Landed in San Jose, Costa Rica's capital. We rented a car at the airport and headed directly to La Fortuna.

We drove to La Fortuna through green mountains of coffee plantations. Beautiful landscapes on the way. 

Arrived in La Fortuna, a small town in the northwest part of Costa Rica. It's a beautiful town dominated by Arena Volcano. Actually, the town is a getaway to Arenal Volcano National Park.

We took the day to visit National Park Arenal. The active volcano dominates the park. There are nice hiking trails through the forest and former lava fields. Heliconias trail has a great view of the volcano. 

Headed to the Pacific Coast, in Manuel Antonio, small tourist resort with beautiful sights, exotic wildlife and fun activities. Oh, and superb beaches.

Back to Manuel Antonio resort for the night.

National Park Manuel Antonio is Costa Rica’s most visited park. You can see monkeys and all sorts of birds. There are beautiful beaches and casual forest trails.

We took a full day just to enjoy the beach.

Beautiful Costa Rica Holiday

Arrived in San Jose. Had enough time to visit around the city center: Costa Rica National Theatre, Pre-Columbian Gold Museum and Costa Rica’s Jade Museum

From the capital, we rented a car and headed to Orosi Valley through green hills and lush vegetation, along the Reventazón River. Very beautiful landscape.

We chose to spent the night at Finca Queveri. It's a super beautiful view from there and we had nice local experience.

Headed to Tortuguero, village on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, part of Tortuguero National Park.

We visited extraordinary Tortuguero National Park, which is a network of marshy islands. The best way to do it is by boat. Tortuguero means turtle catcher and the park is a protected wilderness area that shelters turtles, including endengered species of turtles.

We took a morning canoe tour in Tortuguero Rainforest

In the afternoon, we took a walk along “jaguar trail”. It follows a forest route along the beach, where you can spot turtles as well, including protected green turles.

Moved to Sarapiqui, a town in northeastern region of the contry. It's a popular tourist destination mainly among the adventure lovers and also for wildlife of the area.

We booked a rafting ride on Sarapiqui River, adrenaline experience with gorgeous landscape.

Then we visited Catarata del Toro, the biggest waterfall in Costa Rica.

And Blue Falls, another very beautiful waterfall.

At the end of the day, we arrived in La Fortuna town.

After exploring La Fortuna town a bit, we headed to beautiful Arenal National Park.

Arenal Volcano offers a super spectacular view. It's one of Costa Rica’s five active volcanoes. Thought to be dormant, the volcano awoke unexpectedly in 1968. Beside the volcano, the park has hiking trails through the forest and former lava fields.

Travel to Santa Teresa, nice beach village that was initially a fishing village. Now it becomes popular among tourists especially for its wild beautiful beaches and surf conditions.

Spent the whole day on the beaches of Santa Teresa, relaxing in a beautiful environment.

Wonderful Costa Rica Trip

It was an old dream to visit colourful Cuba. Finally it was coming true. It's a mesmerising part of the world with its retro style and fine people

For the first short day, we walked around the streets and small side streets, looked at the people and gazed at the colourful houses.

Visited Havana Cathedral in Plaza de la Catedral

and Royal Force Castle, the oldest stone fort in the Americas.

Walked on Havana’s Malecòn, promenade. Watched a beautiful sunset here.

We left Havana to explore some other parts of the country.

We headed to Varadero, the popular beach resort. Spent the day on the beautiful beaches of Varadero.

From crowded Varadero, we headed to Vinales, UNESCO World Heritage town with magnificent landscape.

We had arranged a guided tour of tobacco farms in the area.

Then headed a bit north, to Cueva del Indio, which is an absolutelly extraordinary cave. There's a beautiful walking trail that takes the visitors through the caves, but the most spectacular part is the boat ride along the subterranean river.

In the evening, we enjoyed live performances at Centro Cultural In Vinales.

Cuevas de Santo Tomas is another very beautiful cave. It's actually very long, some 46 km, but only one km is open to public.

Explored Vinales Valley. From Balcon de Valle Restaurant, there's a beautiful view over the valley.

Stopped at 3J Bar. We had had tapas and mojito. ;)

Today we drove from Vinales to "Bahia de cochinos". We aimed to explore the beautiful beaches in the area.

And visited Cave of fishes, a deep natural pool with tropical fish. It's a spot where you can try snorkeling or diving.

We drove further, to Trinidad, in Central Cuba. It's a beautifully preserved Spanish colonial settlement.  Best way to explore the town was to get lost on the streets, admire the architecture and stop every now and then for cold beer or mojito.

Todat we rented some bikes and headed to the beach.

Headed to the beach, Playa Ancoá. Stayed here most of the day relaxing on the sand, swimming and watching the sea.

Spent the afternoon at the beach, at Playa de la Boca.

Colourful Cuba

While I was in Malmo, Sweden, I took a day trip to Copenhagen, Denmark, just half an hour away by train. Denmark has been ranked as one of the happiest countries in the world, so I was curious to see for myself how a city in the happiest country could look like.

I arrived in the morning in Copenhagen and started the day with a Danish breakfast at Café Norden, in the city center.

I rented a bike as I knew Copenhagen is one of the perfect city to see on a bike. The locals use it as a common means of transportation and there are bike traks everywhere you go in the city. I stopped to see The Little Mermaid, a bronze statue inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale.

I went to Amalienborg Palace, which is the residence of the royal family. I cycled through this complex of four palaces on my way to the city.

I madde my way to Nyhavn, the nice little port in Copenhagen center. It's a beautiful place with all these short colourful buildings by the water.

I stopped at The Round Tower, which is a tower from 17th century also used for events yoday. I went to the top of it by spiral ramp. From the top, there's a very beautiful view over the city. 

Stroget is a pedestrian shopping street that crosses the heart of Copenhagen.

After my walk on the pedestrian street of Copenhagen, I took back my bike and headed to Christianshavn. This is a great area of Copenhagen to explore. A former working class neighborhood, now it is a cool part of Copenhagen with nice homes, shops, cafes, and canals

While in Christianshavn, I stopped at Church of Our Savior, which is a beautiful church, but what makes it even more beautiful is the view from the tower. I climbed the stairs and adrmired a fantastic look over the city.

Tivoli Gardens is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. It’s a beautiful park, with gardens, restaurants and outdoor beer garden and adrenaline rides.

Freetown Christiania is a hippie neighborhood in Copenhagen, where marijuana and other soft drugs are sold. It's quite different from Copenhagen, but it is beautiful and interesting to visit

Beautiful Day in Copenhagen

We started our one week holiday in Mexican Peninsula, Yucatan in Playa Del Carmen resort. It is a costal resort town on the Caribbean shoreline, one of main tourist spots on the Riviera Maya. We spent one day here, we wandered on the narrow streets of the town, enjoyed the delicious Mexican tacos and relaxed at the beach.

From Playa del Carmen coastal resort, we departed today to a more adventurous destination.

We booked bus tickets from Playa del Carmen to Xenotes Oasis Maya, which is the biggest and most exciting adventure parks on the Yucatan. It is filled with wonderful cenotes, water sinkholes where we took jumps and also zip-lining across them. You can also try rappelling down into dark caves or kayaking.

We headed south to the city of Tulum, also on the coast, at the bottom of Riviera Maya. We visited the city, explored UNESCO World Heritage Mayan Ruins and the beaches around. Spent the night in Tulum.

We left Tulum for Valladolid, a historical city that hosts Baroque-style colonial buildings. Unlike previous towns, this is not a tourist resort, it's an authentic and local.

Pretty near Valladolid is El Castillo, the UNESCO World Heritage Mayan site hosting a complex of Mayan Ruins with the beautiful Chichen Itzá temple in the centre, a famous landmark of Mexico.

We took the bus from Valladolid to Izamal, which is a beautiful colonial city. It is also known as Yellow City due to the many buildings painted in bright yellow colour. We checked the Kinich Kakmo Pyramid, the Habuk Archaelogical site, and the Mayan monument Itzamatul and spent the night here.

From Izamal, we returned to Riviera Maya, on Cancun, probably the most known place of the Yucatan Peninsula. We took the day to relax at the beach on those gorgeous beaches with turquise waters. Spent the night in Cancun.

In the last day we took the ferry to Isla Mujeres, a small island just 7 km away from Cancun, most known for its incredible beaches, good and fresh seafood and turtles. There's a Turtle Sanctuary there that can be visited. 

Holiday in Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Our holiday in fascinating Cuba started in the capital Havana. Being one of the few remaining Communist countries, it has somehow a retro look with all those oldsmobiles on dusty roads, but it's at the same time fascinating with all the colours and music on the streets and superb beaches.

We explored a bit the city of Havana on foot.

Old Havana is the most exciting part of town with its beautiful colors, architecture and live music inevitably played in the streets, the vibe of Cuba.

We stopped for lunch at El Chanchullero Restaurant, we enjoyed traditional food and nice atmosphere.

We passed through Plaza de Arms, the city's oldest plaza surrounded by restaurants and many book stands.

We ended up at Hotel Ambos Mundos. Beautiful rooftop views, especially at sunset.

Today we took Havana bus tour to see the sights.

Left Havana towards Central Cuba. We had a short stop to Cienfuegos, a small beautiful seaside town.

We then made our way to Trinidad. When we arrived we just asked for accommodation around, without having something arranged in advance.

We stayed at Casa Amparo, a house with beautiful rooftop views. We liked it a lot.

First we explored the streets of Trinidad, especially the colonial old town and its cobblestone streets.

Spent some houres at beautiful Playa María Aguilar beach.

Back to Trinidad and to our beautiful accommodation.

After a long drive, we arrived in Viñales, in the western part of Cuba. In the evening, we participated in this salsa dancing in the main square of the town and mingled with locals. So Cuban!

Took a local bus to explor the area a bit. Hotel los Jazmines has super beautiful views over Viñales Valley. You can eat and drink here as well.

Stopped to grab some food at Ecological Farm El Paraiso. Very good food.

Cueva de Santo Tomas is Cuba’s largest cave system. It's 46 km long, but only 1 km is open to public. It includes  stalagmites and stalactites, underground pools and nice rock formations.

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