Which one first?
 

Hi there, thanks to your great input we've narrowed our CR trip to visiting Arenal/MA mostly. We had an extra day to work with which wasn't enough to visit Monteverde but we thought we'd squeeze in Los Angeles Cloud Forest the last day since it was close to SJO.

Now my question: originally we were driving directly from SJO (9:15 arrival) to Arenal, then driving to MA, followed by passing SJO to drive to San Ramon for the cloud forest and then leaving the next day from SJO.

Do you think it'd make more sense if we reversed the trip (first MA, Arenal, San Ramon, leave SJO)? Then we wouldn't have to go past SJO to get to San Ramon and back to SJO for the flight?

Another plus of reversing would be that we wouldn't have to worry about being in MA on a Monday when they're closed. Right?

Thank for your help again!

Good idea to keep your options open for days at MA NP with no Monday closures conflicting. Seems the best choice if your desired accomodations fit the dates as well. If you are able to save miles also a plus.
Have a wonderful journey!

Since we're pretty open with our lodging, I think we'll go with this plan. This itinerary is taking me forever to finalize!

We have the option of spending two days in MA and three in Arenal or we could swap it. Which place has more things to do?

We're into nature hikes, one zip line in either location (prob. Arenal), horseback tours, fishing in MA, water repelling, waterfalls, etc.

I'd take three for Arenal if your days at MA are 2 full days.. I never have and have never had enough time at Arenal. Both places have a good amount of activity options though.

MA is closed on Mondays??
If we don't have a car is there much to do around there if the park is closed? We were planning on 4 nights in MA with one of those days being a Monday.

Plenty to do around the MA area on a Monday while the park is closed. I recommend the Damas Island / Mangrove tour, among other things.