Costa Rica Family Vacation Cost: How Much Does a 7 Day Trip Cost? — A Mom Explores | Family Travel Tips, Destination Guides with Kids, Family Vacation Ideas, and more!

Costa Rica is an incredible country to visit with kids. The wildlife, biodiversity, friendly people, national parks, and beautiful rainforests, volcanoes, and beaches make it a one-of-a-kind international destination.

Having been there once before, I knew it would make the perfect first international trip we took as a family of 6. What kid doesn’t love seeing animals and playing on the beach?

While Costa Rica was always on my radar, I knew it might not be the most budget-friendly trip. Most countries in Central America are known for being relatively cheap to visit. However, Costa Rica is one of the most popular destinations, and therefore more expensive than its neighboring countries.

The added challenge for our family is that we have 4 children and since they’re still very young, we aren’t comfortable staying in separate rooms that aren’t connected.

I was determined to put together a trip for our family that remained within our budget with unique hotel experiences and family-friendly excursions. While we’ve done a lot of travel within the USA, we haven’t traveled abroad extensively as a family - YET. So I wanted to make sure my husband and I were not stressed out managing 4 kids in another country.

Here’s what it cost for our family of 6 to visit Costa Rica for a week, including flights, hotels, transportation, food, and excursions.

>> Check out my Costa Rica One Week Itinerary for Families!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. That means if you click on a link and make a purchase I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

How Much We Spent for 1 Week in Costa Rica as a Family of 6

The total cost of our trip to Costa Rica with 4 kids for 1 week was $5774.74 us dollars. That works out to under $1000 per person.

When you remove the cost of our flights, it works out to $94.63 per person per day. We were not aiming for a budget travel type of trip, but we didn’t want to break the bank, either. I think we settled on a happy medium.

Flights to Costa Rica

Our strategy for choosing a trip as a family revolves around finding cheap flights. I subscribe to Scott’s Cheap Flights which is an email service that alerts you to flight deals.

When I saw a deal for round-trip flights to Costa Rica for less than $300 per person from our home airport of Milwaukee, I was shocked and delighted and booked the flights immediately.

My only hesitancy was that the flight schedule had us staying overnight in DFW on a layover. We figured the cost of a hotel for one night was cheaper than paying an extra $100 per person for a better flight schedule, so we booked it.

Finding those incredibly cheap flights on American Airlines was the whole reason we booked our trip in the first place!

Typically, you’ll see flights to San Jose (SJO) or Liberia (LIR) for closer to the $400-$800 ranger per person, depending on where you’re flying out of and when you’re going.

Unless you’re staying at a chain hotel in Costa Rica, this is one of the few areas you’ll be able to use reward points from your credit cards, so keep an eye open for award flights! I’m a big fan of the Chase Sapphire Preferred since you can transfer your Ultimate Reward Points to tons of airlines and hotels at a 1-to-1 rate. Very easy to do!

Transportation

The next thing we had to figure out was how we were going to get around.

Many articles about travel in Costa Rica will suggest getting a rental car. Typically they are very cheap, and many say the roads are easy to navigate.

That may be true, but when you have 4 kids and you need to rent a minivan or SUV to fit your whole family, prices skyrocket. Renting a car was a very expensive option for us, and I didn’t think we would be up for navigating public transportation or local buses with 4 young kids.

We decided to opt for private shuttles. When we compared them with the cost of renting a minivan, the prices were incredibly close, plus we would have the convenience of being driven around by a professional.

We didn’t have to worry about navigating poor infrastructure, winding roads, or driving in the rain at night. We could nap, snack, and entertain our kids.

We booked our transfers through Two Weeks in Costa Rica and DayTrip.

They were not nearly as expensive as you would imagine. The costs for our transfers were:

San Jose Airport to our hotel in La Fortuna: $255.84
La Fortuna to Sámara, a beach town on the Pacific Coast in Guanacaste: $173.68
Sámara to our hotel in San Jose: $290.00

The hotel we booked in San Jose had a free airport shuttle which we made use of.

The total cost of transportation in Costa Rica: $719.52

One thing to be aware of is that each transfer request forms we filled out had an option for car seat requests. We filled those out, and even on the email confirmation, they confirmed that they would bring the car seats.

All 3 of our transfers forgot to bring the car seats. So I would recommend either bringing your own car seats or messaging the service the day before to remind them to bring the car seats.

I also noticed that Viator has some airport transfer services listed. I can’t vouch for them, as I haven’t actually used this particular service, but it’s worth looking into and reading the reviews!

Hotels and Accommodation Costs

Hotels were definitely our biggest expenditure on the trip. We certainly could have gone cheaper with vacation rentals or cheaper hotels, but my concern was always transportation. Since we didn’t rent a vehicle, I wanted to be either within walking distance of everything or in an area where shuttles and excursions were willing to pick us up.

I researched SO MUCH to find properties that fit my criteria and that would accommodate a family of 6. Not easy to find!

I will say that I ended up being absolutely delighted with each of the places we stayed, and wouldn’t change a thing!

Our total cost for hotels for 7 nights in Costa Rica as a family of 6 was: $2125.47

Below I will break down the cost of each hotel and why we chose it, plus what we loved about each property.

Hotel in La Fortuna

The first location of our trip was La Fortuna, an exciting destination with adventurous excursions, rainforests, and Arenal Volcano National Park.

This area is also known for its natural hot springs, so I wanted to book a resort where we could experience the hot springs on-site. You can get passes to experience the hot springs at many of the resorts, but with 6 people in our family the cost of day passes would add up quickly.

We decided to stay at Arenal Manoa Resort Hotel and Hot Springs. The price was the middle of the road. It’s not necessarily one of the luxury resorts, but it’s not priced for budget travelers either.

I emailed to ask them what the price and room setup for a family of 6 would be, and they put us in connecting rooms for $200 per room per night. We stayed for 3 nights, putting our cost at a total of $1200.

This was a huge splurge for our family, and probably the most we have ever paid for a hotel room. I felt like it was worth it for a few reasons:

Breakfast was included. And it was a huge buffet with hot meals prepared by staff, fresh fruit, cereal, yogurt, pastries, and more. Servers walked around filling up coffee cups, and it was in an open-air restaurant with views of the Arenal Volcano.
There is an awesome family-friendly pool on site as well as multiple hot springs. The pool was never crowded, and there was a zero-entry area which was perfect for our toddler. There’s a swim-up bar and restaurant by the pool, so you can stay and hang out for as long as you want.
The 2 connected rooms made up one building, so it was like we had a villa all to ourselves. We could keep the door open between the 2 rooms, which made me feel so much more comfortable. It was a great setup for a big family like ours, and they had a pack & play available for our toddler.
We had spectacular views of Arenal Volcano from our patio.

Hotel in Sámara

In Sámara I was able to find a property with 6 individual villas of varying sizes called Villas Kalimba. We paid for a 2 bedroom villa with a full kitchen and 2 bathrooms for 3 nights for a total of $762.75. They brought an extra cot for the kids’ room, so each of the 4 big kids had their own bed. Our toddler slept with us in the king-size bed in the master bedroom.

We also had a private patio with rocking chairs, a hammock, and an outdoor dining table. We made meals in the kitchen with the food we bought from the mercado just a few doors down from our villa.

Though breakfast was not included, having a kitchen and a market nearby helped us save money on food. I will say that the lunch we ordered from the hotel restaurant was incredible, and I would highly recommend eating at least one meal there.

We were within walking distance of everything in town - markets, the pharmacy, souvenir shops, and ATMs.

The beach was just across the street, and we loved walking along the beach and finding different beachside restaurants and sodas for dinner.

Since this is a smaller property, it felt like we were staying with family, and all the employees were so kind and welcoming. I also loved how private our villa felt, thanks to all the trees and plants surrounding each building.

I would happily recommend this property for big families looking for hotels near the beach in Costa Rica.

Hotel in San José

We only needed a hotel for one night in San José, and we needed it to be near the airport, preferably with a free airport shuttle.

I barely did any research on this hotel and it ended up being such an awesome room!

We stayed at the Country Inn & Suites Airport Hotel in San Jose. It had a 2-bedroom suite for a reasonable price, free breakfast, and a free shuttle to the airport, so I booked it without a second thought.

When they brought us to our room I gasped. It was basically an entire condo! There was a downstairs area with a dining table and sofas, and the 2 bedrooms were upstairs. The rooms were so spacious, and they also had a pack & play for our toddler.

For dinner we were able to walk right next door to a grocery store, but there was also a pretty good selection of any kind of restaurant you could want. We grabbed some bread, cheese, fruit, and chips for a picnic-type dinner in our room since at that point I was so sick of spending money on food.

Breakfast was included, and they had a good selection of food that the whole family enjoyed.

Be sure to call and reserved the airport shuttle ahead of time to make sure you get it when you need it! They go every hour on the hour, so we made sure to give ourselves plenty of extra time.

The total cost for a 2-bedroom suite for 1 night here was $162.72.

Tours and Excursions

In my opinion, one of the main reasons to visit Costa Rica with kids is to get up close and personal with the flora and fauna. One of the best and most stress-free ways to do that is by booking tours and excursions!

I wouldn’t necessarily say it was cheap to book tours in Costa Rica, but I was actually pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t out of budget for us with 6 family members.

We did 4 excursions on our trip, and the total cost for all 4 ended up being $672.28.

Below I will break down what tours we took and how much they cost.

Canopy Tour Zip Lining in La Fortuna

When I was 23 years old I taught high school Spanish and chaperoned a group trip to Costa Rica with my students. On that trip, we got to do a ziplining tour over the rainforest canopy near Arenal Volcano!

I loved that experience so much that I wanted to make sure my husband and kids got to try it, too!

Since our toddler was too young, we decided that I would stay back while she napped. Our 4-year-old was big enough to do the tour, but when we gave him the option to go, he decided he didn’t want to, so he stayed back with me, too.

My husband took our 7-year-old and 9-year-old, and they both had the time of their life!

We booked our tour with Arenal Ecoglide Park directly on the website. They accept children as young as 3 years old on the tour, and my husband and kids all said the tour was very kid-friendly and the guides were so helpful.

The canopy tour is $52 per person, so this tour cost us $156.00.

Sloth Guided Tour

We wanted to make sure we also went on excursions the younger kids could enjoy, too, so we decided to book the Sloth Tour in La Fortuna we found on Viator.

One of the main reasons I booked this particular tour was that they included picking us up from our hotel in the cost of the tour.

Our guide, Luis, took us to the Biological Corridor in the rainforest where we saw 6 different sloths, including a mother with her baby climbing up a tree to escape the rain! That was one of the most surreal moments.

After the tour we stopped at an open air restaurant for food, hot chocolate for the kids, and coffee for the adults.

We learned so much on the tour, and I loved that it was both educational and exciting, as the kids got to see some bucket list animals in their natural habitat!

The tour cost $187.60 for our family of 6.

Horseback Riding Tour

In Sámara we booked a horseback riding tour through the Mountain and Beach Tour through Explore Samara Tours for 1 adult and 2 kids. This time I took the older kids horseback riding while my husband stayed back with the younger kids.

We loved that they were able to pick us up at our hotel for this tour, and our guide, Martina, was so patient with teaching all of us how to guide our horses.

My oldest is obsessed with horses, so this tour was really a dream come true for her. I kind of felt like she was even more comfortable on the horse than I was!

We took a trail up through the “mountains” to a viewpoint overlooking the ocean, then ended the tour galloping on the beach. About halfway through we stopped in a grove of palm trees with picnic tables and snacked on some fresh pineapple.

I would highly recommend this tour if you are looking for a kid-friendly horseback riding tour! It cost $129 for the 3 of us.

Ocean Safari Dolphin Sightseeing and Snorkel

Our original plan was to just do 1 excursion in Sámara and spend a full day just relaxing on the beach and at the pool, but at the last minute, literally at 8 p.m. the night before, we made the decision to book a dolphin tour for the next day.

We were pretty nervous about this tour because it would mean being on a boat ride for 4 hours with a toddler. We had no idea how she would do, and whether the other kids would be nervous or crabby. But we wanted to create an incredible memory, so we decided to take a chance.

I’m so glad we did.

The tour company was Sámara Adventures, and they picked us up from our hotel, and we boarded a small catamaran with about 10 other people.

The wind was strong that day, and it felt like we sailed for an hour being tossed around by the waves without seeing anything. It was loud and the spray from the sea was getting in our eyes, so at this point I was trying to put on a brave smile for the kids, thinking we had just wasted so much time and money.

But then our guides perked up, and suddenly our boat was surrounded by a pod of dolphins. The tour guides estimated that there were around 500 of them. They allowed us to take turns sitting on the bow of the boat with our feet dangling over the edge, and it felt like we could just reach down and touch the dolphins with our toes.

I felt like a kid giggling with delight at the cheerful dolphins leaping out of the sea.

Our kids couldn’t believe their eyes, and we still talk about this tour months later.

Once we headed back toward land, they stopped in a clear spot and we got to snack on fresh pineapple, watermelon, and bottled water and snorkel. My husband saw an octopus and I saw a blue starfish!

The whole experience was incredible, and the kids did surprisingly well! Our toddler even fell asleep for a while.

This was one of our favorite experiences on the trip, and the total cost for our family of 6 was $199.68.

Cost of Food in Costa Rica

Food in Costa Rica is not as cheap as you might think, although there are ways to make it more affordable.

If you eat at local restaurants where you can order traditional dishes like gallo pinto or casados, you can certainly eat on a budget. You can also go grocery shopping at mercados and grocery stores to save money on food.

Eating at the resorts and touristy restaurants is fun, but expect to see prices on par with eating out in the United States, or even more expensive in some cases.

We did a mix of all of these things. A few meals we ate at the resorts out of convenience, but we shared dishes since we knew our kids wouldn’t eat an entire meal themselves.

We grocery shopped at local markets to have fruit and snacks for between meals.

Finally, we tried out a few sodas, or local Costa Rican restaurants. It was fun to try out traditional dishes and I enjoyed practicing my Spanish!

In total, we spent $433.77 on food and beverages in Costa Rica as a family of 6. I believe I also included airport food in that total.

Miscellaneous Costs

Finally, there will be a few miscellaneous expenditures to plan for on your trip to Costa Rica.

We always tipped our tour guide on our excursions, as well as our drivers on our private transports. I usually aimed for a 10-15% tip.

And, of course, we let our kids talk us into buying one souvenir each. Again, these touristic souvenir shops were not cheap, so plan to set some money aside for this if you think you’ll buy something.

We also picked up some motion sickness medication at a local pharmacy when we ran out of the one we packed. (By the way, you purchase by the individual pill instead of buying an entire pack).

In total, these extra expenditures added up to around $200.

Total Costa Rica Trip Cost for a Family of 6 for 1 Week: $5774.74

How Much Money Should you Carry?

Most tour operators, stores, and restaurants accept credit and debit cards, so it's not necessary to carry tons of cash, but it's a good idea to carry enough cash to be able to tip hotel employees, drivers, servers, and tour guides.

When to Plan your Family Vacation to Costa Rica

As I mentioned above, Costa Rica is a very popular destination, and that is reflected in the prices.

The time of year you visit will make a difference, too. We visited in June, during rainy season (or low season), which runs from May to November. Some say this is the best time to visit, since there are fewer crowds and cheaper prices.

In our experience, the rain only lasted for a few hours in the late afternoon or evening. We had a great time, and the rain didn’t get in the way of any of our guided tours or excursions. We still got plenty of time to relax on the beautiful beaches In the sunshine. In truth, it reminded me of summer in Florida when we would get an afternoon rain shower or thunderstorm every day.

High season is typically January through March. It’s dry season, and the days are warm and sunny, which appealing for northerners trying to escape winter. Prices will reflect that, so you’ll have to set aside a lot more for your Costa Rica budget.

Families with Babies and Toddlers will Love a Trip to Costa Rica.

As a former Spanish teacher, I would love to visit all of Latin America with my kids, but I definitely felt like Costa Rica was a great place to start. Our Costa Rica vacation was so memorable, and so doable even with toddlers and young children.