mysic

We are 4 adults, going to CR for 8 nights in September (7-15), planning to stay 2 nights in Arenal to do some activities (rain forest, zip lining?), and then we want to spend another 5 nights at the beach. A weather side recommends to go to Caribbean part. Please advise! Puerto Viejo or ????? The hotels? Restaurants??? Or should we go to MA or anywhere else? The last night we will be at the airport area. Should we skip Arenal and go straight to the beach and do everything over there?
Thank you.

qwovadis

www.weather2travel.com CR

"when to travel" for September rainfall patterns

Guanacaste/Nicoya less rain

www.lafinisterra.com

www.hotelcapitansuizo.com

usually best conditions

plumboy

Haven't been, but all the research I've done says September/October are the driest months to be on the southern Caribbean coast -- go for it. You can see average rainfall amounts in that area, check here:

http://www.puertoviejosatellite.com/weather.php

hipvirgochick

Great time of year around Puerto Viejo. Beautiful area, lots of beaches, easy to bicyle around. What type of accommodations are you looking for? Can personally recommend both Banana Azul and Azania Bungalows.

I would suggest though adding a night in Arenal and taking the Cano Negro tour. 3 nights really only gives you two full days and there's so much to see and do in the area. El Silencio del Campo is a wonderful, locally owned lodge with individual cabinas and hot springs on site.

mysic

Thank you very much for all your responses. I still have a lot of questions. I'm surprised, not so many people go to Caribbean Part and so not much reports. Why is so?
I will be considering adding another night in Arenal. If so, is it enough time in PV (4 nights)? How about Tortuguero?
We are planning to take an Interbus or should we arrange anything else.

Thank you very much. It's really very helpful.

volcanogirl

Tortuguero is wonderful, but you can't swim at the beaches there - too rough and also sharks and crocs in the area. It's a wonderful place to go if you want to spot wildlife. We saw 3 kinds of monkeys, sea turtles, toucans, parrots, trogans, crocs, caimans, otters, and blue morphos there. The lodge where we stayed had tons of those little red blue jean frogs hopping around. We just loved it.

GeckoTrail

How about this:

Sep 7: Arrival and transportation to Arenal; stay two nights
Sep 8: Day to spend in Arenal
Sep 9: Pickup and transportation to Tortuguero; stay one night
Sep 10: Tortuguero and onward transportation to Puert Viejo; stay 4 nights
Sep 11: Puerto Viejo
Sep 12: Puerto Viejo
Sep 13: Puerto Viejo
Sep 14: River Rafting and transportation to San Jose; stay one night
Sep 15: Departure from San Jose

This itinerary can be easily be adjusted to your needs. For example if you're plane on the 15th is in the afternoon, you could travel to SJO the same day and do the rafting before or after you Tortuguero trip.

Since it is 4 of you, you may consider to hire a private van instead of using Interbus. For example, for the trip from San Jose to Arenal, the private van works out cheaper than Interbus ($145 for the private van versus 4 x $39 p.p. for Interbus).

8 days may not seem to be much time but still enough to see a good part of Costa Rica. It is all about the right planning.