Hello!
We're planning our honeymoon in Costa Rica (our 1st time!) between April 22-May 4 2007. We enjoy lodging that has some personality and know that for some of our trip we'd like some privacy. Also, even though I've driven in Boston and Ireland we don't want to rent a car.
Our Travel agent has given us a couple of itineraries, my question, for the same price should we end our trip with two nights at the Peace Lodge or bus/boating down - flying back to the Tortuguero Area-Mawamba Lodge? I can't tell if the Mawamba is more family oriented, and if at the end of the trip and after white water rafting if we'll want to just relax at the Peace Lodge and enjoy the waterfalls and Costa Rica Disney (I've heard). Plus the turtles aren't nesting at that time anyway, right?

or opinions on itinerary in general? thanks so much! can't wait!
From April 23-May 4th

Arrive San Jose from Boston and are driven 3 hours to:
*3 nights - Hotel Si Como No in Manuel Antonio/Quepos then drive 5 hours to
*2 nights – Observatory Lodge by Arenal Volcano then drive 4 hours to
*1 night - Hotel Grano de Oro in San Jose
*1 night – white water rafting trip on the Pacuare River staying overnight at the Rio Tropicales
*1 night - Hotel Grano de Oro in San Jose then 4 hour drive, 2 hour boat ride
*2 nights - Mawamba Lodge in Tortuguero National Park then fly back to San Jose Airport
- And fly home to Boston

so we'd could replace those last two nights with the Peace Lodge at La Paz

I loved Tortuguero and those twice daily slow, relaxing boat rides through the canals and rivers. But seeing the nesting turtles was a huge highlight. I'd replace it with Peace Lodge for a couple of days of pure R&R and extreme comfort in a beautiful environment!

By the way, I don't know how much you are set the order of your itinerary, but 3 nights at Arenal would be great. Could you rework your schedule to do the Pacuare at the beginning of your trip before Manuel Antonio and squeeze an extra night out for Arenal?

1st night--SJO--Grano de Oro

2nd night--on the Pacuare with Rio Trop

3rd night--Manuel Antonio (I know nothing about what time the 2 day Pacuare trip arrives back in SJO, but thought perhaps by early afternoon for driving to MA?). . .maybe not. . .read below. ..**

4th, 5th nights Manuel Antonio

6th, 7th, 8th nights Arenal

9th 10th nights Peace Lodge

**I think you could even enjoy Peace Lodge adequately in one night, particularly if you had the afternoon and next morning on the property.
I mention that just in case you need to overnight near the airport on your 3rd night, then drive to MA the next day. .

Hopefully I haven't confused you!

Just a thought or two about maximizing your time here or there. . .

Thank you so much shillmac! Very helpful to hear about Peace Lodge. Interesting, why in particular do you say the extra night for Arenal (aside of course that it's a volcano which is pretty terrific in itself)
I think our agent put Manuel Antonio first because I mentioned that at the beginning I just wanted to get somewhere beachy and stay there for a few days. I'm thinking we'll be exhausted and like the option of having choices outside our door.
I did just book our flight (separately) so that might adjust things.
We get to SJO Sun April 22 at 7pm
and depart SJO Thurs, May 3rd at noon
Oh! I just realized our agent set our itinerary for a day less than that, so you'd say Arenal for the extra day? great!

Also, since we're arriving at SJO at 7pm, do you think that we should stay that night at Vista del Valle near the airport? I've read wonderful things about it, but then we're being driven to Manuel Antonio so it's not like we have to focus on driving.

I agree with Shillmac.
Do the Pacuare trip first.

If your budget allows, I would look at Nature Air. You can get from San Jose to Quepos in 20 minutes for approx. $75 per person.

Check www.natureair.com

Since it's your honeymoon. I would splurge on Tabacon Hotel and Hot Springs at Arenal. Get a room in the 310's or 320's (room numbers) for great views of lava flows.

Interesting, thank you! do you feel that tabacon is just more "plush" feeling or is it mainly the lava flow view. I saw how we could get a day pass to the Hot springs, but it probably isn't the same thing as staying there.

my only worry about going back to the airport after the white water rafting is where would we leave our luggage. I assumed we could check it at Grano de Oro while on the trip. But coming back to San Jose to get bags to go back to the airport strikes me as alot of running around.

but maybe I wouldn't mind the drive to Manuel Antonio after the rafting.

It shouldn't be a problem to stop by Grano de Oro to get bags--it's on your way through San Jose, actually. Won't Rio Tropicales drop you at the same place where they picked you up? You can get your bags and be on your way. And if you use NatureAir, you'll be close to Pavas (just outside of town) anyway.

I'd suggest a stay at Lost Iguana which has gotten consistently excellent reviews with a day pass to Tabacon, but that's just me--don't have much of a desire to overnight in "the zone"!

So, let me understand--you can't do the Pacuare first? Not that it is imperative, but it seems like it would conserve time for you a bit to start off with an activity in the immediate area where you are arriving.

Vista del Valle is a great place--if you can stay there for more than just a few hours overnight, do it. Beautiful place.

I mentioned Arenal for 3 nights because there is SO much to do in that area. Generally speaking, 2 nights just gives you one full day--not enough for that particular area. You'd barely scratch the surface. Cano Negro is an all day trip and certainly worth your time while at Arenal. Very nice experience!

If you are a day shorter now, then you'll have to make do however you can. The good news is that it will all be wonderful--and you'll have a lovely honeymoon! Congratulations, by the way!

Congratulations on your upcoming nuptials! My wife and I married in Oct of '06 and went to Costa Rica for our Honeymoon - we had a wonderful time! Even though it was near the end of the rainy season we had great weather during the whole trip. It also seemed like everywhere we went we were running into honeymooners.

A few things I want to mention, which you may already know, is Costa Rica can be very hot and humid during the day...until it rains at which point it will cool off dramatically. I suggest a rain jacket that breathes and that can be packed away into your daypack when not using.

I am glad to hear you will be staying at the Peace Lodge, this was our favorite place on the entire trip. I can see why some people compare it to Disney, but it is so much more... all the wildlife and nature you have there make it such a great place to explore. Hopefully they will have the new aviary done by the time you arrive and you will get to see some of the beautiful birds of Costa Rica up close.

The peace lodge is well-named, it is very peaceful. The bonus is the location, high in the mountains so the weather there is slightly cooler than what you experience elsewhere in Costa Rica and the waterfalls are great to see.

My wife and I took advantage of the Tree Frog tour available at night only to hotel guests, we got some awesome photos of the tree frogs (they are nocturnal so night time is the best time to see them).

As for Arenal, I agree with shillmac, you should give yourself 3 nights in the Arenal area, there is a lot to do. If you like high adventure you should take Sky Trek www.skytrek.com at Arenal which is a zip-line. This was our second-favorite activity on the trip. It is not a canopy tour however, it is mostly adventure, but a lot of fun and great views of Arenal.

You said you were going to go white water rafting. Because of the rain fall in Costa Rica the river levels fluxuate greatly. We were lucky when we went (or so we were told) the river was high because of rainfall the night before and not too low so that the rapids were fun. If you have the flexibility, the day before you go rafting (if it is possible), you might call the rafting company to see how the water levels are, if they are too low you may want to choose an alternate activity. Just a suggestion.

Regarding renting a car, this could be a source of frustration on your trip, unless you and your fiance are intrepid travelers and like the challenge of navigating the roads of a foriegn country. We were encouraged by veteran CR travelers to hire a driver and we did not regret it. We had the same driver the entire trip and he was great. He gave us "local" tips on restaurants and places to go and never led us wrong. Plus... we got to enjoy the scenery as we were driving around the country while Luis told us about the areas we were driving through. Since we booked our entire trip through an agent, I do not know the actual cost of the driver. I am sure it was more than a rental, but it was well worth it.

We beached in Tamarindo... can't really recommend it, we wished we had stayed elsewhere.

That is all I can think of right now, we wish you the best on your honeymoom.

Thank you so much everyone!

Oh, we're definitely not renting a car, one of my luxuries of this trip is not worrying about travel in Country.

Oh and it wasn't that we *couldn't* do the Pacuare first thing, it was that I wasn't sure if we *should* do that first thing. Since we'll be getting in at 7pm the night before, though it is just a 7 hour flight. This is a pretty luxury rafting trip though, it's not like we're pitching our own tents!

great to know that we'd go through San Jose anyways and appreciate hearing about Lost Iguana. I'll ask our travel agent about this:

4/22 arrive-SJO--Grano de Oro
4/23 - on the Pacuare with Rio Trop
4/24-4/26 - Manuel Antonio
4/27-4/29 - Arenal Observatory
4/30-morning of 5/3 -Peace Lodge
5/3 depart SJO at 1pm

We don't need 3 nights at the Peace Lodge though, so if you had an extra day you'd put it to Arenal, right?

thank you again, so excited!

The Observatory Lodge is very nice at Arenal but it isn't on the side of the lava viewing at this time. We enjoyed our stay in one of the Smithsonian rooms when the lava was flowing on that side. It was pretty neat waking up and seeing the lava from our bed. The old lava bed hike was hard but really neat. To make it even neater, we were totally engulfed in clouds and could barely see each other.

Stayed at another place in Tortuguero and enjoyed it very much. Not much opportunity for time alone except when we were wandering around the little town by ourselves. The beach is too rough for swimming but we went on a nice walk. Mawamba has kayaks I believe and I think we would have enjoyed that very much. Tortuguero is a great place to see wildlife. We spent 3 days in that area and thought it was 1 day too long for us. dfarmer has stayed there if I remember correctly.

Pacuare....wow. Lots of fun. We have done it several times and it is a ball. The Rios Tropicales lodge has a honeymoon suite so let them know you want it. We were the only guests so they let us stay there. You will have most of the afternoon on the first day to hike to waterfalls and enjoy the rainforest. You won't be arriving back into San Jose early enough to get to Manuel Antonio unless they have changed their schedule. When we spent the night there we waited for the day rafters to show up for lunch and then headed out to finish up so that everyone could go back to SJ together. When we stayed the night with Costa Rica Expeditions we left early in the morning. Their tent camp wasn't nearly as nice but we still had a lot of fun.

Peace Lodge. We spent 2 nights there a couple of years ago. We had been traveling all around for a couple of weeks and my husband was leaving the country to head back home-I had another 10 days traveling around by myself to look forward to. It was a perfect place to spend a couple of last days together. It happened to fall on Valentines day and they brought us a lovely bouquet of roses. I managed to save one. We enjoyed quiet walks around the grounds before and after the day trippers. We went to the restaurant for dinner but they do have room service. The jacuzzis were really nice. We unpruned in front of the fireplace. There is a mini bar with a fridge if you want to stop and pick up some snacks on your way there. I really hate paying those mini bar prices. The two nights were just perfect if you don't plan on doing any tours from there.

Okay, the way I see it, you have a choice between wildlife in Tortuguero or jacuzzi and beautiful grounds at Peace Lodge. Tough decision.

yep, we're going with the Peace Lodge - this has all clarified how we'd like the end of our honeymoon. Thank you!

Delighted to hear how much you liked Pacuare, my fiance will be thrilled.

Bostonlres,
If you have an extra night and already have 3 nights planned at Manuel Antonio, 3 nights at Arenal, and 2 nights at Peace Lodge, then perhaps it would be restful and relaxing to stay at Grano de Oro on the night you return from rafting. Off to MA the next a.m. Just a thought. . .

Yep I have stayed at Mawamba. Just jumped over here to see what everyone is talking about! Just in time to see you chose Peace Lodge.
For a honeymoon I can certainly see that PL would be extremely nice to end a beautiful trip.

Actually the year stayed at Peace Lodge was the same year we stayed at Mawamba Lodge. What a contrast!!!! That particular year we overnighted our first night in SJ at the Brittania, then off the next day for rafting on the Pacuare, next day off to Tortuguero and stayed at the Mawamba, then flew onto Montezuma for our beach time at El Sano Banano and ended our trip at Peace Lodge. What a great trip that was.

Anyway Congrats and have a great trip. BTW if you can work in Vista del Valle, that also was a wonderful couple of nights!

ok, our updated Itinerary:
April 22 Arrive San Jose 7pm and stay at Hotel Grano de Oro in San Jose
4/23 - white water rafting trip on the Pacuare River staying overnight at the Rio Tropicales
4/24 Hotel Grano de Oro
4/25-27 are driven 3 hours to: Hotel Si Como No in Manuel Antonio/Quepos 4/28-30 then drive 5 hours to Observatory Lodge by Arenal Volcano (Smithsonian Room)
5/1-3 then drive 3 hours to the Peace Lodge in La Paz And fly home to Boston the afternoon of 5/3!

thank you everyone for your help! we're so excited for the whole trip, I've heard such wonderful things about Costa Rica

Bostonlres, I'm curious to hear why you chose Rios Tropicales over Aventuras Naturales for the Pacuare rafting trip.

Our group of 4 (2 couples) is similarly planning to do an overnight rafting trip on our first day in CR. I'm leaning towards using Aventuras Naturales because their river lodge experience (Pacuare Lodge) looks a bit more upscale than the Rios Tropicales lodge experience. Also, Pacuare Lodge has a very cool-looking honeymoon bungalow. Check out their website: http://www.pacuarelodge.com/

Both rafting outfitters seem very reputable, but it appears to me that the Pacuare Lodge might have an edge in terms of dining and accomodations. I'm a CR newbie, though, so if you or anyone else out there has any inside info, please share!