Costa Rica is a great destination for baby boomers. Here are 5 reasons why.
#1: These Costa Rica beaches are your own. No more worries about other sun worshippers getting too close for comfort on a packed and sweaty beach. The Costa Rica beaches from Mal Pais up to, and especially Manzanillo are huge and people-less. You sometimes feel that you are on your own private beach and this photo shows you exactly what I mean. These beaches also recently won Best Beach in Central and South America/
There are also rock pools between Manzanillo and Playa Hermosa between mid and low tide. Not only are these tide pools breathtaking to see, there are a whole host of little fish to share the experience with. This makes for stunning pictures for those budding photographers out there and the other great plus is that it doesn’t cost a penny
#2: Yoga at Pranamar. Nestled amongst the lush vegetation of the coastal jungle is the newly opened yoga retreat and beachfront villas of Pranamar. With breathtaking Balinese design and stunning attention to detail, Pranamar offers its guests and yoga practicioners a serene and peaceful place to stay and enjoy. They have some inspiring teachers and also host workshops with both highly regarded international yoga teachers and their resident teacher. Have a look at their website at www.pranamarvillas.com. Your classes take place in their yoga shala looking out onto the Pacific. Oh, and I did I mention their delicious restaurant? Yum.
#3: The adrenaline zip line canopy tour at Mal Pais. Moving onto something a little more high impact, the Mal Pais canopy tour is not for the faint hearted. It takes approximately 2 hours and costs between $40 and $60 dependent on whether you book yourself straight onto the tour and travel down in your own transportation or whether you are being taxied and returned. Make sure to ask one of your guides to get some footage of you actually traveling down the line, no flip-flops please. Oh, and ladies – don’t wear a short skirt.
#4: Freedom to explore when you travel by ATV. I had never even heard of an ATV or quad until we arrived here last year and was therefore way too frightened to get on one. Then my mother in law arrived to visit us. When she saw the quad, she went straight to the hire centre and then you couldn’t see her for dust! She had the best time that she has had in ages, felt as free a bird and young at 21 again.
# 5: Nothing like coming home to a stunning house on the beach…..from $120 a night. The coastline is dotted with some gorgeous homes away from home for you to spoil yourselves in whilst visiting the jungle. You can even hire private chefs to cook you a la carte meals on your veranda, enjoy massages by candlelight or simply sip your rum and coke whilst watching the sunset over the horizon every night at 5.45pm with the howler monkeys in the trees above you. It really is heaven.
There are so many more reasons that you should think of coming here – the quality of the restaurants, surfing lessons, horse riding, nature walks, artisan organic farmers markets on Saturday’s etc etc…not to mention the increasing number of baby boomers who are making this area their choice for a holiday home with some great value real estate prices….but for now, I hope that I have given you a taste for the Nicoya Peninsula. Come and enjoy it for yourselves.
Dahlia Nahome is an ex-London city girl who moved to the Costa Rican jungle with her husband and two children. She was formerly the head of account management at a top 10 London advertising agency but now runs www.costaricanvacation.com and also enjoys writing about the Nicoya Peninsula.
