Marylentz

Hello,
Is it better to make reservations from U.S. for all plans on itinerary-fantasy bus/shuttle bus/ lodging/ tours. We are going to C.R. the end of June-first part of July (2 wks); or is it better/even less expensive to wait until we are down there (except for first & last night where I plan on making reservations from here? I would appreciate any advice! Thanks

TAGriffin

When we traveled last June/July, we made no reservations other than the first and last hotels. We used Interbus to get from the Hampton Inn to La Fortuna and had to make our reservation 1 day prior. It you are going to use either of the shuttle companies (Interbus/Fantasy) within 1 day of your arrival, you may want to go ahead and reserve in advance. Otherwise, you could wait until you arrive to make hotel and transportation decisions - much more flexibility that way! Be sure to have in mind at least 2 or 3 hotels at each location in case one of them happens to be full. (We only encountered one full hotel during our 3 weeks in Costa Rica.) We also called our first choice the day before we arrived at our next destination to make sure room was available.

Ally

TAGriffin really says it all, I will only add that the only time I would make a reservation prior to getting there would be if I really had my heart set on a particular place and would not be happy elsewhere.

ami

We are also going to CR the first 2 weeks of July and I plan on making my San Jose hotel reservations from the US for the first and last nights. We want to do a beach/jungle combo but if we want to fly, should we still wait until we get to CR to make these flights or are you just speaking of hotels?

Also, what is this fantasy shuttle service?

Thank you!

carmensf

HI all
I'm trying to schedule a trip to Costa Rica teh 1st or 2nd week in July.

Can someone provide feedback as to whether we should book all transportation and hotel accomodations from the US (prior to arriving) or..is it easy/more cost efficient to arrange for these items once in Costa Rica.

What barriers (or not) does language play in terms of trying to arrange hotel and transportation.

We're interested in:
Arenal (maybe only 1 day)
Tamarindo (2-3 days)
Manuel Antonio (2-3 days)

karenf

We went to Costa Rica forthe first two weeks in July (going back in two weeks) and only booked first and last nights. We were able to get all of our first choices in all the major tourist places with the exception of Manuel Antonio because we arrived on a Friday afternoon.I think someone told me that the school children were on vacation then.We were glad we waited because it was good to see the actual places. At Selva Verde the web site wanted fifty five dollars a day per person and we got it for thirty five dollars. Also two hotels in Manuel Antonio were cheaper. I think I would take the chance.We stayed at Xandari, Selva Verde, Montana de Fuego, Sapo Dorado and Hotel California.Mary, are you the one who is renting the house in the Osa. Are you flying there?

JMartin64

I'm going to C.R. in a few weeks and just got done making lodging reservations -- it hasn't been too bad at all finding places to stay, but there are some hotels that get booked up pretty fast, namely Tabacon at Arenal and Capitan Suizo and Sueno del Mar in Tamarindo. All were booked for mid-July. My party is pretty big, though, so that may be the main reason we couldn't get accommodations at those places. Good luck!