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Beautiful beach inside Manuel Antonio National Park

When travel planning for an adventure travel trip; there is a rivalry between beach locations and jungle or mountain destinations. The friction is especially acute when two people are doing the planning, and two tastes need accommodation. The debate can become even more heated if one is male and one is female.

The green iguana spotted by eagle eye guide

This is why Costa Rica is such an awesome country for adventure travel. For a country so small it has an amazing array of both beach destinations and more rugged jungle and mountain places. This explains why the country has become such a popular honeymoon location. On my plane there were two couples on their honeymoon, and I have heard of several others who have made it to Costa Rica post wedding to enjoy the combination of beach and jungle.

Manuel Antonio is a perfect spot that accommodates both types of travelers. Manuel Antonio is actually a little village with a great beach located on the Pacific Ocean about 10 kilometers from the town of Quepos. There is also a national park called Manuel Antonio which is right next to the little village.

The national park is only about a quarter of a mile from Playa Manuel Antonio (Manuel Antonio beach). The national park is amazing, and a great opportunity to spot three-toed sloths, iguanas and Jesus Christ lizards, toucans, and howler monkeys to only name a few.

Howler monkey in Manuel Antonio National Park

It costs $10.00 to enter the national park and a guide can be furnished for two hours for an additional $20.00. The guide is well worth it. They are not needed for safety reasons as the park is actually quite small and easy to stay on the trails. The reason to book a guide is for their eagle eyes. They can spot a tarantula on a leaf where you would walk right past and never see.

A tarantula under a leaf spotted by the eagle eye guide

The national park also has some of the best beaches in the area inside the park. After the jungle hike, your guide will leave you at the beach to relax and enjoy the swimming. Be careful on the beach with food as aggressive monkeys and raccoons patrol the beach.

Once you are done inside the park then head back to the village of Manuel Antonio and enjoy the vibrant beach community with surf schools and fun drinking establishments. Quepos is also a cool place to hang out. A bus goes back and forth between Quepos and Manuel Antonio every half hour for less than a buck.  They stop at 10:30pm. If you miss the last bus then take a cab back for $7.00.

Playa Manuel Antonio

For those who cannot figure out how to juggle their love for the beach and the jungle or for couple travelers who have different likes, Manuel Antonio is the place to accommodate different adventure tastes.

Stay tuned,

TT

The goal of Traveling Ted TV is to inspire people to outdoor adventure travel and then provide tips on where and how to go. If you liked this post then enter your email in the box to get email notifications for each new entry. Daily travel photos are excluded from your email in order to not flood you with posts. There is no spam and email information will not be shared. Other e-follow options include Facebook (click on the like box to the right) or twitter (click on the pretty bird on the rainbow above).