Paula

Please I need help. We are leaving Feb 12, and returning March 1. I have been on a darn waiting list since May for a stupid timeshare exchange for the first part of our trip, which has never materilized. So now I am scrambling as how to compensate.
Here's what we have so far

day 1 Alajuela, Orchideas Inn
day 2 OPEN
day 3 OPEN
day 4 OPEN
day 5 OPEN
day 6 OPEN
day 7 OPEN
day 8 Arenal, Montana del Fuego
day 9,Arenal, Montana del Fuego
day 10,Arenal Montana del Fuego
day 11,San Isidro del general
day 12,San Isidro del general
day 13,San Isidro del general
day 14,San Isidro del general
day 15,San Isidro del general
day 16,San Isidro del general
day 17,San Isidro del general
day 18, Alajuela, Orchideas Inn
day 19 return home

The week at San Isidro del General is not changeable, although it may be possible to leave the last 2 days early of that week and stay somehwere else if anyones thinks we are wasting our vacation by staying there a full week. It was a sky auction thing, so it wasn't a lot of money.

After booking only the first and last night in Alajuela, it seems that a lot of nice tours depart from San Jose. Should we add another day or 2 in the beginning if possible?

Or should we spend all the open days at one place? Places I think we would like would be Quepos, Manual Antonio, and/or Monteverde, maybe Tamarindo.

What would everyone suggest? Please factor in that we have to drive from Arenal to San Isidro de General on feb 22. We are renting a car definately for the last week, and could do 2 weeks car rental if suggested or bus trips. Please suggest to your hearts content. I will be eternally grateful, as right now I am sweating it. (I haven't even checked vacancies, although I have hotel ideas, but then again I'm sure there won't be a lot left by now) Thanks in advance.

Wildflower

Paula, may I ask why are you going to San Isidro del General? What appealed to you besides getting a good deal? Also why are you going to Costa Rica? Beach, shopping, wildlife? What are you interested in doing when there?
I wouldn't recommend staying in Monteverde for 6 nights.

LAG

Paula. San Isidro is a nice community, an agriculture town. Not a lot to do there for a week, unless you take a number of side trips. For a different view of CR, consider Cartago Province. Go to GOOGLE or MSN. Enter "cartago costa rica." Then select about the 3rd listing "Cartago, Costa Rica" Read about the history, climate and the many things to do. The small city of Orosi is about 2 hours form San Isidro. For a nice place to stay in Orosi, connect with "[email protected]" For you consideration...

Paula

First of all, thank you so much Wildflower and LAG for taking the time to respond.

LAG, I did read and print out the link you posted. Thanks. I had done some research on that drive along the cerro de la muerto, and I must admit the area sounds beautiful. Thanks for the tip on Cartago. The town sounds very interesting history wise. I love history, and we had the good fortune of visiting Spain last year. I could not get enough of the history there. The Orosi area sounds nice too, as does the Pacuare River.

Wildflower....Yes San Isidro del General was picked for the price. I admit at the time I did not know where it was, but I knew it was in the mountains. For $266 for a week stay in a "resort" (RID rated for RCI)I didn't think it was a bad deal. We are trying to go cheaply because we have several trips planned this year. Since then I have researched the area, and while it is more remote it sounds beautiful. I did leave out info necessary when I was asking for advice. Sorry about that.

Our likes are light hiking/walks, nature things for sure. The volcanos sound very nice. River trips, animal life, and horseback riding is nice. We are not into shopping, night life or extreme tourist resort areas. Love the mountains, since we are in Florida and the land is flat here. While I know they do not compare to CR's beauty, we are 10 minutes away from the beach, visit the Keys often, and have done a lot of Carribbean visits, like Aruba, etc. Their beaches are unbelievable. Because of that if we did anything on the coast it would just be to relax, or visit MA.

Now for what we have semi planned while in San Isidro. Day trip (unless we stay in Quepos) to do the Rainmaker tour.(2 hr drive from San Isidro) The horseback trip to Nauyaca (sp) waterfall with Don Carlos(?) out of Dominical. Ballena National Park, for some whale watching (I hope)
A guy named Hugo that works where we are staying at Hotel Del Sur (really nice people there) in San Isidro del General, says Uvita beach is really beautiful. We will also most likely do a rafting trip nearby.

So maybe based on this additional info I could get some more input. Thanks in advance to everyone.

Suzie2

Seeing as you will be going to Arenal you could think about Manuel Antonio or you could head over to the Caribbean slope area of Puerto Viejo de Sarapiqui. La Selva research station is there (guided tours by reservation only). Selva Verde Lodge is in that area also and has its own rainforest. They have a lot going on there and have a web site that you can look at. The food is very good. If they are full as they often are there is a darling little lodge called La Quinta de Sarapiqui just up the road that we stayed in last year. Tirimbina Rainforest reserve is right near there as is a small burial grounds. Very different rainforest on the Caribbean slope than anywhere else because it is in a much rainier area. Feb is a good time to go. It rained one day while we were there last year. La Selva had tico rubber boots you could use.
Another option would be to go up to Tortuguero for a couple of days. It is very different than anything else you will be doing. Most of your sight seeing is done in a boat going up and down the canals. There are tons of wildlife and birds to see.
If you did do one of those options for a few days you could spend a couple of days in San Jose before setting out and go directly to Arenal from whichever one you picked.
From San Jose you could do the La Paz waterfall tour (web site), cafe Britt tour, Zoo Ave (Web site)is a favorite of many people or just check out downtown San Jose. The central market is wild to walk around in. In front of the Gran Hotel is a little sidewalk cafe where you can sit and people watch and it is located in an area that you can walk around in. We used to get a taxi to the Gran and my husband would get his New York Times from a little newstand around the corner. Then he would have a beer and enjoy his paper while I wandered around the area. The National Theater is right there also.

Paula

Thanks Susie2, you have given lots of good advice as usual. One question, if I can't extend my stay at Orchideas inn, do you know anything about the Gran Hotel as far as lodging? If we do decide to extend the stay in SJ another day or so, would this be an ok place to stay, or would you just try and get something similiar to Orchideas and take the 10 min taxi in for tours? If we stayed in the Selva Verde lodge area how many days? How would you split it up, total time in. One last question, What's your opinion of the Cartago/Orosi area that LAG has recommended? Thanks in advance.

Ally

Don't worry about taking tours from the Orquideas. Most of the 'tour' companies can pick you up there without having to go to San Jose, which is actually about 20-30 . minutes . Also a very nice guy named Wady works at the Orquideas and he takes people on many tours or can arrange them for you.

Suzie2

As Ally mentioned you are still within the pick up range for tours and Orquideas can arrange tours themselves.
I enjoy sitting outside the Gran but it is in a very noisy area. I don't know how well they are soundproofed. Hotel Grano de Oro is highly recommended. I have stayed at Hotel Don Carlos several times (learned the hard way to ask for a quiet room but still a fun place to stay), Hotel Dunn Inn, (last two places are in the historic district of Amon but are not far from downtown). Those are going to have some city traffic noise. If Orquideas is booked up you could try Hotel Buena Vista. It is slightly further out but a very nice place also and pretty comparable to Orquideas in cost.
If you go to Pto Viejo de Sarapiqui you can arrange for a tour in La Selva for a morning. As was mentioned, Selva Verde has their own rainforest. There are several types of boat rides both calm and rapids that you can do. When we were just walking around the grounds of Tirimbina last year we saw lots of birds we have never seen before so we are really anxious to get into the actual rainforest area. There is a charge and we had a very limited amount of time so didn't see it last year. Two full days would be good if you want to do a boat trip. If you don't want to do a boat trip there it is a relatively short trip from there over to Limon/Moin where you could catch a boat to Tortuguero.
Regarding the Orosi area, it is beautiful there but less developed for tourism although they have added quite a bit over the years. It is actually one of our favorite areas because it is less developed. We have looked at property there and in Turrialba and will probably buy something in a couple of years.
Cartago is a sweet little city and I have made more than one stop at the Bascillica. Cartago is where some of the rafting companies stop for breakfast on the way to the river. Lankaster gardens are near there and are very interesting to walk through if you like plants. Doesn't look like much from the outside but is nicely arranged once in.
One other option that I hadn't mentioned before but you might consider extending your stay in Arenal and going on the all day trip up to Cano Negro. Would be similar to Tortuguero. We saw great stuff there last year. You could then go up to Monteverde for a couple of days. So many options, so little time I know. Just go with your heart and pick the stuff you think you would really enjoy. Even after 12 years of traveling down there we haven't seen it all and have hardly duplicated anything.

dabodin

Paula: I'm hoping you'll see this message, even though it is about your Rome trip, not Latin America! Eileen from this forum posted your message to me about the Luce Split Apartment from RealRome. We, too, are about to book a different apartment from them, near the Campo dei Fiori . But the Luce looks really great! My question to you is more about location: I'm torn about which location would be better. Trastevere looks wonderful, but my husband thinks the other would be more central and in the thick of things. What is your advice? (The apartment we're looking at is the Cappellari Split A.) Any advice?

Thanks!

Paula

Hi dabodin,
I will tell you this the next time we go we are renting the same apartment. If you can convince your husband, do yourself a favor, the apartment is located right at the corner of one of the main bridges that goes across the river and within a 5 to 10 minutes walk you are in the Piazza Navona, and the pantheon area. Everything is much cheaper across the river,wonderful family restaurants, in fact a great one right underneath the window of the aparment. If you need a cab there is a cab stand right around the corner and a very nice grocery store with lots of deli type items just down the street. (downstairs in the Ovieto store. It looks like a department store but the grocery is downstairs)Also the tram is only a 5 minute walk away and it will take you to many sites such as the Colesium, etc. The little neighborhood is really nice and evening in the evenings we saw little old Italian ladies sitting on chairs in the evenings, catching up on the neighborhood gossip It was what I had pictured for an old Rome neighborhood, but I'm sure this is probably one of the last areas that looks this way. People there were super friendly, and the area was totally safe. Much less touristy than across the river. If you end up going for it and talk to Tim (Pearson, Real Rome)) say hi for me. He was a super nice guy. Any questions email me [email protected]

Paula

Hi Dabodin,
I forgot to say we originally had requested the apartment that you are thinking about. It was bookem for our dates, but honestly if you email Tim he will give you an honest opinion. He is vey familiar with both neighborhoods, so you might want to see what he says. But you are so close to being as your husband puts it "in the thick of things" in Trastevere, I don't think it matters, it's cheaper,plus Trastevere is very centrally located as far as all the attractions (I think, but maybe I'm biased after staying there) Hope this helps.

dabodin

Paula:

Based on your descriptions, I think we're going to go with the Luce apartment. I originally wanted to stay in Trastevere but somehow got sidetracked. The apartment just looks bigger, brighter and more attractive. Thanks a lot for your all your detailed messages. I too have found Tim to be very helpful and patient. He's answered some pretty picky little questions about the other apartment and now I'm going to completely switch to a different place!
I'm sure he's used to it, though.

Thanks again, and good luck on your trip South.

JoAnne