Nick

I wish to visit a cloud forest and would like your comments about Monteverde and Los Angeles cloud forests. Are they very similar or does one really outshine the other?
Thank you.

petegumbo

I was wondering the same thing---in fact, are there any other cloud forests besides those two that are as good?

Suzie2

Define good. There are cloud forests in several places in Costa Rica. Most of them are just small private ones. Even the Los Angeles is private but does allow tourists. The primary differences between the two you are talking about are the amount of development nearby and the Quetzals. The Los Angeles people have planted trees to lure them but it will take time. Other than that they have all the same things. If you just want to get out and hike and see things without a million other tourists..Los Angeles would be better. They don't have all the fancy canopy tours (don't see much on those anyway with so many people around) that Monteverde/Santa Elena have. On the other hand, Monteverde is a great little community. Crowded with tourists, yes, but still kind of neat. Even they don't have the Quetzals year round. I just love the sense of community up there and the pizza at the Heliconia and Johnnys is great! Stellas bakery has wonderful coffee and food. The womens coop CASEM supports the local female artisans. There are many other art shops. For the nighttime fun lover there is even a disco. La Cascada is a lot of fun (a little salsa experience makes it even more so). The little town of Santa Elena is small and easy to move around in. Basically it is about 2-3 blocks long. It has internet cafes, a grocery, post office, bank, bakery, restaurants, taxi stand, bus stop. It also has lots of other nature to see like the hummingbird gallery at the Monteverde reserve, an orchid garden, butterfly farm. Two different zip line canopy tours. Horseback riding. Which one you choose depends on what you want to get out of your cloud forest experience.
If your primary goal is to see a quetzal, I would recommend going down to San Gerardo de Dota. It is just a little south of Cartago off the Pan Am hwy. At the turn off to San Gerardo you will be at about 10,000 ft and will decend to about 7,000 where the quetzals will be. it is chilly there. The Quetzals are there year round. Again, you will be viewing them in a private area that charges a small fee. These people have done a wonderful job of planting for the birds and in the months of Jan-Mar they can be seen very easily. Not much down that way except a couple of lodges. There is one waterfall that you can go see and if you are into trout fishing they have that available also.

Nick

Suzie2: I want to thank you very much for your suggestion to go to San Gerardo de Dota in my quest to see a quetzal. I saw 2 and they were beautiful. Thanks, again.