MANUEL ANTONIO FOR A WEEK?
 

We are heading down to Costa Rica in late June. We're re-thinking our SJO to Manuel Antonio to Monteverde to SJO in six days tour:-)

Starting to think of just hanging out at Manuel Antonio. Is there more to do there than just the beach? (Horseback riding, atv tours, ziplining, anything like that?) It is just my husband, me and our beach loving 17 yr old daughter.

Thanks so much,

Tammy

There is quite a bit to do. A week would be WAY to long for me, though. 3-4 nights is pushing it. How about combining it with another beach location for your daughter's benefit? South there is the Dominical area. Montezuma and Malpais/Ste. Teresa on the Nicoya Peninsula would be good options as well. Getting there involves a rather time consuming transport and ferry ride (although you might check into water transport from MA to Montezuma).

Are you having to spend first and last nights at the airport? How many nights will you actually have at your locations? If you really only have 4 full days, then stay at MA the entire time! Plenty to do. . .

Stay someplace like Tulemar where she could really be "on the beach".

A week would be too long for me. Can you do a split with Arenal? It offers loads of adventure activities plus the active volcano. You could do Cano Negro, ziplines like SkyTrek, Hanging Bridges, natural hot springs, etc.

In MA, the Damas Mangrove tour is popular, and you can tour the park to see wildlife, and go horseback riding. We went snorkeling, but I wouldn't recommend it due to the low visibility in the water.

We're (w/ 2 kids) headed to MA for a week in June (additional 3 nts in arenal). I believe a week sounds just right. You have to figure losing most of one day coming and going which leaves 5 full days for all the activities. I'm hoping we'll be able to cram everything we want to do into one week :-)

We just got back from just 2 1/2 days MA. (We had also spent a few days in Arenal.) My husband and son did the ziplines one day while my daughter and I did a catamaran snorkling trip (she doesn't like heights). Next day we explored Manuel Antonio beach and saw tons of animals. Then we had to leave. Before we left, I asked my almost 12-year-old son how many more days he would have liked to stay there. He said "four". A week may be too long, but I could see staying there for four full days. We would have liked to do the mangrove tour, explore more of the park, and maybe an ATV tour, which at first did not interest me, but some families we met up with said it was great and they got to see a lot of the countryside (while getting really dirty).

We liked taking the early tours and getting back to our lovely hotel (Si Como No) for a late lunch,some serious pool time, lounging, and card games.

Glad you had a good time. SCN is great, isn't it? We enjoyed our stay there first time to MA several years ago. . .

Isn't CR a neat trip for kids?

Well, technically we are getting in to SJO on late Wednesday night, and then going to my son's graduation Thursday night at the Barcelo Palacias, I believe.
Friday we will take the interbus, I think, over to Manuel Antonio. So we will have half a day Friday/Saturday/Sunday/Monday, and then head back to SJO on Tuesday, fly out Wednesday.
(Staying our first and last night at the Orquideas Inn).
BAsically, then, we're talking 4 days over there, which seems just about right? I,personally, could lay on a beach all the day long, but an ATV tour, horse back riding, even maybe a deep sea fishing tour sounds good:-)
Any fav decently priced hotels you would recommend in Manuel Antonio?
Thanks so much,
Tammy

Yep--that's about right. Sounds like a good plan for taking in most of what MA has to offer.

Thanks so much! I have set the wheels in motion for our new plan:-)

We are staying at LaPosada in Manuel Antonio for the first two nights, and then will move to Costa Verde for the next two. Does anyone know the distance between those 2 places?

Thanks so much for all your help. You all are awesome!

tammy

Also..... has anyone out there had any experience with activities out of Manuel Antonio,
Sportfishing (1/2 day)
Horseback Tour
ATV Tour
Zipline/Canopy Tour
Would love to know which you recommend?
Thanks so much,
Tammy

La Posada is at the end of the road, so to speak, where the road dead-ends near the Nat'l Park. Costa Verde is just a few minutes up the (same) road. Finca Valmy is great for horseback riding, take/wear your swimsuits, halfway thru you stop at a small waterfall and then afterwards you have lunch at Valentin's house that has a lovely pool. For ziplining I like Canopy Safari, been with them twice and had a great time. Both have websites, they are http://www.valmytours.com/ and http://www.canopysafari.com/ . Have a great time!

tamtot, almost everything in MA is very close together. It's so easy to get around. There's really just one main road with almost everything clustered around it. We were able to walk to almost everywhere we wanted to go. Our most expensive cab ride was only $5.00.

We spent a week in MA last August (stayed at Si Como No). Loved the hotel and thought there was more than enough to do. But realize this was a real last-minute r & r trip for us (including 2 teenagers), so we had no desire to push it. As noted, a week may be too much for some people.

Since we were there during the rainy season, mornings were spent zip lining, swamp tours (used Iguana and really liked them), hiking, catamaran trips, sailing trips, going into Quepas, butterfly houses, and went to the beaches in the park 3 times. Afternoons (when it rained) spent at the pool, walking around "town", spa at the hotel and the kids liked to visit the various vendors in the area just before the park entrance.

Yes, there are also atv trips, horseback riding, parasailing, etc.

tamtot - we arranged all of our tours through the hotel. We weren't sure of everything that was available until we got there. Had no problems or complaints. Thought all of them were reasonably priced and all of our experiences were good.

Oh you all are soooo helpful! I'm so out of my element planning this thing, our usual vacation is a Cruise, and that's pretty easy to plan:-)

We're going in late June, what should we expect as far as temps/rainfall?

Tammy

I'd expect it to be pretty warm with afternoon rains. When we were there in July, it was about 90 and rained each afternoon. We learned to do things early in the day, come back and relax, and usually it would clear up by the time we went to dinner. May to October is the rainy time, with September and October being when the heaviest rain hits.

Our temps in Aug were in the low to mid 80s during the day; low 70s at night. Rain would usually start around 2 pm (really cooled things off) and taper off by 5 or so (except one night when we had a real storm that lasted until about 9 pm). We actually thought it was pretty comfortable - used the AC in our room maybe 3-4 hrs a day/night.

Tammy - in all fairness I should probably add that one of the reasons for our (or least my) low key approach to the trip was that we went 5 weeks before I had major back surgery, so I was under orders not to do anything too crazy (had to pass on the ziplining - but everyone else loved it). Some afternoons I was perfectly content lounging on the balcony, reading, sipping my vino, and enjoying the gorgeous views of the Pacific while the girls and my wife went to the spa (I'll take that kind of suffering in paradise any day!). BTW, they thought the spa was among the best they've been to. You don't have to be a guest at the hotel to use it.

My husband did sportfishing in MA. We were staying at Costa Verde. He went to the front desk about 7 am and they called around to find him a charter. They picked him up by 8 and he was back by about 5. He got 4 tuna & 2 dorado. Cost about $550. This turned out to be the best deal we came up with. Other quotes were around $700.

Good luck,

MY

For the sportfishing--is that $350 per person?

Also, does anyone now if Costa Verde includes breakfast with the room rate?
I'm to the budgeting phase of my trip:-)

Thanks again, and sorry for all the questions.

Tammy