hopefulist

Hi, all -
2 friends and I are venturing to Costa Rica for the 1st time in January. Right now we're planning 3 nights each for Tortuguero and Arenal, 4 nights each for Monteverde and Manual Antonio, and a night in San José both coming and going - 16 nights total. Sound ok? Pat Hewitt is helping with transportation and lodging ideas - I've read great reviews of his work and he was awesome to talk to on the phone today.

I'd appreciate any feedback you experts would like to provide, especially where specific tours and/or guides in each spot are concerned. Happy trails!

hopefulist

Pat is suggesting Holiday Inn Aurola in San José, The Mawamba Lodge in Tortuguero, Hotel Arenal Kioro, Trapp Family Hotel in Monteverde, and Hotel Karahe for Manual Antonio. Opinions on those? I tend toward midrange if they're clean and well located, don't mind rustic, and don't mind splurging here and there if it's really worth it.

hopefulist

Oh! Would also appreciate specific names of great hiking/birding guides for any of those areas.

volcanogirl

For me, three nights is longer than I would stay in Tortuguero. I don't think you'll be there in turtle season, will you? For the kind we saw, the season was July through October. The entire place is canal based so there's not much hiking, really just riding in boats looking for wildlife. We stayed two nights and did see the turtles and that was about right for us, but up to you and what feels best for what you want to see. I'd take that night and add it to Arenal; there's tons to do there. We always stay four nights when go and have been several times and keep seeing more. Haven't stayed at any of your specific hotels so can't help with that. Desafio is a great tour company in the Arenal/La Fortuan area; we've used them several times - they have wonderful guides. In Manuel Antonio, we like Juan Brenes with Manuel Antonio Expeditions.

volcanogirl

Make that La Fortuna. If you enjoy hiking, the Arenal area has nice hiking at the Hanging Bridges and the volcano; there's also a beautiful waterfall hike you can do, really more just a lot of steps down and back up than an actual hike. To see wildlife, we like the Cano Negro tour a lot and the Penas Blancas safari float is fun too. You'll want to check out the natural hot springs in the evening - Tabacon if you want elaborate and fancy or Eco Termales if you want smaller, charming, and locally owned. If you like adventure activities, zipline at Sky Trek and raft with Rios Tropicales or Desafio. You can also waterfall rappell with La Roca and go tubing at the Springs Resort and Spa. You might want to visit the Proyecto Asis animal rescue center as well.

volcanogirl

One more - if you're willing to drive a couple of hours away or do a tour with Desafio, the Rio Celeste Waterfall hike is beautiful - the waterfall is a lovely blue color if it hasn't been raining.

hopefulist

Thanks - really helpful!

volcanogirl

We only stayed three nights in Monteverde, and that was plenty for us. I really liked the guided tour of the reserve - we saw a quetzal there. Also liked the night hike at Hidden Valley - saw a porcupine and a fox which were both new things to us. Also went ziplining in the area. We stayed at Fonda Vela and enjoyed it. It's a good destination if you like birding.

volcanogirl

Manuel Antonio has a really beautiful beach inside the national park and tons of fairly tame wildlife in the area; you'll prob. see lots of monkeys. We also like the Damas mangrove tour - a boat ride where you'll see lots of capuchins. We mostly spend our time at the beach, but we enjoyed the Villa Vanilla spice tour. I like Tulemar Bungalows because they have their own beach and tons of wildlife on the property - all different types of accommodations there. Don't miss stopping at the Rio Tarcoles to see the big crocs that hang out below the bridge.

hopefulist

Thanks so much for the input!

volcanogirl

Glad to help - hope you have a great time!

RAC

Hey, this is kind of a 30,000 foot view of things, but based on your past travels and trip reports, I'm a little concerned that you're choosing the most touristy, crowded places in the country to visit--doesn't seem ideal for you.

Tortuguero seems like a good fit, but Arenal, Manuel Antonio and Monteverde are really touristy and suffer from a fair amount of gringoization.

Some alternatives in the same general areas might be:

Tenorio Nat'l Park/Rio Celeste/Bijagua--near Arenal, very lush rainforest, some great hiking areas, same proximity to Cano Negro. Very nice places to stay at all price points.

Puerto Viejo/Cahuita--Caribbean beach/rainforest areas, nowhere near the same tourist traffic as Manuel Antonio. Much different culture than the rest of the country.

Uvita/Dominical--about 90 minutes down the coast from Manuel Antonio, so close enough to visit the park there as a day trip, but much less commercialized. From there you can also do whale/dolphin tours and even visit Corcovado Na'l park as part of a day trip.

San Gerardo de Dota/Cerro de Muerte/Chirripo/San Isidro del General--highland areas that would substitute for Monteverde but with better roads and about 10% of the tourist traffic.

RAC

Oh, and if you do Arenal, the Arenal Observatory Lodge (if they have rooms available) is perfect--mid-range rates, very isolated in its own private reserve up the slopes, bonkers wildlife sighting opportunities--we saw a wild cat (jaguarundi) come within 35 feet or so of the building where our room was.

And, the volcano and lake views are the best of anywhere in the country, maybe anywhere in Central America.

sylvia3

I agree with some places being very touristy; if you do go to see Arenal, the Arenal Observatory Lodge is a great choice (the Smithsonian rooms are huge), with beautiful grounds and views, and close to the best zip line. Uvita/Dominical area is great; be sure to visit Ballena National Park and Playa Ventanas. There are also waterfalls and other beautiful places to visit just off the road.

volcanogirl

I love the Arenal Observatory Lodge too; if you're okay with being off a very long bumpy road and set away from town out by the lake, the trails, wildlife sightings, and volcano views are spectacular.

hopefulist

You guys are awesome - thanks! Yeah, a forum 'friend' on Trip Advisor called me out on the touristy part - just lazy early planning on my part. So I'm trying now to balance costs a little, put together good wildlife/birding opportunities, and not spend so much time on the main tourist trail.

Starting in the middle, we're booked at Savegre in San Gerardo de Dota, then heading to Tortuguero, then flying to Osa to end at Bosque del Cabo. I'm doubting Arenal - a live part of the year surrounded by volcanoes in Guatemala and my friends are not active/adventure types which seems another big draw there. I spend a lot of time on the water in Belize and Honduras snorkeling, diving, and fly fishing, so that's not a priority for this trip.

What are your best suggestions for another stop or 2 that would add to the experiences we already have planned? Thanks again!

volcanogirl

I really like the Savegre Hotel; it can get very cold there at night, so pack something warm to wear. It was 50 something degrees in our cabin when we went to bed. The bar area is beautiful with a big firepit. Marino Chacon is an excellent birding guide there if you need one. His family founded the hotel. Lots of quetzals and hummingbirds.

volcanogirl

You might take a look at staying somewhere like Selva Verde. They have simple but comfortable cabins set by a beautiful river. We saw howler monkeys, toucans, a kinkajou, red-eyed tree frogs, poison dart frogs, etc. there. They have a good open air restaurant with a big outdoor pizza oven. It's a good spot for a couple of nights. You can do a day trip to La Selva for more hiking and wildlife - we saw peccaries there.

hopefulist

I already have a private tour with Marino arranged during our stay - I was searching for outstanding birding guides which oriented me to Savegre. Would Selva Verde offer something uniquely different or better than the other places on our list? One of my friends isn't able to hike much so I am keeping that in mind while planning.

Is Monteverde so overrun we'd want to avoid it? I've come across some good birding guide recommendations for the Monteverde Cloud Fores Reserve and Curi Cancha.

RAC

If you're doing Savegre/San Gerardo de Dota you can pass on Monteverde. Very similar ecosystem and birds.

Selva Verde/Sarapiqui area is Caribbean lowland rainforest, it would be a nice stopover to/from Tortuguero but you will probably see the same species there as in Tortuguero.

In terms of fitting additional places in, it would depend more on logisitics/scheduling. Do you have a rough idea of what your itinerary looks like (Day 1, Day 2, etc) especially regarding which dates are locked in?

That being said, the Carara/Tarcoles area has tons of birds--including scarlet macaws like you wouldn't believe. Also great birding by boat in the mangroves/Tarcoles river. And, yes, GIANT crocodiles.