this will be my first trip to costa rica, and i am trying to decide whether i want to go to MA or not. we will be staying 8 nights in early may...tentatively one around the poas volcano area, 4-5 in arenal, and then we would like to spend a little time at a beach before our flight out of san jose. We are more interested in a non-touristy area beach with a hotel in a moderate price range ($100-150ish) Should we go to MA or is it a bit overwhelming, and if not where should we stay? I would appreciate all ideas!

julie, MA will certainly be greener than the northern beaches at that time of year, just coming out of the dry season. It's a good place for wildlife viewing, of course, with the park and all. You might also enjoy the Caribbean side. Perhaps head down to the Puerto Viejo/Manzanillo area for a couple of nights--it's about the same distance from Arenal. But you'd be about 4 hours from SJO rather than 3 hours from MA for your return. And of course, coming in from the west, you get to avoid navigating San Jose.

The northern beaches are nice also. You might enjoy Playa Ocotal, Playa Flamingo (one of my favorites), Playa Grande. . .you have lots of choices. These are about 4.5-5 hours from the airport. Unless, of course, you fly out of Liberia on your departure flight. Then you are very close! 30 min or so. . .

I know, lots to think about!

We had a great time in MA. Lots of good restaurants. We stayed at La Posada Private Jungle Bungalows -nothing luxurious, but comfortable and - the owner, Michael Auvil, (USA citizen) is a "great" host, and will show you around if you wish. The monkeys come in the pm for their banana treats. Check out his webs site www.laposadajungle.com

Ron

shillmac, how far is it from arenal to the northern beaches?...i have been interested in going to ocotal

Ocotal is small:

http://costa.rica.typepad.com/playa_...ome/index.html

Youve got the nightlife of Coco 4km north, but kind of 'spring breaker' nightlife, though some good restaurants.
Id go with Manuel Antonio:

http://costa.rica.typepad.com/manuel...ome/index.html

If you are interested in a non-touristy beach area - Manuel Antonio is not your place. It's probalby the most touristed area of the country and very different then most other areas of Costa Rica I've been to.

so what if its 'touristy'- julie t IS a tourist so are the 1.1 million visitors to CR!
CR is a small country and the most densely populated in CA, not including the tourists!
Its not a place to come and visit if you 'vant to be alone'
MA is popular cos its beautiful and easy to get to!
people make such a big deal out of somewhere being 'touristy' as if they were visiting CR on a National Greographic survey, if you want somewhere less touristy go to Colombia i was there 6 months ago, beautiful beaches and hardly any tourists!

Costa Rica is popular so there are toursits here!

Agreed - but Julie said in her original post that she was interested in a non-touristy beach area. So just letting her know MA is heavily touristed - for good reason - but touristed none the less. There are also many great options if Julie wanted to find something more remote.

Yes, there are a few more people at MA than, say, Playa Junquiall (or however it is spelled--it IS remote!), but when we were there end of June last year, we were on the great second beach inside the park everyday. And there were VERY few people around. Mostly just us--perhaps another couple or family several hundred yards away, etc. I don't call this crowded by any stretch of the imagination. The public beach out in front of the park entrance--a LITTLE different story, but still not anywhere near as crowded as Newport Beach, California any old day.

This word "touristy" is just very relative to what one is used to. Personally, I've never felt like I was milling around in throngs of people anywhere in CR--it's always pretty low key as far as the crowds go--even at Arenal and MA--the two most popular areas.

Julie, northern Pacific beaches are about 4 hours from Arenal; those further south (in the Flamingo/Tamarindo area) more like 4.5-5 hours.

We were in MA the beginning of December during our first visit to CR. It was the tail end of the green season. We visited the park on a Saturday and I was expecting it to be really busy, but it wasn't bad at all. There were certainly other people around, but we did not feel crowded or rushed at all. There were probably about 20-25 people on the second beach the day we were there. There was plenty of room to spread out and enjoy.

MA itself, definitely caters to the tourists, and it probably wouldn't be as fun to visit during peak season. We loved it in early December. Its a beautiful, scenic area with really lovely beaches, and a great place to see wildlife.

In May, I would think it would be fairly quiet and laid back like it was for us in December, but others here will have a better feel for that than I do...

You're right Shillmac - it's all relative. Although there may be more tourists in Manuel Antonio then other areas of Costa Rica, its still really a laid back quiet area compared to US touristed beaches and resorts.

well, I loved MA beach. i liked the idea that we could rent chairs and umbrellas for a relaxing afternoon or walk into the park side and be pretty isolated. I also took a tour with the MA guide, for very little money, and saw wildlife that i NEVER would have spotted if it had not been for our guide pointing it out. We stayed at a place called "something" verde. Up the road from "si or no" . I thought it was marvelous! We had view of MA and every night at 5, green monkeys would descend on the hotel bar and hang out with the humans. It was the highlight of our trip