octalon7

Believe we'll have approximately 7 nights in mid November. Group is about 7-8 mid to late 20s, single"ish" folks, looking to see some nature, do some adventure, but also do some relaxation and some luxury.

Plan is to split our time between Arenal and Manuel Antonio.

Curious what sort of accommodations would be recommended. I did some searching and saw some great places that offer villas that would house us all, which is very cool. But for a couple of nights we would also like the resort experience with other things onsite to enjoy (bars and restaurants, nighttime activities). [Hey I convinced some friends planning to go to Cancun to come on this trip instead, so I'm hoping I can get their attention with a similiar place for a night or two].

I've been planning a trip to CR for 4 years now, this year it will finally happen, beyond excited.

qwovadis

www.vrbo.com has your best selection of Villas like

www.arenalobservatorylodge.com White Hawk Villa

Casa Fantastica or Casa Tolteca www.manuelantoniopark.com

SiteC_er

Buena Vista Villas in Manuel Antonio would be a very good fit. They have 3-4 bedroom villas with a pool, hot tubs and a great private beach. We stayed in a one bedroom villa and loved the place

volcanogirl

Agree with SiteC - check out Buena Vista Villas, Tulemar Bungalows, and maybe Mango Moon too.

octalon7

Thank you all!

I had stumbled on Buena Vista and was blown away. Looks amazing. Also have a friend who lives in Manuel Antonio and he spoke to his property manager about one of the houses for rent in the park and they would cut us a great deal (although I think we want some resort ammenities).

I should clarify, we will only be doing several nights each in Arenal and MA, so the individual managed villa rentals are likely out as they rent by the week.

RAC

White Hawk Villa at the Arenal Observatory Lodge should be an option still. But, it won't be luxury--just really close to wildlife, nature, and a volcano. So, if you go that route you'd want to have luxury in Manuel Antonio.

octalon7

Sounds good, I did want to mix up the nature vs luxury aspect, so that may be the way to go.

A friend is recommending Tabacon Hot Springs for Arenal. We don't oppose individual rooms for part of the trip.

Sorry to sound like a cheesy tourist, but is anyone aware of any all-inclusive type resorts in the MA area?

RAC

I'm not aware of any--the best beaches there are inside the national park anyways, and Manuel Antonio has some of the best restaurant options.

Instead of Manuel Antonio, perhaps you should look at Montezuma, specifically the Ylang-Ylang Beach Resort. Breakfast and dinner are included, and it's right on the beach. We LOVED it.

http://www.ylangylangbeachresort.com/

volcanogirl

Manuel Antonio has a lot of good restaurants; if you go there, you'll probably want to take advantage of them like RAC mentioned.

octalon7

Planning is going well, thanks for all the input.

We aren't asking for a bad time by going at the early/mid November time frame are we? I know that's at the end of green season.

slp02d

My group is 6 young professionals as well going in September. I was going to do the same route as you. I did decide to switch it up and we are now going to Montezuma area instead of Manuel Antonio. You can rent a house in Montezuma for all of you for around $150 a night. Check out VRBO. The houses are awesome with views of the ocean and private pools. And you are close to bars, restaurants and clubs. I do recommend the Observatory as well. I stayed there before and you cannot beat the grounds. They have a hiking trail that leads to an amazing waterfall and swimming hole. Good luck and have fun. Drive safe!

octalon7

Thanks slp02d. I have a friend living in Manuel Antonio, so that's part of the reason we are keeping that on our itinerary. VRBO is a great site, definitely have some properties picked out on there. I'd also recommend homeaway.com as there are properties listed on that site that aren't on VRBO.

Keeping the observatory on the list of options. Getting swayed to Tabacon though.

Enjoy your trip as well!

Allylam

As long as you avoid the Thanksgiving week, Nov. is a super good time to visit!

patrigringo

You can go in november if you dont mind the possibility of tropical rain. Usually the weather starts getting better, but this year the weather has been very abnormal so its unpredictable.

http://gocentralamerica.about.com/od...CRNovember.htm

octalon7

Thank you. We are going the second week in November, so we'll hopefully get some good days. Don't mind some rain as long as it's not all day and all week long.

Rental car question, what comparable size are the Daihatsu Begos? From pictures they look to have a pretty small cargo area. I was thinking a Rav4 or Suzuki Gran Vitara would have more room. Will have 3-4 people per vehicle.

octalon7

Our group shrunk to 4 (maybe 5), so we ended up adjusting our plans.

Itinerary:

Night 1 (San Jose): Hampton Inn
Night 2&3 (Arenal): Arenal Nayara
Night 4-6 (Manuel Antonio): Rented a house in a gated community called Rancho Manuel Antonio
Night 7 (San Jose): Alta Hotel

Rented a SUV from Dollar.

Thanks for all the input everyone.

On to planning the activities!