Hi, my husband and I are planning our first trip down to Costa Rica this August. I know it is during the wet season but it is the only week we have. We will be arriving very early on Wednesday the 6th and need to be back in SJO for a flight down to Bocas del Toro (Panama) by 11:00am Wednesday the 13th. The flight leaves at 12:30. So we have 7 full days (although the first day we may be pretty tired from an overnight flight)and 7 nights. I would really like to visit La Fortuna and Manuel Antonio, but we would also like to try to stay one night in Monteverde, it is just that we hear that getting to Monteverde can be time consuming and rough. Is it worth it? I would love any recommendations on nice Hotels but not over $100 a night, activities, transfer recommendations, and itineraries. Would it be to rushed to try 3 nights in Arenal, 1 night in Monteverde, and 3 nights in Manuel Antonio? I appreciate any responses being as we haven't traveled to C.R. before.
Thanks.

I would suggest to best enjoy your time there to drop the 1 night in Monteverde. It's too time consuming to spend only a night there. You'll probably need to spend the night before your flight to Panama near the airport, so that really 6 nights, which probably be best split 3/3 between Arenal and Manuel Antonio.

In MA there are many hotels to choose from. I really liked Costa Verde myself, reasonable rate and a to-die for view - splurge on the Studio Plus rooms. There is also Villa Nicolas, Mango Moon and La Posada. In Arenal, I stayed at Arenal Paraiso, thought it was great and the rate for the standard was around $65. There are several to pick from in the area that should fall well within your budget.

Thanks for the advice tully. I think I am going to look into the Costa Verde, I hadn't heard of that one yet.

You recommended staying the night in SJO before our flight to Panama. Would it be careless or to tight to try to spend one more night in M.A. and then do an early morning drive back to SJO. I hear the drive is approx. 3 hours without mishaps. Another option would be a flight from Quepos to San Jose with Nature Air (the same we will be flying to Panama on) there is a 7:40am flight that would arrive around 8:10 giving us about 3 hours in case of delay.

I think it would be less stressful to take the flight then try to drive - 3 hours yes but you always have to add in plenty of traffic/accident padding time. The flight would work well I believe - but keep in mind August may be rainy and with that comes delays or outright cancellations and could put a serious crimp in your plans! There are some very nice places to stay near SJO that would still give you a nice CR feel to them and assure you'd make your flight - you could look into Vista del Valle or Finca Blanca or Xandari, both are around 30 minutes from the airport.

I guess the rule of thumb in CR with tight/close connections is that there is no rule of thumb! Sometimes things run smoothly and sometimes they don't, but if you're prepared for that you can have a great time either way!

I can understand about CR not really having a rule of thumb. I hope that everything runs smoothly, but with my luck (and past travel experiences) it probably won't. I guess we will just need to decide if we want to take the risk or not.