hi,

I am planning to go to Costa Rica for the week of Dec15-23. Does anyone know about the hotel availability for that week? Do I need to book my hotel in advance? I am planning to stay a couple of nights in San Jose, Arensal, Montverde and maybe Jaco beach. Anything I need to book in advance or can I just book it when I get there? Thank you in advance.

I hope you're talking about Dec 2007 and not in 3 days cause this is an extremely busy times in CR and hotels have been booked for months.

I am talking about this year. It's a last minute trip. What about the inexpensive hotels?
thanks.

I would start calling right now - not e-mailing - all the hotels in the areas you want to go & see if any have availability. You may have to just stay wherever you can find openings.

I think you can drive into town and always find something. You will probably have a harder time b/c it will be busy but even the popular hotels usually reserve a few rooms for walk ins. I just got back a few weeks ago from my second trip to CR - I had 1/2 or a little more then 1/2 the hotel nights booked. But had no problem finding accomodations when I didn't have reservations. I also met several other people who were just hopping around place to place w/ out reservations.

Thanks for the info. I don't plan on renting a car, plus I will going by myself. Can I assume there will be some budget hotels which have vacancy? How do you guys feel about Jaco beach? I tried calling couple of places but they either don't answer or just hangs up on me when I asked if there was any vacancy.

u say they hang up on you, do u speak spanish
ull get budget hotels but u better move fast!
skip monteverde and jaco.
better bets for beach are montezuma or Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean>

http://costa.rica.typepad.com/costa_...ome/index.html

I only breezed through Jaco b/c from what I have heard it is not what I wanted. There are tons of bars and restaurants there, but its very crowded and pretty touristy compared to other areas. If you want a spring break/party type place - that is Jaco. If you are looking for a more "Costa Rican" type experience look somewhere else. Tamarindo and Manuel Antonio are both touristy areas but I would recommend them to someone over Jaco.

shillimac recommended brasilto which i think could be good 4 u!
search for her hotel recs, i stayed at a friends when i last visited.
easy access to beaches like conchal but a pretty cheap beach town with a lot of Ticos still living there!

Cabinas Isolina in Playa Potrero might be a nice budget option for you. Good location near Flamingo/Conchal/Tamarindo area.