sberk

Can someone give me an idea of how long this drive will be? Do we need to go around the lake as if we are going to Monteverde, or is there another way?

If we are thinking of doing the Cano Negro day trip from La Fortuna, is it actually less time in the car if we go up there on our own, and from there to Rincon de la Vieja, or is that actually more driving?

Any advice is appreicated - thanks!

shillmac

Just me, I'd use a tour (like Sunset Tours) for the Cano Negro portion. Using a car to drive to the Cano Negro area won't help you get to Rincon de la Vieja. It is just a nice experience to hop in their van and let them take care of you for the day--they do it very well!

To go to Rincon de la Vieja, you do need to go around the lake (as if going to Monteverde), but continuing on through Tileran and following signs to Las Canas and then Liberia. The drive (depending on the lake road conditions) will generally take about 3 hours. From Liberia to the Rincon area (depending on which hotel) count on another hour. It's a nice drive.

sberk

Hi Shillmac,

Since you seem to be the expert on this board, can I ask you another question?

So we have 8 nights, and I was thinking three nights arenal, 2 nights at rincon, and 3 nights at a guanacaste beach. But I've seen you can do day trips to Rincon from many of the beaches we are considering (hermosa, carrillo, nosara). Would it be better to just do 3 nights arenal, and 5 nights at the beach, and do rincon as a day trip? Our other itinerary gave potentially gave us 1 full day and two half days at Rincon, but I might be willing to trade that for a simpler itinerary. Do you have any thoughts?

shillmac

Far from being an expert, but it is a pleasure to assist any way I can!

My inclination is to direct you toward just doing a daytrip into the Rincon since you just have 8 days. That's a LOT of moving around, and I don't think you'll get all that much out of the 2 half days. You can do a full day into the park from your beach location.

Most hotels will offer that tour. We did it for the first time in 2001 with Swiss Travel. I think there is a Megacombo tour which offers all the highlights of the Rincon (ziplines, mud baths, water slide). Pretty sure horseback riding could be arranged as well.

RdlV is a beautiful area, but a bit rugged for traveling around. I know there are people on this board who have some very nice things to say about some of the hotels. Our experience at Borinquen (the most $$) wasn't too great this past July. Restaurant definitely not good, and not much choice but to eat there.

If you choose the Playa Hermosa or Octotal area for your beach location, you are within 1.5 hour of Rincon and 30 min from Liberia. The other locations (Nosara, Carillo) are too distant to make a daytrip feasible. Hermosa is a fine area with plenty to see and do within a 1 hour drive. Good restaurants as well. Ginger is one!

Another thing, are you flying in and out of San Jose? The ideal plan would be to fly into San Jose and fly out of Liberia, saving you LOTS of time. You'd have to return to SJO the day before your departure and spend your last night near the airport.

Into SJO and out of LIR very easy to plan, usually costs about the same. You could even fly in and out of LIR, since the drive from there to Arenal isn't much further than the drive from SJO to Arenal.

Hope these thoughts have been somewhat helpful to you. Short answer just to your question would be: Plan 2 locations (Arenal and beach) and do RdlV as a daytrip!

sberk

Thanks for the added insight. We booked our flights already, so I think we are locked in to flying out of SJO. I hadn't realized at the time that there were international flights from Liberia. (But we got a phenomenal airfare, just around $300RT from DC). Our flight isn't until 3:30, so we are undecided whether we will leave from the beach really early (we figure we'd have to leave around 7am?) on our last day or go back to SJ the day before.

I've been to CR before, but my husband hasn't. My last trip I didn't go to Rincon or Nicoya, so I am really looking forward to that part of the trip.

I'll probably post more questions as we get into our planning more. Thanks for the advice.

shillmac

You are very welcome. It's good that your flight is at 3:30. 7:00 departure should be okay, provided there are no traffic tie ups on the Interamerican. You can count on about 4.5 hours from Liberia, so close to 5 from Hermosa area.

Wow--what a deal on the airfare! When are you going? November?

shillmac

Back up a bit. Rethinking. I meant to say 4 hours from Liberia (without mishap) and 4.5 from Hermosa area. It usually takes us about 5 to get on down to the Flamingo area.