Suggestions for itinerary in Costa Rica
 

My husband and I will be in CR for 9 days. Day 1 and 9 are travel days so basically 7 full days. We arrive in San Jose on Nov. 24. We plan to go to La Fortuna the morning of Nov. 25.
We plan on staying for 3 nights at least. Would it be better to go to Monteverde for 1 night after La Fortuna or stay put in La Fortuna for 4 nights? We are first timers so we are not sure if Monteverde is a must see or a skip? We plan on spending 2 nights in Antonio Manuel prior to our final night which will be back in San Jose as we leave for Dallas early the next morning. We are an active middle age couple who enjoy being outdoors and plan to do some hiking, water sports, etc, but we also want to relax and we don't want to spend our entire trip going from one hotel hopping. We plan on renting a car at the airport so we are flexible w/ our schedule while we are there. Also are there nice beaches NEAR Manuel Antonio where we could be near that area but not in the middle of the tourist traffic.
any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Careful possible tout/troll poo alert on your thread above...

Go a lot no clue bout your budget but my favs

servicecarrental.com wild-rider.com for rentals

tabacon.com for arenal.net several days fondavela.com MV

well worth it www.hotelvillacaletas.com on your way down

to www.manuelantoniopark.com www.tulemar.com Mot Mot best

www.tripadvisor.com/members/natureguide best MA guide

insuremytrip.com travel.state.gov for a heads up on safety

Have fun!

I think I would skip monteverde this time and add the extra night to manuel antonio area.

I love MV, but not for one night. It's time consuming to get there and deserves a minimum of two nights to explore the cloud forest and surroundings. Just split your time between Arenal and Manuel Antonio - that is what most first time visitors do.

Lots to keep you busy at Arenal - Sky Trek, hanging bridges, thermal springs, Cano Negro boat trip, horseback riding and hiking.

Enjoy your trip, maybe you'll get hooked like the rest of us!

Agree about not going to Monteverde. It's a long, bumpy ride to get there. Not really worth it unless you can stay at least two nights. Check out Sunset Tours and Desafio for tours in the Arenal area. When we went to the beach in MA, it wasn't crowded. The beach inside the park is beautiful. Don't miss the waterfall in the Arenal area if you have time. You can take a little set of steps down to the river and swim. The water is crystal clear.

My husband and I did Costa Rica March 2010 and really enjoyed it. We had 8 total days including travel time. 3 nights 2 full days in Arenal and 4 nights 3 full days in Manuel Antonio and 1 night in San Jose before departure. We had originally wanted to do Monteverde too, but decided against it due to the long drive time and recommendations from this board. Our itinerary ended up being a very full schedule and I'm glad we didn't try to squeeze anything else in -- if anything, our trip was perfect, just enough activity time, road-trip time, down time and beach time.

See my trip report if you're interested.
http://www.fodors.com/community/mexi...costa-rica.cfm

Thanks for the feedback. We will go w/ 3 nights in La Fortuna and 3 near MA. Monteverde on the NEXT trip!

How exciting that you are already planning for the next trip to CR!!! I'm glad you saw the light and will skip MV this time. We had 2 nights in MV prior to the 3 nights we spent in Arenal. Wished we could have stayed another night in MV as we felt rushed even though we did a lot. One of my husband's favorite parts of our CR trip was the jeep boat jeep transport across Lake Arenal between MV and Arenal!