Should I Book Activities in Costa Rica in Advance or Wing it Like a Rock Star?

As much fun as it is to wing anything like a rockstar (including the entirety of your youth), there are three things that you're going to want to make sure you plan in advance before your trip to Costa Rica—namely during the months of December through April (DEFINITELY DURING THOSE MONTHS, Y'ALL):

Your hotel
Your rental car
Your fishing charter—which sounds random, but worth mentioning in case that particular activity is on your radar, since Quepos, Costa Rica is the sailfish capital of the world and we're super duper known for sport fishing.

Everything else is easy to book once you're here: things like ziplining and airport transport and hot springs (though if you visit our favorite resort, Tabacon in Arenal, you might actually wanna get tickets in advance because it's that good!). And most things are also relatively easy to book on the fly when it's the low season: it's the high season that you'll want to worry about.

If you're intending on staying in a hotel, you should absolutely make arrangements beforehand—at least during those months of December through April. If you're backpacking through, you can worry less, but I'd still recommend booking something if you can handle being one of those "plann-ey" people for a minute. (The bane of my own existence.) More importantly, however, is that if you're planning on getting a rental car, DEFINITELY book this in advance no matter what. This is probably one of the things that goes the fastest, and especially automatic transmission. So reserve that now. (We love and use Budget from Juan Santamaría Airport—their facility is super nice and new and huge, and great friendly staff. Side note: no car rental companies are on-site at the airport, and all require a quick shuttle—Budget is no exception, but it's just two minutes down the road.)

And last but not least, you really don't have to worry about booking most activities beforehand, even during the high season (think: ziplining, rafting, ATVs, etc.), BUT the one thing you do need to book as far in advance as possible, no matter what, is the aforementioned sport fishing charter. Because most charters go out for an entire day, that means that only one customer can book per boat per day—and that means that availability is always extremely limited. More so during the high season, so make sure you reserve your day(s) as soon as humanly possible. (We recommend JP Sportfishing Tours in Quepos, Costa Rica—feel free to give Carlos a buzz.)

All the rest? Feel free to wing as much as you want!

We know that when we travel, we like to pop into a pub and ask the locals what they recommend—so if that's more your speed, you'll have plenty of opportunity to do exactly that. :) Just make sure you don't listen to Drunk Marty: he still thinks it's 1994.