Need help.

I will be in CR for 9 days. Flying into San Jose.
day 1 -Xandari

day 2,3,4,5 fly to Liberia -Four Seasons

day 5,6,7 Hotel Punta Islita??? not sure where I should fly to from Liberia. Where can you fly from Liberia other than San Jose? I want NICE accommodations with fun stuff to do.

day 7,8,9 Monteverde/La Fortuna -wanted to see both but it seems like alot. Will I be able to drive back from this area and make an afternoon flight from SJ?

Any suggestions for the latter part of my trip.
Karen

Punta Islita is very secluded and only accessible by flight from San Jose. There isn't much to do there except relax. However, it is absolutely gorgeous and we loved our stay there (last 4 days of our 2 week honeymoon this past April). They do offer some tours, but nothing like what you can find elsewhere. We chose to do nothing. There is a "town" but there are no shops and only 1 restaurant besides the resort. A taxi to the Samara beach area is $40 each way, but there is more of a town there.

You might consider driving from San Jose to Arenal then on to Liberia then fly back to San Jose (or the reverse - fly to Liberia, get a car, drive to Monteverde/Arenal, then to San Jose).
On a map that makes sense. But I would not advise going to Liberia then Punta Islita then Arenal. That's a lot of driving. Don't be fooled by how close everything looks, the roads are bad and the drives are long.

We drove from Arenal to Punta Islita and got a little lost. Trip took us 7 hours.

You might consider splitting your time between Liberia and then Monteverde/Arenal. That would be easy to do in 9 days, and you could see a lot.

The drive from Arenal to San Jose should take about 3 hours, but I would give yourself extra time.

Stacey

You will love the Four Seasons resort. We just returned from there and it was wonderful. We drove to San Jose to the resort then took tours, etc. from the resort. We spent the second half of our vacation at the Playa Conchal. There is a small airport in Tamarindo as well, but it is close to the resort.

Also, if you are interested in any tours, Diego, with TAM tours was great.

I am certain that you will love Costa Rica. It is a great country.

Thank you april0404 Punta Islita sounds wonderful but I think we want more to do. Should we spend more time in Monteverde/Arenal area? Is it that great? or is there somewhere else worth seeing?
Thanks, Karen

That depends on what you like to do. We liked Arenal and wished we had more time, but we are into hiking and outdoor adventure so we loved what that area had to offer. Many people might say there isn't much to do there except the hot springs and view the volcano.

We did not go to Monteverde. I've heard it's nice, but a pain to get to.

Manuel Antonio is another great area with lots to do and nice resorts, but with your limited time, going there may not be worth it unless you skip the Four Seasons. You might be able to fly there (Quepos) from Liberia.

Some things we didn't get to do, but plan to do on our next trip: From San Jose you could take trips to Poas Volcano, La Paz Waterfall, Irazu Volcano, Coffee plantation tours, white water rafting on the Pacuare.

Have you already booked your flight to San Jose? If you are going to Liberia, you might try to see if you can get a flight from home to Liberia, that could save you some travel time, and allow you extra time to see other things.

Stacey