Last CR question (I hope)
 

Hello,
Ok I feel almost done with my CR planning for our 10 day summer trip with my husband and 2 kids. Right now I've got it booked as follows:
1 night Vista Del Valle
3 nights Lost Iguana
5 nights Villa Mot Mot Manual Antonio

I'm vascillating just a bit on whether it should be 4 nights each in Arenal/M.A. vs. the 3 nights and 5 nights that I've got set up right now. We do like the beach but all the activities in Arenal sound really fun and I'd hate to be rushed. We'll probably want to do the Cano Negro tour so that pretty much takes a full day which only leaves one other full day in Arenal before we take a day to get to M.A. My kids are 7 and 12 so they'll probably want to do hanging bridges and at least the 12 year old will want to do zip line. I also thought EcoThermales sounded good plus we like hiking in general.
Any thoughts on how to divide the days up? Can we do some of these activities in M.A? I chose VdV the first night instead of traveling directly to Arenal because we don't get in until 2pm and I know the kids will be tired after six hours of flying/airports.
Thanks so much.

Well, there's probably no wrong answer for how to divide up your days, but I would lean towards an even split between Arenal and MA.

One more night will improve your odds of seeing the lava flow, as well as giving you more time to enjoy all that Arenal has to offer. My overall impression of the 2 places was that there is a wider range of activities to choose from in Arenal than in MA (although I've only visited each place once to date, so there may be more available in MA than I'm aware of...).

Either way you decide, I bet you and your kids will love Costa Rica!

might add an extra day in Arenal from MA

www.desafiocostarica.com tons more tours

Rio Celeste/Liquid Lava tour both great.

www.tripadvisor.com/members/natureguide best MA guide

Also consider the mangrove tour amazing...

I would do the even split. We loved Arenal so much that we've gone twice, and we still haven't done everything. We already have a third Arenal trip in the works. The volcano is just so amazing; I hope you get to see it! We love Cano Negro and Eco Teramales too.

I would also add a night in Arenal.

Agree with above. The zipline activity will (my opinion) be better at Arenal, just FYI. . .