Monteverde Cloud Forest or Cano Negro? Which one would you choose?
 

So we have 4 nights in the Arenal area which I am now thinking about splitting up between 2 hotels. We will be coming from Nosara and La Mansion Arenal Hotel is by the lake on the way to La Fortuna. So, option 1 is 2 nights at La Mansion where they offer a one day Monteverde Cloud Forest tour. I figure since it's slightly closer to to Monteverde, it might make sense to do the tour. Then we would stay 2 nights in a hotel near La Fortuna and would probably skip Cano Negro since 2 day trips so close together might be a bit much and there are so many activities around the volcano we want to do. Option 2 is 4 nights in a hotel near La Fortuna with the Cano Negro tour. So, which one would you chose? Besides Nosara, we will also be visiting Osa for 4 nights and 1 night at the Peace Lodge. Thanks in advance!

I could do either honestly. La Mansion has always seemed like it's in a great places with lovely views, so if you wanted to visit Monteverde without staying there that may be a great option. I would, though, find out exactly how long you will be traveling and how long you actually get to spend in Monteverde. I haven't done the Cano negro so can't comment on that, but there definitely are plenty of activities to fill either 2 or 4 days.

If you want to see wildlife, I would strongly recomend Cano Negro. I saw as much there, as on the rest of the trip.

Well you can do Cano Negro as a day trip while you stay in Arenal.

I LOVE Monteverde and suggest a visit there at some point. The negative side is the roads to and out of Monteverde are HORRIBLE which makes transportion to there longer and unpleasant.

Thanks, everyone. It's so hard to decide which one to do - both seem amazing, but I'm afraid doing both in 4 days would be too much since they both take the majority of a day and we would miss out on some other amazing activities in the area.

We had to make the choice given our limited time, and we went with Cano Negro; we really loved it. Monteverde is still on my to-do list.