Kosher Costa Rica Itinerary

Day 1: Travel from NYC to San Jose, Costa Rica + Drive to the coast

[THURSDAY] Costa Rica has lots of direct flights into the country via the capital, San Jose, or via Liberia in the north. We flew into San Jose to start the trip, and out of Liberia back to NYC so we could properly explore. We also opted for a non-direct flight for two reasons. Most of the direct flights arrived in the evening and killed the whole day. Our flight with a short stopover in Panama left at night and arrived in the AM, allowing us to (mostly) sleep on the plane and have a whole day in Costa Rica to enjoy and explore. (If you’re feeling really adventurous, spend a day or two in Panama during your stopover and enjoy the dozens of kosher restaurants they have to offer)

Upon our arrival, we rented a medium-sized 4×4 SUV for our family of 4. I cannot stress enough how important it is to get a 4×4 vehicle considering how poor the conditions are for some of the roads outside of the major cities. It definitely made for some “enjoyable and unique” driving, that’s for sure. Not recommended for those who are fearful of driving in general.

We headed from San Jose to our hotel on the central west coast, the Los Sueños Marriott Ocean & Golf Resort. It was about a 2-hour drive, mostly on 1-lane highways. We were able to stop along the road for a quick refreshment of fruit and drinks on large roadside stands a little past midway there. Los Sueños is a beautiful property connected to a wider resort and marina area filled with tourists and ex-pats who live in the area. We used credit card points and hotel points (Marriott Bonvoy) for a mostly free stay at this property.

After we dropped off our bags, we jumped back into the car to head out for lunch. Less than 15 minutes from the hotel is the town of Jaco (pronounced Ha-co), which is a beach town filled with both tourists and locals wanting to surf the Pacific. In Jaco, you will find a Jewish complex that includes Sabress Kosher Restaurant and Izu’s Place – a Jewish center run by Israelis providing a dine-in kosher restaurant, kosher catering, a hostel, and an on-site shul, mostly used for Shabbat and chagim. The food and ingredients are mostly provided by the Kosher Center in San Jose. They self-certify in terms of kashrut, so plan accordingly.

At Sabress, don’t expect local Costa Rican food. The menu and flavors are very much a reflection of the Israeli owners. They offer both meat and vegetarian dishes that include couscous, shakshuka, hummus, falafel, kababs, burgers, shwarma, salatim, schnitzel, and more. The restaurant is cute, and it also serves as a cool respite from the heat outside. For those ordering from Sabress for meals at their hotel outside of Izu’s Place, I recommend ordering a few days in advance if you want to order from their catering menu. You can also order from their smaller Shabbat menu a day in advance and pick it up on Friday a few hours before Shabbat, which is what we ended up doing. More on that in a bit. We grabbed a few extra dishes to go to enjoy back at our hotel for dinner and lunch the next day, and headed back to the Marriott to enjoy the afternoon at the pool and beach. Text Toni at Sabress (English, Hebrew, Spanish) on WhatsApp (+506 8529 8969) to make food arrangements in advance.

Day 2: Spend the day at Manuel Antonio National Park

[FRIDAY] One of Costa Rica’s preeminent attractions is Manuel Antonio National Park, filled with tons of wildlife you can only find here. Hiring a guide was highly recommended to us to book a guide in advance, who do not come cheap, but is worth the price. The friendly guide we hired, who was recommended to us by Toni at Sabress, booked our entry tickets to the park for us in advance, brought with him a powerful telescope, and stand to show us creatures throughout the park, from the hidden spiders to the howler monkeys and sloths up in the trees. One of the coolest parts of the park is the beach area, which had super warm, calm waters void of any waves, almost completely surrounded by tall trees. It was the single greatest natural swimming area I’ve ever experienced, all with monkeys in the trees above.

One note about the park, you may not bring in outside food as to not disrupt the ecosystem there. There is a cafeteria about midway through the guided path that the guide takes you in which offers fruit, ice cream, and drinks, as well as other foods we could not eat. I recommend having a large breakfast before entering this park. Manuel Antonio was definitely one of the highlights of our Costa Rica vacation for the family.

On our 90 min drive back, we made a stop at Sabress in Jaco to pick up our Shabbat order, stopped at a local supermarket near the hotel for a few drinks and American goods with hashgachot we recognized, and settled back at our hotel to prepare for Shabbat and have our Friday night dinner poolside. (Note: if you require a minyan for Shabbat, Jaco may be your only option in this region, and that assumes they have a minyan when you are visiting). To heat up our food, we brought with us this fantastic foldable hot plate, the Hotmat, which we ordered on Amazon prior to leaving.

Day 3: Relax at Hotel for Shabbat

[SHABBAT] We relaxed at the hotel, and enjoyed the resort’s grounds and each other’s company.

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• Costa Rica Tips
• Days 1-3: Heading to Costa Rica, Manuel Antonio National Park
• Days 4-5: Kosher in San Jose, Arenal Volcano
• Days 6-7: More Arenal, Monteverde Cloud Forest
• Days 8-11: More Monteverde, Play Flamingo, Heading Home
• Kosher Costa Rican Itinerary MAP