noelle62

First, thanks to all who have made this such a great community. There is a wealth of information here that has been invaluable.

This is the first major trip my husband and I will have taken in years without our 3 kids and we are looking for a little adventure in a romantic setting. We have 10 days/9 nights for this trip and would like an enjoyable pace, so I narrowed it down to Arenal & Osa, while still trying for the volcano/rainforest/beach combo. Before I reserve anything, I could really use some advice/comments on our proposed itinerary.


Dates : Sat, June 6 - Mon, June 15th

6th - Arrive just before noon at SJO; travel to Arenal (need advice here: leaning toward driver, but would consider other options)
Nite of 6th - Arrive @ Arenal Nayara or possibly Silencio; relax
7th & 8th - Explore Arenal
9th - Travel day - Travel to SJ, fly to Puerto Jimenez ( couldn't find direct Arenal to Puerto Jimenez, does it exist? )
9th, 10th, 11th - Bosque del Cabo (seems the logical choice!) Cabina recommendations?
12 & 13th - Iguana Lodge (trying to get in the "beach" part here with virtually no travel time)
14th - Back to SJ (hotel undecided)
15 - Depart SJ around noon

Does this seem like the right amount of time at each location? Are we spending too much time on the Osa? I know you can get to the beach from Bosque, but I'm thinking we will be disappointed if we don't spend some time actually staying on the beach.

Thanks!

volcanogirl

We stayed in Tucan at BdC and loved it. It had a king-size bed and a bathtub. Also a very nice little patio area out front with two lounge chairs, so we could watch the ocean from out there. I'm a bathtub girl, and taking a bath outdoors in the jungle was pretty cool! Mariposa in on the end and also has a bathtub; it is known as the honeymoon cabin because of the little bit of extra privacy. Congo and Lapa are famous for their great views. Really they're all quite nice.

volcanogirl

We used a driver booked through our hotel to go from SJO to Arenal. It was $120 this past summer. We always stay at the Lost Iguana. I think it's very romantic - beautiful volcano view, jacuzzi tub on the balcony, two nice rocking chairs so you can enjoy the view, and beautiful grounds. It has a small pool as well and free breakfast. The food at the restaurant is not great for dinner, so we like to eat in town. I don't think you can go direct from Arenal to PJ; I think all flights go back to SJO first.

joan95448

We just returned from the combo of the Iguana and BDC in the Osa. I don't think you can spend too much time on the Osa, ever! The combination of the 2 lodges was great. The beach at Iguana was gorgeous, but rough a couple of the days. It is quite difficult to get to the beach from BDC. The food was excellent at both locations.
You do not need travel time between the 2--only takes about 50 minutes from one to the other lodge.
You didn't say what age your kids are, but I don't know that I would take real young kids to the Osa area (we took our kids on almost all of our vacations and to Costa rica when older) I don't really know why I say that--maybe because we didn't see any kids this trip, but in summer there would be more.
I do not think there are direct flights from Arenal to Puerto J., only from San Jose.
Joan

volcanogirl

Joan, I think they're going without kids.

joan95448

Even better....

tully

Looks good. Yes, you will have to book Arenal - SJO, then SJO to PJ. You have a nice variety. I would still go down to the beach from Bosque though, it's a great trail down and the 3 beaches down there are beautiful (swim at the 3rd). We'll just miss you at Bosque, we'll be there about a week later.

volcanogirl

Yea, romance!

noelle62

Thanks for all of your responses! It's so nice to get advice from those who've been there. Joan, glad to hear you just did the BDC/IL combo, I was really afraid it was overkill but I feel better about it now. Just one question for Volcanogirl about the jacuzzi tub on the balcony at LI (Arenal Nayara has one too.) Husband is very excited about this, but it's outdoors ... this isn't problematic???

volcanogirl

n, go to www.lostiguanaresort.com and click on luxury suite. It will give you an idea of what it's like. We always get a room on the second floor because we like the privacy, and ours had a lot of jungly trees around it, so it felt private.

There's also a regular indoor bathroom with a shower. On our first trip, we watched the lava flow all 4 nights we were there, and it was really cool. On our last trip, we had a lot of cloud cover. I hope you get great weather. The balconies have a light on them, but we always keep it turned off because it attracts bugs. It's so neat to sit in the rocking chairs in the dark and watch the volcano do its thing.

owlwoman

I'll chime in just to agree you've got a perfect trip.

We did the same last year, LI in Arenal, then Iguana Lodge for 2 nights and BDC for 3 nights. It was a great trip. BTW, the first time we stayed at the LI, we did the deluxe with the jacuzzi, which we never used, just not our thing...so we saved $ and stayed in a standard room last year, which was just as nice. They also have a spa there now.

It's easy to drive yourself from SJ - Arenal, then drop off the car back in SJ and fly to PJ. It's nice to have a car when you stay at the Lost Iguana as you're pretty far out of town.

When you get to Osa, I see you've timed your stay at the Iguana Lodge so you're there on a Friday night, it's "Salsa" and pasta night at the bar, it's very lively and fun!

You'll have a great time!

volcanogirl

I forgot to mention that when we were at Lost Iguana, it had a free shuttle that went into town each night, so we used that to go to dinner and took a taxi back. LI is set a little outside town on beautiful grounds, lots of trails for hiking, pretty landscaping. A lot of people like to have a car in Arenal, but we just used the shuttles and taxis, and it was fine for us.

noelle62

You read my mind ... I was just searching the threads trying to decide if we could get by without a car in Arenal. I had decided on Arenal Nayara for reasons I can't even remember now, but now the shuttle has me leaning toward LI. I think I'm becoming addicted to these boards.

Mixter603

You've got a fabulous itinerary there. Hubby and I have done Arenal before as well as BdC but this time around we're doing BdC for five days and then Iguana Lodge for two. One month from today we fly to San Jose. Woot!

volcanogirl

Iguana Lodge always gets such great reviews. I'm going to have to put it on the ol' to do list!

cmerrell

I've got Iguana Lodge on my short list of hotels to check out as well, VG. It sounds like a good split with BdC (although I think it would be pretty impossible to <i>top</i> BdC!).

This sounds like a wonderful trip, noelle! There are definitely reasons why you read so many posts about Arenal and the Osa here. They are both really amazing destinations.

If you do decide to rent a car for your Arenal time, the roads are actually quite good around there and we liked having the extra flexibility of a vehicle since the things are a bit spread out in that area. You can make due without one to be sure, but it's pretty easy to navigate around if you do have one...

noelle62

Mixter - Looking forward to your trip report. I was searching the threads last night (still agonizing over which BdC cabina) and found where you coincidentally met up with another Fodorite at BdC. At least I think it was you, I'm getting a little fuzzy from all this thread searching.

cmerrell - It looks like we might rent a car anyway in order to get back to Arenal in time for our flight to PJ, so might rent an extra day while in Arenal.

Cabina situation - Leaning toward Mariposa, but after seeing the pictures of the views from Congo ... wow! The outdoor tub in Mariposa is a huge draw, esp after volcanogirl's rave review. Just one concern though. If bugs and critters are an issue in the cabinas after dark (and we will be there in June, so could be worse) will I be &quot;scanning the perimeter&quot; of the tub instead of stargazing? I've lived in the Tx hill country where there are lots of scorpions, as well as on the Gulf Coast, so I wasn't too worried about the bugs until I read the post about sitting back-to-back all night, while scanning the perimeter of the bed. I think I used that technique once while leaving a bar (in my much younger days) but never in bed.

Cattail

noelle, I'm still giggling at your comment, lol!

DH and I visited Osa in June a few years ago and stayed at Cabinas Las Calitas where we had an outdoor shower. We needed the mosquito netting in bed, but there weren't a lot of insects in the bath area, for some reason. Maybe because &quot;Batty&quot; was hanging in one corner.

tully

Yeah, there have been tubs in 2 I've stayed in - Mariposa &amp; Congo and I've never had a problem with bugs or anything. The Mariposa tub is a little more &quot;exciting&quot; as you're up against the trees so there's often something in there watching you (I tell myself the monkeys were laughing with me, not at me). I'd (myself) take the Congo view though over the tub JMO!

janenicole

Noelle - we stayed in Mariposa, and never ended up using the tub! And yes, it does seem like the monkeys are laughing at you in the shower as they swing by. One afternoon, an anteater sauntered out of the forest next to our cabin (of course I couldn't get the camera fast enough). We never saw one on the trails, so being in Mariposa gave us that extra wildlife sighting. This time, we have requested Congo, just for the view. You will be in heaven no matter which cabin you are in.