We will be in Quepos for a week in the Parador timeshare (any information on this place will be appreciated) the end of September. We will be leaving the place on a Friday. The next Monday we will be in a business conference in Marriott Los Suenos Hotel in Playa Herradura, Punta Arena. We want suggestions for places to go and stay for the 2 nights between. We plan to rent a car during our stay in Costa Rica. We are wondering if the Cloud Forest in Monteverde would be an alternative (not sure about driving there). Maybe we should go to San Jose and tour the city. Thanks for your help.

Try visiting the Arenal volcanic area,hotel SanBasco in La Fortuna .Some interesting bed and breakfast in Monteverde. Try the Monteverdeinfo.com website

Hi Hecti,

I believe Los Suenos is only approximately an hour/hour and a half away from Quepos.

Both Monteverde and Arenal are considerably out of the way for your 2 free days (would take 5-6 hours to get to either option from Quepos, and then 4-5 hours to get back down to Herradura the following day).

You could possibly do something in the Central Valley or Orosi Valley area for those days, although it's quite a bit of backtracking given the location of these areas in relation to Quepos and Los Suenos. It's too bad your 2 days are in between the 2 primary locations. It really does limit your choices because its not enough time to venture too far afield.

One other suggestion would be to head south to Dominical and the other nearby beaches. You might have time to visit San Gerardo de Dota or part of the Chirripo area, although rain may be a discriminating factor at that time of year. I haven't been to that region myself so I'm not sure of the travel times involved. Hopefully someone with actual 'hands on' experience will chime in to give you better insight. It would be nice if you could head to the interior of the country to give you some good variety in your trip.

Thank you very much for your advice, your recommendations were helpful. I still do not know what to do, maybe going to SJO for those two nights will be better.

YIKES! Forget San Jose -- either go south, towards Dominical (in Sept. there's great rafting, turtle nesting, lush beach and nearly deserted) or head towards the Arenal volcano area. The lava flows are most visible in the cool months (July thru November) or head for a true naturalist retreat in the Talamanca mountains -- cloud forest without the headahce of getting into and out of Monteverde. From Quepos you'd head south to Dominical and then up into San Isidro as a good way to avoid San Jose, but the road from Quepos to Dominical is bad gravel (allow 1 1/2 hr. for 28 miles).