Hey all: we need driving directions

we'll be leaving on april 29 (morning) arriving in SJO, then driving to arenal (staying at Paraiso). then we are going to manuel antonio (staying at costa verde) and for our last night we are staying at Xandari in Alajuela. we are renting a car.

thank you very much and have a blessed day!

Hi,

Just buy a Berdston laminated map and follow it. There are only a few ways to go to each place, and even with the map, the lack of signs makes it interesting.

From SJO to Arenal, there are 3 ways to go - the fast way through San Ramon, the more scenic way through Sarchi and some other towns, and the way that goes to Poas and La Paz Waterfalls. So, depending on if you want to stop and see other things, that will impact your route.

Poas was closed due to eruptions when we were there 2 weeks ago, but La Paz is very pretty and has some nice hiking trails.

I prefer the route San Ramon/La Tigre/ La Fortuna to Arenal and consider that route very scenic and less travelled by trucks/autos and avoids some larger towns. As kaudry mentioned other routes will bring you through other interesting stops, ie. Zarcero topiary park/church etc.

How much longer does it take to get to Arenal from the airport via Sarchi and towns vs. via San Ramon?

You can look at the arenal.net website, there's a link to "regional driving directions to Arenal" (or something like that). There's a map with the 3 routes highlighted, and a paragraph describing each with driving times.