Sandra

Thinking of doing <BR>1 San Jose All Day <BR>2 Vila Blanca & Los Angeles Cloud Forest <BR>3 Costa Rica's Countryside & Coffee Tour <BR> <BR>Anyone done these tours. I would appreciate any advice. Sailing the Ryndam in October. <BR>Thanks

Parrot Mom

Do not do the San Jose tour..you will be on a bus all day and I'd double check the coffee plantation trip how long that is.. What we did was get off the ship and hire a taxi and go to Sarchi, we had been there before years ago.. It is now a tourist town with a special church, but our taxi driver stopped by a butterfly farm. Of interest is the flea market that is set up at the dock.. among the usual are some really lovely t-shirts done with molas by the Indians in the San Blas Islands, hand embroidered velour bags... We were on the NCL Sky and the women from a Holland American ship were (seniors no less) the rudest and nastiest when it came to getting cabs and pushing you out of the way.. I had never run into this before. Puntaranes is not quite the cruise port yet, but there is lots of local color

cruzinCA

we did the jungle river cruise and it was AWESOME!!!!!!!!! <BR> <BR>Lots of water animals and birds, HUGE crocodiles. IT WAS GREAT!!

Sandra

Thanks cruzinCA.I did try to email you but it bounced back.

Sun

Hi, We are taking our first cruise in December to the Caribbean, but, the past three years we spent our vacations in Costa Rica. Always affordable and the counyry is incredible! If you are there for any time you must go to Tabacon resort under the Arenal Volcano. You sit in the thermal pools heated by the volcano and listen to the mountain rumble. You can see some of the rocks slide down and the lava smoke while sitting in the pools. all this while sipping a fresh fruit blended beverage from the pool bar. Montezuma is a closer drive from Puntarenas and is a small (very young party crowd) beach area. We always end up in Jaco on the beach. Met a wonderful lady there Diana. She runs a stable of fat and happy horses. just look up horsebackvacationcostarica.com she took us on the most incredible beach ride. <BR>You could always go over to Monte Verde or down to Manual Antonio. Both a long drive from Puntarenas. If you go to Manual Antonio. there is an entrance fee and you will see so much more if you hire a guide. Ours pointed out at least 9 sloths up in the trees. I would not have seen 1 otherwise. <BR>The primary language is Spanish and knowing a few words gets you a long way. Expect the roads to be bad and the drives long for the distance. You can even have Iguanas running along the side of the car. The monkeys are everywhere, and watching 40 Macaws fly over to the mangrove swamp at sunset...There is more, I would skip San Juan and the Coffee tour. I have not been to Vila blanca and the Los Angelas Cloud Forest. Do your research, and have a great time! Sun

Sandra

Thankyou Sun for your advice. We'll only be in Puntarenas for 12 hours but will keep on researching. We are coming a long way for this trip (Australia) and I suspect it will be a once only. <BR>Sandra

April

Since Costa Rica is so outstanding for its nature I can't imagine wasting time in a city. It seems that the people who did take the tour of San Jose were not thrilled whereas we did a nature hike and it was the highlight of the trip. <BR> <BR>Holland America had some arrangement where you could spend a few days in Costa Rica before the cruise. If that is still an option I would do that.

Sun

Only 12 hours? Definatly get out of Puntarenas. It is a place you want to drive through to get to where you want to go. Arenal will be too far. So will Monte Verde and really I would not take the time to go to San Jose or the coffee tour...Too much time to travel. I think heading toward Playa de Jaco is a thought. About an hour or so drive from Puntarenas. You will cross a bridge on the way where you can stop and see some huge crocadiles. Past Jaco to Quepos and Manual Antonio give yourself another hour to an hour and a half to get there. With your time limits this would be my choice. If you rent a car they have radar set up on that road just before Jaco. We were stopped but somehow we got out of paying the police any money. Most of the "Ticos" are friendly and very nice people, they go out of there way to welcome you to their country. <BR>One last thing, The beaches are great for surfing around Jaco and most of the Pacific side of Costa Rica. They have a very stong rip tide so be careful.

Arlene

Hi! We will stop in Puntarenas in Jan. Any more ideas and/or advice? Thanks