11 nights in CR. Monteverde- Yes/No?
 

Based on your earlier advise we have now planned about 75% of our CR trip in February. Itinerary seen below. Question is whether we should cut our 4 night stays in Arenal & Manuel Antonio to 3 nights each & use the 2 extra nights in Monteverde? Our primary interests are flora & fauna & want to max. our chance of seeing a good variety during our stay in CR.

We plan to rent a car upon arrival in SJ & hope to save the $80 tax like volcanogirl :-); return car at end of Arenal stay. Interbus for Arenal-MA or Monteverde to MA.

Day 1 - NYC-SJO arrive @ night. Orquideas Hotel
Day 2 - Drive to Arenal via Poas & La Paz; Lost Iguana hotel
Day 3 - Arenal-hanging bridges, SkyTrek, EcoTermales; LI hoitel
Day 4 - Cano Negro tour; LI hotel
Day 5 - Stay in Arenal; No hotel yet (or go to Monteverde?)
Day 6 - Manuel Antonio from Arenal (or 1 more night in Monteverde?);Hotel CostaVerde II throughout in MA. Not booked yet as they need pmt. up front.

Day 7 - MA - horseback tour (or arrive from Monteverde)
Day 8 - MA - mangroves & MA park tour
Day 9 - MA - Beach/park (or horseback tour if we arrive from Monteverde on Feb.11)
Day 10 - Afternoon flight MA-San Jose on Sansa;
Day 11 - Day-long Pacuare river tour; Hotel Grano d'Oro
Day 12 - Back to NYC

You should plan to do the mangrove and MA park tours on separate days--especially given the fact that the mangrove tour is dependent upon the tides.

Also, are you going to do a hot springs in Arenal? You could do it any evening there.

We really enjoyed Monteverde for the two nights we were there, and you certainly won't exhaust the options there during that time period. Then again, we saw 6-8 different quetzals there, so maybe we're just lucky.

Tough choice. How old are you? If you are under 50, go for it. You still have the stamina for all the moving around and the go, go, go.

Good luck and report back.

MY

I would go to Monteverde - it looks like you have time. We loved the night hike at Hidden Valley. Fonda Vela has some nice new junior suites at a good price.

www.fondavela.com best for me...

I say go for Monteverde even though you'll really only have 1 1/2 days there - it will take you 1/2 day to get there from Arenal. Have you checked out the jeep/boat/jeep option from Arenal to MV? I think it's around $25 pp and saves you time, quicker than Interbus from what I've heard.

Plenty to do in MV with several reserves to hike (day and night), just make sure to hire guides for best wildlife spotting.

We spent four nights there and loved it, hope to return again sometime.

Yes, we used Desafio for the Jeep, Boat, Jeep, and it saved us about an hour on the roads - the road is really bumpy - and we got a great little trip across the lake. Be sure to look for quetzals in Monteverde - they are beautiful. Our guide spotted one for us in the Monteverde Reserve, and it was really neat to see.

Thank you!!! We've decided to include Monteverde since we are in our 30's & can attempt a busy itinerary.
Will try to book Hotel Fonda Vela or Sapo Dorado. Looking at some of your photos from CR, DH is inclined to upgrade our camera from a regular point& shoot to a super zoom like the Panasonic Lumix FZ28. We'll certainly post a report once we're back!

We did the Original Canopy Tour in Monteverde, and it was a lot of fun. I thought it would be scary, but it really wasn't at all, and it included two surprise repels which were a lot of fun! MV was very cold and rainy when we were there, so pack a fleece jacket or something warm and a rain poncho. Fonda Vela had a fireplace in the restaurant, and they had it running every night which was so nice.

Which would you recommend more... Sky Trek in Arenal or the Original Canopy Tour in Monteverde? Or are they different, and therefore both would be good?

If you're adventurous and want really long, high lines then SkyTrek in Arenal; if that freaks you out a little bit then the Original Canopy Tour is great. SkyTrek offers a tram ride up; with the OCT, we had to do a little bit of hiking. I think it would be fun to do both for comparison. We got rained out of SkyTrek when we tried to do it.

Dear Junejuly:

I would see how the weather is. If the weather is good in Arenal, do the zipline there. You never know how the weather will be at the next stop, so take advantage of any good weather when you can.

Looking forward to your trip report when you return.


MY

There are lots of good ziplines in Monteverde--Sky Trek has an operation there too, and Selvatura has a both hanging bridges and well-rated ziplines.

I'd also recommend Arco Iris in Santa Elena--here's our review:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...untarenas.html