We fell in love with Costa Rica (as trite as it might sound) during our first visit 5 years ago. That time, we were based in Uvita, a small settlement in the Puntarenas Province on the Pacific Coast of Southern Costa Rica. Back then, we spent all 10 days exploring the local jungle and secluded beaches, which were within a short walking distance. We also took advantage of multiple high-end gourmet dining opportunities in the neighboring Ojochal. A guided one-day boat trip to the Corcovado National Park and Cano Island (via Sierpe river and Drake Bay) sparked our interest into that corner of Costa Rica. This winter, we were ready for more variety and adventure in the country’s remote South.

Going Back to Costa Rica

Based on our previous experiences and additional research, we made significant modifications to our Southern Costa Rica trip itinerary. This time, we extended our visit to 15 days (instead of 9) and stayed overnight in San Jose upon arrival and before departure. We also broke up the driving into several legs and stayed in 4 different places along the way. Finally, we did not take the Costal Road (Route 34), which is faster and uncomplicated (and therefore, more popular). We drove Route 2 (Carretera Interamericana) through the Talamanca Mountain Range instead and never regretted that decision.

A driving route through Southern Costa Rica

South Costa Rica and Osa Peninsula

2-week travel itinerary

San Jose – 1 night

San Jose – San Isidro del General (via Rt.2). Distance 95 miles, travel time 3-4 hours

Cloud Forest – 3 nights

Quizarra (near San Isidro de El General)

• Day trip to the Cloudbridge Nature Reserve
• Half-day guided bird-watching tour in Los Cusingos Bird Sanctuary

San Isidro – San Vito (via Rt.2 and Rt.237). Distance 85 miles, travel time ~3 hours

Wet Premontane Forest – 2 nights

San Vito

• Visiting  Wilson Botanical Garden and hiking forest trails at Las Cruces Biological Station
• Day Tour to Las Tablas Protected Area
• Morning walk at Finca Cantaros

San Vito – Puerto Jimenez (via Rt.16 and Rt.2). Distance 93 miles, travel time ~3 hours

Lowland Rain forest – 7 nights

Osa Peninsula  (Matapalo Beach)

Nature Walks with Lapa Rios Lodge

• Medicine Walk
• Early Birds Tour
• Sustainability Tour
• Osa Trail Walk
• Plant a tree

Hike to King Louis Waterfall

Puerto Jimenez – Platanillo (via Rt.2). Distance 110 miles, travel time ~3 hours

Cloud Forest – 1 night

Elegant garden, forest trails and sunset with pina colada at Quinta Heliconia

Platanillo – San Jose (via Rt.34). Distance 140 miles, travel time ~4 hours

San Jose – 1 night

Why visit Southern Costa Rica?

According to the data published by El Instituto Costarricense de Turismo, Costa Rica’s remote South is the least visited part of the country. If you are looking to spend time in a less-traveled secluded areas, this corner of the country would be a natural choice.

Tourist visits (%) to different regions of Costa Rica in 2017. (Source: ict.go.cr).

There is another reason for visiting “Pacifico Sur” is the access to a greater number of National Parks and Nature Reserves, including the largest (and least visited) in the nation and the entire Central America (e.g. La Amistad, Corcovado and Tapanti National Parks). If you are looking for seclusion and authentic experience of Costa Rica’s wildlife, avoid the “tourist traps”. Check out the website The Costa Rican Tourism Board (ICT)  to compare the number of visitors recorded for different National Parks and Nature Reserves (see the map below). You will discover that more that a quarter of all visitors end up in the tiny Manuel Antonio National Park! Equipped with those numbers, you can plan your trip according to your preferences for peace and solitude.

National Parks and Nature Reserves of Costa Rica (Source: ict.go.cr)

Flying Copa Airlines to Costa Rica via Panama City

During this trip to Costa Rica, we chose Copa Airline as our carrier and did not regret this decision. You can read our honest assessment of the trip in more detail in Flying Copa to Costa Rica. In short, flying via Panama, saved us money and potential headaches of flying the regular routes, which most American tourists take.

This year we decided to step out of our “comfort zone” of the familiar U.S.-based carriers and routes. While planning our most recent trip to Costa Rica, we chose to fly with Copa Airlines. The day in transit should still feel like a vacation start and our goal was to get to San Jose within a day (ideally, within 8-10 hours without extremely early departures and late arrivals). Avoiding nerve-wrackingly short layovers (and the associated risks to lose the connecting flights or our luggage) and crowded and hard-to-navigate airports (like Atlanta and Miami) was also a consideration.

Why fly with Copa Airlines?

In February 5 years ago, we spent close to $1200 for two return tickets to Costa Rica with American Airlines. This winter, the cheapest tickets with close to optimal departure/arrival time and trip duration (8-10 hours) offered by U.S. airlines were selling for close to $800 each. While searching for airline tickets, we noticed an airline with a mysterious name Copa was offering tickets to San Jose for mere $437. The departure and arrival times looked good too. This prompted us to do some research into what Copa was and what people thought of their services.

What is Copa anyway?

There is a good chance are that you (like us) have never heard about Copa. Turns out, Copa is not “Child Online Protection Act” (or several other meanings for this mysterious abbreviation in Wikipedia ). It is an international airline based in and operating from Panama. Copa Airlines is flying to over 80 different destinations in 30 countries and has a heavy presence in the Americas. It is also a Star Alliance member, which means you can earn and redeem your points earned with any of the airlines within this group.

There is a share of complains about the Copa Airlines, but most appear to be associated with changes in itineraries and availability or quality of some additional services. More than 80% of travelers on TripAdvisor also seemed to be satisfied with Copa’s operations (4/5 rating based on over 9,000 reviews)

Booking and buying tickets with Copa

 A month prior to our departure time, low-cost economy class tickets were still available. A very reasonable Business class upgrades were also offered to us a week in advance (the flight was full when we boarded the plane!). A week before your flight, you might receive an email from Copa asking whether you would like to upgrade to business class for each leg of the trip. For $900 or less, we were guaranteed an upgrade for the longer legs of the trip (Boston-Panama City).  Flying business class on the shorter flights (under 50 min) would probably not make a difference for our comfort anyway.

Direct booking through the Copa Airline’s website (which also has an English version) was easy. Just remember to pick the seats of your choice as you go. There is no “go-back” option and you have to start the process all over again if you do not make your selections right away

Check-in and Luggage

Our departure day fell on a Friday and the beginning of a long holiday weekend. However, unlike other terminals at the Logan Airport, Terminal E seemed “deserted” on that January morning. Our limo driver told us that the pattern was rather common in the winter months.

By checking-in online and printing out the boarding passes in advance, we could sail through via the Web Check-in counter. There, we could drop off our two free-of-charge suitcases (up to 23 kg/50 lb each).

Other advantages of flying with Copa

One hour into the flight, the free warm breakfast consisting of French toast or scrambled eggs with a link of sausage, tomatoes and chives was served. Complimentary drinks followed. Even on short trips (such as between Panama City and San Jose), Copa offers passengers full hot meals and complimentary beverages (including beer and wine). To make the flight time pass more quickly, a 12-channel, multi-language entertainment system with free headphones is also offered.

Substantial savings are to be made if you travel great distances. In Panama City, we met an American who was saved whopping $1200 per trip by flying Copa between the West Coast to Argentina.

Flight time between Boston and Panama City is about 5 hours. The layover time of one and a half hour was comfortably short. The airport in Panama City is very compact and no long-distance walking is needed (let alone changes of terminals). The distance between the departure/arrival gates at the Panama City airport was about 150 yards (meters) with no additional security checks. Our second leg from Tocumen International Airport in Panama City and San Jose lasted only 50 minutes.

Tocumen International Airport in Panama City

The homebound Copa Airline flights were equally pleasant without any incidents or delays. As soon as we realized that we’d left one of our carry-on items on the plane, a Copa representative appeared at the luggage claim area to reunite us with our lost possessions.

Note that Copa Airlines does not currently offer Wi-Fi on its flights. As vacationers, we could happily pass on this particular perk.

Although our recent trip to Costa Rica represents only 4 data points, we had a great overall traveling experience with Copa Airlines. We would certainly use it again on our future trips to Central or South America.