shelja

My husband and I are trying to plan a 7-10 days trip to CR. Any suggestions on an itinerary? We are looking to spend some time relaxing on the beach but also some adventure (hiking, rafting, rainforest, wildlife). Some ideas so far are Manuel Antonio, Jaco Beach, Arenal. Any ideas on whether to stay in one place or several? Also, any suggestions for good hotels? What is the best time of year to go? Is May or June too rainy? Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks.

missypie

We were in CR a couple of weeks ago. During the day, it was about 72-78 degrees in the Arenal area, and about 90 degrees in Manuel Antonio. MA was terrific (more monkeys) but I enjoyed Arenal better. I mention the temperature differences because you may want to plan your hiking, zip lines, horseback riding, etc. for Arenal or somewhere else where it is cool, then leave MA or other beach locations for just vegging out and playing in the waves.

Also, believe everything you hear about driving in CR. When going from one destination to another, it may not look far on the map, but with constant hairpin turns, it takes a while. With 7-10 days (2 travel, I assume), I would pick one mountain location and one beach location and leave it at that.

LePageS

I think that it all depends on what your interests are. We went last year in Feb. We wanted to be at a beach somewhere warm. I didn't want to take a small plane so we ended up at Manuel Antonio and Rafiki Safari Logde. It was the perfect vacation! I would say just keep reading other peoples trip reports and decide on what interests you.

58smom

Missypie-
Do you think we need long pants for hiking in arenal area or will capri style pants be okay? Maybe it's cool enough for long pants. Leaving in two weeks.
Also what about shoes, running shoes or water/beach type? I hate to pack the heavy weight hiking boots.

dfarmer

Manuel Antonio and Arenal are typically first timers choices. Jaco is a bit sketchy, I would probably skip that.

At MA and Arenal you will have plenty opportunity to hike, raft, see the rainforest and Wildlife.

IMO you will want to stay in several places. For a 7 night trip, stick to 2 locations - for 10 night trip, you can do 3. According to the arrival and departure times of your international flight, you may find yourself needing to stay overnight near San Jose. A few nights in the Central area nearer to SJ, offers some great things to see and do.

We have never traveled during the rainy season, hope to some day!

I agree with LePage. Read especially the trip reports - which are many! Plus a good guidebook and see what interests you most.

altarose

Hola 58smon: We got back about 2 weeks ago from a 17 day trip to C.R. I would recommend light weight zip off convertable pants/shorts for hiking, if they get too hot you can take the legs off and they roll up very small. As for shoes we too a good pair of sandles, light/breathable running shoes plus water shoes and all came in handy. We are also 50 ish and work out every day, so we used the shoes we planned on taking on the trip while working out to make sure they were comfortable and broke-in. There is nothing worse than being on holidays will sore feet for a week or two. Hope this helps. You will love Costa Rica, Pura Vida.

missypie

EVERYONE was wearing those zip off pants....I mean, all the tourist folks. The girls and I wore capris in Arenal and were perfectly comfortable...we wore our shorts in MA. I brought light weight hiking shoes...not boots. Maybe we were wimps, but we certainly didn't hike anywhere where we needed boots. The roughest terrain was in the lava field in the Arenal National Park...small boulders to scramble over.

guanacaste

http://costa-rica.typepad.com/playa_...ome/index.html PLAYA CARILLO

l8626

Hello,
I have been to Costa Rica a few times. I love it! The last two times I used this company called Charmed Costa Rica. Their website is www.charmedcostarica.com. I just thought it was easier to deal with them and they did all the work and made sure everything worked out. I loved Manuel Antonio and I was there in June once and it was not too rainy for me. It rains in the afternoons but the mornings are dry. I agree with the other posts...It is better to stick to less places than trying to drive around. The people I mentioned who booked stuff for us got us a driver too and it was GREAT! Have fun!