silverlining307

My husband and I have a trip planned to costa rica arriving Sunday April 14th. We booked our enitire time at the grand papagayo on the north pacific coast. We were hoping to get to do a bit of everything , including see the Caribbean coast . I have until 3 days before the reservation to make changes and I feel like renting a car or finding transportation to go to the east coast and driving right back seems like a waste of the adventures we could do in a day. So here's my question. We arrive and leave out of LIR , if I changed our reservations on the north pacific coast for three nights, (we want to parasail and horseback ride at playa del coco )then go to arenal for zip lining and mountain tours and stay the 4th night, we could drive to the Caribbean coast and stay the 5th and 6th day before driving the 7 hours back to LIR and staying at the near by Hilton to catch and early flight. Is there a better way to go about seeing everything? I feel like I'm making it way to difficult, having never been I don't know if it is better to shuttle across, bus or rent a vehicle . And where to stay in each with all ofthe changing. Thanks!

sylvia3

Far too much traveling, IMO, even if you drove yourself when you wanted, where you wanted. I'd save the Caribbean for another visit; if you want to go to the Arenal area, you should stay there for a couple of nights so that you can enjoy the rainforest hike and zip and hot springs (lots else to do, too). Many lovely beaches (and parks) in that Pacific area, and lots to do also. LIR is a good place to start and end up.
You can't see everything in such a short amount of time, and you will miss a lot if you try.
Car rental is easy; we (older folk) have done it several times, and our favorite is Solid at LIR (in the Hilton lobby). Here's one of my posts about that, but you can just do a search for info:

[[We've had great luck with Solid (office at the Hilton across from the airport): 4WD Jimny (in January) for 16 days, ~$500 everything included.
We brought proof of collision coverage from the cc company (a letter), which they didn't ask for, and pick up and drop off went smoothly. We communicated via e-mail a couple of times, to be sure we were getting what we wanted. No problems.]]

sylvia3

p.s. Lost Iguana in Arenal is popular and very nice; also close to the SkyTrek zip/tram http://skyadventures.travel/Arenal_En/Sky_Trek.html

and the Hanging Bridges. http://www.hangingbridges.com/

sylvia3

also, we like the budget friendly Arenal Observatory Lodge (new name; closer to the skytrek stuff, farther from town and hot springs, etc. http://www.arenal.net/observatory-lodge/

MichelleY

Skip the Caribbean. Too far and not enough time to do all you want. For a week, limit yourself to 2 locations. The drive would be more like 9+ hours.