First time trip to Costa Rica and we need help with our itinerary. Only 6 days to see it all LOL yeah right! Ok here is what we have so far:

20th – Fly in to San Jose – stay in San Jose probably the Marriott

21st – Travel to Arenal to the volcano and stay at the Lost Iguana Lodge

22nd – another day in this area staying at the same Lost Iguana Lodge

23rd have no ideas

24th staying at the Cristal Ballena – near Uvita I think. My husband has friends that own property somewhere down there

25th staying at the Cristal Ballena

26th Drive back San Jose and do what I don’t know??

27th – Fly out of San Jose

For your day in San Jose, you could go to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens - it's about an hour outside San Jose and definitely worth seeing. There's also a combo tour you can do that will take you to Poas Volcano and the coffee plantation and some part of the Waterfall Gardens. Are you going to do the Cano Negro tour while you're in Arenal? That's a must in my book. Sunset tours is a good outfit if you're interested in going.

Thanks you so much for the info volcanogirl. I had not heard of these things to do as you mentioned so I will look into them further. We are really in the beginning stages here so any suggestions is just wonderful!!! The only thing we had planned so far was to see the volcano and do a sky tram tour somewhere.

I would spend the night of the 23rd somewhere between Arenal & Uvita since that will be a bit of a drive. Do you know which route you will be taking?

Have no idea of the route. I have been having a hard time finding a good road map on the internet. I think I will need to go to the nearest bookstore instead

Is there a good half way point to stop between Arenal and Uvita?

bump

Barnes & Noble carries the Berndston & Berndston map. It's been our life saver for years now!

You might consider an extra night at Arenal or an extra night at Uvita also.

I agree an overnight might be a good idea. You might consider an overnight at Manuel Antonio, with a trip to the park in the a.m. . .nice park, excellent wildlife, pretty beaches and water. . . .before driving on to Uvita. Expect 5+ hour drive from Arenal to Manuel Antonio, through San Ramon, Atenas, Orotina. From MA, another 3 hours to Uvita, allowing for the road from H. between MA and Dominical!

Sorry to sound confusing. . .meant to say "I agree an overnight between Arenal and Uvita might be a good idea".

Great!! Looking into a hotel in the Manuel Antonio area. Not as easy as I thought it would be. Things are booking fast. Would like to find something right on the beach. Not sure if that is possible for this area with the cliffs.

When you get to Arenal, just check with the front desk at check-in for tours. I found that to be the easiest. They have over 15 different tours to suite your needs. Make sure you do a horseback tour of LaFortuna waterfalls or a Mundo Adventure Canapy/zipline!

I wouldn't discount any of the hotels not on the beach in MA, the view there from many hotels is one of the selling points. Look into Villa Nicolas or Costa Verde. Not on the beach but just a few minute taxi/bus ride to it and the breeze & view at the end of the day is worth it!