I am planning a trip to Costa Rica the last two weeks of November. I am planning to be in the country for 14 days and just need a little help planning my trip. I am not sure if i want to goto osa first or save it for last. I want to see Arenal and Motteverde. I have heard that the domincal are is gorgeous along with Manuel Antonio. I will be driving most of this trip except when i fly to osa. I am not sure of what to see but i do not want to be running all over the place.Maybe 4 places to see not including osa so 5all together. thanks

Try typing in costa rica itinerary at the top , you might find numerous trips with the same locales you want to see , you could personalize from there . Shillmac is choc-full of great ideas , as is Dfarmer , etc. etc. (both are sure to offer great insight )

Matt - I noticed another similiar question, so I am going to address both here, instead of answering in two places.

Here you mention Manual Antonio, but in the other you mention that you are not a great fan of the beach. MA is not your typical beach town. There is so much to do here that you may not even have time for actually hanging out on the beach. Most lodgings are sitting high up on a bluff, so it is the stunning view that captures you. Jungle grows right to the ocean. Lots of things such as horseback riding in the mountains, ziplines, rain maker, mangrove tours, dolpin watching, hiking and hiking.... Lots of restaurant choices and a large selection of every price range for lodging.

This said so that you do not discount this area, simply because it is near the beach. However you may prefer to do all the above things, while you are in the Osa.

If you choose to go to MA - You could easily arrive SJO and drive to Arenal that same day - if you arrive by 2 PM (correct me someone if I am wrong). If arriving later you may need to overnight in SJ.

Stay Arenal 2 nights
Move on to Monteverde 2 or 3 nights
Drive to MA 3 or 4 nights
Drive or fly back to SJ (may be possible to connect to Osa same day)
If not Overnight SJ
Fly to the Osa 4 nights
Back to SJ overnight
Fly home

Now if you want to avoid MA

Have you looked into Tortuguero, very different than other parts of CR. Strip of land between a lagoon and the Atlantic. Lots of canals, with many chances of spotting wildlife. Different and beautiful plant life. I would suggest at least 2 nights here. This area cannot be reached by vehicle. You have to go there either by boat or plane. Suggest - overnight SJ, bus and boat to Tortuguero 2 nights, fly back to SJ, pick up vehicle, drive north maybe to the Poas Volcano lodge, visit Poas and La Paz. On to Arenal, couple of nights, and then to Monteverde couple nights. Back to SJ, overnight, fly to Osa.

Another idea would be to start out driving south to the San Isidro area. Staying at the Saverge or Trogan lodge. Supposedly lots of great plant life and excellent birding. (On our to do list.) Then on over to Dominical a few nights, up to Manual Antonio and back to SJ to fly to the Osa.

WELL I guess I have really confused the mind now. But as you can see there are tons of ways to see CR.

Look into these and ask - someone will know the answer surely!

I would take a look at the average weather stats before totally making up your mind. The Southern Pacific aka the Osa is quite rainy in Nov. It has a very strong Caribbean influence at that time and the whole southern area of the country including places like Turrialba are still pretty wet at that time of year. We are actually thinking of settling in the Turralba area so we have asked locals about different times of the year. It could be that the heaviest rains are in the beginning of the month rather than the end. Average rainfall is 22 inches for the southern Pacific for Nov. which is the second highest month for rain for that area. I would inquire at the individual lodges to find out what they know about the weather at that time. costarica.com has a great weather site that you can play around with for just areas or specific towns as well as daily and 15 day forecasts. This has been a wetter than usual year due to El Nino so what will happen come November is still up in the air. It could actually be worse than usual or better. We received an email from Kim at Bosque del Cabo recently and she said they were still getting more rain than usual although it isn't constant and is just helping to keep things cooler and greener.

That is not a terribly busy time of year so I would hold off just a little longer to make any decisions. Personally I would wait until the very end of your trip to go to the Osa to possibly miss the worst of the rains. It is a great place and well worth going to even if it rains a little.

http://costa-rica-guide.com/Weather/...rMap.html#rain

This website has been useful for us in planning. Whatever you decide, have fun! You can do a lot in 2 weeks.

I am planning this as my trip .I may have planned to much.
Arrive in san jose and drive to arenal spend two nights. drive to monteverder spend two nights. drive to manuel antonio three nights drive to to san isidro two nights.drive to san jose overnight. fly to osa 4 nights. This may be too much to do i have 14 nights in the country and i may be stretching myself to thin because this is 14 nights. any place i should cut a day out or maybe just one less place i should not go to. i would also like to spend one day in san jose so i have to many days not enought time. thanks again

Matt, 2 weeks lends itself really well to 4 locations. 5 is quite a stretch, as you have already suspected. Certainly it can be done, and you have a good itinerary. But, if you want to hang in San Jose for a day (and it is worth a few hours), you really do need to cut out one location. Or just stay 3 nights on the Osa. We enjoyed our 3 night stay there, although another night or two would have been nice--we didn't feel particularly slighted.

We haven't been to Monteverde, so can't advise that. However, San Isidro/Savegre/Trogan Lodge is also considered cloud forest, so I don't think I'd do both locations same trip. Would highly recommend Savegre--especially if you want to avoid the more touristy locations for part of the time. Beautiful area where you can horseback, go birding (very interesting even if you've never done it before), fly fish, or just take nice hikes. A good place to relax in the cool mountain air--feels like Colorado!

Something else to think about: Manuel Antonio is a place you should definitely go sometime, but the Osa will overshadow it by a long shot--my opinion. Are you sure you want to do both of the locations in one trip? If so, then that's fine, too. Both are lovely--and you really can't go wrong with anything you choose. You can only make a mistake (my opinion) if you don't have time to relax and enjoy each of your destinations.

Arenal could easily be done for 3 days, particularly if you include the Cano Negro day trip (and I've heard on this board that it is fantastic).

Manuel Antonio/Dominical, 3 days

Savegre, 2 days (or Monteverde)

Osa, 4 days

San Jose 2 days (nights)--one day in town

Could you post information about your arrival/departure times? Also, I'm thinking you might need to return to San Jose the night before your flight to the Osa. . . .several on this board would be happy to look more closely at your options with a little more information. Also, a little more information about the activities you are most interested in--your age, height, weight, etc. . .Just kidding!

Having been to both places, San Gerardo de Dota (Savegre) and Monteverde, I feel they are very different places. Not at all alike other than they both have Quetzals. We did the horseback ride while staying at Savegre and saw some other trogons as well. There is a neat hike at the end of the ride to a waterfall.

I am not sure exactly what you plan on doing in San Isidro for 2 nights. Puerto Jimenez is only about 3-4hrs (depending on your driving and the road conditions) south of there (SI) if you want to just drive down rather than drive to San Jose (abt 3hrs from San Isidro to SJ as well)and then take a flight. You could also consider spending a couple of nights in Dominical instead and drive down to the Osa from there along the coast road. It would be about the same amount of time as from San Isidro.
My suggestion,
Arenal, Monteverde, San Gerardo de Dota or Manuel Antonio, Dominical, Osa. If you drive everywhere. Otherwise: Arenal, Manuel Antonio, Dominical, San Gerardo de Dota, San Jose, Osa.

One way or another, you are going to be backtracking at least a little.

You said you didn't want to be running all over the place but the actual drive to the Osa would be shorter than driving to SJ and waiting for/taking a flight. The one advantage to flying would be the long trip back which is about 6-7hrs.

I have know added a night to my trip so i will me in costa rica rica for 15 days know and wanted to get your opion on my iternay. I will be arriving on november the 18 at 12:49 p.m.and flying back out on the 3rd of december at 1:50 P.m.
18 and 19 arenal
20 and 21 monteverde
22,23,and 24 manuel antonio
25,26,and 27 osa
28 and 29 san gerardo de dota
30 and 1 san jose
I have 14 days here and i need one more day somewhere. I might have also tried to do to much so let me know what you think about doing this trip.

Have you decided where in the Osa you are going?

We met a couple in Feb that had driven from Quepos to Bosque del Cabo, they said it took around 6 hours. Just passing on what I have heard, no personal experience on driving this route. And of course this was in Feb, a much drier time.

From your revised itinerary, it looks like you have decided to drive the entire trip?

I will be staying at Bosque del Cabo that is why i am thinking i will just leave a day free in case something pops up. I will also be staying at the Savegre Mountain Lodge in San Gerardo de Dota . I am thinking about staying at the hotel villas el parque in Manuels Antonio. I am still looking for a good hotel or a couple of them somewhere around San Jose. Do you know of any hotels in the arenal area that have a great view that does not cost an arm and a leg? Do I have to much stuff planned? Thanks again for taking the time out to help Matt

Fabulous - Bosque del Cabo, I was hoping so, it is such a wonderful place!

I wish I could answer your questions, based on experience of traveling in November. But all our trips have been in Jan/Feb.

I really don't think this is too much, but again, I have never driven in Nov, so maybe someone else can help. Basically 15 days - 5 locations plus SJ. I think you have done a great job of planning the right amount of time for the places you have chosen.

I did look at the weather/rain averages, hopefully due to the fact that you are traveling end of month you will be at the end of the rainy season.

Ok - I personally would add the night to Bosque. No reason except that I absolutely loved it. But you will have the long ride down, so it makes sense to me to add the night there.

Know nothing about your hotel choice in MA. We stayed at the Hotel California the one time we were in MA.

In Arenal we stayed at the Arenal Parasio, http://arenalparaiso.com, looks like the rates would be $70 - $90 per night.

For SJ - If you want to be in the city, Hotel Don Carlos www.doncarloshotel.com gets alot of good reviews at about $70-$80.
If you want to be outside, about 15 mins from the airport - Try Orchideas Inn www.orquideasinn.com. We enjoyed this place in Feb, it also gets lots of great reviews. We stayed in the Garden Rooms, which are some of the least expensive, but were fine. (BDC ate up much of our budget this year! And well worth it!)
Others we have stayed at outside SJ - were Peace Lodge, Vista del Valle Plantation Inn and in SJ - Hotel Brittania.

Hope that helps.!