We were supposed to go to CR last year but had to cancel, so now I'm planning again! We're going the last week of May and first week of June (14 days) and have the following tentative plans:

Arrive late, stay in San Jose somewhere
Arenal - Lost Laguna Resort 3 nights
Selva Verde Lodge 3 nights
Villa Lapas 3 nights
Monteverde 3 nights
Back to San Jose, spend night

I'm not sure of how the order of our trip should go -- any advice? Our main interest is to see wildlife and birds (husband's an avid photographer). We're not interested in Manuel Antonio as it sounds too touristy for us and we don't want to fly to Tortuguero or Osa, pretty much afraid of small planes

Any advice or comments? Not sure of what hotels to stay at in San Jose at beginning and end of trip. Has anyone done the Cano Negro tour (could do this out of Arenal)? Or a river trip on the Sarapiqui (while at Selva Verde)? Should we try and see La Paz Waterfalls--I've heard conflicting reports in that some folks love it and some think it's too developed. Can we get to La Paz easily from Selva Verde or would this be out of San Jose? Has anyone flown AmericaWest? I'm wondering if the seats are comfortable or are you squished in (incredible rates right now--Sacramento, Calif to CR for $315 round trip, including taxes).

Hope I'm not asking too many questions--this board has so many great posts--have been reading for days! Thanks everyone!

If your husband is a birder / photographer I do highly recommend La Paz. He will get wonderful photo opportunities for many hummingbirds and various tanagers. La Paz is en route from San Jose to Selva Verde via the 'mountain route'.

Another 'must' is the OTS La Selva refuge and research station just a few miles from Selva Verde.

I would be pleased to answer any questions he might have about birds in the various locations you have chosen. My e mail is [email protected].

cheers

Jerry

How long a drive do you think it is from La Paz to Selva Verde? I'm not sure about leaving all our luggage and stuff in the car while we do La Paz on our way to or from Selva Verde. I'm wondering if we should add a night at Peace Lodge in order to see the falls before or after the tours leave--unless Selva Verde is close enough to make it a day trip from there--any ideas? We're not big birders, just amateurs!

Re Cano Negro and Tortuguero: There is no need to fly into Tortugueo. It's easy to set up a tour that will provide land and sea transportation from San Jose. However, Cano Negro is a good substitute; we actually saw more wildlife on this river, particularly birds. And, yes, the Cano Negro tours leave from the Arenal area hotels.

We also took the Cano Negro tour from Arenal area (Arenal Paraiso hotel). It was one of the highlights of our CR visit.

We stayed at the Fonda Vela in Monteverde and enjoyed it immensely.

Rufus, do you recall how much $ the Cano Negro tour was from Arenal Paraiso?
Thanks

I agree that the Caño Negro tour was spectactular. We saw many animals close up. It cost about 50 dollars per person. This includes lunch and transportation from your hotel.

For those that have done the Cano Negro tour--which tour operators do you recommend and were there any that you didn't like? How did you book these tours? Thanks everyone!

We booked through the Arenal Observatory Lodge which cost us a bit more than booking from a hotel closer to the tour operator's office in La Fortuna, I think in the $65 range. I'm embarrased to admit that I don't remember the operator's name. We made the long drive in a bus, after picking up people from various hotels. We would have preferred a smaller group, but the guide handled the large group well, and could speak a few languages.

We loved the Lost Iguana at Arenal. Hubby's a biologist and we had a luxury suite on the first floor. At night we sat on our private patio, and listened to insects and frog sounds. Hubby could hear calls of 6 different frogs and after a while I could too. We were fortunate to have views of the lava flow all 3 nights from our rooms! Nice hike early in the morning on the Hanging Bridges, if you go slow, and stop often, and listen and watch in the trees where you see movement, you can see some wildlife. We saw howler monkeys (hard to spot, you have to go slow and listen, look.) Cool insects. Birds.

Hubby loved the garden at the Hotel Bougainvillea in Heredia. It's about a 20-minute taxi ride from the SJO airport. They also have a free shuttle into downtown San Jose in case you want to go downtown for shopping or dancing. There are some birds in the garden, also a frog pond; the garden is the owner's passion, truly a wonderful garden. Nice pool and sauna too. good place to stay on your first or last night. Hard to find on your own but we took a taxi so there was no problem. We rented a car when we drove to Arenal, Monteverde, and Manuel Antonio.

Monteverde cloud forest is amazing, the cloud forest is primeval in the early morning; it's hard to see wildlife though because the forest is so very dense. You can her wildlife but can't see too much. We plan to return to se Monteverde cloud forest again someday.

Have a great time.

You've probably considered this already, but to share my experience: My husband and I went to Monteverde in late May of this year and thought it was beautiful--but it was really rainy. Of course, it's the rainy season, but it wasn't such a big deal in other places we went (we've been to CR twice during the rainy season). If I went back to MV, I'd go at another time of year.

We also saw much more wildlife in Manuel Antonio (maybe that's just because it wasn't raining there the whole time!). It wasn't too touristy for us, although it probably is in the high season.

If you do go to Monteverde, we went to both the Monteverde Cloud Forest and the Santa Elena Reserve, and we enjoyed the Monteverde forest much better--fewer people and tours, denser forest. There were loud tour groups all over the place at Santa Elena!

As for hotels in San Jose, one that's near (but not in) San Jose that we LOVED was Xandari. It is just gorgeous, and you can hike around their own private grounds.

Have a great trip!