Hi,

I am traveling to Costa Rica in December and want to check if my itinerary is OK. I've read thousands of posts here but got a bit confused... sorry to ask again!

My plans are:

Day 1 - visit some museums in San Jose in the morning, rent a car and take the road to La Fortuna.

There, my travel guide suggested us to stay at Arenal Observatory Lodge or Tabacon Hot Springs (too pricey I thought).

How long should I stay at La Fortuna. I noticed there's a lot to visit... like Cano Negro? other places surrounding La Fortuna?
(my travel agent told me to stay only one day in La Fortuna...)

Day 2 - go to Monteverde and sleep over at Sapo Dorado.

Day 3 - still at Monteverde, do the canopy. On the same day travel to Nicoya - Playa Hermosa. Then he advised me to go ON THE SAME DAY (!) to Guanacaste. Isn't that too much moving for such beautiful places t see???

Day 4 - stay in Playa Grande

Day 5 - go to Mal Pais

And then he advised us to stay for abt a week between Playa Grande and Mal Pais.

Well, how about it?

Thanks a lot.

looks good to me!
stay at arenal lodge, not tabacon!
cano negra is one of the best wildlife tours in CR, for less than the price of admission to tabacon springs!!
u should also go check out the la fortunal watefall- USD56- about 10 mins drive from the center:

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

i'd stay 2 nights plenty to do, nice restaurants etc.
i think ur underestimating the time it takes to get to monteverde and the time it takes to gewt from monteverdce to the canopy.
i wouldn't go thru the travel just 4 a canopy tour.
theres now a very good canopy tour near playa hermosa, amy at avispas tours can give u info:

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

i'd skip monteverde- unless u really want to visit the cloud forset- bring ur jacket it's cold in dec- and visit rincon de la vieja from hermosa.
playa grande is a nice beach- for surfers really, no bars/ restaurants etc- but it's easy to drive to tamarindo and eat/party there for the night.
i like mal pais, very 'on the up' destination!

sorry, keyboard in the internet cafe is well worn

it is USD6 to get into the waterfall at la fortuna!

I'd stay 3 nights at Arenal if you do Cano Negro--and it would definitely be worth your time. 3 nights will give you 2 full days. I wouldn't choose Tabacon or Arenal Observatory for your purposes). I agree with Guanacaste that Arenal Lodge or Arenal Paraiso would be better choices. . .You'll get back from Cano Negro about 3:00. Another day would be good for hiking the volcano, doing the Hanging Bridges, seeing the Fortuna falls, etc.

2 nights minimum at Monteverde, giving you one full day. You could drive to Playa Hermosa that afternoon. Playa Hermosa is in the province of Guanacaste. I don't understand why you wouldn't just drive to Playa Grande instead of Playa Hermosa. No point in going to Hermosa if you don't plan to stay there. Did I misunderstand??

Yes, about 5-6 days split between Playas Grande and Malpais would be good. 6 days would work better than 5 and allow for the rather long transfer time between them. I might be tempted to skip Monteverde and just do SkyTrek at Arenal. Grande and Malpais are both great places!

Some travel agents have not traveled much (or any) in CR and don't have a clue. You'll get better advice on this forum from people like Guanacaste! Good luck!

thanks a lot, I am glad to hear about this necessary adjustments, since I plan to book all hotels in advance! thanks, really!

Just a comment on Playa Grande............
My last time there in 2005 I found plenty of good restaurants and a few good bars. No need to head over to Tamarindo every night for dinner and drinks.

one more question... I saw some pictures of Manuel Antonio Beach and thought it must be wonderful! Do you recommend going there? Is it far from Guanacaste? Or Playa Hermosa?

guanacaste is an <b>area</b> of costa rica in which beaches like hermosa, grande and tamarindo are located.
i drove in may from hermosa to manuel antonio in less than 4 hours, but i live here and i know how to 'make progress'

i'd combine grande- quiet,natural- with mal pais-funky,surf,nightlife, on the way up destination- so u can say you were there before it was 'discovered'
some very good restaurants and hotels there as well, genarally cheaper than MA!- cos ur unlikely to get any hotel in MA for december at such short notice, well not the best ones, the others are going to be overcharging.

as shillimac says i'd skip monteverde, cano negra will give you the 'wildlife/nature' experience, the road to monteverde is a nightmare and a lot of the hotels are getting greedy and charging exorbitant prices for what they offer!
leave it for ur second visit.

oh and joeschmo says there <b>are</b> good restaurants/bars in grande but more in tamarindo but if u do mal pais and grande then no need to go to tamarindo.
and as shillimac says don't bother with travel agents i haven't used one in 10 years, what's the point.
check out shillimac and others postings.
check out earthtravellers photos, buy moon, fodors guide books and u know more than 95% of travel agents!

thanks again. Mal Pais and Grande then!

Buen viaje!