8 days costa rica, basic itinery
 

day 1 arrive at san jose airport, meet driver and drive toward manuel antonio, maybe stop at any sites he may recommend on the way there, then check into hotel in manuel antonio.

day 2 activities around manuel antonio

day 3 leave early and head to arenal, stopping at any driver recommended sites along the way, check into hotel in arenal

day 4 arenal activities

day 5 arenal activities

day 6 arenal activities

day 7 leave early and head to monteverde, stopping at any driver recommended sites

day 8 monteverde activites

day 9 leave early and head to san jose airport for departure.


if you can give realistic driving times from san jose to manuel antonio, then manuel antonio to arenal, and then arenal to monteverde, and then monteverde to san jose that would help me alot in planning. also, any other info would be great.

Wow, that is a lot of driving and not very pratical.

Skip Monteverde, one day there is not enough to see and do everything.

Actually if this is your first trip to Costa Rica, I would do the Central Valley sites and Arenal ( with all those little town between San Jose and Arenal.

But I will let let those that know the driving times better than me answer to you questions.

Percy

Hi Percy

I, too, think you should concentrate on 2 areas. Both of Percy's suggestions are good and you would enjoy either. A LOT of people focus on Arenal and Manuel Antonio for a first-time-one-week visit. It's a good combo, especially if you are looking for beach time.

SJO - MA 3 hours

MA-Arenal 5-6 hours, depending on
any stops you may make

Arenal to MV About 3.5 hours

MV to SJO 3.5-4 hours

thanks, I had been thinking about skipping monteverde to eliminate some driving time and like you said, I wont be able to do enough in 1 day to justify the travel.

Well I can off er my hellos to shillmac & Percy as they've given you excellent advice, I'd certainly drop Monteverde so you can enjoy your stay to the fullest without being on the go. Have fun.

Hi diat,

You've already gotten some great advice from the "pros" here, and they won't steer you wrong!

I made my first visit to CR in 2006. Our itinerary was as follows:

Day 1: arrive at SJO, pick up rental car, drive to Peace Lodge (about an hour outside of town).

Day 2: morning at Peace Lodge, drive to Arenal that afternoon.

Days 3-4: Arenal (Cano Negro Tour, Sky Trek Ziplines, Hanging Bridges, Tabacon Hot Springs)

Day 5: drive to Manuel Antonio

Day 6-7: MA (National Park Tour, Damas Mangrove Tour)

Day 8: drive back to SJO for flight home.

We really enjoyed that itinerary! We packed in a lot of activities, but felt that we got a great initial taste of Costa Rica and still had a little time to savor each location.

Good luck finalizing your plans. :-)