There are so many things we want to do in each of these locations. I need advice on the best use of our time. So here are the situations.

Arenal - We plan on spending 3 nights in Arenal. However, the first day will be spent traveling from Liberia. I assume we will not have enough time to do anything after we get there that evening. So we have two days.
The first day I booked a trip to Cano Negro. I read a lot of good things about it on this forum. That leaves us with basically a day left in Arenal. Here are several activities I am considering for this area:

Tabacon Hotsprings
La Fortuna Falls
Arenal Volcano National Park
Arenal Hanging Bridges

Monteverde - We are taking the taxi/boat/taxi to Monteverde, and I hope to arrive by midday. We are spending 3 nights here, so that leaves 2 and a half days. Here are the activities we are considering:

Santa Elena Cloud Forest
Monteverde Cloud Forest
Horseback riding
Sky Trek
Butteryfly Gardens
Frog Pond
Selvatura

There are just so many things we want to do. How many activities, such as the ones I have listed, can you do in a given day? Which do you recommend?

Our trip is from Dec 23rd to Jan 1st, so I know it will be busy. Would you suggest I book these tours before we get there or just do it through our hotels when we arrive?

Thanks

Hi,

It will take you about 4 - 5 hours to get to Arenal from Liberia. Cano Negro was definitely a good choice. You'll see a lot of wildlife. The next day you can take a horseback ride to the La Fortuna waterfall in the morning, and spend the late afternoon/evening at Tabacon. You can enjoy those hot springs in the dark and soaking in the waters after your horseback ride will ease any sore muscles. It's very beautiful. They usually give you dinner, which is not so great, so if you have a choice, I'd skip it. The massages there are wonderful, but the last few times I was there they were so busy and the people who book the massages were not very responsive.

In Monteverde you'll have time to do a lot of things. I'd go to the Monteverde Cloud Forest and it's worth it to pay for a guide. A good guide will teach you a lot of fascinating things and point out animals that you can't see w/ your naked eye. I know two wonderful guides in Monteverde. They'll pick you up and take you around in their funky jeep if you want them too, or they'll meet you at the reserve. Marcela Morales and her husband Roberto. Phone is 011-506-645-5395. Do the Sky Trek or one of the other canopy tours. Frog pond is neat and doesn't take too much time to go through. There are a lot of cool shops in St. Elena and a great place to get those nice wooden crafts real cheap.

Pura Vida!
Sandy

In Arenal, I suggest doing the Caño Negro tour.

In Monteverde, I loved the night walking tours. We saw a lot of wildlife.

You will need for the jeep-boat-jeep trip about 3 hours. Enough time to do something in Monteverde. The guided night tour was great I recommend, too.
Saludos
costaklaus www.costaricaweb.<font color=red>de</font>

We very much enjoyed hanging bridges in Arenal. (Tabacon had no interest for us. Actually, I probably would have enjoyed them, but DH doesn't like hot tubs, massage, etc.) We loved the guided walk over the bridges.

We also loved the Hanging Bridges early in the morning, but I highly recommend you don't book with a big tour group because we past those and the guides had to yell to be heard by all the people, they were scaring the wildlife away, and spoiling the delicate sounds of the rainforest! If you want a guide I think it is better to get a private guide for your group. Preferably a quiet private guide!

We went on our own and loved it that way but we had biologist hubby to guide us! If you decide to go on your own here's how to see anything:
Go slowly. Let everybody else pass you. Be the slowest people there.
Go quietly without loud talking.
Stop often. Look for movement in the branches and leaves.
Listen for animal and bird sounds.
Carry binoculars and when you see or hear something, keep your eyes on the movement, and bring the binoculars up to your eyes. Hubby taught me how to do this.

It was thrilling to my young adult kids to find howler monkeys on our own without a guide. We were very patient and took at least a couple of hours on the Hanging Bridges trail, and near the end of the trail were rewarded with the howler monkey sightings, about 3 of them. Also saw lots of really cool insects and other small things.

Sorry, didn't mention this was the Hanging Bridges trail in Arenal, about a 5-minute drive from the Lost Iguana resort.

I would also offer you the same advice for how to enjoy the Monteverde cloud forest preserve as I gave for the Hanging Bridges, except that you won't see as much wildlife because the flora is so incredibly dense, it is absolutely primeval. Go very early in the morning about 10 minutes before it even opens, best time! Bring some info on the flora with you so you will understand what you are seeing. Incredible diversity of flora. My daughter and I had to stop and write poetry when the mist actually descended...a real cloud forest! (We like to write and try to carry pens and papeer in our front packs or backpacks.)

My family also really enjoyed the sky trek/sky tram zip-line at Arenal.