Traveling to Costa Rico for the first time April 30-May 6, can anyone offer advice on how to go about hiring a driver, or recommend one? This is a first trip for all four travelers and we want to be able to look around and enjoy the view, not stress over traffic or maps....lol. We will be staying at Costa Montana on the Tarcoles River, just north of Jaco. Our first few days we have planned a trip to Manuel Antonio and Carara national parks along with a rafting trip and a zipline tour( both of these include transportation) and would like to get up to Monteverde and Arenal on our last couple of days before heading back to SJO. Our plan was to leave Tarcoles and head to Monteverde on Tues morning, spend the afternoon there and then go to Arenal for the night, then back to SJO for a 2:30 flight. Can anyone tell me if this is a reasonable plan and any recomendations on inexpensive lodging in Arenal would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, hire PDQ taxi...if you email them they will respond quickly and fully. Better than a driver because they have more options and better than a tour because it is private and you can determine where and when to go, tell them sf60074 sent you!

I would do 2 nights at either Arenal or Monteverde but not 1 night at each, the travel distances are too long and you would have little tme to see much. Your hotel can often set up a private driver. The one I use is Alberto Barrantes, [email protected] , you can email him for a quote. Also, for Arenal, what is your budget? Sometimes the meaning of 'inexpensive' differs from person to person.

It's not really a reasonable plan. Monteverde is far away and hard to get to. By the time you got there, you would just have to leave. I'd skip it and spend two nights in Arenal, even three if you could swing it. We hire private drivers through our hotels like tully mentioned.

my fav driver...

www.tripadvisor.com/members/roadadvisor

www.hotelsilenciodelcampo.com

good moderate Arenal hotel...

I got three or four quotes via email from drivers recommended on Trip Advisor and this forum, and ended up hiring Road Advisor, as mentioned the last post. His rates were slightly better, and the vehicle seemed the best-a brand new Toyota Land Cruiser. It was much more comfortable than a van. Note that Luis did not end up being our driver, it was an another driver who worked for Luis' company. Although Ivan was a very good driver and spoke excellent English, he did get lost one time, missing the turn off on the way to Xandari. Nonetheless, I would not hesitate to hire Luis' company Tucan Limo Services again. Rosie at Tucan Limo also helped us at the very last minute change our arrangements because we were scheduled to arrive at Peace Lodge two days after the January earthquake.