Spring break spots tend to follow certain patterns of popularity; Florida had its heyday with Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach while Mexico and the Mayan Riviera are more recent examples. In recent years, couples and families have been discovering Costa Rica as a prime spring break destination, and this trend can be attributed to the emergence of luxury all-inclusive resorts such as Los Sueños in the Pacific coast.
If you have not yet made plans for your spring break vacation in Costa Rica, you should not feel as if you must pay higher prices only because you did not plan in advance. Spring break happens to fall in the middle of the Costa Rica high season, which runs from December to May; this is a time when you get lots of sunshine, cool breezes from the Pacific ocean and very little chance of torrential rains that could ruin your vacation. With this in mind, it should be noted that airlines tend to hike up their prices around this time; however, last-minute travel deals are not as unusual as some people may think. Here are a few things you should consider as you make last-minute travel arrangements to Los Sueños:
Choice of Airports
It is very rare to see airfare deals for flights to the Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport in Liberia, so you should not bother searching for tickets to this destination; besides, ground transportation from LIR to your Los Sueños vacation rental takes far too long. Your best bet will always be to search for flights to the Juan Santamaria International Airport (SJO), located in the province of Alajuela. It takes about an hour to get to Los Sueños from SJO, and the flights are always cheaper at this airport.
Choice of Airlines and Departure Airports
As of late January 2018, you could still find round-trip tickets under $300 to SJO from select airports in the United States. Spirit Airlines, for example, advertised a $300.04 round-trip fare from the Fort Lauderdale International Airport, and this was a $24 savings when compared to a Delta flight departing from Miami International Airport. If you can travel to South Florida for your departure, the Spirit-FLL combination will always be the best deal.
If you are traveling from the Northeast, you may want to look at SJO flights on JetBlue from Newark International Airport, which were advertised at $370.64 on January 22. Another nice fare in this region was offered by Volaris from John F. Kennedy International Airport for $379.30.
From the Midwest, Spirit offered a $384.99 round-trip flight from O’Hare International Airport while one of the cheapest flights from the West Coast was offered by Copa Airlines: $488.54 from San Francisco International.
If you are concerned about the overall flight experience, you should note that Volaris and Southwest are two highly rated airlines in terms of providing comfort and efficiency while still offering budget airfare. Volaris has received solid reviews by passengers who have posted their opinions on online platforms such as TripAdvisor; however, the same cannot be said about Spirit. If anything, one of the advantages of Spirit is that the flight from FLL to SJO is very short, so you will not have to endure less-than-pleasant conditions for very long.
In terms of spring break accommodations in Costa Rica, the best way to stay up-to-date on last-minute travel deals is to review every issue of the HRG Vacations newsletter; at this time, you can save between 20 percent off bookings made between eight and 15 days before arrival, and you can also get 25 percent off if you book seven days prior to arrival. To take advantage of these deals on Los Sueños vacation rentals, be sure to enter LastMinuteDeals as the coupon code during the online checkout process.
For more information on last-minute booking deals on Los Sueños condos and villas, call 1-888-490-4581 or email vacation@hrgcr.com. If you are already happen to be in Costa Rica, dial 2637-8484.