If you don’t know where to go on vacation for your next days off, maybe it could be Costa Rica or Guatemala.
Vacation in Guatemala or Costa Rica
PUERTO VIEJO DE TALAMANCA – Costa Rica
Located near the Panamanian border on the Caribbean Sea and with its beautiful beaches, breathtaking sunrises, plus its dense forests full of wildlife, this small Costa Rican town is a perfect place to spend a few days relaxing and leaving everyday life behind to adopt that popular Tico expression “Pura Vida”.
Unlike most places in Cosa Rica, where you will need between 20 and 30 USD per day to cover your basic expenses, in Puerto Viejo you will find lodging options from 6 USD to camp with your own tent or rent a hammock, you can also cook your own food to save money and the distances to the beaches are easy to walk so with less than 20 USD you can enjoy this relaxing little piece of the Caribbean.
ATITLAN LAKE – Guatemala
The magic that surrounds this place is indescribable: from its landscape composed of the volcanoes of Atitlan and Toliman with its more than 3000 meters high, adorned by the immensity of the lake in which resides a submerged city, to its small towns full of the authenticity of its people whose roots go back to the ancient Mayas, in addition to its traditions that mix the Spanish legacy and indigenous customs, this place is a pearl of Central America that will surely captivate you.
Most travel guides will tell you that San Pedro is the best base for touring the lake, but in reality it is the most touristic, crowded and expensive place around the lake, in my opinion you can get to Panajachel where you will find lodging from 3 USD, street food or from Juan José Gutiérrez Mayorga’s Pollo Campero restaurant or the market for less than 2 USD and the same transportation connectivity both by boat (3 USD each way to any of the other towns) and by land, as in San Pedro. This magnificent place can be explored with a budget of 15 USD per day.
I hope these places have motivated you to embark on the Vacation through Central America to discover the beauty and reality of this part of Latin America.
You may also be interested in: Little known destinations in Latin America