I am planning a two week trip. husband and 2 kids (11 and 15). So far I have the following itinerary and wanted to know if it looked OK (not too much moving around but enough so that we see alot)
Fly into San jose arrive at 11 AM and rent car and drive to Monteverde. Sleep one night in monteverde and do zip line next day
Drive to Arenal and stay for 2 nights
Leave Arenal and drive to Tamarindo (got a nice rate at the J.W.Marriot there) 3 nights in Tamarindo
Drive to Nosara - stay here 2 nights - hope to see turtles hatch in Ostional
Then we have 2 more nights and have to be back in san jose on the 3rd night for a flight the next morning. I was thinking of Paquera b/c they have the car ferry to Puntarenas which looks closish to san juan area but I know the Map can be deceiving.
Any guidance will be appreciate - my family is putting this trip in my hands and I want it to be a good combo of adventure and beach relaxation.
THANKS!

Oh - one more question
_ should we go from arenal to Santa Rosa National Park first and then to Tamarindo and skip nosara??

I would consider adding a night in Arenal, and adding a night in Monteverde or even Nosara. Otherwise a bit too much moving around for the amount of time you have, in my opinion. Otherwise looks like a fun trip!

To me, it's too much moving around. It takes a long time to get from place to place, and I think you'll be spending too much time traveling from place to place. I wouldn't do Monteverde for only one night. It's not really worth the long bumpy drive unless you can spend at least two nights there. I agree with hip that another night in Arenal would be great; there's so much to see and do there, and it would increase your chances of seeing the volcano.

We just returned from JW and Arenal, as well as PV (first part of trip report is posted) and I would say that two nights in Arenal is certainly not enough because really it only gives you one day. We had three nights and I wish we had done four.
As far as the JW is concerned, unless you are really looking to hide out and do very, very little there really is no reason to stay there. Yes, it is beautiful but it certainly isn't a good base for exploring. Remember that the drive from Arenal to the JW is 4 hours at best, without stopping. Excuse me for saying so, but seeing as you are flying in and out of San Juan, I can't imagine traveling all the way to the JW just for a good rate.
I am a novice on the CR forum, but you have already gotten some very good advice from the "pros." I would heed their advice. Just my two cents.

If you go to Ostional to see the Ridley's hatch can you please post a trip report??? I'll be leaving to do the same Aug 30th and any info would be helpful...

I did not realize that I had gotten any responses yet! thank you all so much for your input. I had not realized Tamarindo was so far. We are determined to get to the beaches and I actually was thinking of going to Samara and/or Nosara for 2 nights each after Tamarindo and then heading back to San jose from there. I see what you mean about alot of moving around - we love a good road trip but maybe it is too much. so...
Aug 2-4 Arenal
Aug 5-6 monteverde
Aug 7-11 somewhere on pacific - samara, nosara skip tamarindo??? visit ostional - I will post about turtles when we get home!
12 san jose
13- home

I thought it looked like there were lots of activities at the JW in addition to a beautiful beach but maybe samara is a better place to explore.
Thanks for any additional info -