Planning a family trip to Costa Rica? TripNest turns it into its own app: 10 narrated story podcasts about Costa Rica for the drive, games and a quiz for the kids, an audio phrasebook, and the day-by-day plan and map the whole family shares.
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Two words that explain a whole country
You will hear "pura vida" about fifty times a day in Costa Rica, and it can mean hello, thanks, no worries, or life is good. We find out where the phrase came from and why it stuck. By the end you will know exactly when to say it back.
A thousand-year-old puzzle in the south
Deep in the Diquís valley, workers clearing land found enormous stone balls, some bigger than a beach ball and some taller than a person. They are almost perfectly round, and nobody left instructions. We look at who carved them, how, and the ideas people have about why.
Living with volcanoes
Arenal spent over forty years glowing and grumbling before it went quiet. Poás has a crater so wide you could drop a small town into it. We meet the scientists who listen to volcanoes and the farmers who love the rich soil they leave behind.
Where the weather lives in the trees
In a cloud forest the mist never really leaves, so plants grow on top of other plants and the whole forest drips. We climb up to the hanging bridges to look for the resplendent quetzal, a bird with a tail longer than its body. Bring an imaginary raincoat.
Sloths, howlers and tiny frogs
One animal here can be heard from three kilometres away, and another one barely moves all day. We work out how sloths survive by being slow, why howler monkeys shout at dawn, and how a frog the size of a paperclip can be so bright.
The oldest journey on the Caribbean coast
On the dark beaches of Tortuguero, green sea turtles haul themselves out of the waves to dig nests with their back flippers. Weeks later the hatchlings scramble the other way. We find out how a turtle finds the same beach again after years at sea.
How coffee changed Costa Rica
Coffee cherries are red, sweet and nothing like the drink grown-ups queue for. We follow a bean from a hillside farm to a cup, meet the pickers who fill baskets by hand, and see how one plant paid for railways, theatres and schools.
Limón's own rhythm and recipes
The Caribbean side of Costa Rica sounds different, tastes different and even speaks a little differently. We listen to calypso guitar, smell rice and beans cooked in coconut milk, and hear how families from Jamaica and other islands helped build this coast.
Travelling Costa Rica by boat
In some parts of the country there are no roads at all, so the water is the road. We paddle the jungle canals of the north-east, spot caimans watching from the bank, and learn why a guide's eyes are better than any camera.
A small country and a big football story
Costa Rica's national team is nicknamed La Sele, and in 2014 they surprised the whole World Cup by reaching the quarter-finals. We hear how a country of five million produces goalkeepers and heroes, and why there is a football pitch in almost every village.
Rich coast / Green mountain / Long river / Warm island
The Atlantic and the Arctic / The Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea / The Caribbean Sea and the Mediterranean / The Pacific Ocean and the Red Sea
San José / Liberia / Puerto Limón / Cartago
The Costa Rica podcast has 10 narrated story episodes for the car or the plane: Pura Vida, The Perfect Stone Balls, Mountains That Breathe, The Forest in the Clouds, Slow Animals, Loud Animals, Turtle Night, The Golden Bean, Calypso on the Caribbean, Rivers and Canals and La Sele.
"Gracias", said GRAH-syahs. It's one of the phrases in the Costa Rica audio phrasebook, recorded so the kids can hear it before they try it.
911 (Emergency (all services)). TripNest puts it in your trip's contacts page next to your own contacts.
Every trip starts free: the day-by-day plan, map and contacts. Premium adds the Costa Rica podcasts, kids' games and the audio phrasebook for $24, once per trip - no subscription.
No. Your trip is one link that opens on everyone's phone, grandparents included, without an account. You can add it to your home screen so it works offline once you land.