Ranjini

We are planning on going to Costa Rica at the end of July for 8 nights with our 2 children (ages 10 and 5).<BR><BR>We have reserved a 4 wheel drive vehicle and were planning the following itinerary:<BR>Day 1 Arrive and stay around San Jose<BR>Day 2 Drive to Arenal <BR>Day 3 Stay at Arenal (hot springs etc)<BR>Day 4 Drive to Monteverde Cloud Forest<BR>Day 5 Drive to Tamarindo<BR>Day 6 Tamarindo<BR>Day 7 Tamarindo<BR>Day 8 Drive to San Jose for flight back the next day<BR><BR>We were going to Monteverde primarily for the Canopy Tour and the Butterfly Garden. Is there another more convenient place to do this?<BR><BR>Also, from Tamarindo we wanted to go see the turtle nesting at Ostional - is this feasible?<BR><BR>Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ltien

The drive from Arenal to Monteverde is bad and will take a long time, like 6-7 hours. We were unimpressed with Monteverde so if you're just going there for the canopy tour and butterfly garden, it might not be worth it. You can do canopy tours at various places throughout the country. We didn't get a chance to visit the butterfly garden but you might want to reconsider going to such a treacherous place to see butterflies. <BR><BR>We really liked Arenal and the hot springs. We were lucky and saw the eruptions on both nights we were there.

Iza

I agree that you may be trying to do too much in 8 days. One day may not be enough for Monteverde - it looks like you will spend most of that day just getting there from Arenal. I would either add an extra day in Tamarindo or spend that day near San Jose and take some type of day trip from there.

Marilynn

We did a similar trip except we went to Mal Pais as my son was surfing there and then on down to Manuel Antonio to Hotel Karahe with the Cappuchin monkeys all around us, back up to Jaco to the Poseidon (great food. In Arenal we stayed at the Observatory and actually sayw the volcano erupting for two days. We went to Tabacon Springs across the road for half the price of the resort. Drove to Monteverde Cloud Forest - wait till you test your kidneys on this road -Path I mean. Stopped for lunch at Charlies in a turnoff town. Instead of doing the Butterfly or canopy walk, I suggest doing the Zip Trek with the kids. It is fun and safe - you zip up to 14 stations and it's a ball we had 4 kids on ours (you zip individually)What a Thrill!!!!That was my trip in Feb. with a teacher I work with - now my husband and I leave on Thurs. and plan to head for Osa Peninsula and then up to tamarinda beach area. Ask about a great fish restaurant in La Fortuna (near a garage)reasonable. Enjoy - it's fun!Marilynn

Don

We did the same driving trip in April but skipped Monteverde. It just seemed like we heard too much about the bad drive.<BR><BR>If you are going from Arenal around the back of the lake, it is pretty pot holed for most of the way. A nice drive which was manageable in the dry season. It may be tough in the wet season, but I am only guessing.<BR><BR>The highway up near guanacaste gets very bad. It is fast road (100kph as I remember) but you suddenly hit major holes going that speed.<BR><BR>All in all good trip do do.

Ranjini

Does anyone know about the turtle nesting? Will we see it around Tamarindo?

Iza

No turtle nesting in that area in summer time - I think you would have to go the Caribbean side for that at that time of the year.<BR>Try searching this site for "turtle" - a while ago someone posted very helpful info on this with exact times and locations in CR.