We are planning our trip to costa rica for the first week in august. We were planning on visiting Arenal and staying at Arenal lodge. Then after two days we were going to Mal Pais for about 5 days. We wanted to do the canopy tour there and were wondering if anyone knew of any other fun activities there. LIke a good scuba and snorkeling place and even deep sea fishing. Please help we dont really know a lot of information. We were also looking at moving back up to playa portero area for 2 days if there are any good hotels up there? Any advice would be greatly apreciated!
Thanks!

Here are 2 good sites that will give good info - http://www.malpais.net/ and http://www.nicoyapeninsula.com/malpais/ A day trip to Cabo Blanc is a lot of fun, it's a pretty decent hike to the beach and back but very nice, you can taxi there from Mal Pais, takes about 45 minutes. CR isn't really known for great snorkeling or scuba, I don't recall seeing any tours offering that but I wasn't looking either. The Mal Pais Canopy tour is okay, think it was around $35.

Hopefully plumboy will chime in here, he just stayed near the Potrero area and can offer up some good advice.

Potrero area one of our favorites. . .Bahia del Sol right in Potrero would be a good choice, I think, though we haven't stayed there. It is catty across from the bakery which has really good pastries and sandwiches.

We really like Flamingo Beach Resort in Playa Flamingo, 5 minutes from Potrero; gorgeous beach, nice sunsets, decent hotel with fabulous pool.

Are you sure you want to do the canopy tour at Mal Pais since you will be at Arenal? Many people think that Sky Trek is one of the best ziplines in Costa Rica, so you might want to do it there.

If you have ever snorkeled in beautiful, clear water you may be disappointed in CR snorkeling. We went to some offshore islands on a catamaran cruise out of Flamingo, went snorkeling and kayaking. I enjoyed the snorkeling, saw lots of fish, but it is not the same as the Caribbean islands.

In Brasilito (not far from Potrero) there's a great little hotel called Hotel Conchal. It's not on the beach, but we loved it. Simon, the owner, is a scuba diver and he would be more than willing to help you with scuba details.
http://conchalcr.com It's a small hotel with 9 or 10 rooms, about a five minute walk to Brasilito Beach, but 10 minutes or so to gorgeous Playa Conchal. We worked with Simon on a project to assist their local school, great guy.

www.skytrek.com best zip tour

www.desafiocostarica.com

for best adventures liquid lava Cano Negro Rio Celeste

my favs...

other areas covered well for you like

www.moanalodge.com Mal Pais pretty cool

Have fun,

Potrero is a nice place although that whole area is getting built up. I enjoyed a week staying with a local family there many years ago. It is about a 30-45 min walk from Flamingo or you can take a taxi.

There are several places that offer scuba diving around Flamingo. Flamingo Beach Resort has a dive shop right in it. They have pretty much finished their renovations and the new, improved casino is done as well as the pool area and many other things.

Diving and snorkeling can be variable there. I have seen reports of people seeing whales and huge rays but visibility can be problematic. I have been snorkeling a couple of different times of year on different stays and honestly have yet to even see a fish. Did get a brief look at a small turtle the first time but nobody saw anything else. Try a combo snorkel/dive/sunset cruise. If the diving/snorkeling is a bust you still get to see a beautiful sunset.

I would recommend further south around Cano Island if diving is high on your list. We did see some good stuff there. You could think about the Dominical/Uvita area instead. Plenty of things to do in that area. Hacienda Baru is fun to visit, Nauyaca Water Falls, sea kayaking in caves in Ballena Marine reserve, you can do a day trip to Cano island from there.

As was mentioned, Costa Rica is not really known for great diving/snorkeling.