Ten days in Costa Rica is an exceptionally well-matched amount of time. The country is compact enough that movement between regions does not consume the trip, and diverse enough that a well-structured itinerary can cover genuinely different versions of the same destination — Pacific beaches, volcanic highlands, and South Pacific wilderness — without any stop feeling rushed.
The standard ten-day route most travelers follow covers La Fortuna, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio. It is a reliable circuit. It is also the same circuit that most guides suggest, which means the experiences along it are increasingly managed and shared with others who had the same idea.
The route below takes a different approach. It is built around the Pacific coast, where Maison R&V's portfolio is strongest, with extensions into the highlands and Caribbean for guests who want the full breadth of Costa Rica in a single trip. The emphasis throughout is on private villa accommodation, unhurried days, and the kind of local knowledge that turns a good itinerary into a well-considered one.
Before choosing specific stops, it helps to understand what ten days actually allows.
Three nights in a single location is the minimum that produces a genuine sense of place rather than a transit feeling. Two nights anywhere tends to feel like a visit. Four or five nights in one location is what allows the rhythm of a destination to become familiar, when you know which café opens early, which beach is best at which tide, and when to stop planning and simply be somewhere.
A ten-day itinerary with three stops of three nights each, plus a travel day between each, covers three zones without any of them feeling superficial. A four-stop itinerary with two nights each covers more ground but produces a different, more editorial kind of trip.
Neither is wrong. The choice depends on whether breadth or depth is the priority.
This itinerary is designed for a couple, a small family, or a group of friends arriving into San José and basing their trip primarily on the Pacific coast, with one extension into a different landscape.
Fly into Juan Santamaría International Airport in San José. A domestic flight to Quepos or a three-hour drive south puts you on the Central or South Pacific coast by early afternoon on day one, enough time to arrive at the villa, settle in, and let the journey end properly before the trip begins.
The South Pacific zone around Uvita and Dominical is an ideal opening. The landscape here is dramatic and immediately immersive. Pacific views from hillside properties, wildlife visible from the terrace before breakfast, and the particular quality of the South Pacific coast that feels wilder and less managed than the destinations further north.
Marino Ballena National Park is within twenty minutes. The famous Whale's Tail sandbar is worth a morning visit, either by foot at low tide or by kayak. If the timing falls between July and November, a humpback whale watching tour from Uvita should be the first activity of the trip.
Maison R&V properties in this zone include Casa La Vista, with sweeping views of Marino Ballena National Park directly below, Casa Solaz, Villa Bella Vina, and Casa Bliss in the hills above Dominical. The South Pacific is best used as an opening act. It sets a tone for the trip that the more developed destinations further north cannot replicate.
→ Read our guide to whale watching in Costa Rica
A domestic flight or a scenic coastal drive north moves the group to the Nicoya Peninsula or the Central Pacific coast for the middle section of the trip.
Santa Teresa is the natural choice for guests who want surf culture, a destination with genuine creative energy, and beaches that combine reliable waves with enough variety to keep both surfers and non-surfers engaged for several days. Three nights here allows time for a surf lesson, a morning at Playa Carmen, an evening in town, and a day with no particular agenda, which is often the best day.
Casa Taman in northern Santa Teresa offers direct beach access within a private estate, the pool and garden functioning as a natural gathering point when the sun is high. Casa Lanui, on the same estate, suits larger groups. Villa Kuji Biri in Mal País, ten minutes south, provides a more secluded version of the same coastal experience with the energy of Santa Teresa still accessible when wanted.
Esterillos, for guests who prefer quiet over energy, offers a different proposition. The beach here is long, dark-sand, and almost always empty. Villa Assinie sits directly on it. Three nights in Esterillos produces a specific kind of stillness. The ocean constant, the jungle close, and very little reason to leave the property.
→ Read our guide to beachfront villas on the Pacific coast
A transfer north and inland, by rental car or private driver, brings the group to the Arenal region. A genuinely different version of Costa Rica that the Pacific coast cannot replicate.
The Arenal volcano, dormant but visually dominant, rises above a landscape of cloud forest, hot springs, and freshwater lake that is as active a wildlife zone as anywhere in the country. Toucans, sloths, howler monkeys, and poison dart frogs are all common. The cloud forest at Monteverde, a two-hour drive from La Fortuna, adds a cooler, mistier register to the trip.
For guests who want to stay within the Maison R&V portfolio, Arenal Springs accommodates up to twenty-five guests near Arenal Lake, with a dedicated yoga deck and grounds designed for wellness and group stays.
Two nights in this zone allows one full day for the volcano, the hot springs, and the lake, and a morning at Monteverde before transferring onward.
The final section of the trip moves to Guanacaste, the driest and most reliably sunny part of the Pacific coast, for a close that balances the earlier energy with something calmer.
Tamarindo suits guests who want the social infrastructure of a beach town alongside the privacy of a villa. Casa Alang Alang and Sunset House, on the same private estate, accommodate up to thirty-four guests and offer sweeping estuary and Pacific views minutes from town. Villa Morabeza and Casa Monoi provide equivalent options at different scales.
Peninsula Papagayo suits a different closing note. The gated environment, the calm water of Culebra Bay suited to swimming and water sports, and the architectural distinction of the Bahías properties designed by Antoine Predock provide a final chapter that is quieter, more refined, and unlike anything else on the Pacific coast. Proximity to Liberia airport, forty-five minutes away, makes departures on day ten logistically clean.
Transport between zones works best by private driver or domestic flight rather than self-driving. Costa Rica's roads are manageable in the dry season but require attention. A private driver arranged through Maison R&V eliminates the navigation question entirely and adds a layer of local knowledge between stops.
Timing matters more in Costa Rica than in most destinations. The dry season, December through April, offers the most reliable conditions across all zones. Green season, May through November, produces lush landscapes, fewer crowds, and softer rates, but road conditions in the South Pacific and inland zones require consideration. August and September add the extraordinary possibility of humpback whale sightings on the South Pacific coast, which changes the value proposition of those months considerably.
The Caribbean extension, if ten days becomes twelve, adds Keep It Green House in Cahuita to the mix. Two nights on the Caribbean coast reveals a version of Costa Rica that the Pacific coast cannot offer. The culture, the food, the marine life of the reef at Cahuita National Park, and the particular density of the Caribbean jungle are genuinely unlike anything else in the country.
Maison R&V coordinates multi-villa itineraries across all of these zones as a single bespoke trip, with transfers, concierge support, and activity planning handled from arrival to departure.
A well-planned ten-day Costa Rica itinerary does not feel like a checklist. It feels like a series of distinct places, each with its own character, connected by moments of transition that add to the trip rather than interrupting it.
The South Pacific at dawn with the Whale's Tail below. A morning surf at Santa Teresa before the beach fills. The sound of the Arenal region at night, the frogs and insects replacing the ocean. A sunset from a Tamarindo terrace over the estuary, the last evening of the trip already feeling like a memory worth keeping.
Costa Rica in ten days is entirely possible. Done well, it produces the kind of trip that is difficult to describe accurately to anyone who was not there.