What to do? Arenal and MA or other beach closer to Liberia?
 

We are thinking of a volcano/beach trip. Friends have told us to fly into Liberia then go to Arenal for a few nights, then to the coast(tamarindo, Flamingo?)
What is the deal with Arenal/MA? Woould you fly into SJO o Liberia?
What would you suggest?
We only have 4 nights, so thinking 2 and 2. EXPERTS PLEASE HELP! Also, we aren't rich! :) Need basic, nice , acccomodations!

Mil gracias

If you only have 4 nights, I'd pick one or the other; if you do both, you're going to spend too much time traveling and won't get to enjoy either location. We did an Arenal/Manuel Antonio combo, and it took us 9 days. We flew into SJO and used private drivers, but Interbus is a good, affordable alternative.

Thank you! what are your thoughts on flying into Liberia and renting a car? Maybe just going to Arenal? Is there enough there for 3 full days?

You can fly into Liberia, the runway there is bigger than the one in San Jose,although the airport itself is smaller.

It is a long drive to Arenal, but I guess you can spend 3 days there as you can visit the surrounding area ....

and since you will have a vehicle you might as well go to the town of La Fortuna .
You can do a zipline tour , do the Skywalk... visit Tabacon Hot Springs which is very nice .

I agree with volcanogirl.... too much driving from Arenal to Flamingo or any of the other beaches along the Pacific Coast.
For Four Days only...just relax in one spot and enjoy.

Percy

Yes, you can definitely rent a car. Not sure about flying into Liberia. We flew into SJO, and it was about 3 and 1/2 hours to drive to Arenal/La Fortuna. The roads are in pretty good shape, and it's a pretty drive. Make sure you get there before it gets dark, which is usually about 5:30 or so.

Definitely can spend the entire time in Arenal. My favorite thing we did was Cano Negro, the boat ride down the river where we saw howlers and capuchins and sloths for the first time. Really great trip. There's also several natural hot springs you can visit - we did Tabacon, and there are others like Ecotermales and Baldi. You can zipline at SkyTrek and go hike the Hanging Bridges. And of course, watch the lava flow down the volcano. Try to stay somewhere with a view of the lava. You can check out arenal.net to see which way it's flowing. We stayed at Lost Iguana and loved it, but it's a little pricey.

For restaurants, our favorites were El Novillo for steaks and La Choza de Laurel for casados and rotisserie chicken.

Hi, Percy - great minds think alike! Guess we were posting at the same time. Do you like this color? :)

Look into flying into SJO and out of Liberia. That will save you a LITTLE time, if it isn't more $$. This summer, one of our daughters did that, and the fare was the same as ours in and out of SJO.

Yes volcanogirl I like that color!!
So don't pull off anything sneaky !!!

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Take Care
Per<font color="green">c</font>y!!

Jumping in on this post since we are looking at a similar trip with 8 nights.

How long does it take to drive from Liberia to Arenal?

Hi, janie - the Lost Iguana has a great website with good directions and distances between certain points. I checked it, and it says 3 hours.