cnor

We will be traveling to Costa Rica June 11-21st. We arrive in San Jose at 8pm and also depart from San Jose at 8am. We are traveling with three teenagers who want a mix of adventure and beach time. I was hoping to see the Arenal area, Manuel Antonio and the Guanacaste Beach area.( The top things the kids want to do are white water rafting, sail fishing, ATV's , canopy tour, and have a nice beach) With our early & late flights we most likely will have to spend those nights in San Jose( orwe could get a driver to another location?). We are trying to limit our hotels to two additional locations. I think with the length of our stay and the distances between the areas I need to only visit two areas. Any suggestions on if it is possible to visit all three areas or if I should limit it to two locations? What location would you eliminate? Any hotel suggestions? Thank you so much!

hipvirgochick

I would either do Arenal 1st or last to take advantage of the raft/x-fer to or from San Jose. Arenal and Manuel Antonio are def worth at least 3 night each. The easiest on the budget on addition I'd probably just to go to Dominical/Uvita for a couple nights or Sarapaqui area. Otherwise you will need to consider the added expense of transport and time. I think you'd also be fine staying near SJO another night and doing a 4 in 1 combo day tour. With 3 teens I think Los Lagos in Arenal would be a big hit. Lots of pools and areas to explore. In MA, since I'm not sure of you budget, both La Posada and Si Como No rate highly.

qwovadis

www.xandari.com nice place close to the airport

around your flights...

rent a car www.servicecarrental.com for freedom and economy

www.arenal.net www.tabacon.com 3 days

www.desafiocostarica.com for adventures

www.tamarindo.com www.hotelcapitansuizo.com 2-3 days

www.manuelantoniopark.com www.tulemar.com Mot Mot 2-3 days

Tortally doable in the time you have...

cnor

Thank you so much for the advice- I will look into this

cnor

Thank you so much for your advice. Do you think it is better to fly to Tamarindo or rest a car?

hipvirgochick

Note that Tabacon is spendy and does not include breakfast, which can get costly with family of 5. Mot-Mot is great value during green season but can also get spendy assuming you'd be renting both floors and restaurant is closed. So again, breakfast is not included. Budget may not be a factor for you, but just thought I'd mention. If you're going to fly I'd try for Nature Air loco fares if you can grab them.

cnor

Are loco fairs the advances purchase fairs listen on the web site- any ideas on how to get them. The flights I have found on expensive on Nature air are so expensive(with tax $111-187 times 5 people- yikes)I thought June would be less expensive but it seems like all of the prices are so high. Im still researching all of the options you suggested. If you had to choose between Manuel Antonio and the Guanacaste coast- which one would you choose?

vvaldez18

I went to Costa Rica in March and loved it. I would definately go to Manuel Antonio to visit the beautiful beaches and the Arenal area. We bought flights once in San Jose to Manuel Antonio and it was 75 each, but the flight was 25 minutes. There are departures near the Arenal area daily as well, but keep in mind that the latest flight is usually mid afternoon.

I think renting a car is the best thing to do. They quoted us 85 dollars per day, but if you need an automatic car you need to book it ahead of time because most cars are manual transmission.

You can easily do the three locations in 11 days. The drive from Arenal to Manuel Antonio is only 4 1/2 hours, so you can squeeze in another location in between the two destinations.

In Arenal, Los Lagos is a great family hotel. It has a zipline canopy tour on the resort as well as thermal pools and a pool with various slides.

hipvirgochick

No way in telling about loco fares. Best bet is keep checking and hope they open up. I've gotten them a few times or sometimes the secod level, but just as often paid full fare on NA or Sansa. I would have no problems just adding a night in both MA and Arenal and skipping the third location. If you don't rent a car you should be able to hire a private driver for $120-150 each leg for SJO-Arenal, Arenal-MA, MA-SJO.

vvaldez18

Yeah we hired a private driver to drive us from MA to Arenal and it was 200 for four of us. It was a similar to a small shuttle so we had plenty of room. We then had to hire another driver to take us from Arenal to the San Jose Airport and it was 150 for the four of us.

cnor

Thanks so much! I will definetly look into hiring a driver. Do you recall what company you used? I noticed that with Nature air you can also get a driver with a small van.

hipvirgochick

Your hotels can usually be very helpful with drivers at a good cost. I'd start by getting quotes from them and go from there.

volcanogirl

Carlos Bogarin is a good driver that we've used a couple of times. you can reach him at www.destinos-encantados.com or [email protected]. Have also gotten good drivers through our hotels like hip recommended.

ToucanOasis

Not renting a car in Costa Rica is nuts.
There is too much to explore to get rooked into going to places that pay your Tico ' driver" to take you there.
Don't make any reservations at all other than your first and last nights.
The Orquideas Inn dot com will grab you at the airport and have a rental car waiting for you after you eat their killer breakfast.
Do Manuel Antonio first, head to Puntarenas and take the ferry across to the Nicoya, hang out at Montezuma for a bit, drive north and explore, head up to Lake Arenal via Liberia to Canas to Tilaran and around to La Fortuna.
Take the Sarchi route back to Alejuela.
That's my two cents.
26 years visiting and 6 years living on Lake Arenal full time.

cnor

Thanks for your advice