Manuel Antonio – Day 4 of a 6-Day Trip in Costa Rica
Manuel Antonio is a coastal beach town in Costa Rica. It is a very popular spot to visit due to the beaches and the famous Manuel Antonio National Park. Despite being one of the smaller Costa Rican parks, Manuel Antonio National is the most visited national park in Costa Rica. I wasn’t visiting the national park on Day 4 however, that would be on Day 5. Day 4 consisted of an Interbus bus ride from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio, then a sunset cruise.
Day 4
Manuel Antonio
My day started with breakfast, which was included at the Pension Santa Elena, where I was staying. I picked the granola with yogurt and fruit for breakfast.
Despite the good online reviews of Pension Santa Elena, I did not love my stay. There wasn’t good sound isolation within the room and the howling of the wind woke me up frequently. I also found some of the staff unhelpful and rude. One occurrence stuck out the most for me. My Interbus to Manuel Antonio was scheduled to arrive at 8:25am. The Interbus came early (~7:55am) and Interbus had asked the front desk for my name and the staff made no attempt to contact me that the bus was there. When I came down at 8am to check out, I was just told that I had missed my Interbus and I needed to have been there early waiting for the bus. I was 25 minutes early already! The staff’s demeanor was uncaring and they shrugged it off and said I was late. This made me stressed as I had to figure out an alternative method to get to Manuel Antonio and I was at risk of missing my sunset cruise. Luckily, I was hopeful that Interbus would return for me at the booked 8:25am time so I waited in the lobby. Sure enough, Interbus came back at 8:25am and I had been unnecessarily worried. I felt like this was something that could have been better communicated by the staff at Pension Santa Elena.
The trip from Monteverde to Manuel Antonio took about 4 hours. We descended the mountains and about half way to Manuel Antonio, stopped for a break. Unlike my trip between La Fortuna to Monteverde, there was no switch in van shuttles this time. I arrived at my hotel, Peace of Paradise, in Manuel Antonio just after 12:30pm. My room was already ready when I arrived. Once I checked in and dropped my bag off in my room, it was almost 1pm. I was getting picked up for the sunset cruise at 1:20pm, so unfortunately I had no time to go out for lunch. Instead, I quickly ate a granola bar and waited for my pick-up. I had booked my sunset cruise through Viator with a company called Sunset Sails. I believe you can book directly on their website, but the pricing was the same, I felt it was safer to go through Viator. I was picked up directly from my hotel in a ~30 person shuttle van. The shuttle van made a few more stops after picking me up and then dropped everyone off at Marina Pez Vela. The check-in process took about 15 minutes and then we were led to the catamaran for the cruise. The cruise includes endless drinks (juices and cocktails mixed with rum), a snorkel (and gear), a mahi mahi fish dinner, and a beautiful ocean sunset view. To be honest, the snorkel was not great as the water is quite murky and there is not much to see. I was also a little seasick due to the lack of food (no time to eat!) and the bumpy ride out into the ocean, so I could not take full advantage of the endless drinks. The mahi mahi fish dinner was tasty and was served with rice, veggies, beans, and homemade hot sauce. The sunset was beautiful. The crew were great hosts and very attentive to everyone on the boat.
After the sun went down, we returned back to shore. The same shuttle van picked us up and dropped us all back at our hotels. Despite it being only about 7pm, I was exhausted from all the sunbathing so I washed up and went to bed.
Complete Day 4 Itinerary
*Travel times may vary. Check Google Maps for most accurate travel details.
7:00am: Breakfast.
8:00am: Travel to Manuel Antonio (4 hour Interbus from Monteverde).
1:00pm: Go on a Sunset Cruise in Manuel Antonio. Sunset Sails Tours will pick-up directly at the hotel. Dinner included on the cruise!
6-Day Costa Rica Itinerary
Click “Download” below for an excel version of my 6-Day Costa Rica Itinerary. Feel free to use the excel file as a planning template for your own trip!
Costa Rica Links:
Travels with Carolyne 