help me make the most of 3 days in Costa Rica

April 3, 2007 3:54 PM

I have three days to spend in Costa Rica. Help me figure out how to spend them. I'll be working in the Los Suenos area and have three days on my own before working. I had it all planned that I'd go to Arenal for one day and Monteverde for 2. But this is high season, I hate crowds, and I'm spending a lot of time and money to get to those places.

Should I stick with my Arenal/ Monteverde plan or do something else?

I'm on my own. I don't like surfing or drinking/partying or coffee. I'd like to see pretty scenery, take some pictures, and maybe do a zip line and a hike. I see a lot of beaches in my work so I'm leaning towards non-beach, but I'm not trying to have the perfect vacation, just make the most of being in the country already. I'm a budget traveler, but not a true backpacker. I like peace and quiet.

I'm flying into and out of San Jose. I arrive very early on a Sunday morning and need to be in Los Suenos by noon on Wednesday. Work covers my transportation to Los Suenos from San Jose.

posted by Mozzie to Travel & Transportation around Costa Rica (5 answers total)

If you like zipline tours and stuff like that, Arenal/Monteverde is the place to do so. I was there in May and didn't find the crowds overwhelming. If I were going to recommend other areas for the limited time, I'd say Manuel Antonio Park of Monteverde. Both will have equal amounts of people, though, I'd say, and not so much of the nature activities. I mean, both have areas for hiking and adventure, but less organized stuff. And both will have more of the party atmosphere it seems you're trying to avoid.
posted by andifsohow at 4:11 PM on April 3, 2007

I was in Monteverde in June, and it wasn't crowded at all. It was quite peaceful, and the cloud forests are AWESOME.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 6:25 PM on April 3, 2007

I went to Arenal and Monteverde last December. There was no great amount of drinking or partying. I doubt the crowds will be that bad, but I don't know for sure. We went early December which isn't really high season & had no problems whatsoever with crowds. We spent about 3 or 4 nights in La Fortuna & only one night in Monteverde. We probably didn't get the full Monteverde experience but there's so much to do in La Fortuna that it worked great.

In La Fortuna we went rafting & waterfall rappelling & kayaking & it was a ton of fun. I'm not sure if that counts as peace & quiet. I didn't find as much "hiking" as I'm used to up here in Seattle. We also did a nature walk to see the volcano but it was definitely a walk & not a hike (& the most "touristy" thing as well.) The tours we went on weren't cheap but they were nice, about 40-80 bucks. We stayed at Gringo Pete's for about $5 a night & it was the best place of our trip. We got lots of great tips from the other travelers in the lounge. There was no partying to speak of.

You might also check out the hot springs resorts. I thought they'd be cheesy, but they were actually really fun. I'd never been to anything quite like that. The one I went to had 10+ huge hot pools.

For my trip I really wished I'd had a waterproof camera. Depending on what you do you might not care as much.
posted by Wood at 7:17 PM on April 3, 2007

In our experience it takes a long time to travel anywhere in Costa Rica: you'll lose at least half a day travelling from Arenal to Monteverde, probably more. But you'll be able to fill three days in either location, no problem.
posted by Hogshead at 5:42 AM on April 4, 2007

Response by poster: Trip Wrap-up. Thanks everyone for their suggestions. I ended up having an open-ended plan to go to La Fortuna, and to stay there if I liked it or move on the MonteVerde if I didn't. I did not like La Fortuna, so I did a few things and then moved on. Maybe if the Volcano has been "out". I loved Monteverde, and since you travel between the two by boat, it's like an activity, not travel time. Both places had a lot of tourists, but I didn't feel like I was in disneyland.
posted by Mozzie at 5:59 PM on April 18, 2007