costa rica wildlife reserve
Headed to Guanacaste costa rica, what should I see?
I checked the web and found these things that are relatively close to our hotel in playa hermosa(from closest to furthest). Have you been to these places, what was it like, do you reccomend it etc. We’ll be there on our honeymoon in a month and stay for a week. Feel free to make any suggestions as far as towns to visit, sights to see, things to do, food to eat, etc.
Iguanita Wildlife Reserve
Costa Esmerelda WR
Congo Trail
Santa Rosa National Park
Isla Colorada y murcialago
Guanacaste NP
Rincon de la vieja NP
Rio Corobici
Las Pumas cat zoo
palo verde NP
Lago Arenal y Volcan Arenal
Selvatura
Monteverde cloud forest
Gracias!
My wife and I went to Guanacaste in October, 2006. We mainly went for scuba diving, which we did from Playa Ocotal (the next beach over from Playa Hermosa). It is a beautiful country, and we had a great time.
The only thing we did on your list was Monteverde, but it was absolutely worth it. Pay the extra $20 or so to have a guided tour, you won’t regret it.
If you have a month, you might be able to get scuba certified in that amount of time. My class was 6 weeks, and I finished it just a week before we went. Swimming around with all those puffer fish and seeing eels and rays was amazing.
Someone has probably already warned you about driving at night, due to potholes and stuff. I don’t know if you’re flying into Liberia (I think they pronounce it lee-BEAR-ee-yuh or lee-bear-EE-yuh, not lie-beer-ee-yuh like in English) or San Jose, but honestly, driving on the Pan-American highway between the San Jose airport and Liberia was no sweat. Like any 2-lane paved country road in the US, but with a fair bit of semi traffic. To get to Playa Hermosa you’d turn left at the stoplight in Liberia (yes, THE stoplight) and then pass the Liberia airport. Through this point, and for the next few miles, the road is absolutely fine. It’s only the last few miles that it gets really rutted.
Driving time takes longer than you think – you’ll only get up to 50mph for rare stretches. We had planned to see Arenal, but didn’t because we underestimated how long the driving would take and ended up not having time 
The road from the P.A. Highway to Monteverde is ridiculously bad, but we had a 4wd and viewed it as like an amusement park ride, and loved it. We went up in the daytime, but stayed too long and came down at night – I probably wouldn’t do that again. I also wouldn’t do that road w/o 4wd.
Costa Rica isn’t really known for its cuisine, but if you can find a soda (what they call diners) give it a try. We stopped at one on the P.A. Highway that was (coming from San Jose) just after the stretch of road where the North- and South-bound lanes split and rejoin. It was on the left, and had a great view over some mountains and the valley between.
Enjoy your trip!
Gandoca-Manzanillo National Wildlife Refuge Costa Rica