We just back from our third trip and already want to start planning our fourth. We have been to the Osa twice staying at Bosque del Cabo, Arenal twice, Monteverde, Manual Antonio and Central Valley at Rancho Naturalista. We have loved everything but are a little worried that we have been to some of the best and do not want to be disappointed. Any other suggestions and great places to stay would be greatly appreciated. We love the animals and more recently are definitely into bird-watching. My other half is a surfer so a good beach for part of the trip is important. We will be going during the dry season as well.

One option: Tamarindo on the Pacific Ocean, or farther north/south if your other half is an advanced surfer. Tam is in proximity to a lot of nature. Rincon de la Vieja Park, with its mud pots, is 2 hours away. The beach in the town is a great beginner surfing place, with a lot of the better surfers going just south to Langosta.

If your other half (and even you) is interested in lessons from a really great teacher, contact Lou Maresca at [email protected]. He's from Florida but has been living in Costa Rica for the past 2 years with his wife, Jennifer, who is also a surfer. My girlfriend and I took beginner lessons from them, with great results. Lou coached me out of some bad habits I had obtained through some previous surf sessions, and my girlfriend -- who had never surfed before -- could pop up and ride after just 2 hours of instruction and practice, which is pretty amazing.

(whoops, I accidentlly clicked "post my reply.) Lou, though, coaches all levels of surfer. Lou surfs Pipeline, which should tell your other half the level that he can go up to. The two (Lou and Jennifer) also do tours to waterfalls in the area. At the very least, shoot him a line and he'll likely be glad to offer suggestions on where to surf and when the best tides are, etc.

skip Tamagringo, the water is dirty and so is the town, but with Miami Beach prices and plenty of spring breakers.
Best surf beach and the 'in' beach in CR right now is Mal Pais:

http://costa.rica.typepad.com/mal_pa...ome/index.html

Since you are into birding, I will chime in here.

The area of San Gerardo de Dota is beautiful and birdy. There are only a few lodges but you will see birds there that are very difficult elsewhere in Costa Rica. Savegre Lodge at about 7200 feet altitude is our favourite. The lodge is set on the edge of a splendid oak-bamboo cloud forest. From here you can access areas of Paramo as high as 11200 feet on Cerro de la Muerte.

Another good and popular possibility is the area around Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui in the Caribbean lowlands. This is in the most species-rich part of the country. We have enjoyed Selva Verde Lodge and La Quinta de Sarapiqui in this region. A 'must visit' in this area is the OTS La Selva Biological Station.

cheers

Jerry

I second the Sarapiqui area for wildlife. You could then swing over to the coast and check out Cahuita. There is a little Sloth rescue place you can visit. Don't know about surfing over there.

How about Nosara? Lots of surfers there. Mal Pais as well.

Forgot to mention Dominical! If you do go to Savegre Lodge in San Gerardo de Dota you can pretty easily get to Dominical. Nauyaca falls, Ballena marine reserve, visit the whale tail sandbar.

We just got back from Puerto Viejo de Talamanca on the SE Caribbean side. We stayed at Casa Viva Bunglows, which I'd highly recommend. The beach at Casa Viva is called Punta Uva, which is fairly calm, but between Cahuita and Manzanillo, I think there are several sufing beaches. While we were there, we took a 5 hour hiking tour in the Gandoca reserve with guide Abel Bustamante. We saw lots of birds...slaty-tailed trogons, a couple of kinds of manakins, toucans, etc. There were several good restaurants there.

You might also consider Tortuguero. Although you won't be there during turtle season, there is still lots of wildlife to see.

I had not been there in quite some time, and my wife had never seen it. So went on lodge inspections last year.

I had forgotten how much there was to see. We had a great guide at Mawamba, and were up extremely early every day. But we were rewarded with some really good animal sightings. Lots of parrots and waterfowl too. Some of the tours were by boat, so you could see a lot with just sitting with your binoculars.

The only negative is that the beach here is not good for swimming or surfing. Dangerous currents and sharks!

I also agree with the poster who mentioned San Gerardo de Dota. Great chances to see a Quetzal there. A guide told me that this was some of the best habitat in Central America for this bird.

I can't tell you if that is true. But we photographed one late in the day, in the rainy season. This was after we were told that we didn't have a snowball's chance of seeing one.

Let me know if I can offer more advice.

Warm Regards,

Pat Hewitt
(Travel Professional)

Pat, we go to San Gerardo (Savegre Hotel) every summer for a weekend. Never fail to see LOTS of quetzales. Melvin, one of the guides, told me last June that this is the rule rather than the exception. It's truly a great little area for spotting the highland species. And the temps--to die for! Reminds me of Colorado--only LOTS better!

fccolorado, what did you think of Abel? Isn't he the greatest? Such a personable guy--seems to have a genuine of love people and nature, a friend to all. Sounds like you had a great time!

lhgreenacres, you've seen some of the best, but there's so much more! You've gotten some good suggestions. We also enjoyed immensely our time at La Carolina near Bijagua. There was good birding and the hiking on Volcan Tenorio and the Rio Celeste was excellent. The lodge itself isn't for those who require a bit of luxury, but the genuine experience of life in the Costa Rican countryside was a real gem for us. No English spoken there. No electricity, but a great little homebuilt jacuzzi on the river heated by a wood burning stove and copper coils! Truly unique. . .

San Gerardo and LA Cloud Forest are better places to see Quetzals than Monteverde!

ive heard the best beaches are in Guanacaste: pacific side!
i love nature too and i recomend you the Wilson botanical Garden (in tres Cruces) it is close to san Vito in the south (near the panama border line).
it is very nice there! u can also sleep there and have breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. We are definitely going to go the Savegre Lodge. We were thinking about Carrara National Park. Does any have any recommendations for lodging near there? We have looked at Villas Lapas but don't know if there is any thing nicer. We would like to go to La Selva and the Sarapiqui area but feel on this trip it will put us with too much driving if we go to Savegre. Thought it made more sense to condense our drive time as the roads can be difficult. Any great beach location and lodging that would be between Dominical and Carrara? Our price range is between $200-$300 per night.

Check out Villas Caletas. . .gets good reviews. You'll love Savegre!