Hi everyone - I have gotten such great information on this travel board so far. Everyone's questions have helped me plan our trip. Now I have a question -

My 7-year-old son and I are going to spend 3 weeks in CR in late June-July - our first time. I've planned our itinerary out, and had planned 3 nights in Arenal and 3 nights in Monteverde. I think with travel time, it'll work out to 2 and a half days in each place, before we meet friends in Mal Pais. I'm realizing now that I miscalculated, and have an extra day to spend in either place before we meet up with our friends. But I can't figure out which place to spend the extra day in. Any suggestions as to which town has more to do for a mom and her 7-year-old? (actually he'll be a few weeks shy of turning 8 at that point.)

Thanks!

At 7, my son loved Monteverde - the frog pond, butterfly garden, the hiking. He enjoyed Arenal as well - Vendado caves, Cano Negro and the volcano but I think he would say that Monteverde was better.

I'd say Arenal. Monteverde is much smaller and you can do everything there is to do in 3 days. But there's no end to things you can do in Arenal and the surrounding areas.

Sandy

i'd go to santa elena instead of monteverde- less crowded!
i'd spend 1 day less there and 1 day more in la fortuna/arenal.
i recxommend the cano negra trip and definitely see the waterfall and the kid will love the crocodile sanctuary at the volcano end of the high street:

http://costa-rica.typepad.com/la_for...ome/index.html

Thanks for the feedback! It does seem like there's more to do in the Arenal area, so I think we'll spend the extra day there, but Heather, thank you for letting me know what your 7-year-old would prefer.

guanacaste - we are going to Santa Elena, staying at the Arco Iris Lodge. I thought Monteverde and Santa Elena were very close, but maybe not? Thanks for the tip on the Cano Negro tour (I hadn't considered it) and the URL link.

Monteverde and St. Elena are very close together -- you hardly notice that they're separate towns.

Sandy

I second the motion for the Cano Negro trip. We were there in November with my just-turned-8-year-old and my almost-5-year-old and they both loved that trip!

I would vote to spend your extra time in Arenal. Monteverde is smaller and I think there is less to do. We were there two nights and two days and that was plenty of time to sightsee. Arenal has more adventure. Check out PureTrek Canyoning. My husband and I had a blast at this and I hear kids love it too!

Thanks for the second endorsement for Cano Negro - maybe that's what we'll do with our extra day!

And I'm sorry, canyoning? I've checked out the Pure Trek Canyoning website, and canyoning down a waterfall sounds totally scary to me. But maybe I'm just not an adrenaline junkie? (My fearless 7-year-old probably would love it though!)

I third the Cano Negro option. I haven't done the canyoning at Pure Trek, but I did it in San Lorenzo. It was a lot of fun but more work than I expected. The first pass was pretty much just being lowered down on a rope, but then it was work all the way down. It was exciting and I was glad I did it. Not sure if Pure Trek is the same experience.

Sandy