Costa Rica Travel Forum

Need some advice.

I will be in Costa Rica for a week in mide June. I fly in and out of San Jose but will only spend two nights there.

I am looking to spend a few relaxing days on a beautiful beach, perhaps see some wildlife too..

I understand June is in the "rainy season" : (

What beach in Costa Rica will have the least amount of rain and the most hours of sun in Costa Rica?

I want to relax on a beach and get a nice suntan and not be miserable with rainy weather all week!!

Where is the driest and most scenic place in CR during mid June?

I quite like the sound of Quepos/Manuel Antonio.. but will it rain the whole time I am there in June??

Any recommendations / suggestions?

In few days I am afraid your options are very limited. Transportation anywhere takes a really long time there because of the road conditions. For instance getting to Manuel Antonio/Quepos area is 3 1/2 hours. The closest beach to get to from San Jose is Jaco and it will take two hours to get to. This is not an area I would typically recommend but maybe for convenience you will choose this. Another option to saving time would be to take one of the small places through Sansa or Nature Air to your destination to save time. It is about a 20 minute flight to Quepos/Manuel Antonio.

As far as rain the carribean side is rainiest if you look at the entire year because it can rain there throughout the year but in June it may be more rainy on the Pacific. The guanacaste region is the driest out of all of the country. Don't let the threat of rain totally dictate your trip though because it usually only rains a couple of hours in the afternoon but really hard. I have also experience some rain there at night but who cares when you are sleeping.

Trying to predict the weather can be difficult because of local on the day variations.
This information should be used as a guide only.
Here is the average weather for Costa Rica for this time of year.
Enjoy your holiday.

June.
High 80f / 27c
Low 65f / 18c
Rain 11.03in / 280.1mm
Sun % 20

I second dd's answer. In general it is sunny and hot in the morning with tropical rains in the afternoons and the Pacific side tends to be drier that the Atlantic side.

for a short time manuel antonio is your best bet...nice beach, great park with wildlife, good area in general. I agree with the above post, Jaco is closest to SJ but I'd consider it tacky compared to other beaches in CR. Quepos is a typical town, not much of a beach there at all, if you have little time you should bypass it and take the bus 10 minutes to the village outside of Manuel Antonio. Getting a tan in the rainy season can be tricky; I've been three times during the rainy season over three years, you get sun in the morning, but the afternoons are mostly cloudy with the occasional rain shower. Never really got a tan like I have in the States, but you'll have fun nonetheless!

I arrived in Costa Rica mid June last year and was there for 5 weeks. The first two weeks were in the southern part and I had some rain in the afternoons around Vulcan/Buenos Aires where we were visiting friends but when we left that area and stayed on the coast around Uvita the weather was dry except for one brief shower one afternoon. We then went further south to a couple of places on the southern Osa and still had very little rain if any. Over the next few weeks it was the same thing. An occassional afternoon shower. Most of the time it was sunny. Even got to see Arenal while staying there for a couple of nights in July.

Go ahead and go to Manuel Antonio. Get up early and enjoy several hours of sun. The park itself is closed on Mondays but there are plenty of other things to do. Do be careful swimming in Playa Espadilla if you go there. It is a public beach. It is known to have dangerous rips at times. The beaches in the park itself are safe and very nice. Do not go into the water anywhere and leave anything on the beach that you don't want to loose. A good pair of tevas will probably disappear so have a pair of cheap flip flops that nobody will want. Have some zip lock baggies to keep money in so you can put it in a pocket and go swimming.

Ricky, it would help all of us if you could tell us which part of Costa Rica your averages are for as it can vary greatly from one part to another. I do hope those are for San Jose because I can't fly my dog down if it is over 85 degrees at the airport.

Sorry, they are for San Jose.

Thanks, that is good news for me.