I've finally decided on our itinerary for our first trip and have put deposits down and received confirmations on all the hotels, except first and last nights. We decided against going down to the Central Pacific area--wanted to consolidate and not spend so much time driving--we'll do it next time! Here's where we're going:

1 night somewhere
3 nights Bosque de Paz (several guided birding tours & waterfall hike)
2 nights VillaBlanca (Los Angeles Cloud Forest) (taking their early a.m. Quetzal tour--5 hours)
3 nights Lost Iguana (Arenal) (Hanging Bridges, Cano Negro)
3 nights Selva Verde (decided against an a/c bungalow because they confirmed us into a riverfront room #44) (birding/nature tours, renting a private boat & guide for a trip on the Sarapiqui)
1 night Peace Lodge
1 night near airport (9:50 am flight)

We arrive at SJO at 8:30 pm so we need a hotel and I'm considering Orchideas Inn. I saw on a map somewhere that this hotel is near a road that goes to Grecia & Sarchi (Hwy #3?). Since we're heading to Basque de Paz, I was thinking that this side road would be easier rather than going down to the PanAm Hwy. Has anyone driven this road?

Also, does anyone know which car rental companies will deliver to Orchideas?

Have been reading about Tirimbina Rainforest and was wondering if anyone's been there and how it compares to the private reserve across the river at Selva Verde?

Thank you!

We just walked around the lodge by Tirimbina. We looked into the trail head of their rainforest but didn't go far. It was quite dense. The birding there was fantastic. The Tirimbina area is much less traveled than the Selva Verde trails. We didn't have time to go into the rainforest itself right there. We have been into Selva Verde, La Selva, and some private rainforest that is adjacent to both of those and Tirimbina. Selva Verde trails were very nice and you really know you are in the rainforest. Watch for poison dart frogs! It will probably be muddy.

There are two trains of thought on what you see in the more/less traveled places. Often the less traveled places are harder to find things because the animals are shy. When we were in the private area we actually saw less. When we were in a huge 750,000 acre preserve in Nicaragua we saw less. We have seen many things in the more traveled places of CR like Carara, La Selva, Bosque del Cabo. We mostly saw birds and frogs in Selva Verde but there are monkeys around.

Orquideas is a great location for getting on the road to Grecia, Poas, etc. It IS right on the road. Nice place, too. You'll love the Marilyn Monroe bar. . .good starting point for you. Most agencies deliver there. Pretty sure Tricolor does, our favorite!

Another place I wish you check out (at the end of your trip) is Hotel Villa Bonita. I'd love for you to meet Humberto, Carmen, and little Felipe. They are a beautiful Tica family and have a lovely little B&B--about 5 min. from the airport. Humberto will take very good care of you. About $50 per night. We used to stay at Orquideas often, and still go there for dinner and the bar when we are in the area, but the convenience of Hotel Villa Bonita to the airport (and to the family we visit) is just perfect for us. Everything sounds just great, Lorrie!

We went to Tirimbina and loved it. We had a great guide, arranged at the Centro Neotropico. Our time spent with him, walking around Tirimbina was one of the highlights of our trip.

Thank you everyone--I'm going to email Orchideas and see if they have a room. I really like the idea of easy access to the road we'll need in the morning, without having to go through town. I'm also watching airfares to see if they go down, but I may just buy the tix now and not play the wait & see game--they're $510 RT including taxes & fees, but I'm not sure if that's a good deal or not, and we're not near a major hub.

This time of year--your ticket prices don't sound too bad.