Driving suggestions for Costa Rica?

[olddog44]

My wife & I will be vacationing in Costa Rica for 2 weeks in February. We want to rent a 4x4 and go from hotel west of airport to Arenal, around the lake to Monteverde, to Manuel Antonio area, then back to San Jose. Roads to use for this travel? Should we drive from Quepos to Dominical to the Interamerican Hwy to get back to San Jose or go back thru Jaco? We would return the rental, then spend time in San Jose at the end of the trip. Any suggestions, thoughts, help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[d360]

Hi,

We're going to be doing something pretty similar in February and I'm researching whether its better to fly in and out vs. driving the north/south route. Two years ago I drove from San Jose to Arenal (road was fine) then Arenal to Monteverde (road was bad) Monteverde to Tamarindo down the coast throught the Nicoya *****ula (road was even worse) and back to San Jose. Overall I thought if there was anyway to avoid the drive I would in the future.

We plan to visit Manual Antonio/Domincal, Octotal Area (southwest coast) and along the west coast.
I heard recently that they were working on a highway Quepos to Domincal that would save an hour drive time. I would say generally without doing the research the Pan American Highway is going to save alot of time and wear and tear on you..

When I do a bit more research I'll be sure to post and please if you get the answer please post what you came up with.

[d360]

I attached a major highways map that might help.

[olddog44]

d360, Thanks for the reply! yesterday I spoke to a person in the Manuel Antonio area, when I said I was driving from Monteverde, he reponded that the road was "bumpy". He said it would take about 5 hours to drive Monteverde to Manuel Antonio area, with stops for photos. As I get more info I will post.
Thank you for the map.

[Travel Argentina]

Driving is a great way of seeing Costa Rica but be careful! We got stopped by police for speeding in an "80 km/hour zone" though the last traffic sign was for 100km/hour...