Hi All:

I am planning a (unfortunately) brief trip to CR in December -- I plan to spend 2 days at Arenal and then 2 days...??? Monteverde? Los Angeles? Rincon de la Vieja?

We would be looking for someplace with a bazillion species of birds, with cool walks/tours to take during the day, that is not crowded.

Also, we will be travelling from there to Liberia to fly home, so we really can't consider anything more than 4 hours or so from Liberia.

Thoughts? Help!!!?

Rincon de la Vieja is the closest to Liberia. Probably 1.5 hours from the airport. I think it will meet your criteria for cool walks and tours during the day and not being crowded but I am not sure about birding opportunities there.

Monteverde would be a good option too and I am guessing that it would meet you 4 hour requirement for distance. I have never been but heard that the birding opportunities and walks/tours are all good. I also heard that it can get crowded.

Los Angeles would give you the same options as Monteverde for birding but less crowds. Day tours may be somewhat less varied than Monteverde. However, it is located about half way between Arenal and San Jose so it would not be convenient to Liberia.

One suggestion would be to take a day trip to Cano Negro from Arenal. It is a very important stop in bird migration and the birds at that time will all be hiding from old man winter!

Another option would be to look into Los Innocentes. It is up by the Nicaraguan border but the roads to get to it are good so travel time would be in your range to Liberia. We even did a day trip to Rincon de la Vieja from there. It would be a hike from Arenal, 5-6hrs. Alternatively, you could stay by Rincon and day trip to Los Innocentes.

Rincon de la Vieja is a great place to hike and one of my faves but I don't recall the birding being all that great. There were some good ones but definitely not in the bazillion category LOL.

We were in MV in January--not at all crowded then. We also did the Cano Negro boat daytrip from Arenal--it was great.

Palo Verde National Park by foot and/or boat matches your requirements perfectly.