2bebeaus

We are going to CR the end of October/early November. We plan to spend 3 nights in Santa Elena, 3 nights at Arenal, and the last night in La Paz.

In Santa Elena/Monteverde we plan to do the Selvatura Zip-Lines and Hanging Bridges, the Monteverde Natural History Tour and see the San Luis Waterfall.

We'll Jeep-boat-Jeep to Arenal. There we plan to go to Baldi Hot Springs, the PureTrek waterfall rappelling, see the Catarata de la Fortuna, do a night tour of the volcano and hikes at the Observatory Lodge where we will be staying.

At La Paz we will stay at the Peace Lodge and take advantage of all the free activities they offer.

A few questions:
1 - is there anything we should do in the Santa Elena/Monteverde area that we don't have planned already?
2 - anyone done any of the ATV tours offered in the Monteverde/Arenal areas?
3 - should we spend an extra night in the La Paz area to see the Paos Volcano? If so, what is a good budget option, as we can't afford two nights at the Peace Lodge?
4 - How much should we budget for transportation from Alajuela to Monteverde, Arenal to La Paz, and La Paz to Alajuela?

Thanks for taking the time to look at this and respond. I'm trying to make sure we are giving ourselves enough time to do things before we book our plane tickets.

Kerry

mosey10

I'm not sure about your other questions, but Poas is only like a 20 minute car ride from PL. You can easily fit it in along with the other activities at PL. No need for an extra night. We had plenty of down time! And really only did activities 2 days. We saw and learned about the butterflies and, fed the hummingbirds, hiked and saw the waterfalls, and saw the seprpentarium all in less than 1 day. Actually, depending on how much extensive hiking you plan to do outside the waterfall trail (the main trail) you can easily do all of this in 1/2 a day. We hiked for a couple of hours, and the rest takes a couple of hours. You can do more hiking the next day also. My suggestion is wake up real early and try to get to Poas as soon as they open. Later it clouds over. The earlier the better. If you're there by 8:00, then depending on how much additional hiking you do, you'd be done by 10:00. We saw and took pics of the volcano, and then did about a 30-45 minute hike to the lagoon. I think 2 hours would accomplish the volcano and a little hiking. You could be back at PL by 10:30-11:00 and that's still plenty of time for hiking and seeing the exhibits the same day.

dfarmer

3 nights each Arenal and Monteverde, will give you a wonderful amount of time to do those things that you are interested in.

As for Peace Lodge, enjoy your time here, you may find that your room alone will keep you busy.

I read a report on Fodor's of the Poas Volcano Lodge, you may have seen that thread a few days back - Anyway you too may want to look at it. I can't remember when they are traveling, hopefully there will be more info soon, the place sounds pretty good. Certainly you can also stay outside SJ at somewhere like Orchideas Inn and do a daytrip back up to Poas. I would guess it is less than an hour drive?
Doka Coffee Plantation is on the road between Poas, La Paz and Alejuela, may want to stop in here.

2bebeaus

Thank you for the replies. Another question now.

We are not planning on having a rental car. How easy is it to get around from the Peace Lodge? Like to the volcano or other places to eat? Are taxis available?

Thanks again!
Kerry

mosey10

We had our own car, but I'm sure if you call the front desk they can get you a taxi. The nearest restaurants are about 10 minutes up the road. Poas is about 20 minutes away. The hotel has a tour package that takes you to the volcano and to Doka Coffee Plantation for something like $60 per person. You can do it for 1/2 on your own, but if you have no car, it may be worth it to you to have them transport you to both of these places on the tour and not have to worry about or pay for a taxi. Not sure if how much a taxi would be versus the tour.