Its so hard to sit here and write a review.... makes me want to hop on a plane immediately and head right back! VISTA DEL VALLE: A phenomenal hotel about 30 minutes outside of San Jose in Rosario. Picked us up from the airport, and driver was waiting for us when we walked out the door. Beautiful resort (suprise from the drive in... the area didn't seem very resort-y). Very eco-friendly, without being inconvienient (if you know what I mean). We stayed in the Mona Lisa room. Awesome outdoor shower, adorable place. We stayed the night of arrival and before departure (driving at night for the first time in CR can be nerve-wracking). They set up our rental car (through Poas rentals). Make sure you ask for automatic if you need it, otherwise will be a manual transmission (only recommended if you are very good at stick). Beautiful pool, challenging waterfall hike, great dinners. TAMBOR: (Nicoya peninsula): We took the ferry across from Puntarenas to Pacqura ($18 for two people and car) We stayed at a family friend's home. Lovely time. Did a half day fishing trip through Bahia Rica. Thomas and Vigdis are awesome. Norweigan born, but great English, and fluent in Spanish too. Would highly recommend them for fishing and kayaking adventures. Did day trips to Montezuma (tough road), where we kicked around the "hippie" town (called Monte-fuma by natives), and explored the beach. The Trattoria in Tambor is supposed to be awesome... but it was closed during the first half of the week b/c of "off-season" hours. ARENAL: This is where we did most of our touristy adventures. Stayed at the Arenal Observatory Lodge. (Lava is not flowing down this side of the volcano right now, so didn't get to see lava at night, which was a bit disappointing). The hotel is fine. Not amazing. Beds were a bit hard, and walls a bit thin, but beautiful. Their concierge was great about arranging trips for us, and spoke great English. Our trips from Arenal were: Sky Trek: This zipline tour was amazing. I'm terrified of heights, and this is one of the tallest zipline tours in CR. I knew that I'd be bummed out for missing it, so just sucked it up and dealt with the heart palpatations. Felt very safe. Guides were great. It is a bit expensive, but I think it was well worth it. (~$60/person) Hanging Bridges: Cool set of ~8 hanging bridges up in the canopy. Lots of wild life (monkeys/lizards/birds/frogs), and great views. (~$20/person) Baldi Hot Springs: I just don't think I'm really into hot springs. This is supposed to be the best "deal". 8 heated pools, 3 swim-up bars, water slides. Tabacon is the fancier one, but is more expensive (by like $30/person) can't remember the price of Baldi... guessing $40ish Venado Caves: definately the best tour of all. You will be soaking wet (recommend swim trunks for boys, and maybe a swimsuit/shorts/tshirt for girls). hiking though huge caverns filled with water, insects, guano and bats! climbing 10 foot rock formations without hand-grips, and needing to get on your tummy to swim through tight areas. you will never get to do this in the USA. wore our own tennis shoes (sopping wet from other tours already) instead of the galoshes... but you're frequently in 2 feet of water, so just be prepared! don't take your camera with you... just pay the $20 for photos they take of you ($50/each) Let me know if you have questions!