joetroyen

Hi everyone,

My girlfriend and I will be in Costa Rica for two weeks in late May (flying into/out of San Jose). We want a trip that combines wildlife viewing, jungle adventure sports (canyoning, rafting, etc) and beach time (preferably with good snorkeling).

We're deciding between going Southeast or Northwest from San Jose. I would love your advice about these places or any others you think we should visit:

The Southeast option would include rafting the Rio Pacuare, Beaches along the Pacific Coast, perhaps a stop in Chirripo, and snorkeling/scuba at Isla de Cano, and then lots of jungle adventure around Corcovado, which seems like an amazing place for wildlife as well as adventure tours like canyoning. This sounds like a great tour to me but I'm concerned that it will be rainy in late May.

The Northwest option might give us a better chance for Sunshine (I read that Guanacaste is much drier). We would probably start in the Arenal area because our guidebook said these are great places for canyoning, zipline, bathing in hotsprings, and seeing lots of wildlife. Lake Arenal also looks very nice. We would continue to Ricon de la Vieja, and then probably go down through Monteverde (or maybe a cloud forest near Monteverde that is less touristy) and then head to the beach - either in Guanacaste or maybe down to Montezuma area which seems like a cool town and better for snorkeling.

Thanks again for your advice!
-Joe

volcanogirl

The Arenal area is great for adventure activities. We like Sky Trek for ziplining, Rios Tropicales or Desafio for rafting, La Roca for waterfall rappelling/canyoning, and Tabacon or Eco Termales for natural hot springs; there's nice hiking at the volcano, the waterfall, and the Hanging Bridges. You can also see some nice wildlife on the Cano Negro tour or the Penas Blancas safari float. We like Manuel Antonio for beach time - very green lush area and tons of easy access to wildlife like monkeys and sloths. Lots of good open air restaurants in the area. The Osa Peninsula is also amazing for wildlife, more off the grid than Manuel Antonio; we like Bosque del Cabo if it's in your budget, kind of pricey.

volcanogirl

May will probably have some rain; that's the start of the rainy season, but September and October are the months that I would avoid.

out_and_about

I will be interested if you find "good" snorkeling around Montezuma. I read a bunch of advice on line that said CR is not great for snorkeling or scuba -- there's not the coral reefs that make those experiences so fascinating, for us at least. We decided not to scuba after a snorkel trip, with sea urchins and eels and not a lot else, around Playa del Cocos in Guanacaste. But being in the water is fun!
One of our best wildlife viewing experiences was Cano Negro, which VC recommends. Helps if you enjoy tropical birds. A bit of a drive from La Fortuna/Arenal so calculate that into the plan.
Manuel Antonio was great for monkeys especially, we just found it too busy for our tastes. We were told more than once that MA is always busy, even in "off season". Just depends on what you enjoy, right? =) Next time, maybe we will maybe use VC's suggestion for Osa. I would also like to look into Playa Hermosa for another time too, also in Guanacaste.
We rafted on the Rio Pacuare, and it was sooo fun -- coming out from Pacuare Lodge. The water levels were down as expected for the time we visited (last month) but the river guides were a hoot... Pura Vida! You will love Costa Rica.

luckios

Hey joetroyen,

We're off to CR at the end of June and having difficulty making up our minds where to go - we have about 10 days.
Any tips or recommendations?
Our initial plans sound a lot like yours did..
Thank you!

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