Need help planning Costa Rica 5 night itinerary
 

We are going to CR in mid April for 5 nights and I have no idea where to go, where to stay, which hotel to fly into.

Basically here is what we would like to do for the 5 days:
-go to hot springs
-have some pool/beach time
-surfing
-sight seeing
-snorkeling

Any suggestions? Is 5nights not enough in CR to get the best experience?

Thanks for you help!

I meant which airport to fly into... :)

The distance from San Jose or Liberia to La Fortuna (hot springs) is about the same. Liberia is closer to the beaches than San Jose, but it depends which beaches you plan to visit.

Given your list of things you'd like to do, I'd suggest flying into Liberia. As the previous poster stated, you'll be about the same distance to Arenal area and about 1.5 hour from a popular surfing area (Tamarindo, Playa Negra, Playa Grande, etc).

Which you do first may depend on your arrival/departure times. You won't want to drive the 3 or so hours to Arenal after dark (or any part of it, particularly the last few km around the lake). So if your air schedule has you arriving at 2:00 or later, do the surfing first.

On the other hand, if you surf first, then head to Arenal (volcano and hot springs), you'll need a late departure to avoid having to return the night before. So the rest of your plans will depend on your airline reservation. Take care of that first.

No, 5 nights really isn't enough for 2 destinations--especially considering that you may have to spend the first or last nights near the airport. That whittles it down to 2 nights each location--and a 5 hour drive between locations, using up a good chunk of one day.

Now, if you don't mind one day of surfing and one day in the Arenal area, then it's do-able. Not the best way to enjoy your time, though. Any way you can extend it to 7 nights? That would give you enough time to enjoy both. Good luck--hope this helps a bit. . .

If there's any way you can stretch your time a bit, I would do it. We went to Arenal and Manuel Antonio for our first trip, and we were there 9 days. You will spend a lot of time just getting from place to place.