I booked a trip with my family and my in laws, both families of 4, for 12/24 thru 12/31 to CR. Arriving SJO at 1:15, planning to go to Arenal for 2 nights, then 5 nights at Manuel Antonio.
Q1: Are the activities at Monteverde and Arenal similar, i.e. should I take a day away from MA to spend a night in Monteverde after Arenal, or should I extend my Arenal stay an extra day? (We arrive at SJO at 1:15 pm, so we won't get to Arenal till the late afternoon, and I would assume that we would need to leave for MA by about 1 pm to avoid driving at night (is that an absolute necessity?).

Q2: Is there decent access to the beach at MA, and is the swimming safe for our teenagers, or is another beach preferable. I already have made hotel reservations, which were difficult to get on Christmas week, but am willing to explore other possibilities.

I would spend at least 1 more night in Arenal & spend the other 4 in MA - not worth the time to get to Monteverde to spend only 1 night.

Yes, I would advise against driving at night - it starts to get dark around 5:30 year round. The nicest, calmest beach I've found at MA in inside the National Park (closed on Mondays) - there are 3 in the park total. Keep in mind there is no where to get food/drinks inside the park but you can bring in lunch (watch it very carefully - monkeys & coatis will take off with an unguarded bag) or leave for lunch and walk to a couple of the restaurants that are near the entrance.

Hi chicken,

Tully knows her stuff about CR and gives terrific advice (hi tully ).

There's a lot to see and do in Arenal. I think you'll really want more than 2 nights there. 3 to 4 would be good if you can swing it. 3 to 4 is also good for Manuel Antonio.

Those two locations will give you a really nice introduction to Costa Rica.

I think you should leave Monteverde for another trip. You should also allow about 5.5 to 6 hours to make the drive from Arenal to MA, so you'll need to be on the road earlier than 1:00 to beat sun down.

We ended up straggling into both Arenal and MA a little after dark on our trip last year. We were fine, but it was stressful trying to find our hotels in the dark, and there were a few stretches of road along the way with steep drop-offs, steep drainage ditches, and sizeable potholes that I wouldn't want to contend with at night. There's also the fact that we frequently saw animals, and sometimes people strolling in the roads. Definitely just safer to drive during daylight...

Once you get the lay of the land in each destination, driving around the local areas at night isn't difficult (just keep an eye out for animals!). The main road through La Fortuna and around the volcano had been freshly paved when we were there last December.

Regarding good swimming beaches at MA, the one tully alluded to is the second beach inside the national park. I would choose this one for swimming. It was nice and protected and calm. All of the beaches are very pretty, but some reputedly have strong undertows.

Your trip will come quickly! Just over 2 months for you and just under 2 for me (trip #2 to CR)!

buenos noches cam! Coming up soon eh? Hope you take lots of pics so stave off my "home-sickness" as it were

I will take a few photos just for you, tully!

I'm wondering how close I have to be to my actual departure date before I start counting down hours, minutes, and seconds?

Speaking of countdowns, where are you with Nicaragua?

Oh I'm in "next week" territory - the 25th! So ready to go! I just saw a new pic of the expanded bar area at BdC, think you'll enjoy it a lot, it looks great.