COSTA RICA: Manuel Antonio National Park with Kids

The third stop on our tour of Costa Rica was Manuel Antonio National Park. Ask anyone where the must-go Costa Rica destinations are and this will definitely be in the top three, along with Arenal and Monteverde (our last post). So it’s known to be busy but especially so during peak times such as the Easter holidays, when we visited. We knew this but thought it was our best chance of seeing wild sloths so decided to take the risk: how bad could the it be?!

For us, presumably along with the thousands of other people there on the same day, sometimes there are very persuasive reasons to do a thing you know won’t be the best thing to do! Manuel Antonio’s big appeal is the fact that you get lush, wildlife-rich rainforest AND pristine white sandy beaches in one. Sloths, white-faced capuchins, howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys, iguanas and an array of exotic birds are all on the cards. It’s also fairly small and features well-maintained trails so you can make a day of it. It’s a wonderland. So, against the odds, we did actually manage to stay for 6 hours.

Don’t get me wrong, the wildlife rewards made the day worthwhile and we don’t regret going at all. We saw a lot of the anticipated animals and had some surprise sightings too. Below you’ll see lots of photos of a posing white-faced capuchin, my single decent-ish howler monkey photo, a nesting nightjar, and a giant swallowtail butterfly and an unidentified tree frog.

We didn’t do any of the further away trails but there was a lovely, shadier boardwalk we really enjoyed and which was very child-friendly. There were far fewer people and the sounds of birds and howler monkeys filled the air. Here, we saw an iguana, countless fiddler crabs, deer, a little snoozing bat and a collared aracari spotted by Small.

In the main, I expect the wildlife was unbothered by the hordes of visitors but I did feel quite sorry for this sloth who – next to a toilet block – descended his tree to do his business surrounded and photographed by a huge crowd!

I like to keep this blog positive usually so, if that’s what you’re after, maybe give up reading now! Really, though, I can only tell you about our experience as a cautionary tale so that you can be more prepared for it than us if you end up going at a peak time. I know of a family who went a few weeks later and had a vastly different and far more enjoyable day.

Here’s all you need to know, especially if you visit near Easter.

Arriving:

There are lots of over-zealous car park touts. There are lots of stories of dishonest car park attendants and broken-into vehicles. Even despite doing some research into where might be safe to park, leaving our car was a fairly uncomfortable and pressured experience. Thankfully nothing bad happened though!
There was a long queue to get in, albeit quite fast-moving. This does give guides plenty of time to approach you to try to get you to hire them. They weren’t too pushy which was good. The unofficial guides outside were cheaper than the official ones inside.
Guides with groups loudly dominate the space, creating the impression that their customers are getting preferential treatment, although I’m not sure they really were.
Tickets are limited each day so be sure to book ahead – they had run out on the day we visited.

Once you’re in:

We couldn’t move for tour groups! The guide strides in, sets up his or her telescope and their group crowds around, craning their necks upwards or waiting for turns to look in the telescope. They’re oblivious to anyone else using the paths and there’s no etiquette for leaving a way through the group. In fact, more than once, our children were shouted at by a guide for running. On a path. In a forest. Close to us. Enjoying themselves. The benefit to all these tour groups was that if you could find a spot to stand nearby, you at least knew where to look for the wildlife!
The beach was insanely and uncomfortably crowded. It’s possible that if we’d had walked further along, there may have been more space. We didn’t because we’d not really bought beach stuff with us. As you head back towards the café, there are some toilets with showers and taps to wash your feet. They were super busy too of course.

Amenities:

Plastic water bottles are not allowed. Which is good, of course. There are water fountains along the route and it was very, very hot when we visited so they were much-needed.
You aren’t permitted to bring food into the park. This is to protect the wildlife too but poses problems if you have kids you need to motivate or keep the energy levels up of during a long and very hot day! I may have broken the rule ever so slightly but only with a few closely-guarded Haribo sweets when really needed.
The above means that you have no choice but to go to their very hot café which doubles as a gift shop. There were two major problems with this: firstly, it absolutely did not have the capacity to handle the number of visitors on a peak day so I had to queue for about an hour; and secondly the food was very mediocre and there was nothing that our children wanted to eat. They only sell food made on site, no packets of crisps or other snacks.
There are some toilets at the entrance and some near the beach which we didn’t use. The only others we found were right next to the café. But there was only one women’s toilet, a long queue and it was revolting inside!

To put it in context, though, I suppose if you travel the world only ever visiting the top must-see attractions then maybe you’d absolutely fine with this level of busyness – it’s all relative! We just usually try to avoid this.

Key information: tickets for adults are $16 and children (2-12) $5; book here; open 7am – 3pm; closed on Tuesdays

We’d definitely recommend our accommodation. We stayed at Marley’s House in Quepos which had two bedrooms, a well-stocked kitchen, a bathroom, indoor and outdoor seating areas and access to laundry facilities. The garden was the best bit though: there were monkeys, agoutis and parrots.

We’d also recommend food at Falafel Bar, picking up a picnic at Bon Bonete, and the views, incredible wood carvings and novelty (we only had drinks) of El Avion which has a plane inside it!