Self-directed day trips from Riu Guanacaste?
 

My wife and I are staying at the Riu Guanacaste in two weeks (we got an amazing deal BEFORE we discovered the Riu's less than stellar rep in the area) and we like to find more authentic off-resort experiences (eg. farm/market tours, family meals, nature hikes). We are on a tighter budget so anything closer to the resort would be great. How accessible is the local bus system from the resort (it appears we would have to travel to Sardinal to catch it, true?)?. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

That's going to be tough. Getting to Sardinal could be a $20+ taxi each way. It might be cheaper to rent a car (we used Thrifty from the hotel and do not recommend them). Vamos has a good reputation and will deliver the car to the hotel. Expect to pay around $90/day with all of the required insuraces. A GPS is also clutch! If that doesn't sound good, look a the tours the hotel will offer. You might find some that are actually less costly than doing it yourself and will include breakfast or lunch and handle all the driving. I recommend Reiener Villalobos at CATours (Central America tours). He is excellent for nature hikes. We also really liked the Palo Verde tour which was a 1/2 day, included breakfast and lunch and was very reasonable. We did a lot of hiking but with guides since they know the terrain and can navigate the admission fees, etc.