Trying to decide between Arenal or Monteverde for a zipline tour.

Also, when I went over 10 yeras ago, I used Canopy Tours (or The Original Canopy Tour) in MV.... Sky Adventures seems to be the favorite now.

I am willing to do MV again so that my guest can have that experience.

Opinions?

I would go with the first stop that has nice weather. If you wait, you may get rain that will washout your plans. We did the Sky Trek at Arenal.....in the rain our whole trip was washed out.

We've done both, and my preference is to do it in the Arenal area because you get great views of the lake and the volcano when you do it. That was my favorite part. Also we had cold rainy weather in Monteverde, and Arenal tends not to be as chilly. We've done the Original Canopy tour in Monteverde and it was much shorter than the Sky Trek tour - Sky Trek is much higher with longer lines which you may or may not like.

One more difference, when we did Sky Trek, it had a tram ride up which was fun; at the Original Canopy Tour we had to hike up. Not sure if that's how they still do it.

Thanks! I was hoping to make reservations in advance, so I cannot plan for weather. Unfortunately I only spend one full day in Arenal. I arrive to Liberia, drive to Arenal, spend a full day, then depart to guanacaste the 3rd day.

How long is the tour, should I do it on my full day, or in the morning before leaving for Guanacaste?

I figure maybe on the full day I can do a hike and then the hot springs later.

Michelle, sorry you got rain for yours. At Sky Trek Arenal we met people who had done it in the rain earlier in the trip and were so miserable that they came back a second time and did it. They said it was a completely different experience. We had one of our zipline reservations cancelled because of lightning. I'd probably skip it altogether if it were raining.

I know Sky Trek sells out for certain times, so we booked ahead for a morning time. I think there's a slightly better chance for better weather in the morning. They came and picked us up at our hotel in their shuttle and that took a while because we had to stop at every hotel and pick up all the other guests. If you could drive yourselves there it would take less time. I think the entire experience was about 4 hours or so. I like to do the hot springs in the evening because everything else is closed then. Also for me hot springs are nicer when the weather cools off in the evening. The waterfall and Hanging Bridges both have nice hikes.

Okay, so it wouldn't be too much to Zip Line in the morning, hike in the afternoon, and head to Tabacon Hot Springs at night? From what I remember there is a bar there too.

Wouldn't be too much for me. Hiking usually ends around 5:00 or 5:30 because it starts getting dark. Tabacon has a bar and had a dinner option when we've gone. I know we got a discount for going at a certain time but not sure if they are currently offering that. It was still pretty expensive.

Yeah, they rain was pretty miserable and cold. On that one long line, you just disappeared into a cloud...but we then headed to Eco-Termales for a nice soak . We cut our time short in Arenal because it was so rainy and cold. Everyone told us this was very unusual

That's a bummer. We had that sort of weather in Monteverde. Our hotel even had the fireplace going. We saw people wearing shorts - you could tell they weren't expecting it to be chilly. Our running shoes never dried the entire time we were there.