shoemacl

My boyfriend and I will be traveling to Costa Rica on or around May 14-21/22. We plan on staying for 7 nights. We have traveled extensively but never to Central America.

We were originally planning on doing 2 destination; however, our focus is now on staying in one place (we frequently fall into the trap of doing too much traveling in too little time).

We will be fly and out of San Jose and are considering Manuel Antonio, Santa Teresa or Montezuma. We are in our mid 20's and are looking for great beaches, accessible hiking trails, waterfalls, great food, enough activities to keep us busy for a week and relaxation!! My boyfriend is a vet student so seeing some exotic wildlife is a must!

Is the weather in mid May generally the same for these three destinations? My original thought was to go to Manuel Antonio but I have heard mixed reviews of people saying that more than 4 days may be too long. We would ideally like to avoid the super touristy areas but would like to have the flexibility of keeping ourselves entertained for the whole week.

Any advice and personal preferences on these three destinations is appreciated! Oh, and we will be renting a car. What is the most convenient way to get to the Nicoya peninsula? How long can it take from San Jose?

Thanks in advance!!

volcanogirl

The Arenal area is great for staying active - awesome Sky Trek zipline, rafting, hiking, Hanging Bridges, volcano, waterfall, Cano Negro tour, and natural hot springs. With that much time, I'd reconsider just staying in one area and would pair Arenal with a beach destination. The country is so diverse that it would be a shame to see just one part of it with that much time. Manuel Antonio is very nice - lots of wildlife and a beautiful beach inside the park, but you will find a lot of tourists there. If you wanted to go a little bit off the grid, the Osa Peninsula is amazing, and the wildlife there is hard to beat. We saw all 4 kinds of monkeys there from the front porch of our cabin.

janenicole

Do you have to stay overnight near the airport on your arrival day and before your departure day? If so, that only gives you 5 nights at your destination. We stayed 5 nights in Montezuma and kept active the whole time, but I think any longer than that and we would have gotten antsy. We saw monkeys each day at our resort (Ylang Ylang), but not a lot in areas away from there. We spent a day at Santa Theresa and found it to be a much busier and dustier area.

Travelessence

I was a little bored in Montezuma, 3 days was enough...Lovely, but small town, only a few things to do - an eco park nearby, a fishing trip to an island...the beach is rough and rocky w/hidden rocks in the water. If you are surfers and want a happening younger scene you should go to Malpais (or St. Theresa), but the waves are major and the undertow is killer. My suggestion is fly into San Jose, go up to Arenal volcano for 2 nights, hike around. Then visit Monteverde Rainforest, not far away, in fact you can find an adventure tour w/riding a horse to a lake then boating across to get there. Great hiking. Stay 2 days. Then take a tour bus to the Guanacaste coast to the town of Samara - great swimming beach 4 1/2 miles long protected by coral reefs...and fly back to San Jose from the next town Carillo or take a bus...OR head to Malpais/St. Theresa after Arenal & Monteverde. Bus travel in CR is great and safe and convenient and cheap.

amagkid

Land in the country and head to Arenal/Monteverde area for zip-lining, rafting, hot springs and great hiking..plus the obvious volcano viewing but hardly highlight of that area. Manuel Antonio..Montezuma...party towns with not the best activities if you want to really check out the wildlife. As a traveler I would personally be bored in a day in each town. Santa Teresa up to Samara is a gorgeous stretch of country too with great wildlife. Also consider the Osa area, Puerto Jimenez or Zancudo.