brollend

I am going to CR and renting a 4WD vehicle in late january. I have the Nat'l Geographic map of the country. I have heard on this forum about the bad road conditions, and how is everything is farther time wise than one would expect.

My question is about driving directions. We want to drive to attractions, but it is difficult to figure out where exactly to drive to. For example, if we want to go to Rincon de la viego Volcano, where exactly do we drive to? It looks like a fairly big area with a couple of different roads entering the park. Where is the "ranger" station area where we can park and hike?

Also, loking for directions from Playa Flamingo to arenal, to cano negro, palo verde. Is this posted somewhere?

thanks in advance.

shillmac

brollend,
We drove to Rincon de la Vieja this past July. We turned in at the first turn just a few miles north of Liberia. The road was rough and long, but took us right to a ranger station and hiking area. Not sure about there being a ranger station there, but if I had it to do over, I'd take the 2nd road a little further north. Definitely.

Playa Flamingo to Arenal: the map should take you right where you want to go. Once there, I think it will make more sense to you. The highways in the area are numbered (highway 21 goes from Belen to Liberia) and Playa Flamingo is west of there. There is also fairly good signage between Liberia and Arenal.

To get to Cano Negro, you drive east to La Fortuna from Arenal, then take the road north to Tanque, continuing on up toward Los Chiles. Isn't that the way it looks on the map?

Not sure about Palo Verde as we've not been there, but you can get verbal directions in Liberia (say, from a policeman or in the bank). There's probably a sign on the road south toward SJO out of Liberia directing you to Palo Verde, seems that I've seen the sign. . .

It really isn't as difficult as you may think to get around. Believe me, if we can manage it without problems, anyone can! For the most part, you can trust your map. That said, we really do prefer the Berndston & Berndston laminated map from Barnes & Noble. Just haven't found one that we like better. . .

brollend

Looking at my map, I was somewhat confused on the LIberia to Arernal trip as the road from Tilaran around Lake arenal went from solid line to dash line on the western side. I wasn't sure if this was the road, or if you had to go on long way around to the north.

Also, how far is it from Tilaran to Monte verde in hours? It looks to be a "short" drive on the map, but I have heard this road is a slow one/

shillmac

Haven't done it, but guessing from previous posts, about 1.5-2 hours. The lake road is spotty--not a great road, but when we were on it in July, it was mostly paved with a few stretches without pavement. It truly wasn't so bad--just slow going. You'll drive 30-40 mph most of the time. Gives you time to enjoy what's around you! We all truly have to get into the Pura Vida frame of mind--everything slows down and sometimes it is very hard to get our task oriented, rushed minds around that! It is quite enlightening once you obtain that state!

Naplo999

In general I've found that traveling around Costa Rica is not very hard. There are not many roads in general to major areas and attractions, and there are generally signs you can follow to the tourist areas.

If you get lost you can always ask someone on the road "Hola Senor, Donde esta via a XXXXX" - Hello sir, where is the road to xxxx.

I would ask that, let them explain in spanish, which I do not really understand, and then go in the direction that they pointed.