Costa Rica with three young boys
 

Hello

We are heading to Costa Rica in April with our three young boys (9,8,8). Thinking of basing ourselves in Arenal for a first couple of days and then the beach for another couple of days. Any suggestions of a good place to stay with kids in Arenal? Doesn't need to be fancy. When I was there before, I stayed at the AOL but not sure that is the best place with the guys.

In terms of a beach....last time I was there I stayed at the Corcovado Tent Lodge. Don't think that makes sense for the guys. What beach should we go to? They like to snorkel and boogie board but need rather calm water for that. Tamarindo? Manual Antonia? Any suggestions of a place to stay?

Thanks so much.
taitai

We stayed at Tulemar Bungalows (villa mot mot can be found on vrbo.com) in Manuel Antonio last year with our young son. We chose it because the water is calm there and they have a private beach. It's a beautiful, relatively quiet place in the rainforest with tons of wildlife. There are several pools and the beach with boogie boards, kayaks and sand toys all for free use. Our only complaint with MA is that the food was very expensive, but you can cook dinner at your villa if you prefer. The restaurant on the beach there was reasonable and convenient for lunch. It's an easy place to be with kids. Haven't been to Arenal in 10 years, so sorry I can't help there!

With kids, I'd recommend going around the lake to hotel Tilawa.
They have a pool and a really cool gas fired "hot spring",a skateboard park and offer other tours like windsurfing and horseback rides.All of the REAL restaurants are around this side of the lake.
Snorkeling ? Cahuita National Park, hands down the best.

Los Lagos is really popular with young families. You might check that one out. Silencio del Campo is another one. Tulemar mentioned above is really popular for young families too if you can give up the snorkeling. We didn't find good snorkeling in MA.

Thanks for the advice. Tulemar looks great. I have been communicating with Dave there trying to figure all this out.

Now the big question...do we just base ourselves in MA for the week or do we also do Arenal? The boys are great travelers and pretty easy going. They will be okay with two places but I am wondering if it would just be a more enjoyable trip if we didn't move mid-week.

Any thought on that?

If you are looking into Tulemar, you're better off booking on vrbo.com if villa mot mot is appealing/available to you. She charges less than if you book through the resort. You get all the same amenities. personally I think 4 days would be more than enough in MA and Arenal is a worthwhile trip.

I'd do an even split between MA and Arenal. For us MA is good for about three nights, same with Arenal. It's nice to see a couple of different areas since there's so much diversity in CR, and Arenal has a lot to do, plus the volcano.

I agree with Mot-Mot. Great choice and great beach there. I would definitely split your time with Arenal.