JES28

My hubby and I are planning a trip for the first week in August. We're flying into Liberia and out of San Jose. We want some great surfing, relaxation and monkeys/wildlife. Hoping for some sun!
We're looking for some upscale romantic spots - we don't like touristy areas or resorts.
What are some thoughts on the following itinerary:

Day 1: Arrive into Liberia 12:15pm. Rent car and head to West Coast.
Get lunch in Tamarindo and head SOUTH to Playa Islita or further south to Santa Teresa area
- QUESTIONS/NOTES: We were originally thinking we'd stay in Tamarindo so we wouldn't be driving as much first day, but being that we don't like touristy areas we decided we'd rather go to a more off the beaten track spot. Islita and/or Santa Teresa seemed to get some great reviews.
We were also looking at Mal Pais, and Montezuma. Any recommendations here of one or the other or another location that may be beautiful, have great beaches and surf yet with easier/shorter access to the ferry for our departure (or shouldn't we worry about that)?

Day 2: Southern peninsula - Beach/Surfing day

Day 3: southern peninsula Beach/Surf
Day 4: Ferry then drive to Monte Verde. Stay in Monte Verde for cloud forest (thinking Cabins El Sol)
Day 5: Monte Verde drive to Uvita (thinking Oxygen Jungle Villas)
Day 6: Uvita
Day 7: Uvita overnight somewhere closer to SJO
QUESTIONS/NOTES: We were originally thinking Manuel Antonio until we heard how touristy and saw a video showing the tour buses showing up and groups walking together to see the beach and walkways with cameras etc. Incredibly beautiful, but just not for us. We'd rather have something more remote so thought further down the coast looked more our style for this trip. Uvita looks beautiful but any other suggestions for something a little further north or is it worth the trip to Uvita? We don't want to spend the vacation in the car but WILL go further if it means getting to the better spot.

Also, any recommendations for a place on the way back to SJO so we can stay in a beautiful location yet make our flight with no problems (without too long of a drive)? We don't want to stay in SJ.

Day 8: Departure SJO 11:15am

Thanks in advance for any recommendations!

volcanogirl

In Mal Pais, take a look at Casa Chameleon and in Montezuma, take a look at Ylang Ylang. Both of those get consistently good reviews.

And take a look at Xandari - it's close to SJO but in the hills with beautiful views, nice architecture, a spa, and a good open air restaurant - we loved it. It's a nice spot to stay in at the end of your trip.

JES28

Omg...LOVVVVVE CAsa Chameleon from what I can see. But it says it's sold out when we would need it! Argh, we're still all over the place and I want to start securing hotels before everything we want is gone.
Xandari also looks PERFECT! thank you!!

In mapping our itinerary out, we feel like we're trying to squeeze too much in a week. I love visiting different places, but I don't like how much time we would spend in the car.
So now we're thinking maybe only Monteverde and Uvita OR Mal Pais area. We would start in Monteverde for 2 nights and then head to one or the other.
OR should we do Mal Pais and Uvita skipping Monteverde?
We don't need to zip line or do a canapy tour (have done these in other countries so want something new) but we do want to do a night tour and if we did go to Monteverde were thinking about doing a horseback ride/waterfalls combo.
Thoughts on any of the above?
Thanks so much!

RAC

Monteverde is totally not worth the grueling drive to and from there for just one night. I'd say you definitely need to consolidate down to two destinations.

volcanogirl

I like the idea of Monteverde and one beach location just so you get a little more diversity vs. doing two beach locations. The Hidden Valley night hike in Monteverde is a good one; we saw a porcupine and a fox and some other cool stuff when we did it. Too bad about Casa Chameleon - I think it's pretty popular. Shelter from the Storm in Dominical gets consistently good reviews as well if you want to look at that one.

JES28

Very cool! Thanks so much for your recommendations.
Now I have to figure out which beach area.

salsacr

On the Nicoya Peninsula, two great places that are "off the beaten track" and perfect for families:

Cristal Azul in Playa San Miguel
Las Caracoles in Mal Pais

Playa San Miguel is between Mal Pais and Samara and a hidden gem of a town with only three hotels, (Cristal Azul is the Costa Rica owned and operated) and a ten mile stretch of beach with no development but plenty of local adventure and culture. The views from the hotel are amazing and the privacy is incredible. Mal Pais is a touristy surfer town not as developed as Dominical further to the South or Tamarindo up North. Las Caracoles is also owned by Costa Ricans and is right on the beach on a very private lot on the outskirts of town with excellent beach access, private surf!

Both have incredible food and the kindest hosts, bi-lingual.