Hi, my boyfriend and I will be taking our first trip to Costa Rica Oct. 11-18. I'd appreciate advice anyone has about our tentative itinerary and lodging.

Day 1- Fly into Liberia and head for Arenal.

Day 2 and 3- Arenal National Park, Tabacon Hot Springs, Rio Fortuna Waterfall.

Day 4 and 5- Travel to Monteverde, do a canopy tour, visit the cloud forest preserve, do a nighttime hike.

Day 6 and 7- Leave Monteverde for Playa del Coco, spend the next day relaxing on the beach or scuba diving.

Day 8- fly out of Liberia and go home

We're not planning on renting a car. We want to take taxis or hire drivers. I realize this is more expensive but it's something we are ok with. How easy is it to find a driver?

Places we're thinking about staying include Arenal Lodge or Tabacon Resort, Hotel El Sapo Dorado or Monteverde Lodge, and Villa del Sol B&B or Hotel Villa Casa Blanca.

Are we trying to do too many things for a weeklong trip? Should we just skip Playa del Coco and focus on Arenal or Monteverde? I don't want to feel like we're spending a lot of time transferring yet I realize it may be unavoidable. Thanks.

Hi! I am leaving in Playas del coco since more than 4 years I think you should come visit us and beach around ...scuba diving is so GREAT big aquarium !!good restaurants and shopping!!I have a canadian friend who owen and hotel beach front swimming pool and she is good host .,.let me know if you want more details or help in your schedule (very heavy) but possible ...that is why you will need to relax a bit before going back in the "jungle civilize", Mychelle

That is a pretty ambitious trip for one week. October is one of the rainiest months and Monteverde could be a washout for you. One thing you could do is to contact monteverdeinfo.com. They can provide just about any type of transportation you might need. They also do, weather permitting, the horseback trip from Arenal to Monteverde and the Jeep/boat/Jeep to Monteverde. They have private bus shuttles and private vans. With your tight schedule it would be best not to have to travel on someone elses schedule like you would with the buses. He has a shuttle directly to Tamarindo if you wanted to think about staying there instead of Playa del Coco which would be a little cheaper than the private mini van and could end up being a private trip if there aren't any other riders that day. Jacques also has an information station at his Pension in Monteverde/Santa Elena (Pension Santa Elena). I think he might also have a place in Fortuna now also. You might ask him if you could wait to arrange to go to Monteverde after you get to the country so you can see how the weather is going. I am sure 2 days would be enough notice for him that time of year to arrange the transportation up there for you.
Two other options for transportation...
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Pat Hewitt is an agent that can help you arrange anything you might need, he is at lovecostarica.com. He is very honest. He also owns a home in Monteverde and can give you a good idea of the weather at that time.

I have just returned from a trip to Costa Rica. We stayed at Villa Casa Blanca for 2 nights, it was wonderful and very affordable. The beach in Ocotal is a short walk away, we were woken on the first morning by the call of Howler Monkeys. We also stayed at Tabacon and while the hotel is good (breakfast was great) we were disappointed by our room. We had paid the premium for a suite and felt that it was definitely not worth the extra money. This was the only place we stayed that we felt that the staff were not very helpful. Hope this helps.

Be sure to leave enough time between your dive and your flight home, if you keep this itinerary

Hi,

We did close to the same tour two years ago and loved it. Yes, it was busy but CR is a beautiful country and you will want to see as much as you can. That said, consider cutting something if you want to mellow out some. We went in August and had rain each day but never all day. I hear October is rainier.

Arenal Lodge is great -- spring for the extra and book one of the Smithsonian rooms with a view of the volcano. Food was good and people were wonderful. Electricity goes out often but there are plenty of candles. We had wanted to spend time at Tabacon but our reservation was screwed up. No one's fault but if you book there be careful to get some written proof. We also stayed at El Sapo Dorado and I am sending my boss there next week. Excellent! Pretty and comfortable. Very good food at the restaurant.

Just a warning -- we did the horse back ride from the volcano to the cloud forest. It is stunning but very hard -- with horses trudging in mud up to their knees and slipping down rocky slopes. It was probably some of the most beautiful land I have ever seen but if you do not ride regularly (as we did not) you will hurt afterwards. Frankly, I didn't know if I could get off the horse by the end!

Also, the canopy tour -- we did Sky Trek -- was not to be missed. Peter Pan never had it so good!

Have a great time,
Suzanne

Write if you have more specific questions.
Also, feel free to call the hotels and ask for transportation help. People are very willing to help and arrange.

If you have a chance to go to Manuel Antonio do not hesitate. I just returned from there and in my estimation it one of the most beautiful places on earth! There is plenty of wildlife there and the weather was beautiful. Stay at either Tulemar Bungelows or Costa Verde. Both are georgous. Theres a lot to do there so chill and have fun.

Not sure, but I think the Smithsonian rooms are at Arenal Observatory Lodge, not Arenal Lodge. We stayed at Arenal Lodge in March and enjoyed it, but we had a rental vehicle to get around in. Met a couple staying there who were frustrated by the difficulty of getting transportation up and down the big hill (it's off the beaten track), so you might want to take that into consideration and stay somewhere down off the road (like Arenal Paraiso).

The smithsonian rooms are are the Arenal Observatory Lodge. Big difference between the two places. That said, the best viewing of the lava is not there at this time. You would be better off at Montana de Fuego or Arenal Paraiso for viewing. The Observatory Lodge is also much more difficult to get to which can be nice but at that time of year it may be more trouble than it is worth.

Sorry I confused Arenal Lodge with Areval Observatory Lodge.

We had no trouble with transportation in August. We did a lot of public transportation and hired the minivans when necessary to get to where we wanted to go. We found lots of help to do either. Of course, I have no idea what it will be like in October.

Wow, thanks for all the helpful replies.

We've decided we'll do the beach and scuba diving first, then to Arenal. Maybe we'll reconsider Monteverde if the rain is bad.

I looked at the website for Tabacon Resort, it looks like a nice place but the impression I get now is that it may not be worth it or another place would be better.

Does anyone know about wakeboarding in Costa Rica?

Saracita,

We were there a couple of years ago and actually went water sking on Arenal lake. There was a guy there with a boat (Mastercraft) who would take people out on a tour of the lake and it was absolutely beautiful. I remember that he said there were some wakeboarders from around different parts of the world that would come to Lake Arenal to train. I think he was about one of the only people with a power boat on the lake. I believe his name was Ramone? We happened to meet him at dinner at our hotel. I am sure anyone in the Arenal area could tell you who to contact for skiing/wakeboarding.

I don't know of anywhere else in CR that would have wakeboarding. Hope this helps.