Hi PSimmons05!

Most visitors come for roughly one week, so it’s certainly worthwhile and possible to do and see a lot in 8 days. 🙂 As for formulating an itinerary, you can do either of the options you have in mind: you can stick to one destination and take day trips to popular attractions or you can plan to visit two destinations over the course of your trip. If you want beach access every day, the best option would be to stay in a coastal town for the duration of your visit and make day trips from there. I usually don’t recommend this option because many of Costa Rica’s top experiences take place in inland areas, such as La Fortuna and Monteverde, that are several hours away from beach towns, so you’ll either miss out on a lot of those if you station yourself by the coast, or you’ll set yourself up for some very long day trips. If you’re open to spending a few days away from a beach, I’d recommend selecting an inland destination (likely La Fortuna, but possibly Monteverde if you want to see the cloud forest, as you note) to visit for the first few days of your trip, then heading to the coast to settle into gentler exploration over there.

Quick question: Have you yet tried out our Costa Rica Destination Tool (https://www.diycostarica.com/about-the-costa-rica-destination-tool/)? It’s free for DIY Costa Rica members like yourself. The reason I ask is because we built the tool specifically for this purpose, to help travelers determine which destinations they should visit during their trip. It can help you decide which inland destination (La Fortuna or Monteverde, for example) would be the best for you to visit, as well as which beach town you should consider staying at.

Let me know if you have any trouble using the tool. If so, I can help you navigate it. 🙂