I am reading some of the trip planning posts on CR, but I have just barely started my planning, so I don't even know the names of places. What are the best CR web sites for trip planning info. We will go in Feb and split our time between the beach and the forest. We love smaller boutique hotels, not mega resorts. Nothing too overwhelmingly crouded, which I understand will be a challenge in Feb.

This is a good site www.costa-rica-guide.com. They have a list of the top 10 travel destinations in CR. I'd say the most popular beach spot is Manuel Antonio. For Cloud Forest, Monteverde. For volcano and jungle, Arenal/La Fortuna. For wildlife and rain forest, the Osa Peninsula. And for turtle nesting, Tortuguero. For waterfalls, La Paz. If you decide which areas interest you, you'll find a wealth of info. on this board.

I thought this site had good information even though I didn't use the TA. http://www.debbiescaribbeanresortrev...costarica.html

And this may be advertising but we have used Wilson & his wife Elsie 2x's and LOVE them:
www.costaricagreenadventure.com

Just tell them what you'd like and they will go above and beyond to make it happen at very reasonable prices.

Pura Vida

I agree with VG on the costa rica guide site. It's a nice website with lots of good information.

Lots of first-time visitors to CR choose a combination of Manuel Antonio and Arenal/La Fortuna. As VG mentions, this will give you a good mix of beach and jungle with a live volcano thrown in for good measure. That was our itinerary for our first visit to CR and we absolutely loved it! We felt it was a perfect mix and allowed us to see two distinct parts of the country.

You'll be able to find the smaller hotels you're interested in, as well as a nice range of restaurant choices and fun activities to participate in (hiking, wildlife viewing/birding, ziplines, hot springs, horse back riding, fishing, waterfall rapelling, etc, etc...).

The scenery is gorgeous in both locations and both have a good infrastructure established for tourists.

There are many other really wonderful places to visit in Costa Rica as well, but it would be hard to go wrong with the MA/Arenal combo, especially for a first visit to the country.

In addition to looking online, I would also recommend a picking up a guidebook like Fodor's or Lonely Planet which will provide good overviews of each region.

Once you start to narrow down an itinerary, there's a wealth of knowledge about hotels, restaurants and things to do here on the forum.

Good luck with your planning! CR is wonderful!!

We were in CR this past February and "crowded" is pretty relative... I don't think you're going to find anything in CR "overwhelmingly" crowded. For what it's worth, I don't like crowds at all and had no issues in Arenal or Mal Pais, both pretty popular tourist destinations. For us, La Paz (waterfall garden) was the most crowded and I'm guilty of having described it as being "Disney-ish" but, in truth, it doesn't even come close to the least crowded day in Disney World.

I love this forum as well as TripAdvisor but I think you'd be well served to purchase a travel guide -- Lonely Planet, Moon, Fodor's, they all have guide books for CR. I think you'll get a lot more out of these forums once you have some idea of the different regions, popular destinations, etc.

For an online resource, moon.com has a Costa Rica site that shows the different regions and the highlights of each region. No accommodation information, however.

I just booked my first trip to Costa Rica, going in Feb. I bought the Lonely Planet and Fador's guide books. While the books offer some good information I got the best info from Trip Advisor and this site. I am doing what I've been told is the "perfect first timers trip" - Arenal, Monteverde and Manuel Antonio. A good combo of the volcano, rainforest and beach. Like you I prefer the smaller boutique hotels and I chose mine based on recommendations from other travelers and reviews on trip advisor. From the advice I've gotten you really need to book your hotels now, especially if you want to stay in the nice, small boutique places. Feb. is a very popular time and the good places will be booked very soon. I have already booked my airfare (glad I did, the price went up $75.00 since I booked), all of my hotels, transportation and some of the more popular tours. I booked a couple hotels and tours through anywherecostarica.com. They have been great, very professional and a quick response. They only require a $50.00 deposit on your reservations with the balance due 45 days before your trip. I would recommend that you speed up your planning process and book soon so you can get the places that you want. Good luck!

Bookmarking!

www.xandari.com

would be a nice choice for

the central valley and the Pacific.

Do some volcano

www.arenal.net

www.lostiguanaresort.com

On CR web sites they are not great and fairly confusing.

Buy a good guide book.

Beware of 1costaricalink

cc fraud do not give them any info.

Have Fun,

Hi getmeoddahere!


General information can be found on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica

Information that is aimed more towards travelers can be found on most of the guidebook websites (Fodors, Moon, ...)
Tripadvisor has a lot of information, too.

Another good tool is the route planner for Costa Rica: www.yourtravelmap.com .


Have a good trip!

bookmarking. Thanks!