TravellerDi

Hello fellow travellers!
You all have been so helpful to everyone, I thought I'd ask your comments on my planned trip for next month. I've really enjoyed reading everyone's remarks. Here's our itinerary:
Arrive Jul 22 to San Jose where we will overnight near the airport. Then drive to Arenal and spend next 2 nights at Montana de Fuego.
Drive to Samara Beach and spend 2 nights at Las Brisas del Pacifico. (Haven't read too much about Samara beach on Fodor's.)
Drive back to San Jose and spend 2 nights at Hotel Fleur de Lys or Hotel Britannia.
Any comments on those hotels?
We want to do hiking and zip line tours in Arenal, relax on the beach in Samara then go back to the city to explore the sights. We also plan to do a whitewater tour out of San Jose on the Rio Pacure. Any comments on our activities would be very helpful and very much appreciated. Thanks!

pault14

If you are driving give yourself plenty of extra time....the roads there are the worst in the world. I thought jamacao was until I got to CR. It actually cost us part of our vacation time it was so bad. If you want to see something special it doesn't hurt to get a guide, they are cheap and very nice. they save lots of time hunting for what you might be looking for. As for the city, the only thing I rememebr seeing was the great park they have near the center of the city I think. There is gambling in some nice old casinos and prostitution is legal I am told, I did not see that. And if you like lizards just keep looking up, those large iguanas are everywhere. And if you hear rustling in the leaves as you walk along, it's just the crabs. I liked everything except the roads. Try to find a natural hotsprings or as we did a hotsprings creek. tres bon!!

kaudrey

Sounds fine - however, I'll give you my opinion of Samara. This is just my opinion. There is a reason it's not mentioned here much, I think. It is a tiny, tiny place with an OK beach and not much to do.

If that's what you want, they you'll be fine. We drove there from Arenal, walked around for about 1/2 hour, looked at each other, and decided to spend the extra 2 hours to drive up to Tamarindo. (We didn't make reservations before we went).

We are in our mid-30s and active (sounds like you are too). Try surfing if you've never done it! It's fun and cheap there.

Karen

TravellerDi

Thank you so much, Paul and Kaudrey for your tips! I am new to this forum and posted it twice... sorry! Thanks for the info on Samara. Basically we just want a nice beach to relax on for a couple of days. I will check into other options though. Thanks again.

TravellerDi

Oops! Karen, I didn't notice you'd signed your name at the end of your post, otherwise I'd have used it in my reply! Thanks.

Diane

kaudrey

That's OK, Diane. On message boards, I respond to either!

Have a great time no matter where you go! I'm sure Samara is fine, we just wanted someplace with a little more action/nightlife.

guanacaste

i stayed at las brisa last month, nice hotel right on the beach, read my travelblog for resataurants/ bars etc:

http://costa-rica.typepad.com/playa_...ome/index.html

don't miss la catarata waterfall in la fortuna/ arenal:
http://costa-rica.typepad.com/la_for...ome/index.html

TravellerDi

Thanks, Guanacaste, for all your food tips! I sure won't go hungry on this trip!