toddgatesh

I will be traveling to Costa Rica for the first time in January. 10 full days. I am a seasoned traveler throughout Mexico but no further south. I don't really care about money/cost. I fly into Liberia and would like to only visit areas north of San Jose to save time. Therefore, Quepos, Osa, etc. are out.

I'd like to see 3 areas, Guanacaste/Nicoya Penninsula beaches, Monteverde and Arenal.
My preferences are for nature and I have no need for Discos, Blaring Techno music, Bars, loud people, loud cars but I am a foodie and want great places to eat. Here is my dilemma. Flamingo/Conchal is quick and easy from Liberia and I know enough to avoid Tamarindo. However my cousin (pro surfer) likes the beaches down south near Paraiso, Nosara. Samara but that requires more drive time. Is it worth the drive? Even further south, is Montezuma and Ylang Ylang. Is it worth a day of driving or should I just stay in Flamingo/conchal since it is much easier to access Monteverde from there versus Ylang Ylang or Samara. Is Montezuma 10 times better than Flamingo? If so, why? Of all the reading I've done, Monteverde sounds like my kind of place. Arenal? I don't know

FYI, I'm a beach guy, I love spearfishing and rod fishing and wouldn't mind wind surfing one day. Second and last question is Arenal worth going to with the volcano dormant? I don't mean to be a pain but I've seen dead volcanos on Hawaii. Arenal from Monteverde is a lot of travel and I just want to be sure I'm not going to leave an area I like for one I like less. Is there anything to do in Arenal that cannot be done in Monteverde?
If I do the Monteverde to Arenal trek, I was planning on doing the Horse/Boat/Taxi which sounds great.

Many thanks in advance.
Todd Gatesh
Eagle, Idaho.

volcanogirl

Arenal has a lot to offer. In addition to the volcano, there's a beautiful huge waterfall where you can hike and swim in the river below and the natural hot springs like Tabacon and Eco Termales. There's also a huge range of tours and adventure activities like white water rafting, ziplining, hanging bridges, etc., some of which can be done in Monteverde. For us Arenal was a lot warmer than Monteverde; we wore sweatshirts and fleece jackets at night in MV, and our hotel had the fireplace going. A lot of people didn't expect that in CR. I believe there's wind surfing on Lake Arenal, but we haven't had a chance to check it out yet. It's a beautiful huge lake.

qwovadis

fourseasons.com Guanacaste Best only true 5 star in CR

hotelcasachameleon.com best for surf Mal Pais papagsurf.com

Arenal.net is worth it lots of nature my top 4

Tabacon.com night lava view suite free hot springs if u stay

Lostiguanaresort.com nice views no hot springs

Royalcorin.com great food in room jacuzzis great king suite

thespringscostrica.com pretty they slaughtered and entire

teak forest to build it caged animals kind on disneyesque

does not feel like true CR to me but some clueless newbies

seem to like it... for freedom flexibility Mapache.com

Car Rental best for me EcoTrans good private drivers.

Wind surfing best on the North Shore of Arenal Lake at

Tilaran some of the best in the world.

Diving in the lake can be fun it is the only place in the

world where you can actually dive through a sunken town

and swim through a sunken church bell tower pretty cool.

desafiocostarica.com other adventures skytrek.com best zip

Rio Celeste Hike ruralcostarica.com prettiest water fall in CR

3 days in 3 places for me... Happy Planning!

1bhcrashman

Arenal is a lot more tame & touristy than Monteverde. If you need to skip a destination, I would skip Arenal. Monteverde area has Santa Elena Cloud Forest, Monteverde Cloud Forest & the Children's cloud forest. All with excellent hiking & birding.
If you do have time, you may want to consider the Rincon de Vieja area versus Arenal.

toddgatesh

Great comments so far, thank you!
The comment about diving in the lake I hadn't heard before.
Hey, I'm from Idaho so in January I'm likely to be wearing shorts and sandals at Monteverde no matter what the locals thing about the temperature!

Can you comment (compare/contrast) on the north Guanacaste beaches versus the south beaches around Samara or Montezuma? Is it worth traveling south down there or should I just be happy with Flamingo/Conchal?
Am I correct that the transfer from beach to Monteverde will be much easier via the Conchal area versus the Montezuma area?

Believe it or not I got a round trip ticket from SFO to Liberia for $180 on American Airlines. Some kind of freak deal. It popped up on Yahoo News and sure enough it was real and I bought the ticket. 3 other employees where I work bought the same deal.

Andrea_loves_travel

That's great you found a good deal on flights. I agree with the comment about skipping Arenal if you are really into seeing the nature around Monteverde. The Santa Elena cloud forest was spectacular. However Lake Arenal is known for windsurfing if you wanted to try it. There was really nothing much else in Arenal that was not similar to other places. The waterfall is nice but if you have been to Hawaii, it is nothing that stands out. We did taxi/boat/taxi and it only took 3 hours to get from Monteverde to Arenal.

volcanogirl

gwo, I've never head that about that lake before. Is the visibility good there? That sounds very cool.

Todd, you would probably find it downright balmy then! Great price on your flight. If you do end up going to MV, the night hike at Hidden Valley is fun. We saw some cool nocturnal wildlife that we hadn't seen before. If you do the horse, boat, taxi, I'll be curious to hear what you thought of the horse portion. We used the Jeep, boat, Jeep through Desafio. The views are beautiful. It's a long bumpy ride though.

joeschmo

Toddgatesh........That airfare is unbelievable! I think Nosara could fit the bill....good surfing, fishing and many good restaurants as of 5 years ago when I last visited. Liberia to Nosara is not a bad drive but to get down to the southern Nicoya penninsula (my favorite area because of the spectacular beaches) will take a LOT more time. Samara has never done much for me but it is less than an hours drive from Nosara if you wanted to check it out.

qwovadis.....your comment about diving in Lake Arenal got me searching and I was surprised to find out that the OLD city of Arenal sunk just back in the 1970's. Fascinating subject...thanks for bringing that to our attention.

joeschmo

Toddgatesh....I just re- read....You are interested in WIND-surfing?.....Nosara is good for board surfing.

toddgatesh

Thanks guys.
I just watched a Youtube video on the hot springs at Baldi near Arenal. Honestly, that doesn't appeal to me at all. Too many people, too commercial. I'm not into "party" atmosphere and discos.
Is the rest of Arenal like Baldi?
I live in Idaho for outdoor recreation so the bar is set high.
Like I said, Monteverde sounds like my kind of place.

volcanogirl

Baldi has a bad reputation, and we've avoided it because of that. We like Eco Termales; it's smaller and locally owned. They limit entry to 100 people so it doesn't get crowded. It's charming, and they serve a good chicken dinner there. The Lost Iguana where we stay is very quiet and located out by the lake. Honestly we could go hours without seeing anyone there. They have trails for hiking and are right next to the Hanging Bridges. There's a river that runs through the property. If you want to do lake activities, it's a good area. Monteverde is nice if you're into hiking and birding and the cloud forest environment. To us it skewed a little older than a lot of the other places we've been. Lots of birders go there. Fonda Vela is a good place to stay and one of the hotels closest to the reserve. Monteverde is one place we haven't been drawn back to, but it sounds like you might really enjoy it. For nature, I think the Osa is hard to beat, but it's not on your list.

volcanogirl

I meant to enclose a couple of links for you so you can see what it's like. I haven't been to Baldi, but we met people who couldn't get into Eco Termales and went there instead, and they really did not like it. Eco T does their drinks on the honor system. We ordered drinks at the bar and tried to pay, and they said to just tell them at the end what we had. It just has a nice all around vibe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYNLQ...eature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkHNXSIqL7o

Cattail

Liking nature the way you do,You would very much enjoy the Cano Negro trip to the border of Nicaragua from Arenal, if you end up going there. Allow a full day for the drive and boat.
No, I don't think that the rest of Arenal is like Baldi at all, and my husband and I are into nature and not crowds as well. We were booked to visit a hotsprings after a Cano Negro tour a few years ago, and hated it. I can't recall the name, but bet that it was Baldi.

We loved the Arenal Observatory Lodge for its remoteness (though not its management), but would look into Lost Iguana on a future trip. We stayed in the original quarters a hike from the main lodge, and found it especially quiet and restful - can't recall the name of it.The minus was that, without a car, it was very inconvenient to trek back and forth, especially after dark. Also, if you object to sharing a bath, you might not enjoy it. Plenty of showers and toilets available at all hours, however, not an issue for us.

toddgatesh

Great tips, thank you.
I stayed up way too late last night watching Youtube videos. It is amazing to me how much information is available to people because of the internet. It seems just a few years ago I bought a computer with Windows 95 and AOL and sent my first emails. Now look at what information people have access to. The internet is a real power equalizer for the people.

Looked at Eco Termales and Tobacon. I'd like to do both actually, those look really nice! I can be cheap at home. When I go on vacation I spend money freely so those places don't bother me. Like I said, I can be cheap at home.

toddgatesh

I think I've narrowed down my beach choice to Nosara. Does anyone have a recent trip report to Nosara. I need a hotel recommendation. I read the reports on TripAdvisor but so many of them are negative and the hotels seem to change hands a lot.

volcanogirl

Tabacon is nice, very elaborate. To me, it's a little overpriced but if budget isn't an issue, go for it. It does have a big wow factor.

snorkelluvn

R.e. beach destinations, here is another thought: Montezuma is a great little town with a laid-back, artsy, hippy attitude with some great toes-in-the-sand restaurants, easy hike to waterfall or exploring on rugged beaches with great jungle backdrop. It will be less touristy. Ylang Ylang has really great food, and the area in general will offer you great meals, esp. if you are a vegetarian. The ferry across the bay is very beautiful with unspoiled coastline views, an attraction in itself, although it takes some time to do. It is an easy bus or taxi over to some great surfing beaches, too, and there are cheap boat trips to islands to snorkel and have BBQ lunch on the beach....

cpcd

I,ve been to both Arenal and Playa Flamingo. would go back to Arenal in a heartbeat. Flamingo was a beautiful beach destination, without the lushness and wildlife I expected in CR.
As for the dormant volcano.... took my grandson because he wanted to see a volcano. Stayed at the Arenal Observatory Lodge. We were lucky to have great clear views during the day. During the night it "exploded"( not a very scientific term) and we didn't know if we should look or run! We've been to Haleakala( Maui) and Kiluea( big island). not comparable at all. Of course we were lucky in CR.

volcanogirl

I like the conical shape of the volcano vs. the ones we've seen elsewhere, shield volcanoes I think. Even if it's not spewing something, it still looks really impressive, the way it takes over the horizon.

Continental_Drifter

We've done this trip also and enjoyed Samara. We stayed there for a week and used it as a base to wander from one beach to another, north and south. We really enjoyed the estuary in Tamarindo.

When we were there three years ago, we did see the sparks, embers lava late in the night! I have a post on here somewhere about our trip.

Do some searches here and you'll find several trip reports, although I can't recall one about Nosara.