Have A Holly, Jolly Caribbean Christmas In Costa Rica

If your usual Christmas is cold and gray, and you can’t go outside without wearing at least 10 layers, wouldn’t it be nice instead to spend Christmas in the Caribbean with your toes deep in warm sand instead of wool socks? Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica is already merrily decorated for Christmas on the southern Caribbean Coast as the Caribbean Costa Rica readies for its cheery Christmas celebration. Christmas is an important holiday for Costa Rica, just like in other countries. Christmas traditions in Costa Rica include parties and celebrations, and delicious traditional Christmas foods!

Christmas food traditions from other parts of Costa Rica, like roast turkey or pork for Christmas dinner, can also be found on the Caribbean Coast … but you can also try fresh fish or lobster. Tamales are an essential part of Christmas holidays everywhere in Costa Rica; tamales here are made from corn meal and are filled with potatoes, rice, vegetables, garlic and onions, and shredded pork or chicken or beef, and then wrapped in banana or plantain leaves and boiled. You can wash it all down with eggnog, called rompope in Spanish, or a Caribbean “Agua de sapo” – a refreshing lemonade made with brown sugar, lime and ginger. Special Costa Rica Caribbean cuisine for Christmas includes: Black cake (Queque negro) with rum, raisins, and condensed sweetened fruit – like a fruitcake; baked coconut cookies; Johnnycake or coconut bread; and using spices like oregano, ginger and cilantro on pork or turkey. For your Christmas tree, you might be used to a pine, fir or spruce; but on the Costa Rica Caribbean Coast you will find that the palm and coastal almond trees growing in front of the colorfully painted houses work just fine for hanging ornaments and lights. Residents also like to put up lots of lights and decorations on the outsides of their homes to make it really festive. And if you want to wish someone Merry Christmas in Costa Rica, you say “Feliz Navidad!”

Costa Rica Caribbean Christmas Spend your December and Christmas holidays on the Costa Rica Caribbean Coast. From now through Dec. 20, 2015, Hotel Le Caméléon by Puerto Viejo is offering the amazing discount of 50% off all room rates! The Costa Rica boutique hotel offers upscale beach accommodations in the tropical rainforest, facing one of the area’s most beautiful beaches – Playa Cocles.

Hotel Le Caméléon will have a special dinner on Dec. 24 in their Le Numu Restaurant & Bar, and a New Year’s Eve dinner and party in the restaurant and in the hotel’s La Sula Sea Lounge Beach Club across the street. Church services in the oldest Baptist Church in the center of Puerto Viejo will have a choir singing carols on Dec. 24 and 31.

Hotel Le Caméléon provides spa services, private yoga classes, first-class restaurant, reading/lounging areas, and a lap pool and cool water Jacuzzi. It is easy to get to the southern Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica with daily flights on NatureAir and Sansa Airlines from San Jose to Limon.

 

Article by Shannon Farley

Getting to the Costa Rica Caribbean Coast the easy way

While the drive from Costa Rica’s capital city of San Jose to the Caribbean Coast beach towns of Limon, Cahuita and Puerto Viejo is very pretty driving through Braulio Carrillo National Park, and over the Sucio, Reventazon and Pacuare rivers, there is a much easier way to get to Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast. Fly! It takes about four hours to drive the 217 kilometers – that’s 135 miles for folks from the States – to Puerto Viejo, where most people go for Caribbean beach holidays in Costa Rica. The stretch on Route 32 through the Braulio Carrillo National Park is certainly very beautiful, but can also be treacherous when raining, foggy, or after dark – a good portion of the time.

Save yourself the headache and stress of driving. Getting to the southern Caribbean Coast of Costa Rica is easy on 30-minute domestic flights between San Jose and Limon operated by Nature Air and Sansa Airlines. After the 30 minute flight, it is only a quick 30-minute drive from the Limon Airport to Puerto Viejo. In an hour from San Jose, you can be lounging under a palm tree on a stunning Caribbean beach with a cold fruit drink in your hand. Besides that, the views of Braulio Carrillo National Park and the Sucio, Reventazon and Pacuare rivers are even better from the air! Costa Rican airline Nature Air operates flights four times per week to the Caribbean port city of Limon from San Jose. Flights depart from the Juan Santamaria International Airport by San Jose on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, leaving at 5:50 a.m. and arriving to the Limon airport at 6:20 a.m. Return flights depart Limon at 6:30 a.m. and arrive to San Jose at 7:25 a.m., with a quick stop on the way to Tortuguero in the northern Caribbean.

 

Sansa Airlines operates flights between San Jose and Limon regularly, departing from Juan Santamaria International Airport:

• San Jose to Limon: depart 6:50 a.m. / arrive 7:35 a.m. Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun
• San Jose to Limon: depart 7:45 a.m. / arrive 8:05 a.m. Daily
• San Jose to Limon: depart 2:30 p.m. / arrive 3:30 p.m. Daily
• Limon to San Jose: depart 7:01 a.m. / arrive 7:56 a.m. Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat, Sun
• Limon to San Jose: depart 7:45 a.m. / arrive 8:47 a.m. Daily
• Limon to San Jose: depart 3:40 p.m. / arrive 4:20 p.m. Daily

Costa Rica Caribbean Coast

Sunshine, warm turquoise Caribbean Sea, palm trees, lush jungle, sloths in the trees, parrots and toucans flying overhead, cool restaurants, great hotels and a laid-back Caribbean vibe … what more could you want on holiday? The southern Costa Rica Caribbean Coast has everything for an idyllic Caribbean vacation.

Try out new adventures: snorkeling or scuba diving around coral reefs, go sea kayaking, hike in the jungle, visit a sloth sanctuary or a jaguar rescue center, learn how to make chocolate, surf some of the best waves in Costa Rica.

Whether you come to Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast for a romantic getaway, family vacation, friends’ trip, or honeymoon, the place to stay in Puerto Viejo is Hotel Le Caméléon. The Costa Rica boutique hotel offers upscale beach accommodations in the tropical rainforest, facing one of the area’s most beautiful beaches – Playa Cocles.

Hip, modern and chic, Le Cameleon Boutique Hotel has 23 rooms stylized in all-white minimalism with touches of bright colors that change every day like a chameleon, and all of the comforts you expect at a four-star resort. The hotel’s La Sula Sea Lounge Beach Club across the street is the place to hang out by the shore and meet friends for a cool drink or a light meal. Hotel Le Caméléon provides spa services, private yoga classes, first-class restaurant, reading/lounging areas, and a lap pool and cool water Jacuzzi.

 

Article by Shannon Farley

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Costa Rica Caribbean vacation packages for Caribbean summer

The start of Caribbean Summer in Costa Rica is the time for Costa Rica Vacation Packages .

The climate on the Caribbean Coast varies from the rest of Costa Rica. Most of the year, the Caribbean Coast maintains its forever green landscape from regular tropical rain showers. Then, when the rest of Costa Rica enters peak rainy season in September and October, the sun comes out over the Caribbean.

Costa Rica's southern Caribbean Coast has everything you're looking for in a beach vacation – adventure, romance, decadent beaches, wildlife, new flavors and music, cultural exchange … and at Hotel Le Caméléon by Puerto Viejo, you have the utmost in luxury.



Now through the end of October is the time to visit Hotel Le Caméléon for special vacation offers in Caribbean summer. Through Aug. 31, 2015, Hotel Le Caméléon is offering a 30% discount off rates for Superior and Deluxe rooms (for rates over $168.00).

In September, in honor of Costa Rica’s Independence Day on Sept. 15, Hotel Le Caméléon is celebrating “Our Homeland Month”. In October, Costa Rica celebrates the month of cultures, and Limon, the “capital city” of Costa Rica’s Caribbean region, holds its annual carnival celebration. During both September and October 2015, at Hotel Le Caméléon you can receive a 20% discount off rates for Superior and Deluxe rooms.

There is a Romance Package that includes one night in a Superior Room for two persons, breakfast, and one Caribbean lunch or dinner per person, for $198.00 plus tax. There also is a Family Package that includes one night in a Deluxe Room, breakfast, and one Caribbean lunch or dinner per person. For two adults, the price is $218.00 plus tax. For families with two adults and up to two children (under age 12), the price is $253.00 plus tax. Children receive a surprise gift.

Costa Rica Caribbean Summer is a perfect time to visit the beautiful beaches of Cahuita, Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo. The Southern Caribbean Coast offers some of the best surfing in Costa Rica, but this time of year when seas are calm, it is ideal for snorkeling or scuba diving in the crystalline waters of the Cahuita National Park, home of the largest coral reef on Costa Rica’s Caribbean Coast. Now also is a good time for a boat tour to see wild dolphins or to go sea kayaking.

Hotel Le Caméléon is located on Playa Cocles just past Puerto Viejo on one of the prettiest Costa Rica Caribbean beaches. The upscale Costa Rica boutique hotel features modern rooms, beautiful tropical architecture, a gourmet restaurant, spa services, and the fantastic Costa Rica Caribbean beach club La Sula Sea Lounge. An Enchanting Hotel of Costa Rica, Le Caméléon has been awarded the prestigious TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence for 2015.

How to get to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica Daily 30-minute flights to Limon from San Jose on Nature Air or Sansa Airlines make it easy to get to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. From Limon, it is a short drive less than an hour to Puerto Viejo and Playa Cocles. The drive from San Jose to Puerto Viejo is approximately 4.5 hours.

Article by Shannon Farley