High Level Plan for Costa Rica
 

My wife and I are going to Costa Rica Aug 9-16. I know its the start of the rainiy season but we got good prices and are willing to take th chance. Our plan is to stay 3 days near San Jose and then go to the beach and stay at the Marriott Los Suenos for teh rest of teh trip. Do you think this is a good plan? Where is teh best place to stay in San Jose.

If you know what you want to do or see in San Jose, that may help you pick a hotel. If you want Los Suenos, just go there. Sounds to me like you need to study a guidebook a little more. Otherwise, you will simply end up with the favorite advice of whoever sees your question. My favorite advice is to avoid San Jose.

Echo the last post. Unless you have family or business in San Jose, I don't see any reason to stay there. Go to Manuel Antonio, Arenal, etc and see the beauty of CR, which I don't see in SJ.

Staying near San Jose isn't so bad if you are more out from it. Near is the key word. There are some nice places like Vista del Valle, Finca Rosa Blanca, Xandari, Orquideas Inn that are very nice to decent places to stay and you can do some great day trips. They are about an hour from San Jose itself and easily gotten to from the airport.

If you are going to want to see Arenal Volcano, my advice would be to just go there rather than do a day trip from Los Suenos or anyplace else. The best time to see the Volcano is at night and there are tons of things to do in the area during the day. This would give you an opportunity to see a very different area of the country from the area around Los Suenos. I think 3 nights there would be the better option than in San Jose. You can finish up your trip at the los Suenos as planned.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I figured we should stay near Sanjose in order to be closer to the Volcano and a place where we can see the rain Forest.
My General plan is to see the volcano one day see the rainforest one day and maybe go white water rafting another day and then the rest of teh time spend at the Beach at Los Suenos. Does this make sense? If so? Where would I stay for the active part of the trip(ie,Volcano, Rainforest & rafting).

I would go to Arenal for 3 days instead. You get an active volcano, zipines, natural hot springs, hanging bridges, a waterfall, and whitewater rafting in that area.

Sounds like a good plan.

Go a fair amount this time of year heading down in July for me PM rains are not a big deal make for beautiful sunsets.Rarely AM storms temporales but not usually just be prepared.

Quality lodgings in a nice area aroundSan Jose but also fairly close to SJO would be Escazu the best area between overlooking the city but not in the city.I just reserved the Alta Hotel very nice boutique hotel on expedia.com special rate $100/nt/tax
normally like $170/nt.

Plan tours to
Arenal.net
Monteverdeinfo.com manuealantoniopark.com

From the Alta and the Mariott.

All the best,

I'm not sure what you mean by "the" rain forest. Much of Costa Rica is covered with forest that receives enough annual rainfall to be considered rain forest. The Arenal area (and many other areas) will expose you to that. Perhaps you would be more interested in one of the Cloud Forests such as Monteverde. Really stunning and exotic. Be prepared for mud. You probably have read reviews of Los Suenos that tell you that the price of food is very high, and the beach is not the best. The pool is spectacular though. A car for day trips to Carrara, the crocodile bridge, and restaurants in Jaco might be in order.

My wife and I just returned visiting our 23 year old daughter who is teaching music in Santa Ana. Although we stayed in Santa Ana for 5 nights we went into SJ and it was better than I expected. The Grand Hotel Costa Rica is very charming for about $80 per night. We had lunch there and across the way is the beautiful Teatro, and the Gold Museum. Maybe you can see a concert at the Teatro. Bring a good umbrella, it pours in the afternoon/evening. You may want to rent a car and drive to the Nicoya Peninsula, the beaches are great and it is less rainy. We stayed at Playa Samara and saw Playa Carillo.

Hoyas,

That area around the teatro is one of my favorite parts of San Jose. It's a great place to see at least once if you've never been there. . .

I agree that telling people they should avoid San Jose is like throwing the baby out with the bath water. While I have no desire to make it a 2-3 day segment of my time in CR, there are areas that are definitely worth a half day's time--particulary right there around El Gran Hotel Costa Rica. We went to an opera one night at "el teatro" and it was a ton of fun--$10 per person.