Arenal or Monteverde in Costa Rica?

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gusber

I am a Costa Rican living in Costa Rica. Honestly I will tell you that you have to go definitively to Manuel Antonio, which is a beach that combines clear sand and water, and forest, it is warm and humid. It has a national park where you can be in the jungle, white sand beach and monkeys included. In the area you will find good restaurants.
And then from Arenal and Monteverde, despite the fact I love Monteverde, I think as a tourist attraction I will choose Arenal. The Tabacon experience which is a spa with hot water springs and wild nature would amaze anyone. The volcano if you can see it, it is incredible.- night or day time it is a show! I have been lucky and most of the time has been without clouds. The arenal lake is also very nice. You can do the canopy and some other activities in the area.
Monteverde is a cloud forest (you will see real jungle in Manuel Antonio), very peaceful and an experience in bird watching ( probably Manuel Antonio will give you that experience too).

Barb

Manuel Antonio is the best!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And Arenal to

blue

Your travel agent is correct! Arenal is great and Manual Antonio is a great beach area. If possible try to go to the Arenal
observatory lodge it is a fine hotel with spectacular views. Enjoy!!

jersey

i agree with ur travel agent, monteverde is an awful drive and not a lot to see/do- apart from the reseve of course, but in arenal- la fortuna has day trips to cano negra reserve and take the camera:
check out this travel guide and get the moon book!

http://costa-rica.typepad.com/la_fortuna_arenal/home/index.html

Jose!

both .....
http://www.travelinparadisecr.com/

juanancy

You can drive to Monteverde by way of La Fortuna. That way, If you are lucky, you may be able to see the volcano sumit from afar. The other Arenal attraction is the hot water springs. If you are not into that, drive on to Monteverde.
Other than birds, the main attractions of Monteverde are the canopy trips that I am reported are quite exciting.
Manuel Antonio is mostly beach (a beatiful one) but no surfing.

AEGuy

I just got back from an extended vacation in CR and can tell you that the La Fortuna de San Carlos / VolcĆ�n Arenal area is absolutely beautiful. Seeing an active volcano is a once in a lifetime experience, but I WOULD NOT go back.

In La Fortuna, scammers everywhere tried to sell me fake "discounted" attraction tickets, shopkeepers would try to give me dollars for change instead of colones - wanting to give me the worst possible exchange rate. They refused to give me colones back in change until I started complaining. Once I even ran into a gang of boys outside a local tourist bar claiming that the taxis did not run after a certain time of night - and that they would have to give me a ride (double price, of course - luckily I knew better).

I was all over the country, and felt safe everywhere but La Fortuna. It is beautiful, but I do not think that they yet have the security and tourism infrastructure to support all the people that want to go there. We also felt very isolated there because most of the major tourist hotels (including the one we stayed in) and inns are outside of town with nothing around.

To be honest, I had much better times in downtown San JosĆ© and in Jaco and Puntarenas. I felt extremely safe in those places, even though all the books and guides say that downtown San JosĆ© is bad (it is NOT, by the way - just like any major US or European city).

If I had to do it all over again, I would have just stayed in San JosĆ© and Jaco and did day trips to La Fortuna (Arenal Volcano) and Puntarenas. I would not stay over one night (if that) in La Fortuna area again.

yellowstone

Monteverde and Arenal are no way similar-- except they are both in Costa Rica. Arenal is lower and warmer and has the volcano (the principal reason for going there). Monteverde is high and cool and has primary rain/cloud forests and coffee farms. The only thing that Arenal and Monteverde have in common are canopy tours. There is a very good one on the Lake side of Arenal that is comparable to those in Monteverde. The other answerer is correct about Arenal being a bird watchers paradise. If you want a forest experience, you won't easily get it in La Fortuna/Arenal or in Manuel Antonio. On the other hand, going to three places will eat up a lot of time. Only Manuel Antonio has a beach. If you have to choose, I would go to Monteverde if you love the outdoors and hiking and to la Fortuna if you don't.

Todd

Arenal and Monteverde are not similar at all. One is an beautiful volcano where you can watch it erupt from your hotel room and pamper yourself at the hot springs. The other, Monteverde, is an amazing Cloud Forest where everything is green and it is extremely beautiful.

I would suggest you go to both. Depending on the time of the year you can ride a horse - one way - from either Monteverde to Arenal or vise verse. I suggest you go from Monteverde to Arenal as you can see the volcano from the horse as you ride down in elevation to Arenal Volcano.

italian05!

arenal and manuel antonio! defenitely!
arenal and monteverde are almost the same just that arenal has a volcano and hot springs. and manuel antonio is at the beach and has a national park, it is very different from arenal and montevideo. i looooove manuel antonio! its great! and arenal! :-D

Traveller

If you are a serious birdwatcher, yes, you could. However, as a general tourist, possibly not. We've not been to Arenal, but you may not be able to see the volcano because of cloud. This happens a lot.

Here is a link to a journal a friend of mine wrote about Arenal ... http://jackmaryetc.com/Travel/Americas/CostaRica/CBWC6.htm

And here is the link to the one she wrote about Monteverde ... http://jackmaryetc.com/Travel/Americas/CostaRica/CRlyons3.htm

On a previous trip, we visited Manuel Antonio, which is much more beach-y. It has nicer hotels and restaurants, though all we stayed in were fine.

Jeffrey C

I'm not sure the two are all that similar. They are close by, so you should probably see them both if you are in the neighborhood. It also seems like seeing only the two of them in 7 days might leave you with a little bit more extra time than you want.

Your question left out a couple of details.

How much do you like beaches? Man Ant has one. Monteverde does not.

How are you planning on travelling between sites? Costa Rica is a small country but its roads are getting worse and worse, especially in the areas you are considering.

What are the main things you want to do in Costa Rica?

Your question referred to "cities". None of the locations you mentioned is a city. CR isn't really known for cities. To one extent or another, everything is outdoors related.

Brian

Hi,Yes, go to the Arenal volcano,you can drive or take a tour for the whole day that includes different points of view including the Arenal. For about $75.00 all day better than driving. As to manuel antonio, yes it's a pretty beach. There are many beautiful beaches and people in costa Rica. I know i've been there (5) times.Weather,People are great, Max..

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