Costa Rica - Driving from Arenal to Cano Negro
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Costa Rica - Driving from Arenal to Cano Negro
We want to drive ourselves from the town of Arenal up to Cano Negro. Does anyone have experience doing this? It seems like most people take a tour bus from La Fortuna hotels. How long does it take and how are the roads?
#2
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We checked into this several years ago; decided the tour would be more than worth it. However, there is a hotel up there. Google Cano Negro, and you should be able to locate the hotel and get advice from them.
#3
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Do you mean the town of La Fortuna where Arenal Volcano is located or the town of Nuevo Arenal which is on the west of the Lake Arenal? We were there last month, took a tour, but the roads are fine, you would have no problem driving. From La Fortuna, I would say 1 1/2 hours, at least 2 from Nuevo Arenal. If you want to stay at Cano Negro the options are fairly limited.
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K, what do you guys want to do at Cano Negro once you get there? Most people find it easier to go with a tour because you need a boat, and the guides know where to find all the wildlife. I'd estimate about 2 hours of drive time.
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My wife and I did this about three years ago. We actually went from SJ to Cano Negro, then stopped at Arenal on the Way back. I don't recall how long the drive was from Arenal, but I believe just a couple hours. The drive itself was fine, uneventful. The roads are a bit windy, but I think San Jose to Arenal was the bulk of the "scary" driving.
I would definitely recommend driving if you're up to it, I don't think you need a tour, unless you tend to travel that way. Our hotel set us up with a private boat and guide for a half-day trip on the river. Wildlife was EVERYWHERE, especially a wide variety of birds, and lots of crocodiles. Our hotel also set us up with a half-day fishing trip on the river, which was also fun. Just walking around the village was interesting as well. Enjoy!
I would definitely recommend driving if you're up to it, I don't think you need a tour, unless you tend to travel that way. Our hotel set us up with a private boat and guide for a half-day trip on the river. Wildlife was EVERYWHERE, especially a wide variety of birds, and lots of crocodiles. Our hotel also set us up with a half-day fishing trip on the river, which was also fun. Just walking around the village was interesting as well. Enjoy!
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I'm sorry, I really don't recall and I didn't note it in the trip journal. I want to say $50-60 for both, but I'm not sure. I would also recommend staying at least one night so you can start your boat trip in the AM before it gets too warm. As you'd expect, we saw less wildlife as the temperature rose.
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We also drove from San Jose to Cano Negro and then down to La
Fortuna. I think it took about 2 hours for the drive from Cano Nego to La Fortuna. It is easy to find. We stayed the night at the Cano Negro Lodge and did their 2 day 1 night package which included the boat tour and breakfast lunch and dinner. Well worth it. The lodge has beautiful grounds, a nice swimming pool with a swim up bar, restaurant where the meals were included. Here is the link:
http://www.canonegrolodge.com/packages.html
We were the only ones there and had the tour guide to ourselves. That was in February 2008. The road to the lodge is very, very bumpy so it takes awhile to drive the short distance off the main road. I think it was worse than the Monteverde road but not as long.
Fortuna. I think it took about 2 hours for the drive from Cano Nego to La Fortuna. It is easy to find. We stayed the night at the Cano Negro Lodge and did their 2 day 1 night package which included the boat tour and breakfast lunch and dinner. Well worth it. The lodge has beautiful grounds, a nice swimming pool with a swim up bar, restaurant where the meals were included. Here is the link:
http://www.canonegrolodge.com/packages.html
We were the only ones there and had the tour guide to ourselves. That was in February 2008. The road to the lodge is very, very bumpy so it takes awhile to drive the short distance off the main road. I think it was worse than the Monteverde road but not as long.
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We just did this today, and to be honest, I was disappointed. We'd debated whether tog o there or do the rafting on the river coribici for wildlife and people seemed to be positive about it. Maybe we didn't have a good guide - we'd stayed at a B&B one night when our rental house overbooked and she set it up, but didn't give very explicit instructions (basically take this road, turn right when you see the sign, his name is ...which we didn't remember, only that it started with m). We thought he spoke english but when we got there, he only spoke a few words of english...he pointed out a few items, like a couple caimans, a sloth, we did see 2 groups of monkeys (howlers and spider). I was surprised we didn't see more birds - we saw a lot of the white egrets, one blue heron or egret, one roseate spoonbill (the pink bird - unfortunately my photos didn't turn out that great of it), and some other birds, but in photos and reviews I read, some people got to see hundreds of birds or dozens, and we definitely did not. I don't know if it had to do with the river being higher than usual. I felt like it was a waste of time and money and wish we'd arranged it through one of the tours so we would have had an english speaking guide who might have worked harder or looked more.
Best of luck if you go.
Beth
Best of luck if you go.
Beth
#12
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I forgot to mention, we went from Nuevo Arenal, and it took about 2 hours each way. You make a left on a road - you'd pass the Lucky Bug restaurant/B&B/art gallery, go over 1 one-lane bridge, and take the next left (it's not marked for cano negro). It's a difficult road, it eventually becomes paved, but you go on route 4 for a while, then turn right by a sign for cano negro. It gets confusing, another looong dirt road, and you pass a sign on the right that isn't clear if you are supposed to turn or go straight (you go straight - or at least we did). On the way back, they were having some kind of rodeo and it was very difficult, trucks full of horses and tons of cars that wouldn't let us through. The road is very bumpy and a little scary. I don't know if we had a bad guide, or a bad day or what, but I was hoping to see more.
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We just returned from Costa Rica about a week ago. What an amazing trip. Our stay at Natural Lodge Cano Negro was one of the highlights. We had a great guide on the river tour and learned so much about the wetlands habitat - great pictures too. The lodge is as good as it looks in their pictures - crisp and clean, comfortable rooms. The staff was friendly and helpful. The buffet food was excellent - we did not try the a la carte menu. The gardens are just lovely. Yes, we will return to Cano Negro.
The problem with Sunset Tours is because they don't really bring you to the Real Cano Negro Park, they are going to bring you to Rio Frio and the area is not even in the park.
The problem with Sunset Tours is because they don't really bring you to the Real Cano Negro Park, they are going to bring you to Rio Frio and the area is not even in the park.
#16
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When we did it, we actually did go into the park. They used to have both options. I have pictures of the park sign. We didn't see anything different in the park vs. outside the park, same wildlife in both places.
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windycitymoxie
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Apr 28th, 2009 08:15 AM