Planning a trip to costa rica last week of March. flying into Liberia. Want to visit Arenal ,Monteverde, and Torteguerro. How do you get to Torteguerro.,and how long does it take if you were going straight there from airport. There looks like there are no roads going there on the maps I've looked at...and I know that's not possible. Can you see all three in nine days and get back to airport?? Are there any "must do or see" for two nature and wildlife lovers...and scenery and beauty.?

I would skip Tortuguero this trip. It is on the opposite side of the country from Liberia. With 9 days you will not have enough time to do all three destinations. Most people going to Tortuguero fly into SJO and arrange transport with their tour operator, either via van/bus to the dock for the boat trip or fly from SJO. I don't believe any flights go from Liberia to Tortugueo. Even from San Jose, it's a good 1/2 day trip to get to Tortuguero unless you fly.

Forgot to mention that while in Arenal you could go on the Cano Negro boat trip and would see some of the same birds/wildlife as you would see in Tortuguero. IMO, that's the best wildlife viewing in the Arenal area.

Tortuguero is all canal based, so you have to boat or fly in, not drive. We went there from Arenal and had a driver take us to Cano Blanco where we got picked up by boat. Like colibri said, most people go there straight from SJO. Tortuguero is all about touring the canals by boat to spot wildlife and in season, going out to see the turtles lay their eggs. For the ones that we saw, the season was July through October. We spent two nights there, and that was perfect for us.

Arenal has the volcano (no current lava flow), Hanging Bridges, natural hot springs, Cano Negro tour and Penas Blancas river float, and a beautiful waterfall.

Monteverde has nice hiking in the reserve as well as come good night hikes.

Oh, and Monteverde has quetzals which are awesome if you get a chance to see one.

Thanks so much for all your help. I guess I scheduled my flight into the wrong airport! Have any of you ever crossed the border and went into Nicaragua? Should you do that , and is there anything worth the time of eating up two days?

We haven't had a chance to make it to Nicaragua yet, but I've heard good things, and it seems to be a little more affordable than parts of CR. There are some good trip reports on here if no one chimes in for you. I agree with colibri that the Cano Negro area would give you a good taste of what Tortuguero is like. We saw a ton of wildlife there including monkeys, sloths, caimans, and lots of cool water birds. It's an all day boat tour that you can take from the La Fortuna/Arenal area.

A lot of people that fly into Liberia like to visit the Guanacaste beach areas.