cboris

Hi all,

Some of you have been helping me on my other thread but I thought I should start a new one with a more appropriate topic title. Here's my other thread in case you're interested.

http://www.fodors.com/community/mexi...th-8-10-yo.cfm

We have booked rooms at The Springs in Arenal and at Tulemar in Manuel Antonio and now I'm' on to considering which tours to book and what to do about transportation.

I have seen that there are lots of threads on transportation, but I don't know if having kids (or travelling in a group of 4, perhaps) would affect someone's advice on whether to rent a car and/or whether to get a driver. For instance, maybe it's hard to get a taxi in La Fortuna that fits 4 people, or there may be other considerations that I'm not thinking about. Though I know others have done it and thought it worked well, I don't think we'll do public transportation.

Our itinerary:
Thurs - arrive 9:15 pm SJO - stay at airport hotel
Fri - drive to The Springs
Fri - Wed - Springs
Wed - travel to MA
Wed - Sun - Tulemar - depart Sunday at 11:45 am from SJO

I've seen the rental car vs. driver debate, and both ways have been recommended so I'm sure it's up to personal preference. I am not really afraid of driving, but my husband has unfortunately lost his license for a few months (don't ask) so I would be the sole driver. We'll have the drive to Arenal, the drive from Arenal to Manuel Antonio, and then return from MA to SJO on our last morning. All the long drives should be in daylight.

I see 3 options.

- Get 1 rental car for the whole time
- Get a driver for the 3 longer drives and rent while in La Fortuna and MA
- Get drivers for 3 longer drives and take taxis in La Fortuna and MA.

Does one make more sense than the others?

At Tulemar, I know they do not serve dinner on the property, but they say that there are many restaurants outside the gates. It seems like a very large property. Will we need a car/taxi to get to those restaurants?

Another option: would you drive (either in rental car or with driver) or fly from MA to SJO. I'm leaning towards the drive, so we don't have to worry as much about luggage weight and flight delays, but in some ways it can be easier to just fly.

Regarding tours, we will have 4 full days, not counting travel days at the Springs. The hotel sent us a list of their tours. I know we can book on our own, but just starting with their list, what I saw on TripAdvisor and what I read about in my Eyewitness Travel guide book, I've come up with the following.

- Arenal Hanging Bridges (half day)
- Sky Trek Zipline (half day)
- Cano Negro (full day) or Penas Blancas (1/2 day) - I've heard more raves about Cano Negro but I wonder if it's a long day for the kids?
- The hotel offers a 4 hour volcano hike. I don't know how much of that is transportation time. I think that would be interesting but I don't know if it would be too strenuous for the kids. Has anyone else done this with kids?

My husband expressed interest in a night hike. We should be able to fit that in since I plan to do the other tours first thing in the morning if possible.

What about the Sky Tram? Is that worth doing?

Mostly I'd like to spend our afternoons at the Springs in the pools or springs. We may do tubing and horseback riding in the afternoons too. And I think we'd like to visit the wildlife preserve at The Springs.

Is there something glaring that I'm missing or something I should cut out? Would it be better to leave a full day open in Arenal? My current plan would have us booked for a tour every morning, if we do a volcano hike.

We will have 3 full days in Manuel Antonio (Wed is travel day and we depart Sunday morning), and I plan to spend more time on the beach. According to the Tulemar website we can see quite a bit of wildlife right on the grounds. I remember reading that most of the things you can do near Arenal (ziplines, hanging bridges) you can also do in Manuel Antonio, but I'm sort of feeling like if our time in Arenal is so scheduled, maybe we'd like to wing it more in MA. Anything I MUST do near MA?

Thanks for your help!!

volcanogirl

There is more wildlife at Cano Negro. It takes a couple of hours to get there for the boat to put in, so it's up to you if you think your kids would be up for that. It's awesome; we've done it a few times. There is no bathroom on the boat however. We liked Penas Blancas too, but the wildlife isn't as abundant. It's much closer however if that makes a difference. Cano Negro involves a big covered motor powered boat; Penas Blancas is a raft. I would definitely do the tubing at The Springs. We loved that; the river there is absolutely beautiful. We had two guides all to ourselves when we did it. There's a nice open air restaurant by the river where you can eat lunch if you want to. Most of the volcano tour would be hiking since the hotels are fairly close to the volcano. We saw some wildlife when we did it; the best part was going at night to view the volcano, but there's not current lava flow. The hike that we did wasn't strenuous. They give you a lot of history of the volcano and its eruptions. Personally I would rather hike at the waterfall than do the volcano hike. If you do Sky Trek ziplining, you'll automatically do the tram - that's how you go up to the top. Sky Trek is great with wonderful views of the lake and volcano. The lines are incredibly high and fast.

volcanogirl

One more thing if you have time; your kids would probably really enjoy the Proyecto Asis animal rescue center. We were able to feed a sloth, monkeys, and macaws when we went. They have a peccary, raccoon, kinkajo, toucans, etc. New animals come in and others are rehabilitated and released, so the makeup is always changing.

Patty

There's an internal shuttle at Tulemar that can take you to the property entrance. From there, there are restaurants within short walking distance. You could also walk the whole way. It's uphill to the entrance. We saw capuchin and squirrel monkeys on the property daily and also three and two toed sloths. We never ventured into the park.

Birdie

I am a confident driver not bothered by most driving including downtown city driving. I would not be comfortable driving in Costa Rica. Plus parking in Manuel Antonio can be a pain.

You do not need a car in Manuel Antonio. We were there for 6 nights without a car. Most of the excursions will pick you up at the door or the concierge will arrange a cab to pick you up at your door.

We were in 405 which is the second condo from the gate so we walked to most of the restaurants from Tulemar. Twice we took cabs to restaurants and had no problem. We took their business card so we could have the restaurant call for our return.

The zip line company, Canopy Safari, is great and wonderful with kids so you can wait until you get to MA for the zipline if you want.

volcanogirl

Birdie, which restaurants were you able to walk to from Tulemar? We're looking at staying there for a future trip.

Birdie

Hi, volcanogirl.

Kapi Kapi, which we really liked. Good food, lovely atmosphere.

Cafe Milagro, casual spot that's great for breakfast and lunch. We did not try dinner there but I did buy a few bags of coffee to bring home for gifts.

Aqua Azul, lively, crowded, very casual, good food. They don't take reservations but the concierge at Tulemar can make one for you.

The casual restaurant at Como Si No because I wanted to see the hotel. I wouldn't go back but enjoyed the huge lizard watching us eat.


We took cabs to:

Raphael's Terrazas which we all really enjoyed.

Ronnie's Place for drinks, sunset and good, not great, dinner.

La Luna at Gaia which was good but I think I prefer Kapi Kapi for a higher end meal.

We also had a private chef cook the fish the guys caught and ate several breakfasts and lunches at the Tulemar beach cafe.

There are any number of other restauarants you can walk to in addition to the little food market. Tulemar is right in the middle of town and seems to be the only high end property that is. At the same time, though, when you are on property you feel like you are out on a quiet peninsula.

volcanogirl

Oh, thanks for all the info. We stayed at Mango Moon and were able to walk to Cafe Milagro, Cafe Agua Azul, Salsipuedes, and we took a taxi to Ronnie's Place. I guess Tulemar is sort of in the same area. It's appealing to me because it has its own beach.

cb, we use a private driver to go between cities and then use taxis once we're in town. Arenal is a lot more spread out than Manuel Antonio. We save flying for areas that are harder to get to like Tortuguero or the Osa.

Patty

We enjoyed Kapi Kapi (walking distance) too and had several good meals at La Luna (not walking distance). Both are a bit upscale. La Luna has a great view and they have a tapas menu in the bar section if you don't want a full meal.

cboris

Birdie, Thank you for your driving input. I was sort of leaning towards hiring drivers, so I can enjoy the view and not be white-knuckled, so I'm not sorry to hear your recommendation that I not drive.

Regarding the waterfall, volcanogirl, I read your report of rappeling and I think I'm too scared (and don't think it's a good idea with the kids!) to do that. I will look into a hike there instead. I think that's something we can do on our own without a guide, right?

The Proyecto Asis would be right up our alley. My youngest is obsessed with animals. Did you do the 1 1/2 hour tour, or the 3 1/2 hour tour & volunteering? I think they would really like the volunteering one and that must be the one people talk about on tripadvisor where they can hold and feed animals.

Is this anywhere near the waterfall? Could we do the 2 on the same day? I hear the hike up from the waterfall is strenuous, so I'd love to be able to do it in the morning, but my mornings are getting filled, if we do Sky Trek, Hanging Bridges, one of the boat tours and the Proyecto Asis.

Patty - thanks for the info on the shuttle at Tulemar. I booked it without doing much research because it was so highly recommended, but the downside is I don't really know basic details that I would have discovered had I done more research. That shuttle will come in handy and we are very happy to do some walking too.

Thanks all!!

volcanogirl

c, the waterfall hike and the rappelling are two totally different things in two completely different areas. The waterfall hike is at La Fortuna Waterfall and involves taking steps down to the waterfall and you can swim in the crystal clear river if you want to. It's set with pavers; if you can walk down a bunch of steps you can do it. It took us about ten minutes to walk down. Coming back up is a little steep, and we saw people stopping to catch their breath on the way back up, but it's not difficult if you take a little break. The rappelling is done in a canyon and involves rappelling down multiple waterfalls, much more rigorous than just visiting La Fortuna Waterfall. You can do the waterfall hike on your own. There's a big parking lot and an organized entrance where you pay your entry fee; I think it was around ten bucks or so. The rappelling is done with guides.

We did Proyecto Asis as part of a cultural tour we did with Desafio. They made several stops during the day and Asis was one of them. We also went to an organic farm called Luna Nueva, and we made one other stop. We got a guided tour of the property. It's very small and has a small pond full of turtles and herons. Then there are animals around in big cages, and you can enter some of the cages like the sloth's and macaws'. You can feed the monkeys bananas through the cage. And we were able to hold some of the animals like the raccoon. It's not near the waterfall, but you could do both on the same day depending on how you timed it. They may only do feeding certain times of day though, so you'd have to check on that.

Birdie

volcanogirl, Salsipuedes was the first restaurant you reached after turning right out of Tulemar's gate. Do you remember an orange 4-story hotel or apartment comlex right in the middle of town? It is next door to the Tulemar gate.

The beach at Tulemar is lovely. We were going to take a cab to another beach just for a different atmosphere but loved Tulemar's so much we decided that we didn't need to go anywhere else. There is shade if you want to stay out of the sun and plenty of chairs and umbrellas. Do check out all the pools, though. There was a quiet one that we went to for swimming and a more popular one we liked in the evening for drinks at the bar.

I don't know if you saw an earlier post from the woman that was knocked down by the wave at Tulemar. I'm bringing it up more for cboris's benefit than yours since she will have kids with her. I think the water at Tulemar is great but there is one characteristic that is good to keep in mind. It may be true at other beaches in Manuel Antonio, too. When the tide changes, the water changes very quickly. Waves that weren't there minutes ago suddenly develop and the undertow gets stronger. If you are on the beach it sounds like a boat has gone by and the waves from the wake are coming in. The waves aren't very big and the undertow isn't particularly strong, but the fact that it occurs so quickly, can surprise swimmers. There is a local magazine that has a tide chart in it. If it isn't already in your condo, you can get a copy at the concierge desk.

We did take a tour of the park, and as Patty pointed out, we saw more wildlife on property than we did in the park. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the park tour. We saw a lot of other creatures like bats and cool insects that our guide pointed out with his scope.

volcanogirl

Thanks for all the details. I guess we stayed very close to the property and didn't know it. Where we stayed was fine, but the beach access was terrible, a big long steep muddy hike to get down.

SiteC_er

Your family will love Tulemar! As others have noted, the park is worth a visit but we saw more wildlife on property and preferred the property beach. As for Arenal we stayed at Lost iguana and enjoyed the property (to bad the volcano is not active). Our family really liked the hanging bridges, sky trek zip lines, Eco thermals hot springs(stay for dinner) and the horseback ride to la Fortunate waterfall. Enjoy!

ShellD

Having traveling with kids that age, I would skip Cano Negro. You already have a lot of driving to get from place to place, so to do a full day tour to see wildlife is just adding to the driving. You will see a lot of wildlife already, both in MA and at the Springs, so it's not necessary to me. The drive is long for the amount of time you're on the water. And yes you get to see a lot, it in the distance for the most part. The Damas Mangrove boat trip in Manual Antonio is somewhat similar and you don't have to drive hours to get to it.

As far as the transportation - I think a nice balance is to rent a car while you're in Arenal and hire a driver for the transportation between locations. We've done this and it worked well. For us it was nice to have the flexibility to have our own vehicle in Arenal to go to restaurants, drive to Sky Trek, even just drive around the lake. Just be on our own time. But then with the kids, to have a driver drive us on the long trips took away a lot of the potential stresses. It was also nice to have someone to narrate the ride for us. We've also done the drive on our own. But I find the drive from Arenal to MA to be long and prefer to have a driver. The one from San Jose to Arenal is much shorter. You could consider picking up the car at the airport and driving that leg on your own and turning in the car after Arenal. You definitely don't need a car in Manual Antonio - as others have said. We did walk to dinner each night. I don't remember taking a taxi anywhere, although maybe we did.

As Birdie mentions, do keep in mind that the undertow can be very strong. The waves don't have to be very big, but that water can be very deceiving. That being said, my daughter and I spent hours and hours on the boogie boards they had for us there. We had an absolute blast. We never ventured to the National Park. Never felt a need to - there was a lot of wildlife on the property and the beach was great.

I think one thing we found each time we've been to CR with our kids is that regardless of how much I thought I knew what we planned to do each day, between the unpredictable weather and just getting caught up in each day - we never really did what we intended to do. So have some ideas in mind, but especially with the kids, be flexible.

volcanogirl

We loved the Springs, but we didn't enjoy the wildlife preserve there. It consists of cats in cages which to us was kind of sad, like a zoo. Otherwise the property is great. Kids may enjoy being able to get so close to big cats. It's not a very natural setting though.

Patty

We did the Damas mangrove tour in MA which only takes a few of hours. While the tour was enjoyable, we didn't like that our guide baited the monkeys. Next time this is something I'd inquire about before booking.