Can anyone suggest a 2 week itinerary for vacationing in Costa Rica?

Hi! First you'll have to excuse me for my english, it's not my first language...I went with my boyfriend in Costa Rica in 2002 for 2 weeks, we enjoyed every bit of our trip, it's a very nice country. Here's our itinerary:

1rst day: Arrival in San Jose: We stayed at the Hotel Plaza, witch is well located in the center of the city.

2nd day: Esterillos este (Flor de Esterillos resort): http://pages.infinit.net/taus/english.html This is a little resort hosted by french canadian (they speak english) where you can relax on the beach and travel around for a few days. They rent little cottages and offer nice meals for extra charges.

3rd day: Manuel Antonio: From our resort we took a bus and visited this extraordinary park where you can hike, relax on the beach...

4th day: Jaco: Also from our resort we went one day to visit this small city crowded with surf lovers, there's a lot of little boutiques to visit, internet cafe, etc. You can rent boards or body surfs to have a blast in these great waves

5/6th: We stayed relaxed at the beach

7/8/9th days: Montezuma: we stayed at http://www.beach-hotel-manchas.com/ ... this is the best part of our trip, Montezuma is a place where you can do a lot of activities and relax and the same time, great little restaurants and boutiques. The only thing that we where a little disapointed is the excursion to turtle island, we went there to do snorkling but we saw nothing but rocks and plants...they do offer a great meal though (fish cooked on a grill) and a little music/dance show

10/11th days. Monte Verde/ Santa Elena: If you like hiking, this is a great place to go. Very nice cloud forest, a lot of birding to do. You have a 3 hours trip in scolar bus to do, but it is worth the travelling. We stayed a the youth hotel one night and at the Hotle de Montana Monteverde (very expensive, but it's the only place that we found! So book yourself a room in a hotel before getting there!!)..Activities: Canopy tours, Volcan Arenal, hiking...we liked the Pizza Johnny restaurant, very very nice!

12/13th day. San Jose: We visited the city, it's a safe place to travel, be carefull not to show your belongings. If you like museums there's the Museo nacional that we enjoyed. There's a few markets where you can buy nice crafts or souvenirs...

In San Jose you don't need a car to travel around, you can walk, this is the most pleasant way to visit.

That's about it, Costa Rica is a great and safe country and you'll see that in 2 weeks you only see a little part of it...have a great trip!!!

just got back last month, it was trip of a life time and I've been to alot of nice places. I was only there for 10 days, just way too much to do and see! First of all I would suggest not staying at the same resort the whole time, travel can be difficult, it may look close on the map but road conditions can vary. be sure to rent a 4x4, i rented a little jimny, $45us/day unlimited miles! awesome deal. In my order of preference you MUST see:

1. Arenal Volcano, most active volcano in the western hemisphere, visit the town of fortuna during the day, and get a pass for one of the hot springs resorts. you and your girl will absolutely love it and not want to go anywhere else. For $20 we got a pass to Baldi resort, very beautiful, you can sit in a gigantic natural hot spring and watch little spurts of lava flow down the volcano. I guess Tabacon costs $50 bucks and is even nicer but I can't even imagine how. be sure to spend at least a full day there.

2. Cloud Forests of Monteverde - you heard of the wild zip lines in CR right - this is the original - the longest - the fastest. We did the suspension bridge/zip line tour for $40 bucks. Awesome.

3. I'm a big surfer, but even if your not you have to check out either Witch's Rock - huge surf - not for beginners but fun to watch if your not surfing. Or if you want to try surfing and your new to it, go to Tamarindo. Sweet beach, i rented a board for $4 for the whole day. i guess there is a ferry that will take you to the beach across the bay, very private, very beautiful white sand.

4. Beaches on the pacific side- visit as many as you can - Playa Conchal is very nice, you can see the magnificient sea turtles at the beach just north of tamarindo - i forget the name, check nesting dates for the best viewing. Alot of the beaches are black volcanic sand, but there are some really nice white sand ones if you look. Pura Vida baby!!!

5. Playa Coco is a nice little party town especially at night on the weekends. Go to the iguana cafe or after hours at Bongo's if your nearby. wow can't fit anymore, Manuel Antonio is the best park!!!

Hi,

Try this:

Day 1: Arrival. Lodge at Hotel Don Fadrique

Day 2: Drive to Irazú Volcano, then descend past Turrialba Volcano to Turrialba City. Lodge at Hotel Turrialtico.

Day 3 - Day 4: Pacaure river 2 day rafting trip. Lodge riverside and then at Orosi Lodge in Orosi

Day 5: Drive up the Continental Divide and then down to Los Santos regions. Visit coffee farm and then drive down to Quepos/Manuel Antonio. Lodge at Mono Azul in Manuel Antonio.

Day 6: Visit Manuel Antonio National Park and relax at the beach

Day7: Sea kayaking tour, more beach time.

Day 8: Drive to Arenal Volcano, stop at Carara National Park on the way. Lodge at El Silencio del Campo Hotel in Fortuna. At night see active Arenal Volcano

Day 9: visit Fortuna Waterfall and go hiking up Cerro Chato

Day 10: Drive to Tenorio Volcano and stay at La Carolina Lodge.

Day 11: Visit Tenorio Volcano National Park, hike.

Day 12: Horseback riding in the a.m. and then drive to Tamarindo beach.

Day 13: Relax in Tamarindo beach. In the afternoon drive back to San Jose, lodge near the airport.

Day 14: Depart.

Cheers,

Carlos

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