent plankton!! Truly magical. It felt like we were in outer space amongst the stars. We all felt like this was the best dive we did while here.
I also got a fabulous massage at The Little Corner.
You can also hike/walk around the island to get to some beautiful beaches that you’ll have to yourself.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

The island is darling! No cars and few people makes for a very cozy, friendly culture. By the end of your stay you’ll recognize most people in town! Everyone says hi to each other as you pass them. My biggest regret is only staying 4 days. I wish I had stayed longer not only because it would’ve given me a better shot at getting to the hammerhead dive spot, but also because this is just a little gem of a spot to spend some time!

CITY: LEON

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Poco a Poco hostel, another backpacker favorite. Some rooms have AC (check when you book), but all beds have a personal fan which does a great job of keeping you cool at night. Curtains, personal lights & sockets in the beds. Small pool to cool off in + lots of areas to sit (including long picnic tables and hammocks). Great location close to the center of the city. Lots of restaurants nearby. Cheap breakfast available for $2. Overall, I really liked this hostel. 8/10.

WHERE TO EAT:

I found a smoothie spot (Jugoso) as well as another Pitaya location to get a smoothie bowl. Pan y Paz was also a good cafe to get a treat at. The food trucks also had some yummy street food so I had dinner at those two of the nights.

WHAT TO DO:

The highlight here is sand boarding down a volcano before taking the party bus home! The sand boarding was fun but the party bus was less my scene haha. There are two main companies: Via Via and Bigfoot. I did it with Via Via because it skews smaller & slightly older, while Bigfoot takes a way bigger group, and has even more of a party vibe. Overall its a very similar tour!

You can also go on a great walking tour, check out the cathedral at sunset or head to the beaches of Las Penitas.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Leon was a slightly grungy, but very fun city with lots of energy. It was a great last stop. Worth 2-3 days, but you can certainly stay longer.

BUDGET FOR 15 DAYS IN NICARAGUA:

Nicaragua is a cheaper destination (for example I averaged only $18 on food per day), but you can easily find ways to spend money, especially if you head to the Corn Islands 🙂

Accommodation: $377 ($25 per night) – spent 4 nights in a private room in the Corn Islands
Food: $275
Activities: $460 (6 dives + 2 massages)
Local Transportation: $370 (including flights to the Corn Islands)
Miscellaneous: $93

Total: $1575 (Daily average: $105)

Transportation to next destination: $84 (Shuttle to El Salvador)

Panama

April 23, 20251 Comment

CITIES VISITED:

Panama City – great starting point to any itinerary, Panama Canal, beautiful old town
Valle de Anton – hiking town located in the base of an extinct volcano
Santa Catalina – beach town known for its diving!
Boquete – hiking town up in the mountains, including the tallest point in Panama
Bocas del Toro – popular beach town where you take water taxis from island to island

PRO TIPS:

No visa needed for US citizens as of March 2025. Both the airline & the immigration did ask for what date I was leaving the country but never actually asked for hard proof. YMMV.
Panama uses USD so that made it very easy for me. I brought some USD with me but also it’s easy to go to an ATM & get more without worrying about a bad conversion rate.
Panama wasn’t SUPER expensive, but it wasn’t cheap either. Meals were often $10-15 and hostel beds were $15-25 depending on how nice they were.
If it makes sense (aka you’re not a solo traveler) renting a car seems like a great way to travel. Roads were great and gas was cheap!

CITY: PANAMA CITY

HOW LONG: 1 NIGHT

ACCOMMODATION:

Eden’s Garden hostal – nice free breakfast and a few hammocks. No social vibe at all. Barely met anyone but luckily a couple arrived at the exact same time as me so we ended up hanging out! I’ve never seen this before but the bunks were handmade and you could completely enclose and lock the entire bunk. There was also room to keep your bag up in the bunk at the foot of the bed. Great for privacy and securing your bags but not great for social vibes in the room. Also it was pretty dark. Neighborhood felt safe but I wish I had stayed closer to Casco Viejo (luckily it’s only a 15 min / $5 Uber away). I would try somewhere else next time I was here. 6/10

WHERE TO EAT:

In Casco Viejo, I tried Mahalo for a cacao banana smoothie. Very aesthetic cafe & beautifully decorated.

Al Alma– small brunch chain based in Colombia with delicious brunch food available all day – so you know I love it ☺️ I had a French Toast sandwich for an early dinner.

Right around the corner from the hostel I ate at Oh My Burger! with the Dutch couple I met.

WHAT TO DO:

Visit Casco Viejo, the beautifully colorful colonial part of Panama. I had fun trying out my new camera here! It’s fun to just walk around the small streets of this old town. Also, visit the RAKO store – super fun store with hand crafted designs like beautiful, colorful bandana. I never shop but managed to spend $50 😅

I also visited Panama Viejo with Alex & Kai. For $17, we got to see the archaeological ruins of old Panama including a robust museum & a bell observation tower.

I didn’t visit the Panama Canal, but that’s a popular activity.

Another popular choice is a day trip to the San Blas islands, but I was too tired and jet lagged to attempt that long day. Pro Tip: If you are headed to Panama from Colombia (or vice versa) you can do a 5 day sailing trip through the San Blas Islands as you head to Panama City. It’s a popular backpacker bucket list item.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I was planning to stay 2 nights (to give myself a full day to recover from my red eye flight), but I ended up meeting the Dutch couple (Alex & Kai) who had rented a car and were headed to Valle de Ánton so instead of waiting around an extra day to then have to take a shuttle, I forwent my second night in Panama city and hopped in the car with them!

CITY: EL VALLE DE ÁNTON

HOW LONG: 2 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at a Bodhi Hostel & Lounge. Very cute and pretty clean. Free breakfast was great! Lots of areas to lounge indoor and outdoor, including an area to watch movies and lounge beds outside. Dorm bunks are three high so if you are afraid of heights then consider that. I spent one night in the dorm and one night in a private room (such a treat!). WiFi wasn’t the best but it did the job. Picnic table to eat any meals you cook for yourself in the kitchen. I never waited for a bathroom. Curtains and personal plugs in the bunk. Good location in town (but town is small). Helpful with organizing things to do or transport to your next destination. Would stay here again. 9/10

WHERE TO EAT:

Madre Pizza was right next to the hostel with yummy, reasonably priced pizza. Other than that I mostly ate at local restaurants with $3.50 menu del día meals with my Dutch friends.

WHAT TO DO:

There is tons of great hiking (here’s a great list) in El Valle, but Kai had an injury on the bottom of his foot so we picked a shorter, but popular one: India Dormida. After a $3 entrance fee, we quickly got to see some ancient petroglyphs. Then we passed some small waterfalls that you can swim in before or after the hike. Here’s a great guide to it.

After the hike we drove to another viewpoint, which was fairly underwhelming.

The rest of the afternoon I read, walked the main street of the tiny town, and enjoyed my private room by calling a few friends.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I honestly thought I would like this town more but it was little just okay. There wasn’t much to the town and the hiking was pretty but didn’t blow me away. However, it was certainly cool to stay inside the crater of an ancient volcano!

CITY: SANTA CATALINA

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at an awesome hostel called Bambuda Santa Catalina. It had a hotel vibe but in a good way. Pool is very nice with a swim up bar. Plenty of chaise lounges and seats to read or soak up the sun. Rooms are modern and clean. The four bed dorm has one bunk plus two single, which is awesome. Bathroom is incredibly nice (felt like a nice hotel). There’s a restaurant to eat at (not super cheap but food looked good) or you can walk down the main road 5-20 min to find a variety of other options. Annoyingly no kitchen, but not the end of the world. It overlooks the beach/ocean. I wouldn’t say it was incredibly social but my Dutch friends were staying around the corner so I mostly hung out with them. I loved reading by the pool in all the shady spots they had. 10/10 would highly recommend, even though it’s a little bit of a splurge for a dorm bed.

WHERE TO EAT:

I ate at three cute spots in town!

Cafe Panachocolate – the one super cute smoothie bowl cafe. Lots of backpackers hanging and working on their computers. Food was delicious and it wasn’t too expensive ($9 smoothie bowl).
Firestone Grill – Fun burger & taco joint up on a little hill. We played monopoly deal for an hour after eating! Fries were delicious – we even ordered a second round of them.
PanaWok – Located in a fun, new upscale outdoor food hall. It’s a build your own wok bowl with lots of options. Portions were huge and I had half leftover for lunch the next day!

WHAT TO DO:

Visit Coiba National Park! Whether it’s by snorkeling or scuba diving, it’s a can’t miss!
Sit by the pool & soak up the sun
Take surf lessons
Go on a horseback ride

My highlight was obviously doing 3 scuba dives in the National Park. We saw over 50 whitetip reef sharks, a bull shark, a huge Hawksbill turtle and 20+ green turtles! It was spectacular and one of the best dives experiences I’ve had. Highly recommend if you are a diver!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Town is tiny, but between a cute cafe, an awesome hostel, and incredible diving, this was my favorite place in Panama! It was sadly my last stop with Kai & Alex, but we had a blast diving together, playing monopoly deal & eating lots of food!

CITY: BOQUETE

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Socialtel – wow what a cool hostel. It’s a former Selina hostel so it has a co-working space. Such a cool property with a literal river running through it! Lots of hammocks and spots in the shade to chill. Best of all are the cool cylinder private rooms. I loved how cozy the space was (but there’s little room outside the bed 🤣). Shared bathrooms didn’t bother room, I was just happy to have my own space and a double bed! 10/10 would recommend – especially if you can splurge on a cylinder room.

WHERE TO EAT:

Café Unido – yummy breakfast sandwich at a simple, cute cafe with views of the stream!
Olga’s – best breakfast in town! Highly recommend a stop at this family run restaurant. You’ll be treated with a hug & kiss on the head.
Saori’s Ice Cream – great ice cream spot. Known for their pistachio ice cream. I added chocolate hard sauce to mine!
Gelateria La Ghiotta – I didn’t go but wish I had 🙂

WHAT TO DO:

The main thing to do here is a sunrise hike to the tallest point in Panama. You start at midnight if you want to hike or 4am if you want to take a 4×4 up (the more popular way). I honestly have done so many volcano hikes & I was exhausted from the fast past from the start of my time in Panama, so I decided to just enjoy my cute private room and the hostel property.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

It was nice to be up in the mountains as it was a very pleasant temperature each day and cooled off in the evening (very welcome after the past few towns). I enjoyed my very chilled time here. Definitely worth a few days here!

CITY: BOCAS DEL TORO

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

Bocas del Toro is a cute little area filled with tons of islands. There’s the main town aptly called Bocas Town and it has tons of cute beach restaurants and cafes. There’s plenty of hostels to choose from here. However, I stayed on an island a 5 min boat taxi away and it was one of my favorite hostels I’ve ever stayed at. Bambuda Lodge does a great job with everything from the food, to the views, to the social atmosphere, to the volunteers and customer service. Truly impeccable. You are isolated on the island unless you want to take the $5 taxi boat to the main island, which makes everyone hang out together most of the day/evening at the pool or other hangout areas. There are hammocks, a workout room, and plenty of chaise lounges. There’s also a 150 ft slide that goes into the ocean! The volunteers organize a welcome drink every night where everyone goes around and introduces themselves. Fun to see all the friends you are about to make. Also the food is excellent and portions are generous. The fans in the beds were enough to keep you cool at night but just remember you are on an isolated island with minimal infrastructure so don’t expect luxury. 10/10 would love to go back! I ended up extending to 4 nights here.

WHERE TO EAT:

I ate every meal at the property and loved every meal. Each night you have about 6 dishes to choose from on and it changes each night. Pro tip: Brownies were incredible! The family style meals are great for meeting people!

WHAT TO DO:

I didn’t do much besides pester all my new friends with questions about how to construct my Central America itinerary. They were all very helpful and I’m eternally grateful for the information exchange that happens at hostels.

Other than the fun evening activities the volunteers organize like trivia or drinking games, I also went on the island hike to see some of the famous red frogs & huge golden orb spiders. It was a fun way to move my body and meet some of the other travelers!

Other ideas:

Take a boat taxi to one of the main beautiful beaches
Do a day trip to snorkel and swim around the fabulous sites in the area
Go diving
Go to the epic, well known Filthy Friday party that happens every (you guessed it) Friday.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Bocas del Toro was a much needed break and I loved spending all day “trapped” at the beautiful resort with all my new friends! Also hilariously I ran into a girl (Bekah) I had met at a hostel 5 years prior in Gili T, near Bali. So random and so delightful!

BUDGET FOR 13 DAYS IN PANAMA:

Panama was definitely not the cheapest destination in Central America, but I also contributed to the high than average spend. Panama can definitely be done cheaper than how I did it 🙂

Accommodation: $600 ($46 per night) – I did double pay for accommodation one night as I last minute changed plans to leave Panama City a night early. Also, because I was feeling so burnt out, I did treat myself to some private rooms hehe (including 3 nights at $95 per night, which is abnormal for me)
Food: $350
Groceries: $20
Activities: $255 (diving + massage)
Local Transportation: $115
Miscellaneous: $90

Total: $1,430 (Daily average: $110)

Transportation to next destination: $129 (Bus to San Jose, CR, one night at hostel then bus to Ometepe) Basically I traveled from 9:30am to 5pm the following day straight with 7 hours to sleep in San Jose. This was a very long journey haha.

Costa Rica

February 18, 2025April 2, 2025Leave a comment

CITIES VISITED:

Santa Teresa
Nosara
Monteverde
La Fortuna
Manuel Antonio

PRO TIPS:

Costa Rica is expensive! Honestly not great for backpackers. I’d focus on the other countries in Central America.
To set expectations it’s filled with lots of US tourists who are here on 1-2 week vacations so Costa Rica tourism really caters & charges $$$ accordingly.
Life is slow in Costa Rica, so don’t expect anything to be on time.
If you rent a car, make sure to rent a taller car than a tiny SUV. Ours bottomed out a few times on the very pot-hole ridden roads.

CITY: SANTA TERESA

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at a cute hostel called Ico Living Hostel that wasn’t even listed on Hostelworld (I found it on booking.com). The beds were doubles not twins, which is a game changer. There were lockers, lots of hooks for wet swimsuits and towels, and the room was very clean. Wifi & AC worked great. There were two hammocks and lots of communal seating near the outdoor kitchen. Also it was a 5 min walk to the beach!! Overall would absolutely stay here again.

WHERE TO EAT:

Santa Teresa is basically a (longish) one street town that runs parallel to the beach. Near the hostel was Eat Street which was a hip, elevated outdoor food market with about 4-5 restaurants to pick from. I loved the smoothie bowls from here.

Gaucho Norte had some delicious but expensive ice cream!

WHAT TO DO:

It’s a beach town so the main thing to do is get surf lessons or just hang out at the beach!

I also took a day trip to go to Tortuga Island for some snorkeling, dinner, and swim with the bioluminescent plankton at night. Honestly, I didn’t love the tour. The snorkeling was pretty subpar, and I don’t need to spend the day in the sun, & the plankton weren’t that bright, so I should’ve just hung out at the shady beach in Santa Teresa, but you live and you learn.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

I really didn’t like it here to be honest. The beaches were nice, but the place was overrun by Americans on vacation and it was SO expensive. I just felt like I wouldn’t be able to find “my people” here, and I was right. But if you like a lively party scene with expensive food & nice beaches, this might be your place!

CITY: Nosara

HOW LONG: 6 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at a homestay with a local family which was arranged through my Spanish language school. It was a little far from the school which was not ideal, but overall I enjoyed my time there. It was a treat to have a private room for a week! The room itself was basic, but I’m used to that these days 🙂

WHERE TO EAT:

I honestly ate 100% of my meals with the family because eating out here was so expensive. Like $20 a smoothie bowl level expensive! The host mom made delicious food and it was included in the price of me staying with them so truly a win-win.

WHAT TO DO:

Nosara is known for its yogi vibe & gentle waves for learning to surf. While I didn’t participate in either, my friend Emilie was here at the same time and did both activities. She raved about it. I was busy doing language classes (but I low-key hated my school so I won’t even recommend it ha!). There are some cute shops and a weekly market with handmade crafts which is worth checking out. I bought a new jumpsuit from a shop in town which was very beautiful (both the shop + the dress)!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

If you have a lot of money and love yoga, I think this place could be great for you. Check out Bodhi Tree – it’s magical!! As a backpacker who doesn’t do yoga, I didn’t really connect with Nosara to be honest.

CITY: MONTEVERDE

HOW LONG: 1 NIGHT

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at the Monkey Hostel in a private room with an en-suite bathroom. The hostel itself was pretty dingy but it has street parking and a decent breakfast. It was located near the town center with restaurants so that was ideal. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great haha.

WHERE TO EAT:

The only place I’d recommend was The Open Kitchen. The food was good, the vibes were great, and the service was fabulous. It certainly wasn’t cheap but there weren’t great options in town to be honest.

WHAT TO DO:

We went to Selvatura Adventure Park to do some ziplining & a swing bridge + canopy walk. Again it was fairly expensive but we had a blast. We paid around ~140 usd and it was about 3 hours worth of activities. Pro tip: bring a jacket as it can get cold, windy, & wet as you zoom through the canopy. We opted to take their free shuttle to as we were worried that our car wouldn’t make it and we were glad we did it. However, if you have a bigger car, you would be fine. But the shuttle times weren’t optimal for getting back so instead of waiting 2 hrs for the next shuttle, we hitchhiked back with a nice couple who happened to be getting into their car in the parking lot.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Other than doing the cloud forest walks & ziplining, you don’t need to spend much time here. It was incredibly windy and chillier than expected. We were happy that we only had one night here.

CITY: LA FORTUNA

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at the Hotel Arenal Lodge and it was quirky to say the least. It’s situated on 2000 acres of gorgeous tropical forest where you can’t seen any other signs of human activity. To get into the property you must drive on a precarious 2km road, but once you are in, it’s an adorable, rustic, well-loved lodge. There’s a pool & two hot tubs. There are STUNNING views of the Arenal Volcano. The staff were so kind and our room was beautiful. It had two queen beds + a big balcony that looked directly at the volcano. It had two big rocking chairs + enough space that we did yoga & morning workouts in the mist. However, because the road was a little gnarly, we always came back before dark so every meal was at the hotel. Luckily the food was very good and fairly reasonable compared to other restaurants in the area. This place isn’t the most luxurious place in La Fortuna area, but we thought its value was stellar and we kinda fell in love with it by the end.

WHERE TO EAT:

We ate the free breakfast and the paid dinner everyday at the hotel 🙂 We had one lunch at The Springs where we spent two days going to their hot springs. It was overpriced and not that good. The other lunch we had a smoothie bowl from Jungle Bowls in the main city center. It was pretty good, although of course expensive.

WHAT TO DO:

We enjoyed doing some walking/hiking through the 2000 acres at our hotel, but the main highlight was doing a two day pass at The Springs Resort. This place can cost $750 per night to stay so we were happy to just spent $130 for the (two) day pass. This place is FANCY; there are three different hot springs areas, including some down by the actual river. You can get a massage, go tubing, play ping pong, get a drink at the swim up bar, read your book in a hammock, and just stare at the beautiful views of the Arenal Volcano. Oh and dip into any of the 20+ hot springs that vary in temperature. This place gave us White Lotus vibes. We would definitely recommend this place for a visit.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

It was nice to have a break from the heat in this location. We even needed jackets at night! This was my favorite stop on our trip to Costa Rica. I loved spending time at the hot springs but also loved playing cards in our lodge with the views of the volcano. We saw lots of cool animals like frogs, tapirs, and lots of colorful birds, including my new favorite the Scarlet-Rumped Tanager.

CITY: MANUEL ANTONIO

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

We stayed at Igloo Beach Lodge, which is ideally located about a 15 min walk to the National Park Entrance & it’s a 1 min walk to the beach. It’s very “instagram-y” with its white igloo rooms all surrounding a cute pool. There’s lots of comfy lounges to lay in the sun or shade & read. The rooms were cozy & nice. Our room was on the bigger side as it had two double beds + a shower room + a toilet room. The only weird thing was due to the dome shape, the acoustics were WILD. When Emilie & I were in our respective beds, we could whisper and it sounded like we were in each other’s ears via noise-cancelling headphones. It was fun and also caught us by surprise every time it happened haha.

WHERE TO EAT:

Thy mystery continued where there were no great restaurants. We walked to the area around the park entrance for dinner one night and most places were empty. We are guessing most people eat their meals at their hotels but it makes everything feel eery if you don’t. Food was just really not the highlight in Costa Rica.

Bar & Restaurant El Chante was the only place I’d recommend. Great food – especially anything with chicken in it!

WHAT TO DO:

The main two attractions are visiting the national park + enjoying the beautiful beaches!

When visiting Manuel Antonio National Park, I highly recommend signing up for a guided tour. We just booked through our hotel. They are unbelievable at spotting the animals throughout the jungle. There is no way Emilie & I would’ve seen 90% of the animals are guide spotted! Also he came with a portable telescope so we were able to see up close and personal the animals. It was awesome! There is also incredible beaches within the park. I definitely recommend planning to stay the afternoon with a book & swimming in the ocean (this beach is far more swimmable than the one outside the park we went to). There are plenty of walking trails and usually where a crowd has gathered you can bet there’s a cool animal to see. We saw sloths, birds, lizards, spiders and more!

We honestly couldn’t find much more to do here outside of going to the park, so we hung by the pool, went to the beach down from our hotel, and got a massage. We read soooooo much! We also played lots of cards. It was a very lovely place to chill and be very relaxed. Sunset swims were a must.

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Outside of the fact that we never could find great food or even affordable food, Manuel Antonio was pretty beautiful from a nature perspective. We ended up enjoying our time here, but I don’t feel the need to race back.

BUDGET FOR 19 DAYS IN COSTA RICA:

Holy moly I was not expecting Costa Rica to be this expensive. I mean at one point I literally paid $20 for a smoothie bowl – eek!

Accommodation: $1285 ($68 per night) – Lots of hotel nights drove up the cost here.
Food: $420
Activities: $860
Local Transportation: $540 – this includes my half of the rental car
Miscellaneous: $200 (new jumpsuits, postcards, & stamps)

Total: $3305 (Daily average: $174)

Transportation to next destination: $313 for my flight to San Francisco