You might check out the Arenal area where you can hike at the waterfall, Hanging Bridges, and volcano. You can see some wildlife on the Cano Negro tour and the Penas Blancas river float. Our favorite spot is the Lost Iguana. If you want closer to town, maybe check out Nayara or the Springs Resort and Spa. Tabacon and Eco Termales are both nice natural hot springs - Tabacon is more elaborate and Eco Termales more intimate with fewer people.

If you're willing to give up seeing the volcano which isn't active right now, Bosque del Cabo is a more off the grid experience with great hiking and wildlife.

Thank you so much! Any area in particular to see a lot of wildlife/sloths?

Is there a certain time of year you suggest over another?
Extreme heat or a lot of rain make activities tough.

I will see how far Bosque del Cabo is as we would enjoy to hike the volcano, lava or not but if there are others that's great too! Thanks!

I'd do the Arenal area for your short stay. Before returning to the airport plan a trip to the Toucan Rescue Ranch. You will get VERY close to the sloths! www.toucanrescueranch.com

The Arenal area is not a great for wildlife, especially sloths.

If you want sloths and monkeys, I would head to Manuel Antonio and get a guided tour for the afternoon--practically guaranteed monkeys and sloths. Plenty of luxury accomodations up on the hill with ocean views.

Volcano view is always hit or miss in Arenal--you could spend four days there and never see it because of cloud cover. If you want a guaranteed volcano to look at, consider a morning at Irazu just east of San Jose.

RAC is right - wildlife is more prevalent in Manuel Antonio, so if you're okay with going beach over volcano, you could head there. The wildlife there is pretty tame and used to people. Another option would be to do a night at someplace like the Peace Lodge; they have tons of rescued wildlife on their property that you can get close to, but it's not the same as seeing it in the wild. Poas volcano is nearby and makes a nice morning trip, and the Waterfall Gardens are gorgeous.

frustrated, how far is the Toucan Rescue Ranch from SJO airport? Would that be a good place to stay for a last night?

kitty, if you go to Arenal, your best bet for wildlife is to do the Cano Negro tour; we seen sloths, caimans, monkeys, and lots of water birds when we've done it. I'd recommend bringing your own binoculars. You can check out Sunset Tours or Desafio for tour info.

k, I should have mentioned that Bosque del Cabo is on the Osa Peninsula. Here's a video of the place.

http://bosquedelcabo.com/home/index.html

We saw all 4 kinds of monkeys, sloths, toucans, scarlet macaws, and an anteater there. It's isolated though so not as many activities as the Arenal area of Manuel Antonio. It's mostly hiking and wildlife spotting. BdC is pricey but worth it if you can swing the expense. There's also a rescue center in the area where we were able to hold monkeys and sloths.

Fantastic info, thank you!
I failed to mention we like luxury accomodations when on vacation (within reason of course) and amazing views. Does this area have that?
So far the springs, cano negro, volcanoes, hiking and of course sloths are priority. But, we only have 4 full days....
Any order youw oudl suggest?
Thanks for the links and tips!

Here are some links to the places I mentioned in the Arenal area. These are some of the most luxe spots.

http://arenalnayara.com/home.php

http://www.lostiguanaresort.com/navegadores/eng/home.php

http://www.thespringscostarica.com/#

Wow such great choices have you stayed at any?
All look spectacular.

Yes, we love the Lost Iguana - it's away from town out by the lake and the Hanging Bridges and has a very jungly setting and gorgeous views of the volcano. Nayara is closer to town and very pretty but has a more landscaped designer feel to it. Have not stayed at the Springs but it gets rave reviews; some people might think it's not as authentic as some of the other spots since it's over the top, but people seem to love it. One thing to note is that prices for most places skyrocket around Christmastime since that's peak season. We tend to travel during green (rainy) season when things are cheaper. The Arenal area is out favorite in CR.

Great to know! Seems like it would be our preferred area as well.
We think January/February may be best costwise, despite having the time off at Christmas this year.
When is rainy season?

AAA had recommended Arenal Kioro or Tabecon Grand
Both have spectacular websites, and room fees range quite a deal. I assume they are similar to those you mentioned.
Tabecon has a jungle like feel if you had not checked it out!
Thanks!

kitty, Tabacon is the most popular hot springs in town. It's very elaborate and pretty, but busloads of tourists pull up to use the springs. That's what we did! Personally I don't like it as much as the others I mentioned, but we have not stayed in their hotel. They're owned by a corporation. Their springs were crowded when we went. We liked Eco Termales more because they limit the number of people who can enter, and they're smaller and locally owned. Less flashy, but charming.

I meant to say OUR favorite area in CR up above - can't type today - lol. Look at reviews on tripadvisor; it will give you a better picture of things.

You also might consider Manuel Antonio. About 4 hours (I think) from SJO. Beautiful views of the ocean and more wildlife than Arenal. There are a number if upscale properties there. Last January we stayed at Arenas del Mar. Pricey by CR standards but very nice (we'd go back in a heartbeat). A couple of miles from Manuel Antonio national park. However, we saw plenty of monkeys, sloths, iguanas on the property (my wife had a close encounter with a monkey at the hot tub on our deck).

Great information thank you!
Wish we could fit both areas in just 4 full days as it seems both have much to offer for wildlife and sights.

One thing we did that we really enjoyed was to hire a guide through Sunset Tours to take us birding/wildlife spotting. He found so much more than we ever would have on our own. We even saw a peccary and an anteater which are both kind of uncommon. Also saw toucans which was pretty cool and howler monkeys. Honestly we would have walked by all of that stuff with noticing, but a good guide knows where to look for things. Sometimes it's just the luck of the draw though and you may not see much. We're looking at going to the Sarapiqui area for a future trip because it's an area rich in wildlife. The accommodations aren't as cushy as in Arenal or Manuel Antonio though so there are tradeoffs.

Sarapiqui is definitely superior to Arenal for wildlife and definitely inferior in terms of availability of luxury.

There are nice, comfortable eco-lodges there, but luxury.

"but no luxury."

Thank you, perhaps we need to extend the trip to include Sarapiqui.
We have to fly into SJ from here so there are many options.

A guide sounds like a great idea, was that something you scheduled in advance or via the hotel?

THanks!

We just called Sunset Tours. Zender is an excellent guide if you can get him. If you're interested in the Sarapiqui, you could check out Selva Verde as a place to stay. A lot of people like to visit La Selva for tours/birding. It's a biological station.

In the Sarapiqui area, whenever you visit the reserve they will provide the guide. I believe for some places the guide is not optional--you have to spring for the guided tour (for your own safety--dangers include getting lost, bullet ants, and poisonous snakes).

In Sarapiqui I almost stepped on a baby fer-de-lance, while we met a German tourist who disregarded a guide's warning about getting too close to a bullet ant nest while taking a picture. A bullet ant got inside his pants leg, and he was out of commission for 24 hours.

If you see big, black ants that have aggressive body language there, steer clear.

Great information to have, thank you!
I don't need photos of ants, guess they learned the hard way.

Thanks for more great info.

Toucan Rescue Ranch would be a great place to see wildlife, but it's not luxurious. You could spend your last night at Xandari if you want to be close to the airport and just visit The Rescue Ranch on the way there from Arenal.

Thanks Deb15, that sounds like a great place.
For those of you following, if you have other suggestions for great hiking and wildlife opportunities do share! We have another vacation to plan for 2013 and like to do so in advance. Thanks!

Hi Kitty, wow you do not have much time but if you get an early arrival you can visit the Poas Volcano (schedule open 8am closed at 3pm)the same day. An overnight at Peace lodge (sister property of La Paz Waterfall) a luxury place at Vara Blanca. Next early morning can enjoy La Paz Waterfalls facilities(buttefly farm, hummingbirds, serpentarium, frog pong, waterfalls,etc) then go up to Arenal and spend there 2 nights so you can pick for a huge list of activities to do in this area: zipline, hanging bridges, horsebackriding, rappeling, white water rafting, HOT SPRINGS and a good massage in a SPA
Good places to stay in Arenal: Tabacon Grand Spa Thermal Resort (wondeful place with awesome Spa services, nice hot springs area), The Springs Resort and Spa (excellent service, good hot springs but far from Arenal Volcano) , Arenal Nayara luxury hotel (excellent service, amazing gardens)

I will definitely hire a driver instead of driving yourself because you do not have time to get lost. I always hire a driver his name Fabio Molina he is a nice young man , easy going guy, funny and very liable TICO, his email in case you need it fabiomolina@univision.com he can even give you names of client so you can ask for recommendations

Costa Rica is small country but there has great place, there has lot bird species and great plac for wild life.
Thanks

Sorry for the delayed reply but thank you!
It has been a rough few months but I am back to planning. Thanks for the driver referral -
I know we are cramming a lot in but hope to get a sloth sighting!
Prefer natural vs a rescue but I really want to do this rescue.
I may start a new thread just focused on wildlife/hiking for best views, thoughts?

Thanks again and Happy New Year all!

We saw sloths almost every day in Manuel Antonio. We split our stay between Villa Mot Mot at Tulemar and Gaia. Gaia is the more luxurious of the two and had excellent food and service but we preferred the feel of Villa Mot Mot and that great deck. The sloths we saw (both two and three toed species) were all on the two properties both of which have some hiking available. We never ventured into the park.