Guanacaste or Manuel Antonio?
 

We are planning a 7 day trip to Costa Rica. We plan on spending 2-3 days in the Arenal area and then 4 days in either Guanacaste or Manuel Antonio? We would love feedback on which might be better. We would like some adventure and relaxation and planning to go in early June. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

We stayed in Guanacaste in 1999, I don't assume much has changed in that area since then. What we found was there wasn't much to do directly in Guanacaste, so you end up taking tours that are 3 or more hours away. We are going back to CR soon, and this time we booked time at Arenal, San Jose area, and Manuel Antonio. I personally think MA would be a better choice. You can still relax as much as you want, but have more options for activities closer by.
Good luck....enjoy, CR is a beautiful country!

I also prefer Manuel Antonio over Guanacaste.

Sandy

shelja,
Just returned from CR. Definetly Manuel Antonio! We had a great time here. Stayed at Tulemar, there is some construction, just ask to be farther away, we were in unit 111-directly next to the construction, only bothered me one time out of 5 days. Plenty to do here. Hired a guide for a hike in Manuel Antonio Park, very helpful. Also, went on a boat tour of the Mangrove forest- tons of monkeys and birds there. Beach at Tulemar is lovely, with kayaks for your use and snorkeling equip. Buena Vista Villas is also located at Tulemar, little more pricey but private and beautiful, also use of the same beach and amenities. Great breakfast -no mangoes
though :( Dinner was okay, not great- Ceasar salad was swimming in dressing. But tuna with green pepper corn sauce -YUM.
Good places to eat: Rico Tico bar and grill at Si Como No (very close by) also Anaconda near the Costa Verde hotel ( may be part of that hotel, not sure- but GREAT food) Marluna- pretty good . It's a long journey from Arenal to MA.Might want to consider a puddle jumper flight to Quepos. Arenal was beautiful too, may be rainy and cloudy for the viewing of the volcano that time of year. Great restaurant in that area is El Novillo, small little place on the side of the road,easy to miss. But food was outstanding. Good Luck! You can e-mail me for more info if you like
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The food comments were about Tulemar by the way, not Buena Vista Villas- I don't know the food situation there. Just wanted to clear that up.