After almost half day in hellish Jacó, we traveled to Quepos which would be our base to explore Manuel Antonio National Park. The journey by public bus was easy and it only took 2 hours to reach there. Quepos was much warmer than anywhere we had visited in Costa Rica in 2010, so that was quite a relief.

Quepos

Most of our time in Quepos was spent chilling by the pool of the hostel, exploring the town (nothing special to note) and exploring the market. We did also go out once or twice with a girl we met in Quepos, which was fun, but again nothing noteworthy happened.

Gorgeous Sunsets
On the day that we visited the market we walked back to the town, the sun started to set and we found a great restaurant on the top of the hill. From there we could enjoy the view and it’s one of the best sunsets I have seen. Even the pictures look decent! I love the way the color changes from yellow to orange in these pictures.

Manuel Antonia National Park

We traveled to Manuel Antonio by public bus, which is really easy from Quepos. We decided to explore the National Park by ourselves rather than with a guide. This is why we probably missed a lot of fun sights and a lot of animals, but we had our eyes set on the beach which we would reach after a short walk through the Park.

The first beach we came across was too busy for our expectations.

But as we kept walking it became more and more quiet, until finally we had the beach for ourselves and we relaxed for the remainder of the day. The sea was unsuitable for swimming but that did not deter us from enjoying our beach day; the current was too strong and the waves were really high, although you can’t tell by looking at the pictures.

The National Park is also home to cheeky monkeys. Even if you try to avoid it, they would jump at every opportunity to steal something from you. My friend actually took a really nice picture of a monkey fighting a lady over her plastic bag. He was pulling and pulling and just would not let go, but neither would she. At the end, the lady proved to be more persistent. Unfortunately, I do not have this picture on my laptop but I do have two cute pictures of the monkeys.

At the end of the day we had to take a very interesting route through the water to leave the National Park. I don’ know if this was because we went the wrong way or whether this is just the way out. We were not alone so that shows me that probably it was the correct way.

Hotel Tip: Wide Mouth Frog Hostel

My friend and I really enjoy the Wide Mouth Frog Hotel we stayed at. Even though it wasn’t really a backpacker’s hostel (most people were around 50), the British owner and his Kiwi wife were super friendly and fun. The hostel has a really nice pool as well. Actually the hostel had everything we needed, even though we could’ve done without the huge scary dogs who were very keen to protect the hostel.

Conclusion

Quepos and Manuel Antonio National Park are great places to visit when you’re staying in Costa Rica. Also due to the fact that inland it can be rainy and cold and around the same time the National Park was sunny and warm. There are some beautiful beaches at the National Park which are worth exploring and I’m sure that if we would’ve booked a guided tour we would’ve seen a lot more animals as well. This was our last destination in Costa Rica before we crossed the border to Panama.

Please note, this post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission for purchased goods/services at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting my writing!