We are going to Costa Rica in June.
Need advice on best tours an restruants in
or around the following need only 1/2 or full day tours no multi day ones.
Alajuela
La Fortuna
San Jose
Were both in our fifties

Thanks Bob an Mary

Dear Bob and Mary,
Some ideas for day trips:
From San Jose and Alajuela - Poas Volcano, Sarchi (arts and crafts town), 11 hour highlights tour, Turubari Tropical Park (for canopy tour, butterfly farm, aerial tram, tropical gardens and more www.turubari.com), La Paz waterfalls.
From La Fortuna - Cano Negro, Arenal national park.

If you rent a car, you can do almost all by yourself. If you do not have a car, any hotel where you will stay will be able to offer you some day tours through a tour operator in the area. Most of these tours will cost around $75/person, and will include transportation, bilingual guide and food (breakfast and/or lunch).
If you don't want an organized tour, and you are not going to rent a car, you can also hire a driver for the day. You can find some information about some drivers people recommend, on the forum.
Feel free to write me directly for any more information or with any more questions.
Pura vida,
Neta Talmor

El Novillo is between Fortuna and Arenal. The travel guides recommended it as did our fellow travelers. We got some of the best filet mignons I've ever had for $6---that included sides.

In the San Jose/Alajuela area, definitely check out the Highlights of Costa Rica tour. . .about 10 hours of seeing 5 of the 7 provinces in a loop north and east of San Jose. You can look it up online I think. We, too, are in our 50's and this is one of the best days we have had in Costa Rica as far as seeing a great variety of what the country has to offer. Phenomenal! About $80 per person, which may seem steep, but it was definitely well worth it! We used Ecotours, I think.

I definitely recommend the "Highlight Tour" starting in the San Jose / Alajuela area and taking you to great locations. We just returned from CR and I have created a website about our trip, with a page just about our Highlight Tour...
http://www.fluffytails.ca/crtour.asp

Also thought our tour of Arenal National Park was great. Its walking thru the rain forest, then hiking across big lava rocks, then back another route thru the rain forest. With pretty views of Lake Arenal and the Volcano. Our webpage with info. & photos on that...

http://www.fluffytails.ca/arenal.asp