Two-week Intiniary: Days 6-9

Day 6 Drive to the Monteverde Cloud forest - get a reservation for a hotel there and fill up on gas before going up the mountain - never know about the gas supplies there. I have been once... it was neat, kind of a hippie artist refuge. Originally founded by quakers from the US in the 1950's. Has a nature refuge and a lot of interesting art shoppes and gallaries.


Day 7 Pass the day checking out the National Park in Monteverde and enjoying the artist village atmosphere.

Day 8-10 Drive to Manuel Antonio National Park - Be sure to check out the Bar made out of a B-52 bomber perched at the top of the hill coming into Manuel Antonio (you will need reservations here - very popular place. Spend a day checking out the sites in Manuel Antonio outside the park and in the surrounding town. This is my favorite beach in Costa Rica. This place looks like the perfect white sandy beach with palm trees and blue water that people think of when they think of paradise. The town is very cool as well. There are a number of resorts and hotels in the area. On your way into the town of Manuel Antonio, you pass through the town of Quepos. There is a Best Western hotel

http://www.kamuk.co.cr/looks very nice, it has always been sold out, and we ended up staying at a hotel around the corner called Hotel Melissa or the one next to it, Hotel Malinche, both were cheaper, clean, and safe, but definitely no frills. There is also a pretty good restaurant around the corner from Hotel Malinche that is facing the beach (http://www.elgranescape.net/restaurant.html). With both Melissa and Malinche, the reservations were made in Costa Rica on the phone the day we were leaving for our trips by Costa Ricans.There are a lot of hotels to choose from, these are just the ones I am familiar with.

Spend at least a day in the National Park - get there early and avoid the lines - they limit the number of vistors in the park at anyone time. I have not been for a couple of years. The last time I went we had to wait in line to get into the park. I heard about someone else who went at Christmas and never made it into the park because of the limit on the number of vistors in the park. So it definitely pays to get there early.