I am flying into Liberia with two 18 year old boys who want to surf, zipline and see a volcano. We were going to stay in Tamarindo but I just read reports of the contaminated water. We fly into Liberia on a Monday and fly out that Saturday. Any suggestions on an itinerary and hotels? I was not planning to rent a car, but could if need be.

For ziplines and a volcano, I'd suggest you hit the Arenal area. We stayed at the Lost Iguana and really enjoyed it. You could pair this with a surfing location and get the best of both worlds.

Any knowledge of the waters in Tamarindo, if safe or not to surf?

The growth in Tamarindo has caused water/sewer issues, but hopefully the problems are being worked on. Check out the website for Witches Rock Surf Camp. They are located on the beach in Tamarindo and have a surf school, lodging, a restaurant, etc.

Arenal would probably be the best volcano to view, but if you are flying in/out of LIR, you are quite a distance away. You could go up to Rincon de la Vieja National Park. There are some great zip lines up that way and lot of other activities too. Maybe if you get a guidebook you will be able to visualize what activities are a reasonable distance from where you'll be staying.

Volcanogirl is right. You may want to stay in Tamarindo (or another surf area) for a few days and then pick another location to spend a few days. Flying within the country might be something to consider.

If you decide on Tamarindo, you may want to look at the website for Capitan Suizo. It's a favorite of many and right on the beach.

Ground transportation is easy to arrange, but you may want the freedom of having a rental car. Most day trips you sign up for will include transportation. Exploring would probably be easier with a car.

The planning will get easier as you get a little more familiar. When are you going to CR?

Tamarindo area to Arenal will cost you about 4-4.5 hours in driving time--we always enjoy the sights along the way, though! However, with such a short trip, you have to consider that 2 4 hour drives add up to a full day of activity lost! Not sure if the guys would go for that! Rincon a good suggestion, but as far as volcanos go, Arenal! You do run the risk of not seeing the volcano though, as it is so often cloudy in that area. We've been there when you wouldn't even know it was there--and other times when the entire volcano just reigns over the entire region! It's something to see, especially at night, when those red hot boulders come rolling down!

We are flying out June 9 and returning June 14. I have heard it is hard to drive around in a car. If we stay at Captain Suizo is it best to have them book the day trips or should I try and book this guide Lee that several have mentioned in other blogs?

For your more standard day trips, I'd book through your resort. They can usually get you good pricing plus the companies want to perform or else the resorts won't want to continue to use them. You just go to your lobby a few minutes before the pickup time and before you know it a driver will pull up asking for you and off you go.

For adventures that aren't the arranged, typical trip, you can hire a driver and kind of define what you want to do based on time, distance, etc. There are many places in town to sign up for day trips too - just walk down the main street in town and you'll see various travel agents offering things like zip lining, fishing, horseback riding, quad riding through the mud, rafting and sunset sails.

The self driving isn't for everyone. If you are fairly familiar with where you are headed, have detailed maps and plenty of patience, you can do it. Many roadways aren't very well marked making it an adventure for some and a nightmare for others.

Self driving definitely isn't for everyone, but it can be an interesting adventure. Our first time was 2002. We didn't have a detailed map, we spoke almost zero Spanish, and we had no familiarity whatsoever with the areas we were going. Nevertheless, we got along just fine. And enjoyed ourselves.

NOW we are familiar! The roads are marked much better now than they were then (in many areas) and many of the roads are in much better condition. There HAVE been improvements!

It all depends on your own comfort level. You need plenty of driving confidence, need to enjoy driving, and need to be able to relax and go with the flow. If not, hire a driver! It's all fun!