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Hey gkane@thekane.com!
This is a very ambitious itinerary! To confirm, it is possible to travel from San Jose to Rincon de la Vieja to Monteverde to Arenal in 4 days/3 nights; however, I wouldn’t recommend doing it. The drive times between these destinations will limit the amount of time you’ll have to spend in each place. Here’s a rough outline of the amount of time you’ll spend driving versus enjoying each place:
DAY #1: San Jose to Rincon de la Vieja (Approximate drive time: 4 hours, depending on the exact property you plan to stay at in the vast Rincon de la Vieja area): Let’s say you leave San Jose around 8:00am. You should arrive into the Rincon de la Vieja area around noon, which would give you about 6 hours to explore the Rincon de la Vieja area before dark.
DAY #2: Rincon de la Vieja to Monteverde (Approximate drive time: 2.5 hours, depending on the exact property you plan to stay at in the vast Rincon de la Vieja area): Let’s say you leave the Rincon de la Vieja area around 8:00am. You should arrive into the Monteverde area around 10:30am, which would give you roughly 7.5 hours to explore the Monteverde area before dark.
DAY #3: Monteverde to Arenal (Approximate drive time: 3.5 hours): Let’s say you leave the Monteverde area around 8:00am. You should arrive into the Arenal area just before noon, which would give you roughly 6.5 hours to explore the area before dark.
Overall, while the above itinerary is certainly possible, a large chunk of your time will be spent on the road (approximately 10 hours of driving compared to 20 hours of exploration time before dark, assuming you depart each location around 8:00am each day). If you’d rather spend less time traveling and/or more time exploring, I’d recommend visiting only one or two destinations over the 3-night period. Alternatively, if you want to experience all three destinations and your flights aren’t yet booked, you could fly into the Liberia (LIR/Guanacaste) airport instead of the San Jose (SJO/Alajuela) airport. It’s about a 45-minute drive from the Liberia airport to the Rincon de la Vieja area–much less than the 4-hour trip you’ll make from San Jose.
Pura vida! 🙂
Owner of the Costa Rica Travel Blog • CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts) • Creator of DIY Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Destination Tool, the Costa Rica Recommendations Map and the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course • Author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, and 2023) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022) • “Travel Blogger of the Year 2020 – Costa Rica” (LUX Life Magazine) • Happy wife of a proud Costa Rican ❤️️
Want custom, private, one-on-one Costa Rica trip-planning help? Book an appointment with Nikki here.,So how about this: Drive to Monteverde spend 2 nights wake up and take the jeep – boat -jeep to La Fortuna, spend the night. Is it possible to have someone deliver my car to La Fortuna?
Thank You
Gary
,Our trip will last 30+ days. For the first 9 nights, a third person will be with us. Therefore at the beginning of the trip, there is some time constraint. The first nine nights may be 2 in San Jose, 2 in Monteverde, 1 in Arenal then 4 in Tamarindo. The third person will then head to San Jose via plane or van.
After tamarindo I am thinking of the Gulf of Papayago, for a couple of nights. Then drive to Somara / Nosara area for a few nights. Then continue on eventually ending up in Santa Theresa / Mal Pai area. From there head to San Jose drop off the car. Fly to the Osa Peninsula, Drake Bay then to the other side to Puerto Jimenez. Back to San Jose then head to the Caribbean side for 3 or 4 nights. Then back to San Jose and head home to Louisiana. Presently looking at arriving Jan 17th and then heading home after Feb 15th.This will be our second trip to CR. We were there in 2000 for 3 weeks. Rented a car and spent time in Monteverde, LA Fortuna, The Sarapiqui River, Tamarindo and Puntarenas.
We have done a lot of horseback riding, birding, snorkeling, swimming, surfing. We like less populated and funky.
Thanks for your help.
Gary & Valerie Kane
,I hope you had a great weekend!
Re: Having someone drive your car around Lake Arenal. I’d start by checking with the car rental agency you’ve rented the car through to see if they’d be able to supply a driver to deliver your vehicle across the lake for you, and if so, how much they’d charge for the service. Most car rental agencies can deliver vehicles to destinations all around the country, so they should be able to do this for you. My guess, though, is that the cost will be quite pricey as the car rental agency will need to send two employees plus their own vehicle on the trip (one employee to drive your rental car and the other to drive him/her back). Alternatively, you could check with one of the jeep-boat-jeep service providers to see if they could provide the service. Several years ago, Desafio Adventure Company (one such provider) offered the option to have rental cars driven around the lake but I haven’t talked to them about that service in a while and their website no longer mentions it. Is there a specific reason why you would prefer to take the jeep-boat-jeep service over driving yourself around the lake? The boat-crossing portion of the jeep-boat-jeep service is about a 45-minute ride. As an alternative option, assuming you’re interested in exploring the lake, if you aren’t able to find someone to drive your car, you could instead drive yourselves and then take a tour (via boat, kayak, or stand-up paddle) on the lake at a later time, once you’ve settled into La Fortuna.
Re: Your itinerary plan overall. Wow! It is great to hear that you’ll have a full month to explore, and it sounds like you’re planning to travel to most parts of the country, save for the Central Pacific region and the Central Valley/Highlands region. That’s quite a trip! Have you had a chance to use our Destination Tool yet? It’s free to use with your DIY Costa Rica membership. Though the tool’s primary purpose is to help travelers decide which destinations to visit during their trip, in your case (since you’ve already decided where you want to go), it can help you determine where you should experience each activity that you’re interested in. For example, on the Destination Tool page here, you can select the criteria “horseback riding” and the tool will inform you of the specific destinations in Costa Rica where you can experience the activity. Since you’ve already decided which destinations you want to visit, you’ll be able to quickly scroll down the results page to see if any of the destinations listed there match those you plan to visit. The tool can help in other ways, too. For example, since you mentioned you like less-populated, funky destinations, you can select the “funky/trendy/artsy” criteria and/or either of the “not very popular” or “off the beaten path” criteria and the tool will inform you of destinations that fit those preferences.
Pura vida! 🙂
Owner of the Costa Rica Travel Blog • CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts) • Creator of DIY Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Destination Tool, the Costa Rica Recommendations Map and the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course • Author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, and 2023) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022) • “Travel Blogger of the Year 2020 – Costa Rica” (LUX Life Magazine) • Happy wife of a proud Costa Rican ❤️️
Want custom, private, one-on-one Costa Rica trip-planning help? Book an appointment with Nikki here.,We have narrowed in on our itinerary. San Jose 2 nights, pick up rental car- Arenal 2 nights- Monteverde 2 nights- Tamarindo 4 nights- Nosara/ Somara 3 nights, Mal Pais Playa Tambor 2 nights – drive back to San Jose drop off rental car and fly to Osa, 3 nights Drake Bay then fly to to other side of peninsula for 2 nights. Fly back to San Jose and fly to Caribbean side for 3 nights.
Our hotels are booked for San Jose, Arenal, Monteverde and Tamarindo. The time we will spend in Nosara / Mal Pais area’s I would like to just wing it and not book a hotel until we get there so we would have some flexibility where in our schedule. Our hotels in Osa and the Caribbean side will be pre booked. Would that be a problem to just wing it? Thanks Gary,Hi Gary!
Yes, you can wing it! 🙂 My recommendation, though, would be to book in advance. Nosara and Mal Pais are very popular destinations, and they’re also fairly small destinations compared to larger beach destinations (Tamarindo, Manuel Antonio, etc.) that have seemingly endless accommodation options. We travel around the country often during the high season (when you plan to visit) and we purposely book at least a month or two in advance for stays in smaller beach towns. While there will likely always be a room available somewhere, you may miss out on staying at properties that have clear advantages, such as proximity to the beach or restaurants, great service, complimentary amenities like air conditioning or parking, and/or fair prices. We’ve found that the longer we wait to book, the more slim the pickings are, and we usually end up overpaying for what we get.
Of course, part of the fun of travel is winging it, so if you don’t have specific criteria in mind for what you want to get out of an accommodation, and you’re comfortable making do with whatever you get, moving from place to place and stopping/staying on a whim is an option that’s always on the table.
Pura vida!
Owner of the Costa Rica Travel Blog • CEO of Pura Vida! eh? Inc. (Costa Rica Discounts) • Creator of DIY Costa Rica, the Costa Rica Destination Tool, the Costa Rica Recommendations Map and the Costa Rica Trip Planning 101 E-Course • Author of the guidebooks Moon Costa Rica (2019, 2021, and 2023) and Moon Best of Costa Rica (2022) • “Travel Blogger of the Year 2020 – Costa Rica” (LUX Life Magazine) • Happy wife of a proud Costa Rican ❤️️
Want custom, private, one-on-one Costa Rica trip-planning help? Book an appointment with Nikki here.
