Go look before you leap.
Thinking about a move to Costa Rica is one thing. Standing in three different towns deciding which one actually fits your life is another. A recon trip is how you get from the first to the second — no spreadsheet substitutes for walking the block.
Scout more than one town
Tamarindo, Nosara, La Fortuna, Monteverde, Manuel Antonio — each feels completely different once you're standing in it, and none of them feel like their Instagram photos. A recon trip isn't a vacation to one spot; it's a short stay in two or three towns back to back, so you're comparing them fresh in your own memory instead of guessing from photos months apart.
Day tours as scouting, not sightseeing
On a recon trip, a day tour does double duty — you get the waterfall or the wildlife walk, but you're also seeing the drive times, the road conditions, and how far the grocery store actually is from where you're staying. Book the same tours a tourist would, just pay attention to different things while you're on them.
What to actually pay attention to
Internet reliability, how far the nearest clinic is, whether the town feels alive in the off season, how loud the roosters are at 5am. These are the things that decide whether a move works, and none of them show up on a listing site. Spend real time in a town, not a single afternoon, before you cross it off or on.
Tours to scout each town
La Fortuna & Arenal Volcano
A perfect cone of a volcano, steaming jungle, and hot springs you can sink into after a long hike.
Río Celeste & Tenorio Volcano
The river runs an unreal turquoise here, fed by minerals and hidden inside a quiet national park.
Monteverde Cloud Forest
Mist drifts through the treetops while you cross hanging bridges and listen for the quetzal.
Manuel Antonio
Sloths and monkeys in the trees, white-sand beaches just past them. The easiest wildlife day in the country.
Tortuguero Canals
A maze of jungle canals you explore by boat, with caimans, river otters, and nesting sea turtles.
Tamarindo
A laid-back Pacific beach town where the sunsets turn the whole sky orange and the water stays warm.
Osa Peninsula & Corcovado
The wildest rainforest left in Costa Rica, where tapirs, scarlet macaws, and big cats still roam.
Common questions
What is a recon trip, exactly?
A short, focused visit built to help you evaluate a place to live, not just visit. Instead of one relaxing week in one town, you split time across two or three candidate towns, run your normal errands, and pay attention to daily-life details a vacation would skip past entirely.
What will a move to Costa Rica actually cost me?
We're not going to hand you a number — costs vary enormously by town, lifestyle, and what you're used to paying, and any figure we gave you would be a guess dressed up as data. A recon trip is how you find your own numbers: price groceries, ask expats directly, and see real listings in the towns you're actually considering.
How many towns should I visit on one recon trip?
Two or three tends to work best — enough to compare honestly, not so many that every town blurs together. A common pattern is a Pacific beach town, a Central Valley or mountain town like Monteverde, and one more that's on your shortlist for a specific reason.
Should I plan this myself or use a tour for the scouting parts?
Either, but a well-chosen tour or shuttle route saves you the logistics puzzle of self-driving between towns you don't know yet, so you can focus on evaluating rather than navigating. Tell Moti you're on a recon trip and she'll route you accordingly.
Build your recon route.
Tell Moti which towns are on your shortlist and how much time you have. She'll route your scouting trip, and our itinerary builder keeps the whole plan in one place.
Ask Moti →