Manuel Antonio National Park

The park was nice but getting into it was very stressful. We did not know that one needed to book the tickets on-line in advance. We walked to the park. The multiple scammers on the way to the park stopped us, where the sign said 1km to go. With urgency on their faces and voices, they directed us to the "booking table to buy the tickets". They wanted "$60 per person to enter the park with a guide from the beach side" instead of $16 dollars per person, that you pay on-line. The internet reception in the area was very poor so we struggled to book the tickets on-line, but succeeded at the end. The booking website required creation of an account and was looking for the passport numbers but you could enter any 6 numbers, that you liked. We visited many parks in Costa Rica. This was the only one, where they did not allow to bring water and any food into the park. You could buy the food, water and other drinks in a cafe inside the park at very high prices. We paid $6 for a locker at the park entrance to leave out water and snacks in. We really needed those on the way out of the park. The beach inside the park was very nice with quiet waters. It also had toilets and showers near by, which we did not see at other beaches in Costa Rica. Costa Rica prides themselves as a prosperous country. We found the prices on food, travel, accommodation, entrance tickets, mobile internet same or higher than in EU, so I don't think "it's a poor country". In many places they only accept cash which probably helps the citizens to remain prosperous.

Costa Rican authorities generally ensure safety and relatively good tourism experiences, but they've left this one to the rats. Prepare to be accosted by scams and high-pressure sales of all kinds, including locals threatening to destroy your vehicle if you don't give them $5k Colones to park in "their" spot (public roadside parking at the beach.) Then the hordes of "tour operators" who purchase all of the $17 tickets and scalp them to tourists for $30 to $60 each. The park itself is nice if you can muscle your way in, but it's a mess, overall unpleasant experience.

What a great day! You need to buy your tickets a day or more prior to arrival. Know the rules to get in. They will take your plastic bottles, plastic bags, food, and sugar packets. Know the location of the official parking. Lots of people trying to get you to park on the beach a distance from the park entrance. Parking is $10. Tickets come with a timed entry with a 40 minute window. There is a long line to get in: a security check followed by ticket check. Tours and individuals are all in the same line. You can sign up for a tour on arrival. Expect a lot of tour hustlers trying to sign you up for a tour just after the ticket booth. Even if you aren’t in a group, you’ll know where to stop to see the animals. The tour operators all stop at the same places to see the wildlife. They have scopes for better views, but I don’t feel like we missed much going on our own. There is a restaurant and gift shop at the trail junction. We had planned to eat there since we couldn’t bring food in. However, the lines were long with only 2 people working so we gave up. Just up the hill is a set of toilets. When we were there, only 1 toilet stall was working in the women’s room. If those have long lines, 5 minutes down the path is another set of toilets. This one has 2 toilets and 2 changing rooms, although 1 of the changing rooms doesn’t have a door. As you continue down the hill, there’s a beach on the left. Further down is a beach on the right. The water is calmer at the beach to the left and there’s more afternoon shade. The trails are well marked and well maintained. Some of them do require a bit of climbing. There are alot of places to refill your water along the trails. You do not need a guide to see the monkeys and iguanas - they are all over the place – along the trail and at the beach. They know how to open backpacks. We saw a monkey come down from the trees and start to open someone’s backpack before it was chased away. You cannot leave your stuff on the beach near the trees or it will get stolen by the monkeys! The park closes at 4p. Park rangers clear the beaches at 3. The day was lovely here. We had an 8am timed entry ticket. We got to see lots of wildlife in the morning. After about 4 hours of hiking, we settled on to the beach for several hours. It was a great way to cool off from the heat and humidity. This is a great park but expect LOTS of people.

One of the highlights of our trip to CR! We were lucky to spot so many animals: baby sloth, toucans, lizards, iguanas, monkeys, snakes, humming birds, and many many more. It was amazing! Make sure to go with a guide though, without him we would spot like 5% of fauna and we would not have any background insights about the flora. Guided experience was amazing!

Was nice to walk around and see animals. There is a beach at the end that is great for swimming! We got there when it opened with no problem but it seemed to get very crowded around 9-10am

The nature is 5 ⭐️: the beautiful beaches, the jungle, the animals, don’t get me wrong (see the pictures attached). But the fact, that it is one of the most popular Nationalparks in Costa Rica leads to people trying to catch you kilometers before the main entrance offering you a (half-official) parking (don’t! just pass by!). When you are at a nearby parking, the parking ticket is then offered in connection with a tour, what is completely senseless here. People are quite invasive here, we never experienced this elsewhere in 🇨🇷! In the parks we were disappointed by the maintenance of the tracks and viewpoints. From the hikes to the 5 viewpoints we did, 3 were closed (the path ended before the viewpoints). Yes it’s fire sure not easy in a climate like this to maintain pathes, crossings and bridges, but that’s one thing where the entrance money should be invested for.

One of the most memorable experiences we had in our world wide travels. Randy (park employee) and Wilbreth (tour guide) took excellent care of us. Wilbreth is an amazing spotter of wildlife and made the experience amazing. Must do on a trip to west coast of Costa Rica.

Our guide, MOP, was not only highly knowledgeable of all of the wildlife in the park, but he spotted all of the animals and critters before any other guide. He also made sure that we all had ample time to see each animal and answered all of our many questions with patience (and funny jokes!). He was an absolute pleasure to spend the morning with, and his over 25 years of experience as a guide really showed as he knew so much about all of the surroundings and beyond. It was an incredible experience. Highly recommend! And Randy made meeting them at the park so easy. Definitely book with this crew