We planning to travel in Apr, here's the plan, by car:

Night1- San Jose,:gt; N2- Peace Lodge,:gt; N3,4- Arenal,:gt; N5,6,7- Montezuma (Nicoya),:gt;N8,9 Tarcoles/Carrara, :gt; N10 San Jose

We were thinking of the Observatory Lodge in Arenal

Either El Jardin or La Aurora in Montezuma

Any ideas for Tarcoles?

Give me some good tips please! Thanks!

It looks, from reading the posts, that there might be two routes from Arenal to Puntarenas. Is that so? Also, any suggestions for the best hotels along this route are much appreciated.

Pura Vida y Gracias

Quickest route from Arenal to Puntarenas is back down toward San Jose via San Ramon, then west on the Interamerican highway. You can also spend a little more time and go around the lake to the west, to Canas, then down to Puntarenas--a rough road, but seeing the lake is nice.

Really no need to places to stay between Arenal and Puntarenas as it is about a 4 hour drive. If for some reason you don't want to drive it in one day, there are any number of places in the central valley or around the lake that would knock off about an hour initially, leaving you with a 3 hour trip rather than a 4 hour drive.

The Observartory Lodge at Arenal is way out of town on a rough road. I had tried to get a reservation there when we visited in Dec 2003, but they were all booked up. We stayed at Montana de Fuego which I would recommend - good accomadations, great breakfasts, and located near enough to town and the volcano. We saw the lava at night from our porch. Ruth in Maine

If one of the reasons you are going to Arenal is to see lava flow at night, then the Observatory Lodge is not the place to stay. It is on the wrong side of Volcan Arenal.