So I'm traveling to CR with my family in the rainy reason in August for 10 days. We're flying into San Jose and renting a car--I looked into flying into Liberia and it's cost prohibitive. We planned half the time in the beach, the other half in Arenal. Optimally, we'd like to go to a nice beach (thinking white sand, some waves) but hoping it's not so remote that we have access to a town for restaurants, etc. The catch is I'd like to minimize each driving leg to 3 hours or so--I know it sounds arbitrary but I that's really the limit with my young kids without having to stay over. I looked into the driving time between Tamarindo and San Jose and it appears to be 5 hours. And Manuel Antonio and Arenal is also 5 hours? So can I combine nice beach and Arenal--any ideas? Any help much appreciated?>

You can try driving to the Puenta Leona or Playa Herradura from Arenal. That will be significantly closer to both Arenal and San Jose. Is it the best beach area in CR? Probably not, but you're limiting your options with the 3 hour max distance from either Arenal or San Jose.

You could also check Sansa or Nature Air if you want to consider flying to save on time. Or what about just staying somewhere for a night as a halfway point?

You might have to rethink white sand beaches, very few beaches in CR have that.

Thanks all! I think you’re right about adjusting expectations, both with time and the types of beaches.

So so now I’m thinking of either driving from Arenal to Tamarindo or Playa Hermosa for 5 days before driving out of SJO (maybe stopping somewhere on way back),

Is this itinerary doable? I’ve heard the beaches are nicer in Tamarindo but the trade off is that it’s more commercial? Does anyone have experience with either? Are there other options?

Take a look at Samara or Nosara. Less commercialized.

RAC, can I ask a quick question about Selva Verde? We stayed in a river room last time, but for our next trip they don't have availability and have offered a bungalow for part of our stay. Have you stayed in those? Just curious about them; they seem isolated since they're across the road. Wondering if they're noisy. Thanks.

If anything, they're even more quiet--they're set back a fair bit from the road. We went up there as part of one of our birding hikes and saw a tayra on the path leading up there.

Awesome, thanks. I remember we walked over there but couldn't remember the details. Sounds good. We saw a tayra at the Lost Iguana, and I had no idea what it was. Have never seen one since.