First Time to CR
 

Whew, I think I just wrote a small book jotting down the hints from many of your posts! What an amazing (and somewhat exhausting :) resource this is. Thanks!

I have a few questions of my own that I hope you don't mind answering. But first some background info:
- My husband, mother, stepfather and I will be traveling to CR May 2-11.
- We're planning on renting a car and driving to locations
- combination of clean budget hotels/higher end when necessary (like Arenal?)

Itinerary:
D1: arrive in SJO at 9:15am, take flight out to Tortuguero
D2:Tortuguero
D3:Morning flight back to SJO to pick up car and drive out to Arenal
D4:Arenal
D5:Drive to Monteverde
D6:Monteverde
D7:Drive to Miguel Antonio
D8:Miguel Antonio
D9:Miguel Antonio
D10:Drive to SJO for 2:55 pm flight

1. Too much?

2. Would like to see turtles in Tortuguero but I'm getting conflicting info. Most books say that you can see leatherbacks through May but guide companies don't have listings for May. No point in us taking a small flight out there if no turtles are going to show up!

3. Should we book hotel reservations? I kinda like the idea of being free to come and go as we please and if it was just Jim and I could stay anywhere but since we're traveling with my mom and her husband, we really have to be a bit more particular with hotels.

4. Should we stay closer to airport for our departing flight instead of staying that extra night in MA?

5. Any good car rental recommendations?

Thank you so much for all your help! I wish I could bake you all cookies to repay you for your help!

oops...those faves are suppose to be "Drive"...sorry about that!

Defintely skip Monteverde unless you want to eliminate Tortuguero and add that day to MV.

What are your interests?

Jerry

Not 100% positive but I believe all the flights to Tortuguero are all at the crack of dawn, not sure you'd be able to make a flight if you arrive at SJO at 9:15am. Also, again not positive, hopefully someone else will chime in here but I don't think in May it's good for turtles. I'd also skip Monteverde for that short amount of time and add it to Arenal. And just fyi, it's Manuel Antonio.

Doh! I keep on calling it "Miguel!" I think I knew a Miguel Antonio in college.

Since this is our first visit, we'd like to do the standard: nature walks, zip line, hot springs, beaches. Jim and I are more into the nature walks while my Mom is more interested in low intensity walks/relaxation.

Forget Monteverde, add a couple of nights to Arenal and stay a night at the Peace Lodge the night before your flight. Don't miss the Sky Tram/Zip lines in Arenal, they were a blast and the Hanging Bridges for a great nature walk.

Also, highly recommend Buena Vista Villas for stay in MA for private beach.

We rented from Excellent Car Rental/Payless, had a fine experience with them.

Check arenal.net. They have a pretty good listing of hotels in the Arenal area that are all different prices. This might give you enough to splurge in another area.

The Sky trek/Sky Tram is a great idea. If mom isn't as brave as you she could just ride the tram and get the views while you go for a little more excitement on the zip. Don't sell her short, a lot of us more mature women still like a little excitement in our lives.

Tortuguero does only have very early flights to and from. I would skip it for this trip.

Monteverde could be a stretch timewise as well.

Finding hotel rooms shouldn't be a problem if you want to wing it. May is not the busiest time of the year.

You could add a couple of days just outside of San Jose and do some interesting day trips like La Paz waterfall gardens, even a day trip to the Caribbean slope area-the highlight tour is nice and you get a ride on a slow boat to view wildlife, Poas volcano, Doka or Britt coffee plantation. Tons of things. You could even start out doing this and then move on. Doka, Poas and La Paz could be done on the way to Arenal.

Best time to see turtles is July-October in Tortuguero. Save it for another trip, as others have suggested. Have fun!

I agree about skipping Tortuguero this time around. And tully is right, all the flights are extremely early. So no chance of making it the first night anyway.

Plus, the ride by bus and boat is half the fun! I usually have my clients go this way, and then fly or land transfer back depending on time/budget.

I would then add an extra night in Monteverde, The other could be spent in either Manuel Antonio or near the airport. Don't forget that you have to check in three hours ahead of time for your international flight. It is a 3½ hour drive to the airport from Manuel Antonio IF you don't get lost or encounter any other problems along the way.

Spending the last night near the airport will make your last day a lot less hectic, and your travel day shorter.

I hope this helps. Let me know if I can offer more advice.

Warm Regards,
Pat Hewitt
(Travel professional)

Honestly, we thought our boat rides between Tortuguero and Moin were a big part of the fun. Modesto Watson was just terrific to stop and show us so much. I was able to add a lot of new birds to my list just from that part of the trip!

And I remember the sound of those flights coming in--VERY early! :)

Ok, so Tortuguero is out of the picture. Maybe next time.

That leaves me with two extra days...should I still count out Monteverde? I remember reading somewhere that Santa Elena is a good alternative to Monteverde?

I would love to add a visit to Poas, like Suzie2 suggested. Maybe on the way to Arenal.

Definitely will be staying closer to the airport that last night. Is the Peace Lodge close enough?

Thank you all once again!

Peace Lodge is about an hour and fifteen minutes from the airport (give or take a few minutes.) You can definitely stay there the night before you leave. Poas Volcano is about a 20 minute ride from Peace Lodge. Since hubby and I were not able to see anything at Poas (and we were there before 10am as suggested), I would not recommend it. Has anyone on this board had the pleasure of seeing Poas without fog?

Arenal is a beautiful place. When we visited there, we were able to see the summit every day. That was in February of 2006. Not sure what the weather is like there in May. We stayed at Lost Iguana and loved it.

D1 - arrive in SJO at 9:15am, pick up rental and drive to Arenal (Volcano hike/Eco Thermales dinner?)
D2 - Arenal (Cano Negro Tour)
D3 - Arenal (Zip Line/Hanging Bridges)
D4 - Drive to Monteverde or Santa Elena
D5 - Monteverde or Santa Elena
D6 - Monteverde or Santa Elena
D7 - Drive to Manuel Antonio
D8 - Manuel Antonio
D9 - Early morning drive to Peace Lodge
D10 - Drive to SJO for 2:55 pm flight (3 hrs early)

Ok, so I removed Tortuguero and added days to Arenal but now, Manuel Antonio is suffering. I was going to remove Monteverde completely but after reading a post by Pat_Hewitt, I'm not too sure I can leave CR without seeing a Cloud Forest! Am I crazy?

The Arenal area is nothing like the Monteverde area, right? Should I consider going to Santa Elena instead?

Santa Elena & Monteverde are same-same, just like Manuel Antonio & Quepos, both converge into one another, maybe 2-3 minutes apart. I'd see if you can add an extra day to your schedule and spend it in MA, shame to drive that far for such little time, or just cut out Peace Lodge.

We've seen Poas twice--the first two times we were there. Both times we arrived between 8:00 and 9:00. Last 3 times we've been (and have taken others with us), we've not arrived until about 10:00 or a little later and haven't been able to view it. I'd definitely try to be there be 8:00 for best luck. I know it's early, but it isn't fun to pay $30-$50 to get a small group in and not be able to see the crater. The restaurant and gift shop make for a nice stop, but at that price, a bit on the expensive side! :)

Skip Tortuguero and add a night in Monteverde. We stayed at Lost Iguana in Arenal, El Sapo Dorado in Monteverde, and Tulemar Bungalows in Manuel Antonio. They were all PERFECT!

Santa Elena and Monteverde are very close to each other. You could do the Monteverde cloud forest one day, and Santa Elena the next if you really wanted to. Personally, I'd do your canopy tour in Monteverde instead of Arenal.

Monteverde is definitely more 'rustic' than Arenal, and clearly more remote, but if you like nature, the cloud forest is awesome and not to be missed. Monteverde had the best food of our whole trip too!