Costa Rica - Tour vs. No Tour

Do you mean each person has a budget of $2000 or a total of $2000 for the both of you?

I've never taken a tour so can't comment on that but I do love the freedom of traveling on my own, stay where I want to stay, make my own schedule. It's quite easy to get around CR if you don't want to drive though, airfare is relatively cheap and shuttles like Interbus are cheap too.

I would say with 2 weeks you should have no problem hitting all the spots you listed .

We did a seven day tour a few years ago and did Manuel Antonio, some day trips to Arenal and the Serepiqui River from San Jose and a two night trip to Tortugero. We flew to/from Manuel Antonio, took a bus to Tortugero and flew back from there. Since you have two weeks you should be able to do all you want to but some of the drives are slow due to traffic or bad roads. Parts of our trip were rushed because the day trips from San Jose were long-I'd recommend overnights in Arenal and Monteverde. Some of the people who took the bus with us to Tortugero booked a flight back to San Jose because the didn't want the long bus ride again. The tour we took was very reasonable and the guides were all excellent.

Can you suggest which tour guide you used to book your travel. We are planning a trip in Aug along with our two kids (10 & 7 ) and parents (seniors).

Do you think we should book our own lodgings and then find a local tour guide when we are there or book the itinerary using a tour guide to book our accomodations and activities from US?

Thanks for the quick replies!

Tully - $2,000 budget for each of us. I definitely want to go to Arenal and I read about doing a day trip to Cano Negro, which seems similar to Tortuguero. Should I do both or just one of them? And should I bother going to Monteverde or just stay in the three main areas for longer? What are the main airlines?

I have the same question as travelplan, should I only book the hotels and then figure out the tours ? Or should I set up the tours also from the US? What is more affordable?

PatrickSch - did you feel rushed through the tour?

kat, the main airlines are Sansa and NatureAir; they both have comprehensive websites if you want to check them out. If you fly within the country, you'll be subject to weight limitations with your luggage. When we took Sansa to the Osa, it was 22 pounds.

My friend used Gap tours for Costa Rica last year. He traveled with us a bit and then met a friend for the Gap tour.
I have to say that when we dropped him off at his hotel to meet up with the group I actually felt bad leaving him. The hotel wasn't that great after where we had been staying and we had been staying at very reasonable places. Also, he felt like a lot of the hotels were a bit out of the way from where they wanted to be and that they had to pay for a lot of extras like breakfast which is often included with your stay and safes. I always think that the gap tours look fun but I always like to know where I am going to be and they only tell you a few days before you leave.
I have been to Costa Rica three times with friends always making my own plans. I think you will be fine as you can get some great information from this board and others.
Buy a guide book and decide where you might want to visit and then start planning.
My first two trips we rented a car which was fine and our last trip we just hired drivers to take us from spot to spot.
We booked some of our tours from home and then just set up the rest when we got there.
Have fun.

Travelplan- I think it would be better to book in advance, especially if you are going in the high season-We booked thorugh Concord World Travel in Los Angeles but there are many recommended travel agencies- they were excellent EXCEPT that they changed the order of places we would stay and didn't tell us until we landed in San Jose- no problem unless we had been planning to meet someone along the way. If you search this board or a guidebook there are several highly recommended tour agencies- you could probably do best if you booked throught an agency in Costa Rica- I think Concord just acted as the intermediary.
Katchee- We only felt rushed on the day trips from San Jose because they picked you up at your hotel at six A. M. and you didn't get back until midnight- these tours from San Jose stop at numerous hotels in the city to pick up clients- we left at six A. M but didn't leave the city until 8 A. M because we stoppped at so many hotels. If you happen to be staying at the last hotel for pickup in the morning and the first drop off at night the day is shorter. Costa Rica is a small country and flying from the east to west coast doesn't take very long.

kat, most people on this board plan their own trips; there's a wealth of information on this board, and a lot of people willing to help. It gives you the flexibility to do what you want to do. Also Pat Hewitt is frequently on this board; he's a travel professional that I'm sure would love to help you.

PatrickSch: Thanks! A local CR agent I asked for advice has proposed the following. The itinerary is action packed which is great, but I am thinking are we missing the most populat spots.

He suggested:

Day 1: Arrival and on to Arenal
Day 2: Arenal area (zipline, hike, hotsprings)
Day 3: On to Sarapiqui river rafting
Day 4: Poas & La Paz waterfalls
Day 5: Head to South Pacific area
Day 6: Nauyaca Falls in S. Pacific Area
Day 7: Relax on beach
Day 8: Relax on Beach
Day 9: Return

Any thoughts on the itenary. It seems we don't go to Monteverde Cloud forest or to Manuel Antonio.

I have nixed the tour group idea and I'm going to plan the trip myself. Especially after reading ttraveler's post. From reading the different threads, I have a better idea of what to do in CR. I'll post my tentative itinerary and get some feedback from you all.

I did book my plane ticket today for $452! Now there is no turning back.

Good for you! It is so easy to book things yourself and I think at your age a group tour may not suit you. There's always plenty of posters here to answer any questions you may have. Happy planning!

Kat and travelplan, there are so many great options in Costa rica for people of all ages and activity levels. Again, Desafio was wonderful for us and seemed to have eerything from things to do in Fortuna and MV to transfers and plans all over the country. I think I remember seeing they work with GAP adventures too, which also looks like an intersting option, especially for those travelling alone. Seniors and children will love that cultural tour they offer, which I explained on another thread. Caño Negro and Safari float trips are also great ideas.

Katchee,

Which airline was offering the $452 rate?

I bought it through Travelocity...US Airways going there and Mexicana Airlines coming back.

In Jan 2007, we booked a 4 day tour via Costa Rica Expeditions to Tortuguero and found them to be better than we could even have hoped for! The planning was seamless, we enjoyed the people we were hooked up with for the daily tours, the food was good, we saw lots of wildlife, had nice accommodations etc. I had booked them upon the favorable recommendation of my best friend (who went w/ 2 kids) and my colleague (a couple) who were also very happy with CRE. I would book a trip with them again w/o hesitation. Check them out.

Take a look at Vacation City, a travel agent in C.R., their website is very informative. Be sure to pick up the Fodors Costa Rica book, it was a must have for our 8 days last November. We rented a small SUV 4x4, and ran around between Liberia, Playas Hermosa, Ocotal, Coco, and Tamarindo....not exactly the nature tours, but we had fun...will go back to see more, on our own again......enjoy!