If you are looking for a Costa Rica itinerary built around rest more than a packed schedule, this is the version we would hand a friend before their first trip. This is not a country-wide adventure covering rainforests, ziplines, and three different coasts. It is one relaxed week at a beachfront resort in Guanacaste, with a day trip to Tamarindo and one unforgettable full day crossing into Nicaragua.
We stayed at the Westin Reserva Conchal on the Guanacaste coast, took a day trip into Tamarindo, and booked one tour through the hotel that took us across the border into Nicaragua to see Granada and three very different volcanoes. Everything else was pool time, beach time, and catching up on sleep. If you are coming off a stretch of busy life or just want an easy, family-friendly week with one big adventure day built in, this is that trip.
A quick note before you read further: our trip happened in December 2019, so we have flagged anywhere pricing, tour details, or logistics may have shifted since then.
Why This Costa Rica Itinerary Works for Families
Guanacaste is Costa Rica’s driest, sunniest province, and it is built around exactly the kind of trip we wanted. You get a resort-based beach vacation with the option of one or two bigger excursions, rather than a trip where you are packing and moving every couple of days.
What made this itinerary work for us:
- One international airport, Liberia, puts you within an hour of most of the coast, so there is no long transfer day.
- The resort area is close enough to Tamarindo for an easy day trip by taxi without needing to change hotels.
- A single, well-organized day tour gets you into a second country, Nicaragua, without booking anything complicated on your own.
- The pace leaves plenty of room to just sit by the pool or on the beach, which was exactly what we needed.
This is not the itinerary for anyone chasing zip lines through six different microclimates in one week. It is the itinerary for a family that wants to actually rest, with one big day that makes the trip feel like more than a beach week.
Getting to Guanacaste: Flying into Liberia
We flew into Liberia, home to Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport (LIR), Costa Rica’s main gateway for the Guanacaste coast. Liberia exists specifically to get travelers to this side of the country without routing through San José, and for a Guanacaste-based trip like ours, it is the right airport to fly into.
From Liberia, our resort was about 45 minutes to an hour by road, depending on which part of the property you are headed to. Many all-inclusive resorts in the area, including ours, arrange airport transfers directly, so check with your hotel before booking a separate shuttle or taxi.
Where We Stayed: The Westin Reserva Conchal
We stayed at the Westin resort on Playa Conchal, an all-inclusive property directly on one of Guanacaste’s most distinctive beaches. Conchal’s sand is famously made up of tiny crushed shells rather than typical sand, which gives the beach a different look and feel than most Pacific coast properties.
A note for anyone booking a stay there now. The resort has gone through a rebrand since our visit and currently operates as the Westin Reserva Conchal, an All-Inclusive Golf Resort & Spa. It is the same property and same beachfront location, so do not be thrown off if the name on a current booking site looks slightly different than what you may have seen in older reviews.
What stood out to us during our stay:
- Direct beach access on Playa Conchal, a genuinely different-looking stretch of sand thanks to the crushed shell base.
- A large, resort-style layout with multiple pools and dining options, which matters when you are trying to do very little for most of the week.
- Easy proximity to Tamarindo, close enough for a day trip without it eating your whole day in transit.
One thing we were not expecting was how much wildlife shares the property. Howler monkeys were a regular part of our mornings, calling from the trees around the pools and walkways, along with iguanas sunning themselves on the paths and plenty of birds. It gave the resort a genuine jungle feel even though we were staying right on the beach, which was a fun surprise for our son and made the property feel like more than a standard beach resort.
The resort is spread out enough that golf carts are the main way to get around, shuttling guests between rooms, the beach, the pools and the restaurants. Our son loved this part almost as much as the beach and pool itself. Riding around the property by golf cart became its own little adventure for him, and you will likely be relying on them daily rather than walking.
We also splurged on the resort’s family package for this trip, and it was worth every bit of the extra cost. Our son got his own robe, his own set of toiletries sized for him, and a few small snacks and treats set up in the room, which made him feel like the trip was just as much his as ours.
On top of that, the package put us in the family zone around one of the pools, which came with a dedicated host for food and drink service and noticeably better access to pool chairs than the general pool area and less crowded. For a family trip, that combination of small touches and practical perks made a real difference, and it is the kind of upgrade we would definitely book again.
Day 1: Arrival and Settling In
Treat your first day as a travel day and nothing more. Between the flight into Liberia and the transfer to the resort, you will likely be arriving with enough of the day gone that checking in, having a meal, and getting your bearings is plenty.
This is also a good time to ask the resort about their day tours. If a day trip into Nicaragua is on your list, book it early in the week rather than waiting, since it requires an early start and is easiest to plan around the rest of your days once it is confirmed.
Day 2: Rest at the Resort
Spend your first full day doing as little as possible. This is the whole point of a resort-based trip like this one: pool time, beach time, and no agenda.
If you are coming off a busy stretch before this trip, do not feel like you need to fill this day with activities. Getting caught up on sleep and doing nothing in particular is a completely legitimate use of a vacation day, and it sets the tone for the rest of the week.
Day 3: Day Trip to Tamarindo
Tamarindo is a short drive from the Playa Conchal area, close enough to make for an easy half or full day out without needing to arrange anything complicated.
It has a different energy than the resort strip, more of a beach and surf town feel with shops, restaurants, and a livelier stretch of sand geared toward surfers and travelers passing through. It is a good change of pace if you want a few hours off the resort property without committing to a big excursion.
We arranged our own transportation for this trip rather than booking it as a formal tour, and it worked well as a relaxed, low-key day.
Day 4: The Nicaragua Day Trip
This was the one big day of our entire week, and it is worth building into your itinerary.
We booked this tour directly through the hotel rather than arranging it ourselves, which made sense given the border crossing involved. It was an early start, picked up well before sunrise, and we were not back at the resort until 9:30 that evening, just in time to catch the last dinner seating.
The day took us across the border into Nicaragua, which is its own experience. Our guide handled the paperwork on both sides, and the process was straightforward, though it does take time, so patience helps.
Once across the border, the day centered on Granada, one of the oldest colonial cities in the Americas, along with visits to three very different volcanoes over the course of the day. At Masaya, the only active one of the three, we were only allowed to stay at the crater’s edge for about fifteen minutes, a safety rule due to the gases rising from the lava below.
We also saw Laguna de Apoyo, a volcano whose crater filled in with water thousands of years ago to become a clear, warm lake, and Mombacho, a dormant volcano whose crater has filled in with earth and is now covered in cloud forest rather than open rock.
Mombacho was also where we did a boat tour through the Reserva Natural Volcán Mombacho, cruising through Las Isletas, a cluster of small islands in Lake Nicaragua formed by one of Mombacho’s ancient eruptions. One of those islands is now home to a couple of spider monkeys, and getting to see them from the boat was one of our favourite parts of the entire day.
It was a very long day, picked up well before dawn and not back until 9:30 that night, but it turned out to be the highlight of the entire trip. If a day trip like this is available through your resort, we would highly recommend it without hesitation.
Day 5: Back to the Resort
After a long day in Nicaragua, we mostly stayed on property for the rest of the trip. This is a good day to sleep in and ease back into the slower pace the rest of the week was built around.
We did not plan much beyond the resort itself for the remainder of the trip, and that was intentional. One big excursion is plenty for a week built around rest.
Day 6: Beach Day
Another full day at the resort, spent mostly on the beach and around the pool. By this point in the week, we had settled into the rhythm of the trip, and this was one of our favourite, most uneventful days, in the best way.
Day 7: Last Morning and Departure
Our final day combined a last morning at the resort with the travel day home. Keep this day light, the same as your arrival day, since transfers back to Liberia and the flight home take up more of the day than you expect.
What We Would Do Differently For The Next Time
If planning a second trip to Costa Rica, we would split the week differently. We spent the entire trip on the coast, which was exactly what we needed at the time, but next time we would stay on the beach for a few days and then head inland for a couple of nights near a volcano, somewhere in the jungle rather than on the water.
The resort gave us a taste of that with the howler monkeys and wildlife on property, but it is still a beach resort at the end of the day. Between the ocean and the pool, our son had endless family fun, and there is a real case for never leaving the property at all on a trip like this. Still, an actual jungle stay would be a different experience entirely, and it is on our list for next time.
Costa Rica’s interior, particularly the area around Arenal Volcano, offers a completely different experience than the Guanacaste coast, with hot springs, rainforest, and a volcano as a backdrop day after day rather than something you see once during a single day trip to another country. We did not build that into this trip, and it is the main thing on our list for a return visit.
Practical Tips for a Costa Rica Itinerary
- Fly into Liberia if you are staying on the Guanacaste coast. It puts you much closer to the beach resorts than routing through San José.
- Book your Nicaragua day trip through your resort if a border crossing makes you nervous. Having a guide handle the paperwork on both sides made the process simple.
- Plan for a full day, not a half day, if you add the Nicaragua tour. Ours ran from before sunrise until 9:30 at night.
- Do not over-schedule the rest of the week. A resort-based trip like this works because most of the days have nothing planned at all.
- Bring your passport even for a day trip. Crossing into Nicaragua, even for a single day, requires it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What airport do you fly into for Guanacaste, Costa Rica?
Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport in Liberia (LIR) is the main airport serving the Guanacaste coast, including resort areas like Playa Conchal and Tamarindo.
Can you do a day trip to Nicaragua from Costa Rica?
Yes. Several tour operators run full-day trips from the Guanacaste area across the Peñas Blancas border into Nicaragua, typically including Granada and a mix of nearby volcanoes such as Masaya, Laguna de Apoyo, and Mombacho. These tours generally run from very early morning until evening, so plan for a long day.
Do you need a passport for a day trip to Nicaragua?
Yes. Since this involves crossing an international border, you need a valid passport even for a single-day tour.
Is Tamarindo a good day trip from Playa Conchal?
Yes. Tamarindo is a short drive from the Playa Conchal area and makes for an easy day trip if you want a change of pace from a resort stay, without needing to relocate for the night.
Is 7 days enough for a Costa Rica itinerary focused on rest?
Yes, if the goal is a relaxed resort-based trip rather than covering multiple regions. A week is enough time for several full rest days at the resort, one day trip to a nearby town, and one bigger excursion, such as a day trip to Nicaragua.
Final Thoughts
Not every trip needs to be packed with activities, and this one was not. A week at a beachfront resort in Guanacaste, one easy day trip to Tamarindo, and a single unforgettable day crossing into Nicaragua gave us exactly the mix of rest and adventure we were looking for. Next time, we would split the week between the coast and the jungle, but as a first trip built around getting some actual rest, this itinerary delivered.
Wander Further
If a relaxed, family-friendly trip with one or two big adventure days sounds like your kind of vacation, our Tulum itinerary follows a similar rhythm, resort time on the coast balanced with a couple of standout excursions inland.
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