Planning First Trip to Costa Rica
 

I am planning a trip to Costa Rica for this July-2010 for 7 or 8 nights. We live in Tampa Fl. My husband and I are taking our nephews 14 & 17. The three guys want to go for the fishing. I am not much of a fishing person so I would like to stay at a nice place so while they are fishing I can hang out by the pool, get a spa treatment (prehaps) or maybe see a local sight. I have heard that the best Fishing is around Flamingo beach. I would also like to go to Tabacon ( a friend of mine went and said you cannot miss it). I have spent several days looking on the internet. This sight seems to have some good information but I did not see anything about people going fishing. I am looking for suggestions.
My husband is not the best traveler ( I love to travel) . My nephews are very close to us and we vacation with them every summer. Any suggestions would be welcome.

Tabacon is in the La Fortuna/Arenal area, so it's landlocked and not near the beach. It has an active volcano which is really amazing though; you could do a split between there and a beach location. Manuel Antonio is really popular. If your husband wanted to fish while you were at Tabacon, he could try his luck on Lake Arenal.

Thank You volcanogirl. Is it possible to do both areas in a week? One web site suggested I fly into San Jose, go to Arenal area for 2-3 days and then head to Pacific for 4-5 days and fly out of Liberia. Does that sound like a reasonable amount of time in both locations (considering travel time between places).

Yes, it's totally possible. I would do at least three nights in Arenal. There are a ton of things to do there - the active volcano, the natural hot springs, ziplines, the Hanging Bridges, the waterfall, the Cano Negro tour to see wildlife. We like to stay four nights, but three is probably the norm. You may have to stay first or last nights near the airport depending on your flight times. We've only flown in and out of San Jose; we haven't gone to the northern Pacific beaches yet, just MA. MA has some really beautiful beaches, loads of wildlife, and lots of hotel and restaurant choices. The wildlife is pretty tame though, very used to people being around.

If you go the Arenal/Manuel Antonio route best to just fly into/out of SJO, not Liberia. Open jaw is usually more expensive too, at least for where I fly from. If you can manage at least 3 nights in each you should have a great trip.