3-week itinerary - please critique
 

The object of this honeymoon itinerary is to seek a balance between exploration and relaxation, to maxime on fun, adventure and discovery and minimize on rained out days and bug bites.

Tell me what you think.

Day 1 - Arrive San Jose. Transfer to Peace Lodge at Waterfall Gardens.
Day 2 - Explore Poas, tour area, butterfly gardens
Day 3 - Coffee Plantation tour, Sarchi, other towns
Day 4 - Whitewater raft trip
Day 5 - La Paz to San Jose to Tortuguero.
Day 6 - Tortuguero
Day 7 - Tortuguero to San Jose to Lake Arenal
Day 8 - Day trip from Lake Arenal
Day 9 - Day trip from Lake Arenal
Day 10 - Day trip from Lake Arenal
Day 11 - Lake Arenal to Puntarenas to Beach (Tambor? Montezuma?)
Day 12 - Beach
Day 13 - Beach
Day 14 - Beach
Day 15 - Beach
Day 16 - Leave Nicoya beach for Uvita
Day 17 - Uvita area or Corcovado
Day 18 - Uvita area or Corcovado
Day 19 - Uvita area or Corcovado
Day 20 - Back to San Jose area - probably Xandari
Day 21 - Explore city of San Jose
Day 22 - Return home and start planning for next trip.

My questions:
1 - Is Tortuguero worth the trip? If not, what can I fill those days with?
2 - Will we have some modicum of beach weather when we hit the Uvita area (planning on Villas Gaia, which is actually south of Uvita)?
3 - What is the best way to get down from the Nicoya to Uvita? Then, back up to Alajuela?

Thanks!!!

First of all, congratulations on your upcoming marriage. Second, lucky you for being able to have 3 weeks in Costa Rica ;-).

Your itinerary sounds good for what you are looking for - you should be able to see a lot and explore but also relax since you are allowing enough days in each destination. As to weather, from our experience in August (3 trips), the more south you are, the more humid and stormy it is. In Guanacaste beach towns it was mostly sunny and dry, while on Osa Penninsula it was very humid and stormy (but we were not rained out).

We have not been to Tortuguero yet so can't comment on that. In Uvita you should have weather that is similar to Manuel Antonio at that time of the year (mostly sunny with occassional rain or storm). As to transportation, the only option from Nicoya to Uvita is probably driving, although I noticed a lot of places actually offering boat service from Montezuma to Manuel Antonio and maybe some other places on central Pacific coast. But that would mean that you would be without a car there which I don't think would be a good idea.

I don't want to second guess Iza, as I've never been the Caribbean side, but I heard it is even rainier than the rest of the country in August!

Ally, you should know that I don't mind being second-guessed :-), but I believe Uvita is on the Pacific coast, south of Dominical - so the weather should be about the same as Manuel Antonio.

Oh SILLY ME. I was thinking Cahuita...not Uvita. Sorry for the confusion!

To add to the confusion....there is also Punta Uva on the Caribbean side. Lots of people seem to confuse Uvita with Uva.

If you're thinking about the southern carribiean, you may look into Bocas del Toro, just south of the Panama border. Check out www.bocas.com. Punta Caracol and Al Natural look like nice honeymoon destinations. I'll be spending a couple nights at Punta Caracol in late July and can't wait :)