Day 8: Manuel Antonio
We started our morning with a short walk down the monkey trail. It’s part of the hotel property, but once you step into it, it feels like you’re in the jungle. After a short time, we saw monkeys in the trees overhead. We watched them for awhile, then headed to breakfast.
The Parador Nature Resort & Spa offers complimentary breakfast. La Galeria becomes a buffet in the morning, and there’s something for everyone.
We had a 7:30am pick up scheduled. We’d booked a half-day walking tour of Manuel Antonio National Park, one of many tours available through the hotel.
We joined a small group of hotel guests and climbed into the shuttle van. The park entrance is 10-15 minutes from the hotel.
KidTripster Tip: If you’re not booking a tour, the resort offers shuttle bus transportation that transports guests to the Manuel Antonio National Park entrance, and the public beach near there, Playa Espadilla. Reserve your pick up at the front desk.
The bus dropped us off a short walk from the park entrance. We followed our guide down an alleyway, to the entrance gates. Our park guide handed everyone a reusable water bottle, explaining that single use plastics aren’t allowed into the park. Among the other banned items: food and drinks, alcohol, cigarettes, beach gear like umbrellas, surfboards, and balls, drones, and pets. Bags are checked upon entrance. One of the kids in our group had a soccer ball in his backpack and security wouldn’t let him enter with it. Be sure to have your passport with you for entrance into the park.
Our guide ushered us into the park, and from the moment we walked inside, he started pointing out wildlife. Manuel Antonio is one of the most famous national parks in the country thanks to its wide variety of flora and fauna. It’s home to three of the four species of monkeys that live in Costa Rica. The park has three different trails with different degrees of difficulty, from flat to very steep. We took the easy path.
Our guide had high-powered binoculars that helped us see what we otherwise might have missed. From small creatures like butterflies, hummingbirds and crabs; to larger mammals like sloth, monkey, and deer, and even a venomous snake. Our guide stopped several times along the trail so that we could pause and get a look at the local wildlife. Watching groups of monkeys jump from tree-to-tree was very entertaining. There were several tiny, baby monkeys that were so cute. The kids couldn’t believe how close we were to them and only reluctantly moved on after watching them play for several minutes.
We took a break on the beach. We had about an hour to enjoy beach before meeting back up with the rest of our group. We had to watch out for the monkeys, though. They were checking out unattended items on the beach. We were told they like to steal stuff from tourists, which is why food isn’t allowed in the park.
KidTripster Tip: Find out if your tour includes a beach stop. If so, you may want to wear a swimsuit under clothing. Bring a towel. There is a restroom near the beach.
Throughout our walk, our guide pointed out not just wildlife, but interesting things about the plants and trees, like the extremely poisonous tree on the beach.
The guided tour lasted about three hours. When we were finished, the bus took us back to the resort, where a snack awaited us.
We had the rest of the afternoon available for relaxing at the pool, not a bad place to spend an afternoon. The adventures in wildlife sighting continued at the pool. From the pool deck, we spotted a few sloth in trees. A little while later, there was a commotion at the other pool. I walked over to see what was going on, and a whole group of monkeys were playing in the trees, including some tiny babies. They were right there, almost within reach. It was so cool to see this right in front of us at our hotel.
On the shuttle, we’d passed a restaurant that was supposed to have amazing sunset views. At dinnertime, we took a taxi over to check it out. We had our best dinner of the week at El Lagarto. The sunset was indeed spectacular here, but so was the food. Everything is prepared on a simple wood-fired grill. The surf and turf was so good. There wasn’t a bite of lobster left on our plates. My kids still reminisce about this restaurant, months later. If we’re ever in Manuel Antonio again, we will absolutely return here.
Keep Reading: click “9” to see how our journey wrapped up.
