well, we have narrowed down our week from april 4 to april 11 as follows:

april 4: arrive s.j. 2:00 p.m stay in an airport hotel for the night.

april 5: fly sansa to puerto jiminez @ 6:00 a.m., arrive 6:50 a.m. picked up by bosque del cabo for transfer to their lodge.

april 6: bosque del cabo

april 7: bosque del cabo

april 8: depart bosque del cabo at 7:30 a.m. and arrive san jose 8:20 a.m.

april 8: catch fantasy bus-gray line or interbus in san jose to fotuna ($19 to $25 one way) and hope to find taxi to Tabacon Resort.

april 9: Tabacon Resort

april 10: Tabacon Resort

april 11: catch bus back to san jose with departure early enough to fly out at 2:00 p.m.

we hope to arrange some excursions while at tabacon to include horseback riding, canopy/zip lines, arenal, rafting, etc.

for seasoned c.r. travelers: is this reasonable? is a car needed? is tabacon a good base for day excursions to cloud forest and arenal?

i reserved a 4 wheel drive vehicle for the entire week at $225. with all 3 types of insurance to reduce my liability as much as possible, the total comes to $500. still debating the car rental question.

so, for those interested, here's our costs:

2 round trip tickets on u.s. air out of memphis to charlotte to san jose= $786.00

2 round trip tickets from san jose to puerto jiminez= $300.00

3 nights/4 days for 2 adults at bosque del cabo= $870.00

3 nights/4 days for 2 adults at tabacon resort= $555.00

4 wheel drive vehicle for one week including full insurance coverage= $500.00

thanks for all your help, advice, and recommendations!

keith and susan
memphis

You would spend a lot of time driving to the Osa and back and with your limited time in CR I would just skip the car for that period anyway.

The problem I am seeing is the bus scheduling for transportation to and from Arenal. They have very limited departures and you could end up having to hang around in the San Jose area waiting for the afternoon bus around 1pm. Getting back to San Jose could also pose a problem. I would allow plenty of time for check in. Some people get through it quickly and others, like us, fly on wide bodies that take forever to get checked into. It took all of 2 hrs for us to get through everything this year.

I personally would either rent a car after Bosque to get to and from La Fortuna or hire a private transport for about $100 each way. Costa Rica Transport advertises $95-with gas,taxes and extra insurance, this isn't much more than a car rental at least on those two days. Taxis could end up much cheaper for transportation once you are there. If you decide to stay in San Jose to catch the later bus you could have $25 in taxi fees to get you into the city and back to kill a few hours.

Either way you would be able to set your own schedule for departures. They would be at the airport to pick you up and you could be at your hotel by late morning. The buses take up to 4hrs between the two where the private transport or driving would take about 2 1/2-3hrs.

We drove from San Jose to
Manuel Antonio, dropped the car off and took a Private transfer to:

Sierpe
Boat to Cabinas Caletas/Drake Bay, boat back to Sierpe and few to San Jose on Sansa.

The drive was adventurous and fun, but we're glad we didn't have to do it the whole vacation. The flight was a breeze.

I can comment on your question regarding Tabacon: staying at the Tabacon Resort is the best choise for the Arenal area. We spent two nights there in February, and loved it. It's also a good base to explore the area.

Also, based on your itenary, I think it's best if you rent a car after you get back from bosque del cabo- we used Tricolor ($293/wk for a small SUV taxes/insurance included) and were very happy with them.

Tricolor's rental rates were much lower than Economy, which we used. About 1/2 the price, so you got a good rate.

However, I don't agree with you on hotels near Tabacon. Lost Iguana is brand new and much lower priced than the Tabacon resort. You can visit the hot springs without staying in a hotel by paying about $20.

$29 dollars was the fee in December of 2003 when we were there. We paid it early in the day, spent the early afternoon, then returned after dinner for night soaking. It was worth it. We liked Arenal Paraiso.

A small caveat about the hot springs. I was pretty sunburned from an earlier bike ride, and I could not use the hot springs for too long because it was pretty painful.

If you are sunburned, I would skip the hot springs.

They are beautiful though.

Looking at the map of hotel locations, it looks as though Lost Iguana is quite a ways out and towards one edge of the area in which it is possible to see some of the lava flows on Arenal. Probably not the best hotel from which to get the best view of the flows at night.

I stayed at the Montana de Fuego and I had a fantastic view of the volcano and the hotel was great.

I passed Lost Iguana during a bicycle ride and that hotel also looked very nice.

a couple of comments-
April 8th- you will be departing BDC way earlier to catch the 7:30AM flight in PJ
Interbus will take you directly to whatever hotel you desire in the area of your destination Tabacon included-a taxi between Tabacon and Fortuna is about $5.
I would not rent a car for either of these legs- 1)Osa- to long a drive to get there 2)Fortuna- to many cheap travel options like Interbus and Taxis.

Personally I would spend your short week on the Osa as you will be rushed to see what the area has to offer. Fortuna is okay- cute and slighty funky with lots of choice of lodging. Spent a week in the area at Tabacon. I am a hot springs freak- love'em and was very very excited about Tabacon. Saw the volcano every day from my room, sat in the springs- and will never return. I would stay ANYWHERE but that overpriced tourist trap- worst food and worst value for the room anywhere I have stayed in CR. Best view of night lava action I had was from Montano de Fuego (SP??)on the road.
Check out the thread "8 days to much at BDC" and look into other springs if you go to fortuna( or at least read the reviews on Tabacon here and tripadvisor.com)

We just visited CR in January. A couple of thoughts on your itinerary: I would suggest renting a car to drive from San Jose to Arenal (Fortuna). The drive was fine and then you are on your own schedule and have transportation while you are in the Arenal area. If you don't end up staying at the Tabacon, an alternative hot spring to visit is Baldi (not far from Tabacon). It was a lot cheaper and very nice. If you want a canopy tour, we liked Arenal Paraiso.