My husband and I are taking a trip to Costa Rica in March and have a few questions?
1)hotel/restaurant suggestions for SanJose (staying here on fly in/out nights)?

2) Any public bus tips to La Fortuna/Arenal and later to Corcavado area via Palmar Norte?

3) Restaurant suggestions for La Fortuna?

Thanks for any info!

Right there in San Jose, the Hotel Don Carlos is one of our favorites. Would also recommend the more upscale, but still reasonable, Hotel Grano de Oro. The hotel will know which bus station will get you to La Fortuna. I took that bus last year. Loved it. Important to travel light and keep your stuff with you and not under the bus. You have to plan well if you do public transport.

Many people also choose Interbus, a small turismo van. The difference in price is about $4 on the public bus as compared to $35 per person on Interbus. It's nice to have a rental car in the Arenal area as well, since it is all spread out. If you do that, don't go into town, but stay near the airport at Orquideas Inn or someplace similar. Also recommend Hotel Villa Bonita, comfortable and a real bargain.

To take the public bus to Palmar Norte, you have to go back into San Jose and transfer to the appropriate station for that route. Transfers by taxi are very inexensive. If you can afford it, fly down there--saves a huge amount of time, but of course, if pricey.

La Fortuna eateries: La Choza de laurel, El Novillo (steak), Don Rufino's to name a few.

We stayed at Grano de Oro in San Jose - charming hotel built in an old mansion, wonderful service, and great restaurant on site. Some of the rooms have private gardens. Nice rooftop garden with hot tubs on the roof. In La Fortuna, we like La Choza de Laurel and El Novillo too! We also loved the chicken dinner that we had the hot springs Eco Termales.

Thank you both for the suggestions. Any preferences on whether to stay in Alejuela or San Jose (safety, noise etc.) as a starting point? Would staying in Alejuela be more difficult (than San Jose) to transfer to the bus, or about the same since both would require a taxi ride?

Any preferences on Ecothermales or Baldi Hot Springs?

www.thealtahotel.com Escazu

$100 or so expedia.com

prefer to Grano D'Oro

Escazu nicest area La Luz excellent

closer to SJO comp xport to/from SJO.

Have Fun,

If you are using the public buses, then it would make sense to stay in San Jose. If you plan to use Interbus or drive yourselves, you need to stay in Alajuela, since it is about 20 min. west of the city and closer to Arenal. It would cost you about $20 for a taxi into town from the airport, which you will probably have to pay anyway if one of the hotels in town picks you up.

What time are you arriving at the airport? If it is earlier in the day, it might be fun to get on into town, check in, and visit the Plaza de la Cultura, the Teatro Nacional, and the Gold Museum, right together in city central.

We arrive at the airport around 9PM and plan on taking the 6:15 AM bus to La Fortuna. However, on our return trip, we may have some time in San Jose in the later afternoon/evening for sightseeing. Thank you for the info!

When we are in San Jose, we enjoy Machu Picchu. It's a casual, inexpensive Peruvian place with wonderful seafood.

Last year we also tried Tin Jo which was a lot of fun and very tasty.

I've stayed at Hotel Don Carlos and have always enjoyed the experience as the staff are top notch. There's also an onsite restaurant with pretty good fare and very inexpensive. They're in the middle of renovating and expanding their lobby/restaurant/gift shop areas and construction started about two weeks before I left but only during daylight hours of course. I think it was mentioned that it would take about a month for the construction project to finish but the hotel wouldn't be closing down for any of it. (I was there last month.)

I've also been to Machu Picchu and loved the food. Manolo's on Avda Central and Calle 2 is good - reasonable prices and a big menu, not to mention open 24 hrs. Had lunch at Cafe 1930 located in the lobby of the Gran Hotel, great location, great food, great service.

Along with Interbus and car rental, you can look into getting to Corcovado with www.shuttleosa.com which might be a good alternative although as shillmac pointed out, flying would take significantly less time but cost more.