Hi, I will be traveling in CR midAugust with my husband and 2 young adult children. We plan on staying at Lands in Love & Arenal Observatory for 2 nites each. We have 5 nites more after which we fly out of Liberia. I thought the Rincon Vieja park would be different than the Arenal area. Would Playa Del Coco be hot and muggy? Would you suggest that we spend another day in the Arenal area vs more time in Rincon Vieja? La Carolina sounds great but our Spanish is rusty to nonexistent so Im not sure if it would be a good choice. Any thougts?

Will you have a car? If so, I think that your itinerary would be great. It would allow you to spend the second part of your trip near the Guanacaste beaches, which I absolutely love, spefically Playa Hermosa. If you have a car, you can travel from beachfront town to beachfront town, each has it's own different style. It can be hot and muggy, but it's not unbearable.

I'd definitely add a night at Arenal--there's just so much to do there; you need more than 1 full day.

I'd also suggest Hermosa area. Most hotels can arrange a day trip to Rincon de la Vieja for you. 4 nights Playa Hermosa or nearby area should be great. Hotels you might consider there: Villa del Sueno; El Velero (right on the beach-- may be a little shabby, but probably clean and a great location; and Hotel Finesterra (sp?). There are a couple of new ones as well--you might google the area. . .

There is a tour to Rincon called Mega Combo which includes ziplines, hot mud baths, maybe horseback, not sure, but a good day trip. . .

We were thinking of 2 days in Rincon de Vieja and 2 days at Tamarindo at Hotel Luna Llena. We thought our young adult kids (21 and 24) might be interested in a more lively scene than the Hermosa area. But you cant swim at Tamarindo,right and is it noisy? Is the Hermosa area REALLY quiet or is there some "town". We liked the looks of Bahia Esmeralda Hotel in Potrero. As far as Rincon V we were trying to decide between La Carolina and Hacienda Guachinpelin. But your suggestion of staying an extra day at Arenal is a good one. Theres so much to do and only 8 days!

La Carolina isn't in Rincon--in fact it is a good distance (by road) from there--not as the crow flies!

Guachepelin sounds good, but I hate to see you split your time up so much in just 8 days. 3 locations in that amount of time is pushing pretty hard.

Sure, there's a more lively party scene in Tamarindo--positives and negatives to that. . .

In Potrero, I'd recommend Bahia del Sol--nice location.

By the way, if you stay in Potrero, you are about 30 minutes from Tamarindo, and 30 minutes (via the Monkey Road) from Hermosa. Not bad. . .