My girlfriend and I booked our first flight to Liberia, Costa Rica on Jan 20th. We both love the beach and want to find the most amazing one. But I am worried about not seeing enough of Costa Rica. I thought we would start and stay 3 days in the Tamarindo area but then not sure where else to go. We have 8 days in Costa Rica and fly in and out of Liberia.

Thanks so much for all your help. Would love hikes, seeing wild animals, ziplines, etc. Thanks again.

Also, sorry, is it good idea to rent a car for our entire trip? Thanks to everyone in advance!

Great idea to rent a car.

IMO Tamarindo and head to Arenal, or even better reverse it, Arenal then Tamarindo so you are closer to the airport.

Nice little trip, see a bunch of stuff, lots of activities. Have a blast!
Cheers

We love Arenal too - you can do a volcano hike, hike at the Hanging Bridges, and hike at the waterfall so lots of good options. The Cano Negro tour is nice for seeing wildlife, and Sky Trek has some great ziplines. They also have great natural hot springs.

Usually rent a car out of LIR mapache.com #1 local
hotelcapitansuizo.com and tabacon.com best free hot springs
ruralcostarica.com Rio Celestes amazing on your way.
mapcr.com 3 hours nice drive all pavedraod around the lake to
Arenal.net costarica.bookit.com good hotel sales

Happy Planning!

Tamarindo is Ft. Lauderdale south.
Do Montezuma instead.Even the town of Nicoya itself will walk you down memory lane to see why us folks came here years ago.
Rio Celeste is a must see place( before the guy in the mouse suit shows up). There's an outfit called La Carolina Lodge(dot com)that will let you taste the REAL Costa Rica and get you to Celeste, maybe on horseback.Catch and cook a few fish while you're at it.
There's also a drunken old hippy with a bunch of plants on lake Arenal but he scares people and might not be the best bet for a visit.
;-)~

I've always thought La Carolina Lodge looks like a neat spot - that river hot tub looks amazing.