Andrea

We're headed to CR on Feb 4 for 7 days & would love any advice on our plans. We were planning to rent a car but the $950US deductable coupled with reports of horrendous road conditions put us off the idea. How are the bus and Travelair flights? Convenient or do you wait around and end up re-routing to San Jose a lot? Can you grab a Travelair flight at short notice - or do you have to book in advance? <BR> <BR>Also - over 7 days we're planning to hit Quepos/Manuel Antonio, Jaco, Monteverde & the Arenal volcano - spending a night or two in each area. Sound good or not? We haven't booked any hotels yet & are toying with the idea of just getting one once we arrive. Are we headed for disaster? Any suggestions appreciated here or to our email. Thanks! <BR> <BR>

lisa

Andrea: The roads from San Jose to Jaco & Quepos & Arenal are not that bad at all -- all paved, some potholes and sharp curves, but really not a problem so I wouldn't be put off from driving them, especially since it will be the dry season when you're there. I've heard the roads around Monteverde are a lot worse (we didn't have time to go there) but again, it will be the dry season and lots of people do it. We rented through Dollar and they were very good -- it was $53 per day for a Daihatsu Terio 4x4 ($50 plus $3 for an additional authorized driver) including all taxes and everything. I would definitely recommend them. They will deliver the car to anywhere in the general area around San Jose including the airports. Their website is www.dollarcostarica.com <BR> <BR>We did fly Travelair twice and the flights were just fine and very brief. Flight delays and undisclosed stops are not uncommon (e.g. our flight from Puerto Jimenez to San Jose stopped in Quepos to drop off & pick up a few passengers which they never told us they were doing, and the flight was already over an hour late) but that's no big deal. The planes are tiny (ours were 15-seaters) and so is the airport in Quepos. Be aware that Travelair flies in & out of a different airport than the international arrivals & departures airport and they are not next door to each other. I would definitely reserve your Travelair flights in advance. Here is their website. http://www.centralamerica.com/cr/tran/travlair.htm <BR> <BR>I heard the buses are good but we didn't use them. We used taxis and they were good. The bus schedule is at http://www.yellowweb.co.cr:80/crbuses.html <BR> <BR>Regarding your itinerary -- it is way too ambitious for only 7 days. You should spend at least 2-3 nights in each place in order to make travelling there worth your while, so in 7 days I would choose ideally only 2 destinations in CR or 3 if you really want to push it. Don't do 4 -- you'll be worn out from travelling the whole time and won't have time to see or enjoy anything. Manuel Antonio is great so allow lots of time for that. Make sure you take the tour of the park with a guide -- it is worth the money and you will see a lot more than you would on your own. Arenal is worth seeing but I didn't enjoy it as much as Manuel Antonio. I don't think Jaco is that great but that's just me. Keep in mind that distances in CR are short but travel times are long. Even if you fly you can't count on planes being on time (not even close), and driving times are a lot longer than they look. You should allow 4 hours to drive from San Jose to Arenal. 3.5-4 hours to drive between Arenal & Monteverde (you can't get to Monterverde by plane, by the way). San Jose to Jaco is about 2-2.5 hours. San Jose to Manuel Antonio is about 3-3.5 hours (allow about an hour or so to get from Jaco to Manuel Antonio, depending). So as you can imagine, to drive from Arenal or Monteverde down to Manuel Antonio is a long trip. All of this depends on the roads and whether you're travelling on a weekend or at a busy time, and your route, and you have to allow for delays (we had several times when we were delayed by construction -- once on the PanAmerican Highway outside of San Jose, and another time between Jaco and Quepos). <BR> <BR>If you don't care at all where you stay and will literally sleep anywhere, then it's probably fine to wait until you get there to book a hotel, unless it's on a busy weekend or holiday time, or in really popular areas. If you care where you stay then I would definitely book in advance. All of the places you are going are heavily travelled popular tourist areas that I would definitely book in advance -- in fact, I can't believe you don't have reservations already. It is not that hard to do -- many places have websites and will take reservations via e-mail. I would definitely make reservations if I were you. I can't imagine travelling that far and getting stuck staying in a dump because all the nicer places are full but I suppose you may luck out. We found the Frommer's Costa Rica book really helpful in planning our trip and I would pick it up if I were you -- they have lots of lodging recommendations in every price range and they have a new 2000 edition out. Lonely Planet hasn't updated their Costa Rica guide since '97 or '98 so I wouldn't rely too heavily on it even though it's good too. Good luck!

Dennis

<BR>The previous writer was correct in that have scheduled too much with not enough time. Skip Jaco (surfer heaven) Definitely Monteverde & Manuel Antonio. My website contains all of the bus schedules for Cosa Rica for the main towns. http://community.webtv.net/N0336/CostaRicaTravel. Good, reliable service. It also has the schedules for Sansa and Travelair. Book in advance on both of these airlines. Read some of the trip reports that I have for both of those areas that you're going to. There is a very good one on Quepos. Have a great trip - Dennis

Andrea

Thanks a lot for your advice. WE're already paring down our plans and getting ready to book hotels. <BR> <BR>One last question - how difficult/long is the drive between Monteverde & the Arenal Volcano? <BR>thanks again!

Gail

Andrea, I just got home yesterday from a 10 day trip to Costa Rica. The trip from Arenal to Monteverde was LONG! Because the road around the lake was so bad (chunks of it had fallen off into muddy canyons and what was left was full of unimaginable pot holes), we went all the way back to San Ramon and back up the main highway until we reached the road that leads to <BR>Monteverde. It was the worse type of road- unpaved and winding up a narrow road- a very slow go! It took about 5 hours ( and to think it is only 11 miles from Arenal)in all. Have you considered riding a horse? It is a four hour trip each way and not bad unless it is wet. That's why we didn't do it, but hopefully it will be drier by then. Monteverde was fantastic- especially the SkyTrek zip line! I heartily recommend it. It was well run with safety in mind but still fun and gives a great view of the canopy. We hired a driver and I was glad. The roads are poorly marked and it is easy to get lost. I looked into renting a car but was afraid of the liability. I don't know your age or traveling style but there are buses and at least you don't have to worry about getting on the wrong road. There always seems to be someone around who can "speak for you" if you don't speak Spanish. Good luck. It was GREAT and the new Fodors book was a big help.