Hi Prathap!

Your itinerary looks great! The 8-day, San Jose -> La Fortuna -> Manuel Antonio -> San Jose itinerary is one of the most popular Costa Rica trip plans experienced. I’m sure you’ll have a great time! 🙂

Re: your questions…

1. In my opinion, day #2 on your itinerary is busy, but not tight. Several Arenal combo tours combine four activities in one day, so experiencing three activities is certainly possible. Most canopy zip-lining tours only last a few hours, so assuming you plan to participate in one during the early morning, you should have plenty of time to grab lunch midday, then spend the afternoon hiking around the national park.

Depending on which hot springs you plan to visit, you may have access to the property over the course of the full day, or only for the evening (some evening hot springs passes begin at 5pm, others at 6pm). With an evening hot springs pass, you’ll have the full evening to enjoy soaking in the springs. If you choose a hot springs property that provides full-day access, you could head straight to the hot springs earlier on in the day, as soon as you wrap up your hike at the national park, and continue your visit there well into the evening.

2. In my opinion, day #3 on your itinerary is trickier to plan for, because it’s tough to guarantee rafting tour return times. These can be affected by several factors, including rafting group sizes, road traffic to/from the river, and river water levels, which are often unpredictable since they’re in part determined by rainfall the day of or the night before the tour. Might I ask, which exact rafting tour (and through which rafting tour operator) were you planing on reserving? Another important item to consider is whether or not the rafting tour includes lunch. If it doesn’t, you’ll need to factor in some time to eat lunch between your morning rafting tour and afternoon hanging bridges visit.

Assuming the rafting tour is able to return you to La Fortuna for 1:30pm (and assuming the tour includes lunch), it will be possible to tour the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park during the afternoon, though timing will be tight. If you have your own rental car, you can make the approximate half-hour drive between La Fortuna and the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park and arrive around 2pm (the drive time may be shorter or longer than a half-hour depending on which La Fortuna hotel you plan to stay at and its location). Since the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park closes at 4:30pm, this will give you 2.5 hours to explore the attraction. I’ve toured the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park on several occasions; walking quickly, without a guide and without making any stops along the way, it can be covered in an hour. Walking at a normal pace and with a tour guide, who will make several stops along the way, tours typically run around 2.5 hours. It’s worth mentioning that the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park’s last daytime guided tour begins at 2pm, so you’ll need to arrive before this time if you wish to catch it. Alternatively, if you plan to arrive at the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park after 2pm, you can tour the attraction during the afternoon on your own without a guide, or else you can take the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park’s guided night tour.

Depending on which rafting tour you plan to participate in, it may be an option to switch the order of your day’s activities. For example, we offer a discount for an afternoon Sarapiqui River Rafting Tour (class II/III rapid section) that departs from La Fortuna around noon. With this option, you could tour (with or without a guide) the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park in the morning.

3. Yes, as per the Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park’s policy, advance reservations for visits are required, even if you plan to tour the attraction on your own and not participate in a guided tour. This is because the attraction has capacity limits. Since the park is only able to allow a certain number of people in at specific times, advance reservations are required of all visitors.

4. Unfortunately I do not have any personal experience with Green Motion so I cannot comment on their service or car rental quotes. What I can say, however, is that the phrase “Mandatory Liability Insurance included” is quite vague. In my opinion, this phrase warrants reaching out to Green Motion to have them specifically confirm which liability insurance they have included with the rental. As we detail in our related blog post linked to below, there are two types of “mandatory” insurance (see the breakdown of SLI/TPL insurance vs. CDW/LDW insurance/waivers in our blog post). Some rental car agencies automatically include both types in their quotes, but most do not in order to help their prices appear less expensive. If Green Motion happens to be a car rental agency that falls into the latter category (i.e., if their phrase “Mandatory Liability Insurance included” refers to SLI insurance, TPL insurance, or a similar insurance), it’s possible you’ll be required to provide documentation from home to prove that you have obtained part car insurance from your home country. If you can’t, you’ll likely need to pay significant additional insurance fees when you rent the vehicle.

Costa Rica Car Rental Insurance Information: https://costaricatravelblog.com/costa-rica-car-rental-insurance/

Once you’ve read the above blog post regarding Costa Rica car rental insurance, you may also be interested in our blog post about Costa Rica car rental scams, which discusses other possible rental fees you may be charged.

How Not To Fall For Costa Rica Car Rental Scams: https://costaricatravelblog.com/car-rental-scams-costa-rica/

Pura vida! 🙂

Nikki

Hi Prathap!

I’m happy to help! 🙂

For class III/IV rafting from La Fortuna, there are a few other options. The Sarapiqui River offers rafting on two different sections, one is class II/III and the other is class III/IV, so the latter would be the one you’d want. Rafting trips run on the Pacuare River are also class III/IV, however that river is located further away from La Fortuna despite being the best rafting tour “experience” in the country. Both the class III/IV trips that run on the Sarapiqui River and the Pacuare River include round-trip transportation from La Fortuna.

For your last two questions, we have written blog posts that you’ll likely want to read! 🙂

Local Free Hot Springs In La Fortuna / Arenal: https://costaricatravelblog.com/free-hot-springs-la-fortuna/

To specifically answer your hot springs question, we don’t recommend going to the free hot springs as they aren’t safe. They’re also a bit of a logistical nightmare, which you can read more about in the blog post linked to above.

Costa Rica Guided Tours: Are They Necessary, Valuable, And/Or Worthwhile? https://costaricatravelblog.com/costa-rica-guided-tours/

For guided tours, I almost always say yes. You’ll just miss so much if you don’t go with a guide, assuming your eyes aren’t trained to spot what most tour guides do. This being said, I know the costs of guided tours can add up quick. If the trip budget is a concern, it’s better touring places like the hanging bridges without a guide than not touring them at all. If there’s some cushion room in the budget, I see great benefit in having a great guide. See the blog post linked to above for more info. 🙂

Pura vida!

Nikki