ele85 asked 8 years ago
Hello! I will go to CR with my boyfriend on Aug.21 until Sept. 3rd (13 full days). We would like to visit the most we can.
Thus, we are now planning to spend the first 3 nights in La fortuna to see the volcano, waterfalls and do ziplines and wildlife. Then we are planning to head to the west coast. We would like to spend some days at the beach (~5 days), starting from somewhere norther and going south to arrive to the OSA and visit Corcovado park (we know this requires at least additional 3 days, and it\’s for sure something we want to do). We would like to visit different beaches and areas and not just stay in one place for all the days.
I have a couple of questions that I hope you can help me with:
- is it reasonable to stay in La fortuna, and from there visit both the volcano and monteverde? is it doable or would you suggest to do just one of the two? (considering we will also go to Corcovado)
- Once we left the cloud forest area, which are the beaches/areas you would suggest to visit (considering our final goal is to reach Corcovado)? would you suggest the Nicoya area?
- How easy is to travel along the west coast between manuel antonio and drake bay? would you suggest to do that in 5 days?
Thank you very much in advance for your help. I hope my questions are not too many and too confused:) Any advice is very welcome and thank you for this amazing site!
Jenn and Matt Staff answered 8 years ago
Hi ele85,
You can definitely fit Monteverde into your plans, just go there after La Fortuna. We recommend at least a couple nights since it is a long drive from anything. If you are driving yourself we highly recommend a 4×4 that time of year. Read our post: Driving to Monteverde. After that you could head to the central Pacific on your way to the Osa Peninsula. Jaco or Manuel Antonio (or both) are popular choices and won’t be busy in late August. If you have more time you could also make a stop in the Costa Ballena before Drake Bay. The roads along the Pacific coast are in great shape but driving all the way to Drake Bay is not recommended. In our Drake Bay post we give options for the shuttle boat, which is a much better option. Hope this helps give you some ideas, if you need more specific help check out our Itinerary Help page. Have a great trip and enjoy Costa Rica!