Our journey begins in our hometown, Burgos. If you don't know it, visiting it is a great plan for a weekend.
Uruka Lodge
Our flight leaves Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas International Airport at 15:00. We are flying with Iberojet. They didn't let us check in online due to a glitch in the app, although we did book the seats for which we paid 20€/pax.
We go to the counter although we don't check in our luggage. In the cabin ticket we are allowed a backpack or suitcase of 50x40x25cm and another smaller one of maximum 30cm height (+-10 litres capacity), they are not very strict with the measures because we see much bigger backpacks on the plane.
The flight takes 10 hours and five minutes, direct to the airport in San José, the capital of Costa Rica.
We had not travelled with this company but the general feeling is good. It's a fairly cheap company, it includes two meals and you have an entertainment screen in each seat.
Aircraft
We arrived at about 17.30 (8 hours less than in Spain). We passed through immigration control very quickly. It is not a big airport.
When we leave the terminal we realise that our car rental company is not waiting for us. A security guard tells us that with the wifi in a nearby bar we can call by whatsapp (our HolaFly card is giving us problems). We call without success until a driver from another company approaches us and tells us that he has the direct mobile number of the person who is coming to pick us up. Other passengers get out and we wait for the van to arrive.
Green Motion is a car rental company with two offices, one in Alajuela and one in the centre of San José. The transfer to the one in Alajuela is free of charge but you have to call them even though the confirmation email says that they will be waiting for you on arrival.
We hire an SUV for $478 for 12 days with an excess of $300 and fully comprehensive insurance that includes a second driver and a navigator. They say they don't have the navigator and we ask for compensation. In the end they find one that is going to be very useful on the trip.
When renting a car you have to consider your trip very well, what destinations you want to visit because sometimes a 4x4 is essential. Throughout the blog we will tell you which of the places we visited are accessible by 4x4 and which you can reach with a normal car, although if it is high it is better, because even the main roads have big potholes and steep slopes.
Once in the car we drove to our accommodation, Uruka Lodge, located about 15 km outside Alajuela in an affluent neighbourhood.
The journey to the lodge was a bit complicated. It was night, it was raining, the road signs were barely visible, and the motorway could be entered from both left and right. On top of that, the navigator kept sending us in the opposite direction to what maps.me was telling us, an odyssey, but we finally got there.
Us
The accommodation is located on a farm with spectacular views of the Atenas mountains and on clear days the Pacific coast. It has indoor parking, a swimming pool with garden and breakfast included. The room we were assigned did not have the bathroom inside the room but it was right next to it and very spacious.
We take a dip in the pool and order some dinner from home. Another Spanish couple is staying and we have dinner together in the common dining room.
Remember that the tap water in Costa Rica is drinkable so there is no need to buy bottled water.
Flight ticket from Madrid to San José with Iberojet: 590 €/pax (without checked baggage and reserved seat)
Car rental: 478$ 12 days, Green Motion company
Accommodation: Uruka Lodge double room with bathroom $43.22/night with swimming pool and breakfast
Dinner: pizza delivery $17
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