no we have 11 nights, but we land in SJO at 6.30am so we have time to catch the Sensa flight to go to Manuel antonio.
-4n Manuel
-3n Montezuma
-2n Arenal
-2n Peace lodge, we will drive directly from Peace lodge to the Airport ( I have heard 1 hour driving )

Such a genius I am--figured it out myself with a hint from Donna! DUH!

New program--new itinerary. . . . .must be the European phrasing that threw me? Agree your itinerary (program!) sounds excellent--the time is almost here, so just enjoy!

Whaou, how did you find out I was european ? not my accent ?
you are right, I live in California but am french.
About my program ( ) I am still a little bit sad to skip Monteverde because everybody seems so enthusiastic about it...What a dilemna...

Wow you arrive at 6:30 AM. Awesome, you don't lose the day! But what time do you leave!

we leave san francisco at 9.30 PM, and LA around 11.30. We will sleep on the plane
Is Monteverde your favorite ?

euripide,
Here's the thing. Monteverde is surely wonderful. I say surely because, although we have been to Costa Rica 9 times during the past 4 years, we've never yet been to Monteverde! Crazy, huh? We'll get there (hopefully this summer), and when we do, we'll think it's amazing. How do I know this? Because everywhere we've been (and we've covered a lot of ground) has been fabulous! So relax about having to drop part of your "program"--it won't lessen your enjoyment one little bit--and you'll have something to look forward to the next time you visit. Very few people are satisfied with one trip to Costa Rica! It has a way of grabbing the heart Just go have fun and don't fret!

Monteverde provides many favorite mememories. But I also have many favorite memories from all the areas you are visiting.

So don't fret over dropping an area. Save Monteverde for a future trip and look forward to it. I am pretty sure you will have quite a few more places to add to that trip.

As Shillmac said, CR tends to grab hold of some people. Right now I have enough on my must do list to make up trips 5, 6 and 7!

Have you nailed down your hotel choices?

You have a good trip planned - go and enjoy!

Thank you so much.
As far as the hotels, I already booked " Makanda by the sea " at MA, and the " Peace lodge ".
For Arenal, I am thinking about the lost Iguana.
For Montezuma, the Sano Banano, but I still hesitate with Malpais ?

Monteverde was my favorite part of the trip. The cloud forests are beautiful. I strongly suggest doing all 3 night walks. The canopy was great there also. The only downside is that the roads are terrible.

Have fun in Costa Rica.

PS: I am also in the SF Bay Area.

darow, I was planning to skip Monteverde. I will be 5 mo pregnant and as the roads are really bad, I think this is safer.
You think Arenal is not as nice ?
What places did you see ?

I loved Arenal also. Depending where you are coming from, you might also have road problems.

Besides Monteverde, I also went to Manuel Antonio which I did not like as much. Monteverde and Arenal were spectacular.

Have a great trip.

euripide,
It is true that if you take the road west around Lake Arenal toward Liberia, you'll encounter some bumpiness--as opposed to the very decent road from Arenal to San Jose. I haven't been to Monteverde, but from several posts, it seems the Monteverde-Arenal road is one of the rougher rides in the entire country. Your proposed itinerary, at this time, does not include any roads that will cause you too much discomfort.

Thank you very much
Shillmac, I have been very comforted by the fact that you did not go to Monteverde yet and still love Costa Rica.
I am going to book the lost Iguana through centralamerica.com.
My last doubt is Montezuma ( I have read the bad review yesterday ) or Malpais, and what hotel in this part of Costa Rica. Do you have advices ?

We just did a trip to CR in January and hit some of the spots on your itinerary. We opted to skip Monteverde because we had heard that the drive up is horrendous and we didn't have a lot of time. Instead we spent an extra day in Arenal. I can't personally comment about Monteverde, but everyone we talked to that had done it said that the drive wasn't worth it. If you want to buy yourself some time, you could shift one of your days from MA. But don't skip it...MA park is definitely worth it (lots of monkeys and nice beaches); we also stayed at Makanda and enjoyed that. The Peace Lodge is wonderful...definitely keep this on your itinerary...and leave enough time to check out the hummingbirds and waterfalls (a few hours should do it)! You may want to consider staying there on your way up to Arenal(especially if you do end up going to Monteverde) so that you don't have to backtrack. Another great place that we stayed at was the "Hotel Grano de Oro" in San Jose. It was reasonably priced, within walking distance to the city center, and the restaurant served the best food we had the entire trip! This might be a good place to spend your last night.

euripide,
The entire country is too full of fascinating locales to be upset about missing one of them. We hope to go this summer just so we can see what so many rave about. As I've stated before, we haven't been disappointed anyplace in CR yet! I'm convinced that, if you have to drop anything from your itinerary, you are most certainly going to gain wonderful days somewhere else! It's a no-pressure, win-win situation!

Thank you so much for your comments I booked all hotels now execpt in Montezuma. I think we 'll go for el Sano Banano because florBlanca in Malpais looks great but is really expensive. My husband will complain I told him Costa Rica was cheap Shillmac, where did you stay in Malpais ?

The bad review you are referring to - is I assume that someone made reference to Montezuma being a big hippie town and about the food.....?

Well yes Montezuma is a very laid back kind of town, and yes it does tend to throw you back to the 60's, which you do not remember!

The town is really just 2 main streets, with people milling around, lined with shops and restaurants, outdoor vendors and such. The ESB in town restaurant is a good place to sit outside and sip a fruit smoothie for you and something stronger for hubby and just people watch. Sounds odd, but they also have dinner and a movie at night, which for a change was interesting, we are not big party people, so the late night bars hold no appeal, but there are a couple.

I am certain you have read many reviews on this board about El Sano Banano, I can only remember one maybe two that were not pleased. However, It is important to know what to expect, the domes could get uncomfortable, due to their size being so small, which can limit air circulation, especially during the daytime. But the hammocks along the beach and the pool area, are delightful for relaxing, catching a breeze, reading and napping, just being lazy for the day. Remember that they also have some beachfront suites, you could consider.

With the new beachside restaurant, I would certainly not hesitate to go back. The walk into town 3 times a day got a little old to us, so we tended to eat late breakfast and early dinner. When you arrive in Montezuma, after checking in, go to the grocery next door and stock up on snacks and drinks to keep in your room, this way you can haul your things down in the back of the truck. There is a mini fridge and don't forget to keep your snacks in ziplock bags or containers with lid.

The grounds at ESB are lovely, the pool so inviting. The sound of the surf is wonderful. The water is a bit rough. But the walks along the beach are wonderful, you could go for miles if you wanted.

For ST/Malpais - my stepdaughter just returned from a stay at Tropico Latino, she was very happy. You can find her report by searching for audraf. She did comment that she really liked the town of Montezuma and would love to go back there.

We had read a few negative reports about Tropico and got a little nervous as to what she would encounter. So read the negative reports but weigh in the positive and know what you can expect.

As for the expense, well do as all us women planners do - make a few concessions and work the budget to fit it all in - if the husband is not helping in the planning, he normally just wants to know bottom line cost.

One more thing - This may be important to you - if you do decide on the dome bungalows at El Sano - make certain you make it very clear that you want a beach front bungalow. They do have 2 that are up the hill a bit and surrounded by lush foliage. Which of course is certainly not bad, but when on the beach, I want to see the water.

thank you so uch, that was a great help. I am going to the beachfront suite on the website.

euripide, we stayed at Tropico Latino--in the one beachfront bungalow with an unobstructed view.