My family -- my husband and myself, our two boys (14 and 13) and our 10 year old girl -- are planning to go to Costa Rica in June. Once we arrive in San Jose, we will have 7 days to explore Costa Rica. This is what I am planning so far:

Day 1: From SJ, go to Lost Iquana, stopping by La Paz Waterfall Gardens and Parque Nacional Volcan Poas on the way.

Day 2: Do Arenal Hanging Bridges, Sky Tram and Tabacon Springs. Will we be able to do all of this in one day without feeling rushed?

Day 3 and 4: Monteverde area. How long a trip from Arenal area? What are the best things to see and do here?

Days 5, 6 and 7: Off to a beach area. Manueal Antonio or somewhere on the Nicoya or Osa Pens?

My sons want to do some fishing and are on a quest for a rooster fish. It is also absolutely necessary for my daughter to see a monkey and a sloth. Should I skip Monteverde, add a day to Arenal and add a day to the Beach?

Any help will be appreciated.

We are from a rural area and would not enjoy large crowds. We also do not need to be entertained. With this in mind, please let me know what to avoid.

Since I posted my message, I've read some older posts. It sounds like, given the number of days that we have, that we would be better off going to either the Arenal area or the Monteverde area, but not both. Which would be best in June? Are the forests in one area better than in the other? Which has the best ziplines/trams? If the experiences are similar, we will probably go to the Arenal area because of the volcanoe. However, if the cloud-forest-Monteverde thing is the experience of a life-time, someone please let me know!

Would MA be very crowded in June? The only reason we would stay there would be because the park is both beach and rainforest. If we go there, we may stay at Tulemar, because it has its own beach. Any comments? Is Coste Verde better?

The pictures I've seen of the Nicoya beaches show calm, clear, blue-green waters. Does anyone know of a great waterfront place to stay in the Nicoya Pen. area that has access to rainforest?
Thanks

There are arguments back and forth about Arenal vs. Monteverde, but most agree that you have to give either place more than a night or two. Your plan indicated that you intend to go to Arenal on Day 1, while stopping at La Paz along the way. By Day 1, do you mean the day your flight arrives in San Jose? Because if that's what you mean, you should check into what time your flight arrives. Most US flights arrive in the late morning or early afternoon. After you get through customs, take a shuttle to your rental car, and take car of that paperwork, it could easily be 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. before you get on the road. Since the sun goes down between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m., you won't have much daylight on Day 1 to drive anywhere. Arenal is about 3.5 hours away. If you haven't driven in Costa Rica before (and, frankly, even if you have), you don't want to drive from San Jose to Arenal after dark. I say all of this only to indicate that you may actually have one less night than you think.
That being said, I think I am in the minority of people who prefer Monteverde to Arenal. There is no comparison of the forests. Monteverde is a true cloud forest and after you've walked 50 feet up a trail you'll feel like you are in a movie. We enjoyed Arenal, and actually got to see lava flows at night; but once the initial awe wore off, the volcano was just a beautiful piece of the scenery. Monteverde was for me a unique adventure.

I am unable to comment on many of your choices. During our trips to CR we have avoided some of your activites because of their growing popularity and the crowds that come with it.

I am from a rural area, detest large crowds, and do not need to be entertained- which might explain why we did not like Arenal/ Tabacon.

We did honeymoon in MA- loved it but it was busy (June '02) and beginning to be developed. The main reason we loved MA is because it gave us a taste (a small taste) of the rainforest (actually tropical wet forest) and the wildlife.

Visiting MA got us to come back to CR for the real treasures.

My 3 recommendations are-

1)try if at all possible try to stay for a little longer

2)if you really want to avoid crowds rethink your plans- you are heading to the most popular places in CR

3)if you only have a week, go to a remote location on the water with close access to large sections of primary forest and stay put- your son can fish, your daughter can see wildlife, and you and your husband can relax.

You have lots of time to plan and I would encourage you to do more research before you lock in to reservations.

We are planning to visit Monteverde in Dec and as I understand it, there are two monteverde hotels that have views of Arenal. They are Mirador and Vista Verde Lodge. (We've reserved a couple of nights at Mirador.)
Point is, you may be able to have your cake and eat it too!
Can anyone confirm this?

John

Thanks so much for your imput, everybody. This is what we are thinking at this point:

Arrive in SJ on Day 1 and get a hotel there.

Get up early on Day 2 and go to the Monteverde area. Spend the remainder of Day 2 and Day 3 there.

Get up early on Day 4 and go to a non-touristy hotel/resort/cabina/ whatever that is on a nice beach (safe for swimming and good for fishing) that is very near or bordered by primary rainforest. Spend Days 5-8 there, wherever that is. A Manuel Antonio situation with a lodge and without all the people would be great.

The places that I have found in my Costa Rica guide books and on the internet are simply too expensive for a family of five ($600-$800 per night for all of us). I'm hoping that those of you that are familiar with Costa Rica will be able to help. Thanks for your help.

I forgot to add that I don't want to be in too remote a place. Being near a small town with a couple of local restaurants would be nice. Thanks.

My husband and I visited both Arenal and Monteverde last July, and we definitely found Arenal more touristy (though we did see several monkeys and sloths on the Cano Negro boat trip from Arenal.) Monteverde and the Poas Volcano region were the highlights of our trip. (Seeing the clouds lift at Poas to expose the bubbling sulphurous crater was exhilarating.)

With regard to your updated itinerary:
Instead of staying in San Jose the first night, you might consider driving to the Poas Volcano region and staying the night there. In my humble opinion, San Jose is grimy and a bit scary; we did not feel safe walking around after dark (and we live in Oakland, CA!) It's a beautiful drive on smooth roads from San Jose to the Poas region, and you could get up early the next morning to see Poas before heading off to Monteverde. Near Poas, we stayed at the rustic and fairly inexpensive Poas Volcano Lodge ($75/night for a double).

In the cloudforest region, we stayed at the Monteverde Lodge for three nights, and we loved it. (Last I checked, a double goes for $125, so I think it would fit your budget.) The rooms are clean and spacious with large picture windows. We were able to watch hummingbirds feed on the flowering shrubs right outside our window every morning.

The staff was incredibly helpful, and it's a short drive to Santa Elena for meals at local restaurants. (Definitely try the milkshakes at Morphos!)

The peaceful grounds of Monteverde Lodge are right next door to Finca Ecologica, a private nature reserve, which used to be an old banana plantation. We took an excellent guided night walk of Finca Ecologica, where we encountered an owl, an arboreal porcupine, an agoutis (a large pig-like rodent related to the capybara), several sleeping birds, leaf-cutter ants, and some gigantic spiders. If you don't mind the creepy crawlies lurking in the dark, it's fantastic. (Our guide, Marco, was the best we encountered on our entire trip: knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and not too long-winded.)

I'm glad you decided to make the trek to Monteverde. The drive there is crazy, but the cloud forest is stunningly green, with a beautiful misty canopy that sways in the wind. We did the zipline at Skytrek, and the feeling of soaring into the mist was unforgettable.

Have a great trip.

Below, I've linked a few trip reports that I found incredibly helpful when planning my first trip to Costa Rica:

The eloquent and very clear Hakmat (he mentions Playa Carillo, which might be one possibility for your beach stay).

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34649192

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34649194

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34649396

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34649603

Melissa5 (I love her descriptions of the Monteverde Cloudforest):

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34644342