JACO, COSTA RICA
Room Block
We have a room block at wedding venue, Villa Caletas, ranging from $307-489 a night with breakfast and taxes included. in order to receive our 20% off discount, please book by emailing specialevents@villacaletas.com and reference our wedding.
Airbnb
For Airbnb, I would center your search around Jaco, Costa Rica. After that, most airbnb's can be split up into two groups: Downtown Jaco or within Marriott Los Suenos.
Marriott Los Suenos Community
The week leading up to the wedding, this is where we, as well as our families, will be staying. The Airbnb's in this area are located within the Marriott Los Suenos development, but are their own condos and not associated with the hotel. Airbnb's in this area will come with access to the private beach club as well as easy access to the marina / restaurants there. Ubers are available from this area but they are hit or miss. If taking an Uber, it's only $6 to go to Downtown Jaco / Villa Caletas. If uber isn't available, the typical cab fare is $20.
Downtown Jaco
Downtown Jaco is close to all the tourist activities (ATV, ziplining, ect.) and is located right next to the huge public beach. In downtown Jaco, there are numerous food options that are far more superior than the Marriott Los Suenos area. Ubers here are very easy to get and you can get anywhere for $6 or less
I have created a curated list of Airbnbs to help with the search. Feel free to access the Airbnb list here.
Other Hotels
While we don't have room blocks at the Marriott Los Suenos or Best Western Jaco All Inclusive, they are also good options on where to stay. As of July 2022, the rates for the Marriott is $440, while the Best Western is $200.
Flights
The closest airport to our wedding venue is San Jose, Costa Rica (airport code: SJO). It is imperative that you book your flights to San Jose, Costa Rica and not San Jose, California :).
Our current recommendation is to fly in Thursday March 2nd and fly out Monday March 6th. The reasoning for Thursday - Monday centers around the fact that our wedding venue is a 1.5 hour drive from SJO. As a result, if you are planning on attending the welcome party, guests will either have to take the first flight out Friday or come a day early. We are suggesting fly out Monday for the same reason. Since the latest flight out is typically at 2pm, that would mean guests would need to leave by 9am or earlier the day after the wedding.
Google Flights links from common destinations:
Houston, TX
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Detroit, MI
Vancouver, BC
We highly recommend guests to not rent a car during their stay.
Transportation to and from the Airport:
There are a lot of transportation groups out there that can transport guests from SJO to Jaco. We recommend booking in advance and not waiting until you get to the airport. Most transportation services will cost between $100-150 each way for a car/van that can fit 4-6 people.
Transportation within Jaco:
Within Jaco, the preferred mode of transportation is Uber. If you are staying in downtown Jaco, Ubers will be abundant and never more than 5 min away. If you are staying at Villa Caletas or Marriott Los Suenos, there will be Ubers, but they aren't as frequent. Bake in a 15-20 min wait to get an Uber. If Ubers aren't available, there's always cabs available, but they are typically 3x the price of Uber.
OUR FAVS
Breakfast
A nice breakfast spot located in the marina by Marriott Los Suenos. For breakfast, we recommend gallo pinto, a typically Costa Rican breakfast. It consists of rice, beans, eggs, tortillas and sweet plantains.
EL POINT JACO BEACH (breakfast or lunch)
El Point is a hidden spot that is right on the beach. While visiting, we had a mixture of breakfast and lunch menu items. Once again the gallo pinto was a star, but their fried whole snapper and octopus stole the show. They also have a keto menu if that's how you role.
DINNER
GRAFFITI RESTRO CAFE & WINE BAR
Located in the heart of Downtown Jaco, Graffiti Restro was one of our go to spots for dinner. While everything we had was delicious, they are known for their coffee and cacao rubbed beef tenderloin. Keep in mind that they don't accept reservations and the restaurant itself is pretty small. We would suggest going before 7pm to avoid a wait.
Located right on the beach, El Hicaco is the go to place for a nice dinner with a large group. The combination of their food, drinks and atmosphere made it one of our favorites.
Ask your driver when you arrive at the airport if you can stop at crocodile bridge (unless you land at night). This bridge is on the way to Jaco and is known for the huge crocodiles you can spot from above. If you have time, we would also recommend eating at Restaurante Los Cocodrilos which is located on the north east side of the bridge. Overall their food was delicious, but our favorite had to be their empanadas.
AXR Jaco (ATV)
AXR offers a wide variety of tours, ranging from ATV to ziplining, but we were able to use them for their off road tour. We recommend going on the extreme rainforest half day adventure if you have time. The tour will go into the rainforest and stop at a natural waterfall. Then you end the tour by going to a secluded lunch spot overlooking the ocean.
While we did not have time surfing during our trip, there are some great surf spots for beginners and veterans
Playa Jaco
Playa Jaco is the surf you’re after if you’ve come to Costa Rica as a beginner. But it’s not JUST for beginners. This wide, well-exposed bay is a swell magnet. The south end of the bay gets better, glassier waves, which hold shape better.
Playa Hermosa
Surfers in Jaco after the creme-de-la-creme of North Puntarenas simply have to visit Playa Hermosa. This is an official World Surfing Reserve and a spot with the best reliability, arguably in the whole country.
Late February / early March is peak fishing conditions in Costa Rica, so guests will be right in the middle of the action.
Inshore Fishing: grouper, roosterfish and tarpon
Offshore: This is the big peak of marlin and sailfish activity off of the Central Pacific Coast. Marlin are bighting like crazy, but you will find them quite a bit farther out than sailfish. You can also catch wahoo and mahi mahi (dorado).
To put in perspective of how great March is for offshore fishing, the Offshore World Championship Sportfishing Tournament is held off the coast in early April. Note that due to it being peak season, guests will need to charter trips in advance in most cases.
While Ian has ziplined in Costa Rica before, we didn't have a chance to go when we visited Jaco in May. That being said, we have heard Jaco has numerous opportunities to go ziplining through the rainforest canopy! If you've never been ziplining before, we would definitely recommend checking this out!
Manuel Antonio is around 1 hour and 15 min drive from Jaco, but is one of the most well know parts in Costa Rica! It was even featured on the first episode of the Netflix show 'Our Great National Parks.' Manuel Antonio is known for it's National Park and it won't disappoint. Ian's family previously vacationed to Manuel Antonio and they saw a bunch of sloths as well as howler, spider and white faced monkeys! Due to how far away Manuel Antonio is, it would be a day long excursion to visit.