XULIETTE

Hi! I'm planning a special 10 year anniversary trip to Costa Rica and need help! We have Marriot Points and my husband loves golf so we definitely want to stay a few days at the Marriot Los Suenos in Puntarenas. I also would like to go to Arenal to see the Volcano (stay at Arenal Paraiso?)& experience Tobacon Hot Springs and it seems like Manuel Antonio is amazing and has the best beaches (stay at Mariposa, Makanda, Parador or La Mansion?).

Any advice on the the towns & hotels themselves & the order we should do them in? I was thinking we should end with Los Suenos because it will be the most luxurious but is the best way? We're going for 10 days in January. Any advice or ideas would really be appreciated. I really want this trip to be special.

XULIETTE

TTT

shillmac

I think you have the order correct--begin at Arenal (the AP is a good choice), end at Los Suenos. If you arrive SJO fairly early in the day, you can make the 2.5 or 3 hour drive on up to Arenal before dark. Plan on 2-3 nights Arenal, 3 nights MA, and the rest of your time at Los Suenos (depending on how much golfing your husband wants to do). If the golfing isn't THAT big a deal to him, I'd stay longer at Manuel Antonio and just finish up with a couple of nights at Los Suenos.

If you arrive later in the day, spend the first night near the airport, then get an early start to Arenal for 2 nights.

Someone else will advise you on hotels in MA. We've stayed at Si Como No and Hotel California. I think you'll really enjoy Tabacon--very romantic!
Happy anniversary!

koa

I did my itinerary in that order. Arenal first, then the long drive to MA park. Then back to Los SUenos. Los Suenos is a nice property, with a terrible beach. But the resort is more up to luxury standards than a lot of hotels in CR. Make sure to do the crocodile tour from los suenos, the highlight of the trip for my kids!

Kwoo

When you go to MA National Park, hire a guide. We wouldn't have seen half the wildlife we saw if we didn't have a guide. Also, don't book a National Park tour from your hotel. They are too expensive. You can go right to the Park entrance & hire a guide the day before for the next morning. The guided hikes usually start around 8:00am. They charge $20PP ($15PP if you are a party of 5 or more). The hotel tours are about $40PP. Are you renting a car? If not, you can take a taxi or bus from your hotel in MA to the Park.

Can't help you with your MA hotel choices. We stayed at La Colina, which we were very happy with. From what I've heard, I'm sure La Colina is not as nice as Mariposa or Makanda (but it is less expensive). Since this is your 10th anniversary, I assume you want a hotel that is more romantic and luxurious than La Colina.

Arenal Paraiso is a great choice for Arenal. We stayed there last August and were very happy there. The grounds are beautiful and we had great views of the red lava. We had a deluxe bungalow with the partially enclosed (glassed in) porch. I thought the deluxe bungalows looked nicer (from the outside) than the standard. We enjoyed AP's breakfast buffet & the swim-up bar.

XULIETTE

Thanks so much everyone for you help & tips!!! I love this forum. I'm glad to know i've planned the right order of towns & hotel in Arenal. Any more suggestions to make our trip better would be appreciated! Koa---if you had to do the trip again how many days would you stay in each town?

Should I rent a car with this itinerary?

Also out of curiosity how would you compare the area around Los Suenos to Manuel Antonio besides better beaches in MA?

koa

I think about 2 to 3 days are perfect to see each area. Depends on what interests you more. I stayed 4 days at Los Suenos because surfing at Hermosa was high on my list. But for most, I think 2 days are enough in that area. Los Suenos/Jaco area can get real humid.I would have stayed longer at Los Lagos hotel in Arenal. There are a lot of things to see and do up there by the volcano. Feel free to ask more questions!

poss

I'm curious about the "order" of those geographies. We're going from Arenal (2 nights) to MA(3 nights)-- but I didn't like the idea of that long drvie, even though we'll have a driver (we're "oldsters&quot I'd thought to break the trip by staying somewhere in the Jaco area for 2 nights-- either Los Suenos or Villa Caletas (I'd prefer the latter , but they don't have king beds, so it'll probably be the former). Posters seem to say do MA before Los Suenos. Why? wouldn't the order I'd been intending (and then back to San Jose-- Xandari actually) be sensible? Thanks!

shillmac

Of course your itinerary is sensible, Poss. I think most of us recommended Los Suenos toward the end of the trip as a way to relax at a more luxury resort before heading back to San Jose.
The difference is negligible. It isn't very far from LS to MA, and the drive from Arenal to Manuel Antonio isn't grueling--it's very enjoyable. Your choice to break it up is quite sensible if that feels more comfortable to you.

lvk

Poss,

I think the reasoning is that Los Suenos is close enough to the airport (about 90 minutes in average conditions) to eliminate having to spend a night in or around San Jose. Therefore, instead of Arenal-Los Suenos-MA-Xandari, it would be Arenal-MA-Los Suenos. One less hotel to check in/out of. The theory works great, unless of course there is a trucker strike and it takes you six hours to get from Los Suenos to the Airport .

Xuliette,

I think you will have a wonderful anniversary. My husband really enjoyed the golf course at Los Suenos. He had it almost all to himself. Of course, we were there in August, it might be a bit more crowded in Jan.

The beach is pretty lousy there, (hard, brown sand) but the pool is very nice.

Jaco is the closest town to Los Suenos. It's more of a back-packing surfer town, but we had a couple of decent meals there. There are several dining options within the Marriott property as well (including one in the Marina) They were all good, but of course more expensive.

The best meal we had in Costa Rica was the lunch we had at La Mariposa. It's a beautiful spot, and the food was great.

We also stayed at the Arenal Paraiso. Nice, basic and very clean accomodations with a great view of the volcano. Don't go in there expecting luxury and you won't be disappointed.

The question of renting a car vs. transfers or private driver has been discussed a lot on this forum. It really depends what kind of travelers you are. We hired a driver and are glad we did for many reasons. Kwoo and Shillmac and many others prefer driving themselves.

I'll try to top some posts for you on this subject. Have a great time!

lvk

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34523755

XULIETTE

Thanks so much for the advice!!! Sorry for the belated thank you---I was on vacation and away from the Internet for a bit.

One last question...A friend of mine last night who went to Costa Rica said we absolutely should not miss Drakes Bay for our 10 year anniversary. Any opinions??

oneicebox

hi Xuliette,
we stayed at hotel makanda for our honeymoon. In fact we just returned our two-week trip. Hotel makanda is the best hotel I have stayed as far as the ground and architectural design go. It has the ambient of serenity and peace. We woke up every morning with direct view of the ocean, breakfast in our room, great privacy. The only visitors are the humming birds and monkeys...It's not a resort hotel, it's more like your vacation home, you may wish you own one of the studio or villa. I saw more monkeys here than anywhere in costa rica. The restaurants service and food were awesome. I also like the security of the place as we learned that some hotel rooms were broken into.
In my opinion, MA doesnt have the best beach. In fact, we, together with other tourists, thought it was a bit disappointing. I thought Tamarindo beach is nicer, but further north, there are some nicer beaches. The most luxurious hotels with the best beaches probably in playa conchal. We were told so by the locals, didnt go.
Arenal is my favorite place. I heard not so great reviews from the locals about Tabacon as it is more like disneyland kind of hotel, so we didnt stay there. We stayed at the observatory lodge which is by no means luxury, but we have the first raw seat to see the volcano erupting which occurred quite a few times during our 3-night stay. See my other post regarding the area.

billyjeff

Xuliette,

We stayed at the Marriott Los Suenos last February before a cruise and loved it - we are going back again in February. Beach not very good but with the pool it has - who cares.

There is a fabulous restaurant about a five minute drive from hotel called Pelicanos. It is an open air restaurant across the road from the beach and has great seafood dishes. We ended up eating there two nights straight plus lunch on our last day.