Guidebook author spends two months in Costa Rica

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It’s time for my biennial update of my Moon Handbook Costa Rica, currently in its eighth edition (the first edition was published in 1994 and won the Benjamin Franklin Award for best travel guidebook of the year).

Hence, beginning August 26, 2012, I’ll be using my Grupo Taca mileage to fly to Costa Rica for two months. During that time, I’ll explore the entire country, from the Nicaraguan to the Panamanian borders and along the length of both Costa Rica’s Caribbean and Pacific coasts, plus everything in-between.

Sure, it’s a breakneck pace. But having done this same all-Costa Rica journey now seven times (plus dozens of additional visits), I have the itinerary and research down pat.

As usual, while in San José I’ll be based at the Hotel Grano de Oro, undisputably the capital city’s finest boutique hotel, with one of the city’s best restaurants to boot. It's also superbly located within walking distance of downtown, yet in a relatively peaceful neighborhood.

Many new hotels and restaurants have opened since my last research trip. I’m looking forward to checking these out, including:

• Margarita’s Airport Hotel
This lovely looking bed and breakfast villa is close to San José’s Juan Santamaría International Airport, at Alajuela.

• Westin Golf Resort & Spa
A remake of the former Paradisus Playa Conchal (run by Spain’s Meliá Hotels International), this all-inclusive deluxe resort at Playa Conchal, just south of Flamingo, promises to blow me away with its sophistication.

• The Logan
This stylish, family-run eco-sensitive hotel recently opened at Sámara, a surfer’s haven mid-way down the Pacific coast of the Nicoya peninsula.

• Kurà Design Villas
I’m told that I will be the first guest to stay at this brand new hotel, scheduled to open in September at Uvita, mid-way down the Central Pacific coast. Exuding contemporary chic, it promises to so entice me that I fear not being able to tear myself away next day to get my job done. Jajajajaja! (translation: “Ha, ha, ha, ha!”).

Stay tuned for my posts from the field.

Meanwhile, this time I’ll be doing double duty, as I’ve also been commissioned by National Geographic to photograph the entire country tip to toe.

“Wait!” you say. “Isn’t that the rainy season?”

Yes it is. Or, as the Costa Rican Tourism Board, prefers to call it: The Green Season, the theme of a forthcoming post.

For further information about travel in Costa Rica, buy Moon Costa Rica

If you're traveling only to San José and the Caribbean, buy Moon Spotlight Costa Rica's Caribbean Coast pocket guide.

If you're traveling only to the beaches of Nicoya, buy Moon Spotlight Costa Rica's Nicoya Peninsula pocket guide.

If you're traveling only to Arenal and/or Monteverde, buy Moon Spotlight Costa Rica's Arenal & Monteverde pocket guide.

Disclosure: I occasionally accept free or discounted travel when it coincides with my editorial goals. However, my opinion is never for sale. The opinions you see in Cuba & Costa Rica Journal are my unbiased reflection of the good, the bad, and the ugly

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