Hi:

My wife and I are going to CR for the first time Nov 12-22. I'd appreciate any tips and or comments on our itinerary from any of you who've been there / done it before.
I'm an avid photographer and we are hoping to see as much local wildlife [animal not human ] as we can.

Day 1: Arrive San Jose; Rent a 4wd from Solid (anyone have any experience with them?); stay over night.
Day 2: Drive to Arenal next morning stopping at La Fortuna on the way. (Am thinking twice about this re leaving our luggage in-car while we hike to the falls. Is there another picturesque falls if we bypass La Fortuna Falls?).
Should we do an afternoon tour of Arenal- or when would the best time be to see the volcano?
Spend night at Observatory lodge.
Where's a good place to eat dinner?
Day 3: Arenal - Morning tour via Hanging Bridges or Skytrek?
Leave @ noon for Monteverde. Stay at the Monteverde Lodge - see Frog Pond in evening. Any ideas for dinner?
Day 4: 7:30 AM tour of Cloud Forest. Depart around noon to Manuel Antonio - staying balance of stay at Makanda By The Sea.
Days 5- 10 in M.A. Want to see M.A. park, do some (mangrove) kayaking, see some waterfalls (what's most pictureseque ... diamante, Manantial, Nauyaca waterfalls ?? Are they nicer than La Fortuna ... with less people? Not really interested in large groups or masses of tourists), Playa Espadilla Bch, Bellena Marine Park, Chiropo Park, Rainmaker Reserve ... and Cano Island with Ocenas Unlimited (I scuba and my wife snorkels so we'd like to do both there - what's the likelihood of decent conditions week of Nov 18-20- and if anyone else is going I hear we need min 5 divers to make this trip ... anyone interested?.)

Wnat a couple of really nice nights out while in M.A. Heard the the Sunset Bar & Grill @ Makanda is romantic and top-notch. Can anyone comment on that?

Hey - any and all input is appreciated. We've never been before and I've never posted to a forum like this before, but the more knowlege we have the better our experience will be. Finally ... I've heard mixed things about weather in our locations during our dates. I'm starting to get a little concerned about how much rain we may see, especially while in M.A.

Thanks,

Mark.

Hi Mark,

Welcome to the Fodor's forum! This is a great place to get information on Costa Rica; lot's of avid CR fans here...

The first thing that strikes me when I read your itinerary is that you have an awful lot of travel crammed into the first part of your trip. Costa Rica is a small country but distances on the map can be very deceiving. Most roads in the country are of the 2 lane variety, wandering leisurely throughout the countryside. Conditions can be highly variable and there are lots of steep, winding routes that you simply have to take nice and slow. It's also highly advisable to limit driving in unfamiliar territory to the daylight hours (potholes ranging from small to ginormous, lack of guard rails along switchbacks, and poorly marked routes are the norm). I love driving there, but the bottom line is that it takes a while to get from point A to point B.

Driving do's and dont's aside, both Arenal and Monteverde are worthy of more time than you have alloted for them (3 days each is a decent guideline). If you only spend one afternoon and the next morning, you'll really be short changing these areas. I have not yet been to Monteverde, but I absolutely love Arenal and can't imagine only having one night there!

Regarding Arenal; the volcano dominates the surrounding countryside and your hotel is right at the base of it. With any luck, you'll have some clear weather and be able to see the lava flow at night from your room. Your hotel is very close to the national park entrance where you can hike the old lava fields. A morning hike will give you a higher probability of escaping rain showers (although you never know with weather!).

I would recommend against visiting the La Fortuna falls with your luggage in the car. Someone else recently asked that same question and the consensus was that its simply not worth the risk. Unfortunately, petty theft is a fairly common issue in CR, so best not to provide the opportunity...

You should get lots of nice wildlife photo ops in MA. Lots of monkeys and sloths to be seen there! Some of your daytrips (Bellena, Chirripo...) are going to involve significant travel times; not sure if they're feasible or not. Hopefully someone else will chime in on those for you. I'm also a bit surprised that you can do Cano Island from MA. I would think it would be too far away, but I guess it depends on the mode of transport. Diving/snorkeling in Costa Rica seems to be pretty hit or miss. You won't get the crystal clear water of the notable Caribbean sites there, but many have enjoyed the Cano excursion. Weather is always such a toss up. We've been to CR twice during the first week of December. On the first trip, there was a tropical depression hovering over Arenal. It rained quite a bit, but we also had some nice clear periods and were able to do everything we wanted to do. MA was hot and sunny for most of our time there. Last year down on the Osa Peninsula, we saw no rain until we were sitting at the little airport in Puerto Jimenez, waiting to fly back to San Jose and then it was a veritable torrential downpour as we waited to board our flight. November <i>should</i> be a decent time in general...

I've heard that Makanda is very nice, so I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay there. We had dinner one night at Mar Luna along the main MA road. We enjoyed our meal there and had nice views out over the ocean for sunset. You'll get those at Makanda as well...

Nice trip you are planning. When driving from alajuela to fortuna, grecia is a nice town to see the church and park, the locals are out in the evenings. On the same road after palmares/naranjo and before zarcero there are a couple of nice places with a mountain view to have breakfast at, you will see the mountain view from the road--stop at the first restaurant you see and check it out. This road can be dangerous so stay on the right side specially in the turns to avoid incomning buses. San Carlos (ciudad quesada) is the last large city before fortuna, all services are found here. Look for pizzeriz bagabound in the town before fortuna, run by a nice italian family and one of the nicest in the area, it will be on your right after florencia and santa clara. In fortuna tabacon resort is a must stop. the best hotel is montana de fuego, at least try their restaurant. the locals recommend b/w 8 and 11 to see. The waterfall you are talking about in nice but getting downthere is challenging unless they fixed the path, if there is too much water it can be dangerous since there is no supervision at the bottom of waterfall. The drive from fortuna to monteverde-the long way is around the lake, not worth the drive but you have one or two nice views- the road has been in bad repair for a long time. Monteverde is a must, ask about the road that goes through san ramon. I been there several times and never needed a 4x4 i always bought full insurance but never needed it however it could save you headaches once you leave country. Enjoy your trip

For a restaurant in Monteverde/Santa Elena, we went to Sophia, the Tree House, and Morpho's. Tree House has a big menu--so if you have picky eaters in your group that'll work. Sophia feels much more like a city restaurant than one in a pristine mountain environment. Great place, great service, but the food is somewhat avant garde.

Our favorite was Morpho's. Comfortable, inviting interior and we thought the food was just awesome. (Try the coffee ice cream drink!)

There's a lava trails walk at the Arenal Observatory Lodge that starts around 4:00 pm. We didn't get a chance to do it last year because it got rained out.

In La Fortuna, our favorite dinner spots were El Novillo for steaks and La Choza de Laurel known for their rotisserie chicken. Just a note - never ever leave your luggage in your car; it is very likely that it will be stolen. We met people on our last trip that this happened to, and it ruined their trip. If you arrive in San Jose early, you might consider going to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, about an hour away - they have 5 amazing waterfalls and beautiful grounds. It's a great hike. You can handfeed the humminbirds there, and we got great pictures. The Hanging Bridges is a nice hike, but we didn't see any wildlife there. If you're adventurous, I'd go for the ziplines. Also, you might check out Eco Termales for dinner and wonderful hot springs in the evening. We did a wonderful night hike at Hidden Valley in Monteverde where we saw a fox, an agouti, a coati, a porcupine, a sloth - really cool wildlife. We ate at Pizzeria de Johnny and had good food, very cute place with good service. We loved Ronnie's Place/Mi Lugar - they have wonderful fresh seafood, lobster, and sangria with sunset views. Also liked Salsipuedes, Cafe Milagro, Barba Roja, and Cafe Agua Azul for casual food. A good site for checking out potential rainfall is www.costa-rica-guide.com. We had friends that stayed at Makanda and loved it.

Hey VG!

I hope life is getting back to normal for you. I've been through a few hurricanes as well; not what I'd call a good time!

Sorry for the brief off-topic, Mark!

Not sure what time you arrive, but you could drive on day 1 to Arenal. We arrived at 2:30 and got to Arenal around 6:00 (we had a driver). You can easily do Hanging Bridges &amp; SkyTrek the same day. In fact, you do SkyTrek (approx 2 hrs total), Hanging Bridges (2-3 hrs) &amp; have dinner at EcoThermales all in one day. If you go to Hanging Bridges, have lunch at the cafe at the entrance...quite good and reasonably priced. I would also recommend paying for a guide at Hanging Bridges (we didn't and wish we had). While in Arenal, I highly recommed LaFortuna Falls. We did a horseback ride to the falls and loved it. The only downside to the Horseback ride/tour was the short amount of time they allowed at the falls (approx 1 hr). We were with our kids but easily could have spent 2-3 hours there.

FYI- As CMerrell points out, it's a small country but travel between locations is not all that quick (think traveling in the US in 1950's or early 60's). While the main roads are good, they're two lane and go through many small towns. Arenal to Manuel Antonio takes approx 5 hours.

Enjoy!

Hey, cm! Our power is back on - yea! Thanks for the good thoughts!

Have a great trip, Mark!

I'm going to be the lone voice of dissent and say that this trip sounds like a disaster. No way would I want to drive to Arenal and then Monteverde within the time frame you are suggesting. It takes much longer than you're thinking and I question whether you'll even be able to get a tour in with how short you'll be in each place. I would go to two location max and split the time between them, so steal one day from Manuel Antonio and then use it on either Arenal or Monterverde. That way you could spend four days at one and four days at the other and actual see something besides the roadside and also get time to slow down, see nature and relax. You have to remember, the things you are trying to see like monkeys and birds, won't come to you when you're in a rush, you have to slow down and wait for them.

In addition to the places mentioned in MA, we had excellent meals at Al Avion (with spectacular views of the Pacific) and a little more upscale was Claro Que Si Restaurant at Si Como No Resort. Elegant setting with very nice live guitar background music (very quiet). Our 2 meals there were very good and great service.

I think you're short changing Arenal a bit; there is so much to do there, and it's a great area. We stayed 4 nights our first trip and 3 nights on our second trip. The way I'm reading it you're only spending one night there. Are you also only planning one night in Monteverde? We spent 3 nights there, but I think you could do it in 2 - it's just that it takes 3.5-4 hours to get there, so you'll be rushing around a lot. I might even give Monteverde a pass on this trip.

I would make a choice of either Arenal or Monteverde. One night in each place is not enough time and there are many activities at each location. We stayed 4 nights/3 full days at MV - hiking in the MV and Santa Elena reserves, night hike at the Children's Eternal Cloudforest, lots of hummingbird watching at the Hummingbird Gallery, coffee plantation tour, good dinner at the Tree House, great lunches at Stella's Bakery and wonderful shopping from local women at the CASEM store across the road from Stella's.

You will spend the first half of your trip in the car with your original plan. There is always time for Trip #2 to see what you missed the first time!

I agree with VG - power is a wonderful utility to have! We lost it for 10 days in Baton Rouge with Gustav, just got a temporary phone line run to our house on Day 19. We are slowly creeping back to normal...

I too strongly agree that you are rushing the beginning of your trip. 1 night at either Arenal or Monteverde is far too short. We have traveled to CR 4 times, we have never seen the same thing twice. And we still have so much to see and do and a few places to return to.

On our 1st trip to CR we (on a whim)
decided to head up to Monteverde. Only had time for one night. We knew it was a very long, bumpy, slow going road, but we were determined. I have never regretted going to Monteverde, but have always wanted to return. After getting there we truly only had a few hours to explore. We will certainly get back there some day.

On our 2nd trip to CR we spent only 2 nights in Arenal. Again I left with a feeling that we had missed so much. Another place that we will return.

We have since tried to stick to a min of 3 nights at a location. Sometimes, such as Tortuguero we only spent 2. But for the most part I just feel we get more out of our experiences with a min of 3.

OK so that's my input! Have a great trip.

I also agree that you should only visit two locations. I have not been to Monteverde but my husband and I loved Arenal. Our first trip to CR was to Manuel Antonio. I know you'll enjoy it there as there is a lot to see and do. Make sure you get coffee at Cafe Milagro. The best coffee around. There is also a good Italian restaurant in Quepos called La Lanturna. Excellent pizza and pasta dishes.

If you can take a late afternoon/early evening hike to see the volcano then I would do that. We did and it was amazing as the volcano was spewing lava as the tour was ending. It was nice to see the red lava flowing against the twilight skies.

I don't think it's that easy to take the Cano Island trip from Manuel Antonio. I thought it was more feasible to do it from the Osa.

Hey Everyone.
Thanks for the huge amount of great feedback. Sorry for my delay in posting up a reply, but work takes me on the road (mundane spots)and it's been hell-like busy as well.

We know that the front end of the trip is heavy, with travel and all, but have done this sort of day by day tripping before. We look at it as exciting and a bit of a whirlwind, but hopefully it will give us a perspective on what to come back for next time. And we'll get a chance to maybe see some wonderful sites, even if only briefly.

The last part is more relaxed and we'll unwind &amp; definitely enjoy now that we know where best to eat and have a line on what to do and where to go.

I'll post up a Trip Review when we've returned in the hopes that it may help some others who need some reference points - and to let y'all now how this trip went for us.

Best and thnkas,

Mark.