We went to the Four Seasons, which is excellent. But I am not a big fan of CR TBH. We went in March though, and I did not like the flora at that time. We travelled to see the volcano and got nothin'. One thing, you are pretty much stuck at the 4S because of where it is. The restaurants get boring after a while. I don't think it is a place to spend too long and I'd only expect to chill.

I politely disagree with Mtn. Staying at the Four Seasons isn't my idea of Costa Rica.

We love Costa Rica and have been many times. We like to go in January. My youngest daughter did her semester abroad in San Jose and I think that started our interest.

We have traveled throughout the country. We usually don't stay in one place, even when we took our two daughters for a one week stay.

I highly recommend you look at AnywhereCostaRica. I use them for bookings for private transportation, local plane reservations, hotel bookings. Yes, you can do all this all yourself. But, having the backup of a travel agency can come in handy. And, planning then becomes mindless!

My youngest wanted us to see Costa Rica, so for my husbands special birthday, I planned a trip for the four of us. That year we did Hotel Corin in Arenal for a few days, then flew over to Manuel Antonio and stayed at Tulemar Bungalows. (Very hilly, but the views are amazing.) Hotel Corin has 3 pools directly fed from the volcano.

While at Hotel Corin, I arranged for side trips to the volcano, the Tobacan Springs (commercial, but fun park with man made waterfalls from the hot springs) And of course Sky Trek, an amazing zip line tour.

Another trip was a guided hanging bridge tour. All trips and transportation was arranged with Anywhere. When they say they are coming at 10:00AM they are there, always on time.)

Tulemar Bungalows has it's own private beach, with an outdoor restaurant steps away. Monkeys, birds, iguanas. My two DD's went for surfing lessons which we arranged at the hotel. The only thing that was not prearranged.

Perhaps our favorite place and one we have returned to a number of times, is Ylang, Ylang. It is a boutique hotel in Montezuma. It has gourmet meals and a yoga retreat. And of course, a wonderful spa. Exotic animal sighting along with the usual monkey tribes.

Horseback riding is right on the beach, you can rent ATV in town, drive over to the local waterfall, or butterfly farm.

As much as I love Costa Rica, I would not recommend the Caribbean side.

Again, go to AnywhereCostaRica.com and if you have any questions, feel free.

Hi. I just went there for the second time but the first time with my 2 boys and my 2 nieces who are between 12-14 years old. We arrived the day after Christmas and stayed for 10 days. Traveling there with kids was very different than going as a couple from place to place. We debated the pros and cons of going from place to place versus staying in one place and doing day trips. In the end, due to logistics and lodging availability, we rented a house near Playa Flamingo, Liberia. Our landlady has a property management agency that also had a concierge service. We booked the zip line, rainforest river tour, sailboat, ATV and surfing tours through her company. (If you want it, I will need to dig it up.) We alternated tour days with beach days in the Tamarindo and Flamingo area. If you only have a week, I have heard good things from friends about the 4S (they have gone within the past year) and you can pretty much do everything in your area maybe not in the same scale as if you travel to Arenal or Manuel Antonito. I do agree with previous post that I do not consider CR as a beach destination unless you are surfers. If we were to go again, I would go to CR for rainforest and find a place in the Manuel Antonito area. It is a long ways away from the SJ airport. If you are still planning to go this Christmas, you need to book right away, lodging goes fast. Most people plan at least one year in advance. So do car rentals which I don't think you need if you use a tour guide to go on day trips. Playa Flamingo was about an hour away from the Liberia Airport and Tamarindo is about 1.5 hours away. I think the only other airport is San Jose?

Go to Tauck.com and take a look at what they do in CR. You might find an interesting place to stay or the best things to see and do while you're there.

We just got back from a week in Guanacaste ( Pacific side, mostly resorts) we too flew into Liberia direct). I was really impressed in general with it. We stayed in an all inclusive resort and were very very pleased and relaxed. We did do a one day trip to the volcano and rain forest but it was a long trip. In retrospect I think Guanacaste is an excellent destination and it is very possible to do other things (rain forest, zip lining, etc etc ) that are relatively close to Guanacaste. In general I think Costa Rica is to be recommended. Safe, beautiful, variety...

So, it looks like we may have waited too late -- almost every place I've looked at so far for that week is booked. We have never traveled at Christmas before...lesson learned, will plan better for Christmas 2017! I was feeling iffy about skipping Christmas anyway since it means leaving my 81 yo dad without any plans (I am an only child, he is a widower). So now I think we will just go somewhere for a few days between Christmas and New Years. Not sure if we will attempt someplace warm, or just do a road trip to NYC or something (we are traveling from Boston, so NYC is not a bad drive).

Sueb, I know your plans have changed, but a friend is in CR now. She texted me that the place they are staying is heavenly-Dantica Cloud Forest Lodge (for future reference).