Help prioritize Cano Negro, Monteverde & Manual Antonio
 

Our family (incl two 8-yr old girls) are travelling to CR Nov 27- Dec 3. Based on my reading of tour guides and fellow Fodorite comments, I want to rearrange part of our itinerary.
Basically, our interests are flora/ fauna/ local scenary and culture. A couple of hrs by the beach would be nice but not a must. We basically want to use hotels for sleeping in a clean place (i.e., generally don't use pools & other amenities) and/ or convenient location to our point of interest.
Manual Antonio: I am a bit confused about Manual Antonio. It seems that the park itself is a half a day tour, and monkeys are the top attraction there. Besides the park & beach, it seems there is not much more that to do in MA. If we visit Cano Negro, Arenal & Monteverde, and if we have done zip-line, horseback riding and a beach elsewhere, is there much we would miss by not visiting MA.
Cano Negro: I have read that the several hour boat ride for animal viewing might be too boring for kids. Is that true? Are we likely to see the same fauna if we were to visit Arenal, Monteverde & MA? If true, then I would like to take Cano Negro off our itinerary.
Monteverde: Fellow Fodorites have advised me to do Monteverde only if I can go there for 2 days. From my reading of MV, it seems like a place that has a lot for everyone in the family. I am seriously considering dropping Cano Negro from our itinerary, or shortening Manual Antonio to just a day visit. This will give me time to do 2 full days in Monteverde.
Here are the options I am considering:
Option 1 (shortening stay at MA):
Day 1 - Arrive SJO at 1pm. Drive to MA, enjoy beach
Day 2 - MA park in morning - leave for Monteverde in afternoon
Day 3 - MV
Day 4 - MV, then onto Arenal
Day 5 - Cano Negro/ Arenal
Day 6 & 7: Peace Lodge area

Option 2 (Not visiting Cano Negro):
Day 1 - Arrive SJO at 1pm. Drive to Arenal area
Day 2 - morning Arenal, then drive to MV
Day 3 - MV
Day 4 - Drive to MA
Day 5 - MA
Day 6 & 7: Peace Lodge area

Option 3 (Not visiting Manual Antonio):
Day 1: Head to Monteverde
Day 2: MV
Day 3: Leave MV to a nearby beach like Playa Dona Ana
Day 4&5: Arenal/ Cano Negro
Day 6&7: Peace lodge area

Please help choose the right one. Thanks

Amongst all your choices, I would say Monteverde is probably the one that is visited least by families. Just curious about what specifically interests you about that area. Our take was that it was mostly about hiking in the reserve, seeing the quetzal, etc. We saw very few children when we went there. MA and Arenal get a lot more families, as does the Peace Lodge. For me personally, I would give up Monteverde since it's such a long bumpy road to get there and your trip is so short, but maybe there's something there that specifically interests you? I would be afraid that Monteverde might be boring for children.

MA is popular just because it's so easy to get around, has lots of good restaurants, and has a beautiful beach. There are other activities outside the park such as mangrove tours, sailing, etc. We went snorkeling, but it was kind of a bust due to all the sediment in the water. The guided tour of the park is nice for seeing all kinds of wildlife - monkeys, sloths, bat, lizards, crabs, etc. And the beach is beautiful.

We love the Cano Negro tour, but only you can decide if your kids would enjoy it based on their personalities. It's an all-day tour from about 7-4. You start on a nice bus, and the guide will point out things along the way - we saw toucans, a sloth, huge iguanas - and then you get to the river and ride on a nice boat for a few hours and have lunch and then come back. We saw amazing birds, howler monkeys, sloths. We loved it, just for the boat ride alone and being out on the water and seeing so much wildlife. Arenal also has the Hanging Bridges hike, the volcano which is amazing, and natural hot springs like Tabacon or Eco Termales that kids would love.

I think all of your itineraries have you spending too much time on the road. I'd narrow it to two area given your short time frame. It's hard to try to see everything in one trip. We've been several times and are still going back. Just curious, do you already have the Peace Lodge booked? That fills up so fast, but I think your girls would love it.

My honest opinion is you are going to see more of the road between destinations rather than the destinations themselves. Just case in point, in your first option -

Day 1 - Arrive SJO at 1pm. Drive to MA, enjoy beach
Day 2 - MA park in morning - leave for Monteverde in afternoon

Day 1 will put you in MA around 5-6pm (if everything goes perfect). It is dark in CR around 5:30, too late to enjoy the beaches. So then you spend the next day at the park, say you leave MA around noon, that puts you in MV around 4-5pm, again, pretty much at the point where any options in MV will be closing. Almost same scenario in 2nd option, which will put you in Arenal in the dark and only give you the next morning to enjoy it.

I sincerely believe it would make a more enjoyable trip if you cut out an area from your trip at the minimum. I've been to CR 5 or 6 times now and there are a zillion areas I haven't seen. It's just not a place you can zip around easily from place to place.

Wow. So much to talk about here. There is lots to do in all three areas. But I think that there is more to do in MA and Monteverde, than in Arenal.

We operated an office in Quepos / Manuel Antonio for two years, and sold local tours. There are canopy tours, rappelling tours, boat trips on rivers filled with wildlife, and the park itself. You can take a half day tour with a guide, and also just visit the park on your own. The park has some beautiful beaches, and lots of wildlife. This area also features a diverse selection of restaurants. We usually spend most of our day in the park, and look for a nice dinner.

As a (very) part time Monteverde resident, I have to respectfully disagree about there being nothing for the kids. Of course, there is hiking in the woods. That in itself is a terrific experience. A cloud forest is an extremely delicate ecosystem. There are several reserves here, at different altitudes. Change the altitude a little, and everything changes. You can also go on guided night hikes to see the nocturnal wildlife. Our favorite was the tarantulas with glow in the dark orange knees. Of course when one found its way into our bedroom one night, we were less thrilled!

The canopy tours were invented in Monteverde, and the best ones in the country are here. Same for the hanging bridges. The topography just lends itself to it. There is an insectarium, "rainaro" (frog zoo), serpentarium, and a bat exhibit that features a flight cage. There is also horseback riding and ATV tours.

A great option is a very cool coffee and sugar cane tour at a traditional family farm. The kids pick their own coffee and harvest sugar cane. They then follow each step through the process until the end. They help make candy, and everyone gets to sample the finished products. They even give you samples to take home. If you don't tell the kids that it is educational, they will have a great time.

Cano Negro is interesting. But other nature tours are much better done at the other two locations. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy Arenal. In fact we are going to Arenal and Monteverde during the same time period you are there. But I like Arenal more for the hot springs and the volcano viewing, then for the nature.

I also have to agree about the time spent in each area. No matter which option you choose, you are trying to pack a lot into this trip. Probably too much. When we do trip planning, we recommend three night minimum stays in Monteverde or Manuel Antonio, and two in Arenal.

I think that moving around the country is going to take a lot more time than you realize. It all looks close together on a map. But you have at least three to four hour drives (without stops) between each area.

Also, you are still at the tail end of the rainy season. So you can expect afternoon rains. You want to get on the road early and be at your destination when the rains come.

Since you state that the beach is not a must, I think a better plan would be to drive up to Arenal for two nights upon arrival. Then go to Monteverde for three nights. Cap it off with two nights at Peace Lodge. You miss the beach. But you will find everything else you seek.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can offer any more advice.

Warm Regards,
Pat Hewitt
Travel Professional

pg, I hope some people with young children chime in for you. Really Manuel Antonio is the place that I most often hear families with children love, but if you're not beachy people, you might just give it a pass. What do your girls like to do?

Thanks for your diverse views. The kind of experience (Ecolodge in Monteverde area) that we most enjoy is similar to one posted by wanatrvl at:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...amp;dirtyBit=1
Getting an opportunity to be among the local people sounds most exciting.
While MA sounds great, I am beginning to sense that it is easier to replicate that kind of experience in another latin American country.
I agree with thoughtful suggestions that MA with its beaches, easy in/out, restaurant choices would be easily a hit with the kids - but I think it would be a great educational experience to live in the Ecolodge & be amongst the Ticos. I am sure living in a cabin with no TV/ AC will be inconvenient but from our similar experience in Morocco and Venezuela in past, those are precisely the things that we all remember.
I think modern lodging in Arenal (want to go there 'cos we haven't seen lava flowing from Volcano before) and Peace Lodge would make up for the rugged experience in Monteverde.
I am still unsure about Cano Negro, perhaps we can save time by not doing it, and instead shift that time to MA.
Please continue to write your suggestions. From your likes and preferences, I get a better understanding of mine. Thanks

If you like the no t.v. no a.c. bit then you should consider going to the Osa Peninsula someday. A place like Bosque del Cabo is wonderful for true nature lovers. We saw all 4 kinds of monkeys, sloths, toucans, and wild scarlet macaws - most of it from the front porch of our cabin. Not this trip I guess, since you're already trying to see and do so much, but maybe another time. Based on what you've written, you don't sound like Manuel Antonio kind of folks. Honestly, MA felt like being back in the states to us.

Hi pg,

If you're feeling a bit ambivalent about MA and don't really require beach time, you should just split your days between Arenal and MV (sounds like that's the way you're leaning anyway...). I definitely would not try to cram 3 different locales into the days you have alloted for Arenal/MV; way too much time on the road and very little spent enjoying any one area. The Peace Lodge will serve as your 3rd location and will be a very nice way to wind up your trip.

If you're not going to include MA, I would highly recommend Cano Negro if wildlife viewing is of any importance to you. You may luck out and see some animals in Arenal and MV, but your chances of seeing a wider range of species will be greater on the Cano Negro tour. Just depends on if your kids are into that type of thing. I think I would have loved it as an 8 year old (but I've always been really fascinated by all sorts of animals...).

I haven't been to Manuel Antonio (going in February!) but from what I hear it's easily a better wildlife spotting site than Arenal or Monteverde.

But, you may want to consider the area near La Selva Biological Station--there are a number of interesting eco-oriented lodging choices (La Selva, Tirimbina, Selva Verde, Andrea Christina). All the usual activities--rafting, ziplining--can be found there. Plus a number of cultural initiatives and opportunities. It's about 90 minutes away from the Peace Lodge and 2 hours away from Arenal.

In terms of Monteverde, we did two nights there and LOVED it. However, we saw a crazy number of quetzals there (at one point I asked our guide at the MV reserve if they had birds besides Quetzals there) so it's hard to say how special it would have been without them. (We also chose MV to be our splurge choice for hotels--the honeymoon cabin at Arco Iris).

Cano Negro is a great tour and you certainly should do it if you're not going to do Manuel Antonio. Dozens of caimans, troops of monkeys, all kinds of egrets, herons, and kingfishers. We saw more wildlife in 2-3 hours there than we did in two days in Monteverde.

Arenal is more of an active adventure place than an eco-tourism place. You probably won't see much wildlife besides birds if you don't take the Cano Negro tour. And, there's no guarantee you'll even see the volcano itself. That said, we stayed at the Arenal Observatory Lodge and got the occasional spectacular view of it--including the red lava boulders tumbling down the side at night.

You know we never saw much wildlife in Arenal either until we hired a guide. He took us out about 5 minutes from our hotel and soon enough we saw a peccary, an anteater, howler monkeys, and toucans. I was shocked - how had we been missing all those animals? We got lucky with the quetzal in Monteverde. We hired a guide to meet us in the parking lot, and when we got out of the taxi, he pointed to a tree in the parking lot, and there was a quetzal looking down on us! We saw two more at eye-level from our zipline platform; they are gorgeous.