Help with Costa Rica itinerary
 

First of all, we are planning a 8 day trip to CR at the beginning of June - any idea what the weather will be like, anybody gone that time of year? I understand it is the "green" /rainy season.

Also, here is where we are thinking of going: 3 days Arenal and 4 days Manuel Antonio. Alternatively, we could do 2 days Arenal, 2 days Montaverde, and 3 days Manuel Antonio. Any suggestions on itinerary and hotel, restaurant, etc would be much appreciated. We plan on renting a 4x4 and driving ourselves. We would like to do some hiking, rafting, adventure, wildlife, and relaxation at the beach! Thanks in advance.

weather should be o.k, rain late afternoon, but its the weather so who knows!
don't bother with monteverde, overated, overcrowded and you'll see more wildlife on a day trip to Cano Negra from La Fortuna:

http://costa.rica.typepad.com/la_for...ome/index.html

manuel antonio is a nice place to stay with lots of good hotels, bars and restaurants:

http://costa.rica.typepad.com/manuel...ome/index.html

I'd skip one of the locations. Don't underestimate the drive time between locations.

Arenal and MA--perfect itinerary especially if this is your first visit to CR. You'll get a very nice overview, and, as Missypie says, won't be stressed out from moving around all the time! Monteverde is nice, but eats up a lot of time going and coming.

Let me see if I have this right: Monteverde is overcrowded and overrated. But Manuel Antonio is a nice place to stay. Hmmm. And all this time I thought it was just the opposite.

We just returned two weeks ago from a trip to Costa Rica, where we spent 3 days in Arenal, 2 days in Monteverde and 2 1/2 days in Manuel Antonio.

The time in Arenal was just right. We did a volcano hike, went to the hot springs, went canyoning/rappeling with PureTrek (the highlight of our trip and a MUST DO!) and went to the LaFortuna Waterfall. We stayed at Montana de Fuego Resort and Spa. The best part was our fantastic volcano view. The rest was OK - simple, but clean room, friendly and attentive staff, OK grounds.

The ride from Arenal to Monteverde was VERY rough. I thought maybe people exagerated when they told me that, but they weren't! It's a long drive.

One day in Monteverde would have been enough. It was sort of cool, and we wanted to be in warm weather - not cool like back home. Here we went on a night and day hike of the reserve, hiked through the town and went in the galleries and shops and went on the hanging bridges at Selvatura Park. We wished we had done the canopy tour here instead. Just did that on our last trip so were looking for a new experience, but the bridges weren't as thrilling... We stayed in a Mountain Suite at the Trapp Family Lodge and really liked it!

We would have liked to have spent more time in Manual Antionio. We stayed at La Mariposa and spent a lot of time on the various beaches and in the national park. Also went on a sunset tour and saw so many dolphins. Bad snorkeling.

Enjoy!

My husband and I got back from Costa Rica in February. What a trip! We did the Heart of Costa Rica trip through Neta Talmor, the itinerary was excellent. We started in Alajuela, went up to Arenal volcano, down to the mountains just south of San Jose, and then on to Manuel Antonie. The hotels were all a little different and I enjoyed them all. La Finca da Ama now Ama Terra is now under new ownership and the new owners are working on making it a health center. It was relaxing. The meals there were family style with the vacationers eating together and it helped talking with people who had seen other sights in C.R. Manuel Antonio is a must see! The beaches and water are unbelievable.
It was an outstanding trip!

Good to hear you enjoyed your Heart of Costa Rica tour. Neta worked very hard to make that an excellent itinerary. For first timers to Costa Rica, it would be hard to top!

Thank you all for your responses. From what everyone has posted I think doing Arenal and Manuel Antonio would be nice for us. Have any of you gone in early June and know what the weather might be like? ALso, any suggestions of hotels in Arenal and MA?

Thanks again...

Audie79 -
I'm planning a trip to CR for january '07 and your itinerary looks very similar to the one i'm planning. 3 days in Arenal (day trip to Cano Negro) 1 day in Monteverde, and then 3 days in Tamarindo. I am also planning on doing the canyoning/rappelling through PureTrek - glad to hear you liked it.

Any suggestions on hotels and activities to do? Also, would you recommend renting a 4x4 or doing transfers? I wouldn't mind doing a combination of both if possible. Thanks for the help. Any other must see or do suggestions. Thanks.

-Andy

You'll love the Arenal region. I went to CR in December a couple of years ago and the weather was great. Warm and sunny almost the whole time.

shelja, sounds like you are planning the same trip we are - for our honeymoon.

any hotel recommendations in Arenal, MA, or for 1 night in San Jose? We are looking at the mid-range hotels - prefer nice, quaint, good views, not chains. Also suggestions on tours would be great. THANKS!!

I have heard from the posts here and others that in Arenal, Lost Iguana and Arenal Lodge are good and in MA, Si como no and Tulemar. Anybody able to review these locations or give us some feedback? Thanks again!

Si Como No was excellent. We are looking forward to trying Costa Verde this July--it gets consistent good reviews.

We also liked Arenal Paraiso (very moderate in price, and a good value).

Our favorite in San Jose is Hotel Don Carlos--can't beat the location and it has an excellent staff and wonderful gift shop! Also a good tour office.

An 8 minute walk south of Tamarindo - Hotel Capitan Suizo. Wonderful location, can swim in the ocean there. Lovely, lovely grounds. Go to www.visittamarindo.com and click on lodging and you will find Hotel Capitan Suizo. We stayed in an non AC bungalow the end of May and were fine. The ocean breeze is nice and the sound of the ocean in the early morning so soozing. You are right next to the beach at the hotel's open restaraunt/bar and pool.

If you want something nice and cozy in La Fortuna (Arenal), try La Pradera.

You can see some pictures here:

http://www.catchtravels.com/CR_La_Pr...el_Arenal.html

And even though it says the prices are $65 and up, we got a room during the week for $50 (have cash). Good breakfast, nice and quiet, pretty grounds.

Does anyone know how to contact a specific forum poster? I want to ask Audie79 about some info, but I can't get a hold of them. Thanks for the help.

I posted reviews on Trip Advisor of both LI and Tulemar...both were posted in about the third week fo March.

We pretty much did the exact same trip last June. Was wonderful. We used the experts on this site to get our info, and then bought the Fodor's guidebook.
We did 3 nights in MA at Si Como No. Very nice. 2 nights in MA at Hotel Belmar. Less fancy, but quiet and peaceful
3 nights at Lost Iguana ....arenal(our favorite part of the trip). I would have spent one less night in MA and added it to Arenal.
Last 2 nights at the Peace Lodge. That might be a place to consider as your last stop before going to the airport, as it is reasonably close. 2 nights was one night too many for us, as the place is a bit "over the top"...kind of Disney-eque...but many people sing its praises.
Email me if you have any questions, or want more specifics.
EK