Day 1: San Jose
Our first day in San Jose you arrive at Juan Santamaria Airport and then transfer to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica. We settle in our downtown hotel and take a rest for a bit before exploring the city. San Jose's highlights include the National Theatre, National and Morazan Parks, Jade Museum in front of the Spain Park, Gold Museum, and the among other churches the Metropolitan Cathedral. We will try to see a few of them after we rest a few minutes, and then the rest of them when we return from out trip on the countryside. We dine in a restaurant overlooking the Central Valley with a magnificent view of the city by night.
Day 2: Volcano Poas, La Paz Waterfall and Gardens, Arenal
In the early morning, we leave for Heredia, a small town in the Meseta Central, which is the name of the region in the capital's vicinity. We stop for a short walk on the town's main square and have a look at the two beautiful churches before continuing our journey to the volcano, which is only about an hours drive from here. Volcano Poas National Park is one of the most visited in Costa Rica, because of its proximity to San Jose and because of the luxuriant forest, which surrounds the two craters. The park with its 5600 hectares and its basaltic volcano stands at an altitude of 2,708 meters (8,200 feet) above sea level.
It is important to enter the park before the mist covers Volcano Poas' craters and caldera. Here the summit contains a number of explosion craters, and one of them has a small lake of sulfurous steaming water. It is just a short walk from the visitor’s center. On our way, back we choose the trail leading through the forest instead of the paved one and enjoy the awesome tropical vegetation. This leads us from the main crater to a smaller one, which is filled with the Botos Lagoon. If we are very quiet, we can see native birds and perhaps small mammals; among them are the robin, the hummingbird and the spectacular quetzal while the mammals include coyotes, long-tailed weasels, skunks and the Poas green-yellow squirrel.
After lunch, we drive on to the next stop the La Paz Waterfall. Here you can easily approach the great cataract, which is the last step of the La Paz falls and is easily accessible from the main road. After a short break, we continue to a small restaurant on the mountaintop to marvel at the different hummingbirds sipping nectar from feeders. You can have a distant look at the La Paz fall from the terrace while watching these small birds return to the feeders from time to time. We continue to the La Paz Waterfall Gardens to take a tour and see their selection of butterflies, hummingbirds, and snakes. We spend a bit of time here enjoying walking along the trails while discovering the forest and the rest of the falls.
In the Afternoon, we head for the Arenal Volcano area where we freshen up and rest a bit before driving to the Tabacon Hot Springs to enjoy the hot spa after the exciting but tiring day. From here, we can occasionally hear the roar of the nearby volcano. If we are lucky, we will see an eruption up close and personally.
Day 3: Arenal - Monteverde
After breakfast on our third day, we drive to the La Fortuna waterfall where we do a short walk to the lake and the waterfall.
Next we off again, driving to the other side of the volcano where we continue to the Arenal Volcano National Park. Before entering the park, we go for an hour boat trip on the Arenal Lake to see the complete and majestic view of the volcanic cone from the surface of the water. Continuing, we drive on to a viewpoint to observe the volcano in the daylight and to hear the roaming eruptions. The viewpoint is 1,633 meters (5,358 feet) high. Arenal Volcano is a picture-perfect cone. Unfortunately, it is most often covered in clouds and getting to see an eruption is only a matter of luck. It is regarded, as one of the world's most active volcanoes. Its lava flows and activities have been constant, and on virtually any day, you can see smoking cinder blocks tumbling down the steep slope from the crater, or at night watch a fiery cascade of lava spewing from the crater.
From here, we depart for Monteverde passing by breathtaking scenery and have dinner in our lodge there.
Day 4: Monteverde
We will have one day to explore the cloud forest area of Monteverde and Santa Elena. Depending on the weather, we depart for a suspension bridge walk on the canopy to observe the vegetation and wildlife from a unique perspective. Later, we continue with an adrenaline raising adventure. We slide through the forest on cables from 10-12 tree posts during approximately a 1-hour long journey. It is an unforgettable experience for all. In the afternoon, there are several options such as visiting a nearby waterfall, which is accessible by about half an hour light walk, seeing the snakes, butterflies and frog gardens. In downtown, you will have some spare time and the opportunity to check your emails and/or choose from a number of the unique and tasty restaurants.
Day 5 to 8: Monteverde - Tamarindo Beach
In the morning, we transfer to Tamarindo. Relaxing and doing whatever the area has to offer which includes canopy tours, surfing, boogey boarding, horseback riding, bicycle rental, just enjoying the beach or for the enthusiast returning to the National Park for a short hike or enjoy the solitary white sandy beaches. In the afternoon, we leave for San Jose, where we will have our farewell dinner.
Day 9: San Jose
After breakfast, we can decide to go on a sightseeing shopping walk in Central San Jose if we have enough time before our flight. We can also go it alone and see the attractions on our own. When it is time to say farewell we head to the airport.
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Airport to airport service