The holidays are over, it’s January again already, and you’re dreading spending another semester break back in your hometown. Instead of wasting your days just waiting for your free time to come to an end, why not spend some fun-filled days or weeks in Costa Rica? Bring your best girlfriends or your best guy friends, or a mix of both, and escape to one of today’s hottest vacation destinations.

Costa Rica is the perfect place for a spontaneous quick getaway or a longer stay during your month off. Take an easy and reasonably priced flight from your local airport and arrive at any of the country’s two international hubs—San Jose or Liberia. With a well-architected infrastructure, it’s easy to get yourself around once you arrive. Take quick flights within the country to reach your favorite places as soon as possible; rent a car and have the freedom to get up and go any time; or use the highly reliable bus system that reaches all corners of the country. Costa Rica is the safest nation in Central America, and you’ll find that the local people are friendly and accommodating, always reaching out to help new visitors and make new friends.

You and your buddies can spend days relaxing at the beach, warming up in Costa Rica’s many hot spring spots, or a hanging out at the spa and pool. Sign up for group surf lessons and learn how to ride the waves, or maybe try out kayaking or windsurfing.

Although Costa Rica is well-known for its gorgeous, seemingly endless miles of coastlines, there’s more to the country than fun in the sun. Its rainforests, exotic wildlife, and outdoor adventures provide hours of entertainment. Protected lands and national parks are a big draw for ecotourism. You and your friends can see monkeys and toucans in their natural environments, or experience your first active volcano up close at the rim. On a hike through the cloud and rainforests, a guide can teach you the names of all the indigenous vibrant flowers and vegetation.

Need to fit in some hard-core studious hours during your stay? No problem—there are a wide variety of educational and cultural-enriching opportunities to be had throughout Costa Rica as well. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced Spanish classes are offered all over the country. You can enroll in classes for a few days or weeks at a time. If you want an even more fulfilling cultural immersion, opt for a homestay while in Costa Rica. Most Spanish schools can arrange for you to live with a local family who only speaks Spanish. This way you can get in even more language-speaking time and you can learn about the culture first hand.

Guys and gals alike have been flocking to Costa Rica for years now for the surf spots alone. Currently, surf tourism makes up approximately 20 percent of the country’s annual tourists—this means about 200,000 surfers visit the country each year just to ride some of the world’s most incredible waves.

Surf spots are easily found up and down Costa Rica’s Pacific (west side) and Caribbean (east side) coastlines. Waves on the North Pacific Coast are generally a bit smaller than ones you’ll see in high season (December through April) and during tropical storms on the Caribbean. But the waves are consistently good year-round. During rainy season (April to mid-December), you’ll find the best swells on the Pacific side, but during the dry season on the west coast (December through April), you’ll continuous well-formed waves.

The Caribbean Coast on the east has a notoriously shorter, less reliable surfing season, but the frequent tropical storms and hurricanes often equal killer swells. In general, the surf is best during the hot and dry season (October until April).
Water temperatures don’t vary that much on either side or throughout the seasons—the water is more than comfortable 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius) all year long.

The more than 800 miles of Pacifc and Caribbean Ocean coastline are home to many of the top international surfing competitions every year. This past August, Billabong hosted the ISA World Surfing Games 2009 in Playa Hermosa. A seemingly endless volcanic, black sand beach just 5 minutes south of the popular tourist destination of Jacó (10 minutes south of Los Sueños), Play Hermosa is the ideal location for more experienced surfers. Playa Hermosa is an especially ideal location because its waves break only 13 feet from shore. With steady, 4 to 8-foot-high waves and warm Pacific waters, you can catch quality rides all day long.

Beginner and intermediate surfers don’t fear. The nearby town of Jacó offers surfing lessons for all levels taught by local and international experienced surfers speaking a variety of languages. Spend a day or a week in the water—many different surf packages are available and can be organized in advance or on a day-by-day basis. Surfing is so appealing in this area that Jaco is now known as the “Land of Adventures and City of Surf.” Surf by day and take advantage of all the nightlife, restaurants, and convenience of a bustling, small town during your time out of the water.

For an even more chilled-out vibe, try Mal Pais and Santa Teresa located on the tip of Costa Rica’s Nicoya Peninsula and just an hour boat ride from Jacó. This very small community is tucked away along golden beaches with a breathtaking backdrop of green vegetation. An ideal location for surfers looking for a remote, individual surfing experience with no frills and just good waves in a beautiful atmosphere. Here you can find your surfing zone and get away from it all.

If you want a true surfing adventure, travel to Puerto Viejo (Salsa Brava) on the Caribbean side. This Hawaiian-style reefbreak is known around the world for its size and power. When there is a swell, the biggest waves in Costa Rica break right here. You need to paddle in and out through a small channel in the reef. Experienced and adrenaline-seeking surfers only! If you want more variety, a mile or so south you’ll find Playa Cocles, a consistent beachbreak, and a few more miles south of that is Punta Uva.

Wherever you and your board go, don’t forget your rash guard and lots of sunscreen to protect yourself against the Costa Rican sun.

You guys need time off from the girls just as much as they need time off from you. Instead of planning a night out to escape the feminine frills and chatter, why not opt for a full-blown vacation? Costa Rica is your best bet for an adventure getaway where you can bond with your buddies. Sports, fishing, physically challenging activities, beautiful beaches, nightlife, and much more make this country ideal for your guys-only retreat.

In and On the Water

Dying to test out the waters? Enjoy your favorite water sports anywhere along Costa Rica’s hundreds of miles of untouched coastline. Have you always wanted to learn how to surf? Minutes from Los Sueños Resorts, Jaco has some of the best breaks in Central America. Enroll in a local surf school and take lessons from the pros. Costa Rica holds world-class surfing competitions each year, attracting the top surfers from around the globe—and you can be mastering the killer waves alongside the champions.

The fresh catch of the day could be your yellow-fin tuna. Round up the boys, grab your reels and rods, and spend a day fishing out at sea. Costa Rica is renowned for its game sport fishing and deluxe chartered vessels. Herradura Bay and the waters off of Los Seunos Resort are home to pacific sailfish, marlin, and Dorado, among others. You’re guaranteed to a hook the big one with the pictures to prove it.

If you want to know what’s down below, become a certified scuba diver on your trip—or just stick to the snorkel—but either way you and the guys can check out the thousands of colorful tropical fish and coral and swim with the stingrays, turtles, and sharks that add to the exotic landscape views above. Paddle out with a kayak, explore the coves and cliffs, or dive 50-feet from a waterfall. Whatever you’re up for, we can arrange the adventure for you.

Tee Time

For a chance to get a little healthy competition among the boys underway, don’t forget about Los Sueños’ 18-hole, 72-par golf course situated among the rainforest and banana trees. PGA-qualified professional are on staff to help you perfect your swing, and caddies will not only suggest your clubs, but also act as your eco guide, pointing out all of the monkeys, sloths, and tucans along the way.

Into the Night

Once the sun sets, you and your buddies can kick back with a hand-rolled cigar, gourmet food and drinks, and experience the nightlife. Live music, dancing, bars, beach bonfires, and casinos make this the ultimate spot for boys to be boys. Mingle and relax those muscles in the jacuzzis and pools scattered throughout the Los Sueños property, taking full advantage of the swim-up bar. You’ve had a long day!

No Hassle

We know no on wants to cook, clean, or do laundry on vacation. No worries—you and your buddies won’t need to lift a finger. Our vacation rentals come with full maid services, 24-hour room service from our acclaimed restaurants, internet access, and Diamond Concierge Service to arrange for all of your travel, activities, and anything else you may need while away from home.  

Bachelor parties, Father’s Day, or a big birthday celebration—there are so many reasons to get away to Costa Rica any time with the guys.

So, you’re planning a getaway with the guys? You want to go someplace special, with beautiful beaches, deep sea fishing, golf, horseback riding, sightseeing, swimming, surfing, fine restaurants, night time entertainment and all the other amenities of a five star resort, BUT, do you really think it’s going to work staying in a luxury hotel?

Let’s face it, luxury hotels are just not really a guy thing. They’re more a of a girl thing, great when you want to take the wife or the girlfriend some place and you know she wants to feel pampered and special and get treated like she doesn’t get treated at home. 

When you go with the wife or the girlfriend you give her what she wants and you stay in a luxury hotel. You’ll have luxury restaurants, 24 hour a day room service and a room that’s fine for just the two of you, especially since you won’t be spending any more time in the room than necessary, anyway. This can work even if you’re traveling with another guy, as long as it’s one other guy and not a bunch of guys.

Two of you can fit in one hotel room. Sure there’s not much room and absolutely no privacy, but if you’re really good friends you can make it work, at least for a couple of days, anyway. But when you’re really planning a getaway for the “guys”, four, five or six guys, not just two of you, then hotels, even five star luxury hotels, just won’t cut it.

No matter how expensive or luxurious they are, hotel rooms are not made for partying, well, at least not the kind of partying that involves five or six friends who are traveling together because they want to spend some time together. Things get awfully crowded in a hotel room once there are more than two or three guys.

So, what are you going to do? After all, you’re not college students anymore. You’re grown men, so you’re not just going to sleep on the beach. Well guys, here’s a secret. Now you can have your cake and eat it too. You can stay at the world-class Los Suenos Resort and Marina at beautiful Jaco Beach, Costa Rica and get all the resort amenities without being cramped into tiny hotel rooms.

The hotel is right there at the resort, a five star Marriott, with all the fine restaurants and entertainment you could want including a fabulous casino and a beautiful golf course, but even the rooms at the Marriott can’t begin to compare to the spacious luxury and comfort of your own luxury condo.

That’s right. We said condo.

Now wait a second, don’t laugh.

You’re guys on the vacation of a lifetime, so you’re not going to let something silly like a stove, scare you off, are you? You know better than that. Just because it’s there, doesn’t mean you ever have to use it. We don’t have any Kitchen Police forcing you to cook and unless one of you is an amateur chef, why would you want to, with all those great restaurants just a short walk away? 

If one of you is an amateur chef, you’ll find everything you need and more to indulge your fantasies, with all the gourmet kitchen appliances you could dream of. But, if you’re just a bunch of regular guys, then a gourmet kitchen just means a bigger refrigerator. You get more room to store the beer and the pitchers of cold Margaritas and to make more ice cubes. That’s okay too. We don’t mind.

We know that to regular guys, cooking means barbecuing; not fooling around with a stove.  And barbecuing means Man food, like fresh game fish. You fight it, you catch it and haul it in and then before you have it stuffed so you can mount the trophy on your wall, you bring it home to your luxury condo, your home away from home and fire up the barbie. Break out the cold beer and margaritas and it’s party time, a real reward for all the effort you put in catching that beauty in the first place and a lot tastier than a trophy mounted on the wall.

Worried that you’ll all get sick of each other, being in the same condo together all the time? Don’t worry. First of all, you’ll still have private bedrooms when you want to be alone and you’ll be spending plenty of time apart. With all the variety of activities from golf to swimming and surfing to deep sea fishing and river rafting and  horseback riding, to hiking through the rain forest, visiting a volcano or one of the fabulous national parks, there’s almost no way that you’ll all agree on what to do all the time.

However, when you want to be together and enjoy each other’s company, you’ll have the room to do it in comfort, guy-style, with room to spread out and relax and feel at home,  not all crammed into one small hotel room, pretending that the lack of space doesn’t really bother you.

We’ll even let you in on another secret. With all those great activities to choose from, we know that guys don’t like to plan and make a bunch of phone calls and  arrangements. Guys want to get out and go, without hassles or annoyances. That’s why we have our luxury concierge service to do all your planning and make all your arrangements for you. Golf, fishing, dinner, entertainment, horseback riding, guided tours, or customized individual getaways, just tell the concierge and they will do the rest. That’s right. You get all the convenience and amenities of a five star luxury hotel without the drawbacks.

So, the choice is yours. You can either settle for an ordinary, traditional, pre-packaged luxury vacation, with someone else deciding where you should go and what you should do when and a two person hotel room for your “home away from home”, OR, you can opt for something totally different, YOUR luxury guys’ getaway on YOUR terms, with a home away from home so luxurious and comfortable and right in the middle of everything you want to do, that you’ll never want to leave.

And guess what? You might not have to.  One trip to our luxury rental condos at the renowned Los Suenos Beach Resort and Marina at beautiful Jaco Beach, may convince you to stay and buy a condo of your own, so that you can enjoy the benefits of resort living year round.

Stranger things have happened and once you experience the unparalleled beauty and luxury of Los Suenos Resort and Marina, you too will understand. It’s a guy thing. We’ll just keep the maid service and the concierge and the  general level of luxury care and service a secret. We’ll never tell anyone that real guys like to be taken care of and waited on hand and foot and pampered like a bunch of spoiled princesses at a beauty spa - when they aren’t too busy out doing manly things.

We’ll just keep that part our little secret and when you get home you can tell everyone how luxury hotels are fine for women, but real guys don’t need all that fancy stuff. They know how to rough it on their own, and so they stay in condos. Nobody else has to know that “roughing it” really means being taken care of 24 hours a day and even having first class medical facilities on site to deal with those sports injuries or other emergencies. After all, it’s a guy thing, so we’ll keep it just between us.

Deep in the jungle areas of Costa Rica there live the Cabecar Indians.  They are a private race living in remote areas away from the bustle of cities and tourism.  A few companies in the country have been granted permission to take tours through their land on the condition that the land is not damaged or altered in any way.

One such tour is called the eco-challenge, or more locally known as “Bushwhacking to the River.”  In terms of extreme adventures, this one is definitely the leader!

The eco-challenge begins with a five hour mountain bike ride through a variety of terrain to a small isolated village that has only recently installed electricity but still has no telephones.  Your first night will be spent here under the stars and the jungle skies.

From the bike camp the next day, the tour heads up on foot into the mountains.  This is not a tendered trail and the terrain is rough, slippery and unpredictable.  It winds through humid jungle growth and machetes are often used to cut a path through the jungle growth, hence the nickname bushwhacking.  The entire hike will take about five or six hours and ends near a local fruit farm and swimming hole for some good nourishment and refreshing swim.  You’ll spend a second night here under the stars listening to the jungle sounds.  Here the tour guide has arranged horses packed with all the necessary gear for the next day’s adventure.

The third day of the trek takes you on horseback from the mountain farm down into the canyon floor and to the river where your paddling adventure will begin.  Kayaks, canoes, food and all supplies are carried down the steep treacherous slope on the backs of some of the country’s most sure footed horses.  After descending about 1200 feet into lush tropical jungle, you will arrive again in a very isolated remote village where there will be time to explore the surrounding jungle, streams and caves before making camp for the night.

The final leg of your journey is the most challenging of all, a 22 kilometre stretch of some wild and crazy white water!  After proper outfitting and a few lessons in white water safety you are on your way to the ride of a lifetime!  You will manoeuvre your kayak through twists and turns and rushing rapids for about five hours before ultimately arriving at civilization once again.  And then it is time to be driven back to your hotel for a rest, a good hot shower and a rib sticking dinner of local foods.

This is most definitely the ultimate challenge of all adventure tours in the country, and one you don’t want to miss if you’re planning a guy’s adventure in Costa Rica!

For guys taking an adventure getaway to Costa Rica, there is little to compare to the adrenalin rush of rappelling down a canyon wall through a waterfall and rain forest canopy!  You can take just such a tour with several adventure guides throughout the country.  Here are some of the details of your canyon adventure.

The best canyoneering tour is reported to be the one that is situated close by the Arenal Volcano.  Canyoneering is defined as a combination of rappelling into the canyon and hiking through the jungle at the bottom.  A total of five rappels will take you past thundering waterfalls into the lush tropical jungle below, for a total descent of about 2000 feet.  The final rappel is over 200 feet and goes through a three stage waterfall.

The average time allotted for a canyoneering trip is about three hours and it will include transportation from your resort to the canyon.  All equipment is provided and tours are all led by qualified guides.  The only things you are required to supply are securely fitted shoes, clothes that are light or somewhat water repellent, as the waterfalls will make you wet.  Because of this it is also recommended that you pack a change of clothes so that you can make the return trip in dry attire.

While there is no experience required to take a canyoneering tour, it is recommended that you be in pretty good physical condition.

Since the canyoneering tours take place so close to the arenal Volcano, many travellers also take in a volcano tour before leaving.  The Arenal volcano is over 3000 years old and has a height of about 1660 meters. It is the smallest volcano in Costa Rica, and is considered one of the most active volcanoes in the world but statistically safe for touring.  Large, dark, and shaped like an inverted cone, the Arenal volcano looks exactly like what everyone pictures a volcano to be.  A guided hike of about one and a half hours, will take you to the nearest possible point to view the volcano and the lush jungle that surrounds it.  After sunset, you can often see lava glowing in the distance and hear the rumble of lava rock as it tumbles down the mountainside.    You can finish off your excursion with a relaxing soak at one of the many hot springs that are also located within a short ride. Truly, no visit to Costa Rica would be complete without a visit to this landmark.