Costa Rica Travel Forum

I really want to see as much of Costa Rica I can while I am there for six weeks. I will be in class/volunteering for 4 hours each day and then the weekends I have completely free. I will be in Heredia for 4 weeks as well as Coronado for two weeks. I am wanting, however, to go to many more cities than just those if possible by taxi/etc. What sites do you recommend I try to see? Restaurants? Night Activities? Wildlife? I am up for anything and am trying to plan my weekends/weekday nights there. Thanks so much!

Obviously there are many but I'll chime in with two:

Sarchi- the cradle of oxcart making as well as many other arts and crafts. (It's a little bit nicer to have your own wheels here since some of the shops are sactered along the main road in and out of town).

Zarcero- A very nice, small but quaint town that has a terrific Central Square with all kinds of cypress bushes sculpted into animals and other objects. If you walk out of the main town a little you can find whole hillsides cultivated with cabbages, hothouses filled with carnations, and other crops. You can have a typical Tico plate lunch at one of the 'sodas' near the square and then take the bus back.

who are you studying with in Heredia? I studied with CPI a few years ago. I spent a week at their Heredia campus (not really in Heredia) and a week at each of their other 2 campuses.

You will be in a good position to hit the road from Heredia. During the week I assume you will have studying to do but you could take a quick trip here and there to see the city, or as Texas Dave mentioned see Grecia, Sarchi. You could take a look at Zarcero on the way by as you go to Ciudad Quesada. From CQ you could go to Arenal but this is the longer way to get to La Fortuna.
Zoo Ave is a fun place to visit near Alajuela for a couple of hours. You get to see wildlife and great birds.

Poas Volcano, Doka Coffee Plantation, La Paz Waterfall gardens. In the other direction you could visit Irazu volcano, Lankester gardens, Orosi Valley. White water rafting is a bit expensive but worth a splurge if you can do it. The Pacuare River is my favorite.

For night time, Heredia has a University so you might find stuff there. San Pedro is where the Universtiy of Costa Rica is and there is night life there. A fun place to go is El Pueblo. Lots of bars, restuarants, art galleries and shops. La Cava bar at the Le Monestere up in the hills has live music and dancing and beautiful views of the city lights.

You could hop a bus and head to either coast on the weekends. Don't know how accurate this schedule is because times do change but it will give you an idea and the actual names of the terminals you would need to go to for the trip. There are also some phone numbers to call and check on the current schedule.
http://www.monteverdeinfo.com/costa-rica/bus-schedule.htm

There is a 3:30 bus at Terminal Caribe for the Caribbean side. If you can leave early enough you could get over to Montezuma via the ferry. Arenal is a great place and most first time visitors head there. Monteverde, Manuel Antonio. A little more difficult but a good place to visit is Rincon de la Vieja. There is an aerial tram in Braulio Carillo you could visit for the day. Jaco is a surfer party town if you are looking for that, otherwise I would head south to Manuel Antonio.

Your best friend will be a good guide book for these trips. You will need to at least have a name of a couple of places to stay.