My favorite winter holiday spot by far is the rainforest of Costa Rica. After days and weeks spent indoors inhaling the year's dust and microbes from heating ducts with closed doors and windows, how better to get a breath of fresh air in the middle of winter than a visit to the lungs of the earth? After looking around my hometown at all the barren trees, gray skies, and feeling biting cold breezes for a few weeks I long to don a tank top and shorts and go for a hike through my favorite section of lush green rainforest in Costa Rica.
Freedom from winter weather begins the moment you step off the plane at Juan Santamaria Airport. Whether you choose to take a car hire from San Jose Airport or a car hire from Liberia Airport you will have to drive for at least a couple of hours to get to my favorite section of rainforest.
Approximately 3 hours drive from San Jose Airport in a car rental and about 2.5 hours, in a rental car from Liberia Airport, located just south of La Fortuna in San Isidro de Peñas Blancas is a biodynamic farm and rainforest lodge named Luna Nueva. There are no shortage of rainforest lodges and resorts in Costa Rica and I certainly haven't visited them all, but for a very comfortable and elegent way to get up close and personal with the wild nature of the rainforest Luna Nueva Lodge has everything I need and then some. For more information and driving directions to Luna Nueva in a rental car visit fincalunanuevalodge.com.
From the rainforest and resort in San Isidro de Peñas Blancas its less than an hour drive in your rental car to La Fortuna, the adventure capitol of Costa Rica and one of the very best towns in the country to buy souvenirs. As soon as you arrive in the quaint little town of La Fortuna you will have several opportunities to sign up for any adventure tours you can imagine from horseback riding to white water rafting, or for the less adventurous you can always relax next to Arenal Volcano in the hot springs. Thats another huge attraction to the area; Costa Rica's most active volcano is seated and smoking (and often oozing lava) right in La Fortuna! For more information check out our travel guide on a car rental from La Fortuna.
