Trip Itinerary - Comments Appreciated
 

I'm heading to CR with my wife in a couple weeks and thought I'd see what folks thought of our itinerary. There are a few questions still to be answered, but we'd appreciate any advice. Also, if there are any little things we should do (places to stop and eat on our drives or things of that nature) - any ideas are welcome. We want a nice mixture of adrenaline and relaxation and we want to see great wildlife though that admittedly is not our first priority. Thanks!

Day 1 - Arrive SJO 11:40, get rental car and drive to Arenal. Hopefully arrive at Lost Iguana by 4:00 or 5:00. Relax at night.
Day 2 - Morning: hanging bridges walk. Afternoon: canopy / zip line. Evening: hot springs, either Tabacon or Eco Termales
Day 3 - undecided activity. We're probably going to stay near Arenal, so Cano Negro is out. Any ideas? If we don't make it to hot springs the previous night, we'll do it this night.
Day 4 - Travel to Quepos/Manuel Antonio where we'll be staying with a friend. Any places we should see or fun places to eat at on the way? Relax that night.
Day 5 - Manuel Antonio park, beach
Day 6 - probably take surf lessons
Day 7 - white water rafting
Day 8 - drive to SJO. Not sure where we're going to stay yet. Ideas for a reasonably priced place that is somewhat nice? anything to see on the drive?
Day 9 - head back home :(

Thank you all in advance!

You could do a volcano hike or waterfall hike on your free day, or Pure Trek canyoneering.

On your last night, depends what your definition of reasonable is :) I like Xandari (more $$$) and Orquideas Inn (less $$$)

We did the waterfall hike in Arenal and loved it. There's a little set of steps you can take down to the river, crystal clear water, and you can swim there. It's gorgeous. We also did a white water rafting trip with Rio Tropicales that was fun but I see you're doing that in MA. On the way to MA, stop to see the crocs at the Rio Tarcoles bridge. Don't leave anything in the car unattended though. I love Xandari too - it's reasonable in my own rationalization! Grano de Oro is nice if you want a city hotel. They have a good restaurant on site and nice rooftop garden with hot tubs. The hotel is built in an old mansion, so has some neat architecture.

For the folks who are real Costa Rica experts, would you say this sounds like a good CR vacation? We've never been before and want to take advantage of getting away for a full week. If there are things we're missing that we really should do, please let us know! We want to make the most of our time there. Thanks in advance.

I would take one day off of the Manuel Antonio part and stay somewhere in San Jose where you can be picked up for the one day river rafting on the Pacuare River. The Pacuare is a world class river with jaw dropping scenery--so much more than what is offered near Manuel Antonio.

Agree with Shooie -- Take the day and raft on the Pacuare not from MA. You won't regret it!

Thanks for the advice - we will definitely look into that. Is the rafting difficult in that area? We're definitely novice rafters but are in decent shape and want to have a fun time, so I just want to make sure it won't be anything too crazy.

In terms of the Arenal part of the trip, are there particularly companies that are better than others for tours? We're staying at the Lost Iguana, and I know Volcanogirl is a big advocate of that place, so if you could let us know if you usually use the tours they recommend or others, that would be helpful. Thanks!

Hi, josh - I like Sunset Tours and Desafio; both of them are good operators. Check out their websites. The Lost Iguana can also book things for you; I've found them to be really helpful.

I love the advice to go on the Pacaure. We couldn't fit it into our schedule, so did one out of Arenal, but hope to do the Pacuare too someday.

josh -- I'm a novice rafter, but found some parts challenging and all parts FUN! I plan on rafting it again in June, much to my 13 year old daughter's dismay. She's not so psyched about it. ;-)

Last minute questions:
We've got Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday in Arenal. If we do the hanging bridges tour (Sat morning), the sky trek zip line (sat afternoon), the waterfall hike (sun afternoon), and the hot springs at Eco Termales (sun evening), in your opinions will we have done enough or will we feel like we didn't take advantage of being in Arenal? Of course, we also want to just walk around some and relax a bit, but it's our first time to CR and we really want to feel like we're making the most of the trip.
Also - on behalf of my wife and I, thanks so much for all of the help and advice we've received over the past several weeks. It's been incredibly helpful and we are truly appreciative.

I think it looks good. Have fun! If you have time, check out Don Rufino - yummy restaurant.

Why would you say that Cano Negro is out if you're staying near Arenal? Most Cano Negro tours depart from the Arenal area.

I've just heard that Cano Negro is a bit of a drive even from Arenal. My wife doesn't do great with long, bumpy car rides, so we were trying to avoid that. I'm hoping we have enough to do without it.

Cano Negro is about 2 1/2 hour drive, but it is a straight decent road, not bumpy until you get into Los Chiles - if that's where your departure point would be. It offers some of the best wildlife viewing in the Arenal region.

If your wife has trouble on winding roads, make sure she takes a good supply of non-drowsy Dramamine, sea bands or another type of motion sickness drug. Most of the roads are quite curvy and she may well experience issues.

I had never gotten car sick until that first drive to Arenal - wow, it really hit me.

As Colibri noted, the drive up there is actually pretty smooth. Only the last ten minutes or so is bad.