I am planning a trip for me and my wife?s 5 year anniversary around mid January. It will be our first time out of the country (USA). Our travel agent suggested Cancun, Mexico...but we wanted something more adventurous.

I've read several reviews, and found many people suggesting Monteverdi, Manuel Antonio, Tabacon, Jaco, San Jose...they all sound great. I am planning a 6 night 7 day trip, arriving about 2pm the first day in San Jose, leaving the last day around 3pm from San Jose.

My goals are to have plenty of adventure....SITE SEEING, snorkeling, canopy tour, horseback riding, atv, relaxing on the beach, great food - just 7 days full of adventure, and some time to just relax. I've been told to try an all-inclusive resort, but it looks like we might have a better time driving to three or four destinations and spending some time at each. To get to my questions, could someone suggest a winning itinerary for us, I'm just not finding enough information on the internet to be confident in my own itinerary planning. ANY help would be appreciated, even if it's just a little bit of advice. My e-mail address is sandy**eisenbach**@comcast.net (take out the **'s, they are just to keep spam mail away).

I think I'll book something later this week.

I would stick to two places for such a short time. Fortuna will give you an opportunity to see a live volcano, sit in hot springs and many other things. Manuel Antonio has tons of different things to do that can be very adventurous (including white water rafting) or it can be laid back. Your call. Manuel Antonio probably has enough to keep you busy for almost the whole week.

With only 6 nights, 3 areas would be too much! Since you're getting in at 2:00pm you'll have to spend your first night in Alajuela or San Jose area, as it gets dark at 6:00 and you don't want to be driving after that. By the time you get through customs and get a car, it will be 3:00 or 3:30. Even though Arenal Volcano is only 3 hours away, it's pushing it, especially if your flight is even slightly delayed.
So I'd say drive to Arenal on your second day and stay two nights, for rainforest and volcano experience. Then on the day 4, drive to Manuel Antonio. Yes, it the most visited beach, but that's because it's a beautifil area and there is SO much to do in the area. It's also only about a 3 1/2 hour drive back to San Jose.

Funny. Suzie2 and I were posting at the same time and basically say the same thing.

That sounds great. I've been talking to centralamerica.com and they kinda of suggest the same thing. It's looking likely that we would arrive in San Jose, stay there that night (8th), drive the next day to Arenal, spend 2 nights there (9th, 10th). Then drive to Jaco Beach and stay that night(11th) (we may cut this out for an extra day/night in Manuel Anonio). Then Drive to Manuel Antonio for the remainder of the vacation (12th, 13th, 14th, 15th). Our plane leaves San Jose at 3pm on the 15th. Does this sound like a good plan? We'd like to have time for relaxation, and to do plenty of activities.

Yes, it's a good plan, but I don't know about Jaco. I don't think it's very pretty. I know that January will be somewhat busy, especially if you go anytime around the new year.
Personally, I would go through Jaco. If you like the looks of it, find a hotel for the night, but if you don't like it, just keep going to MA.