You fly into Santa Clara and out of Havana......interesting.

Half a day is not enough for Santa Clara. You're doing it right, I would say.

I would drop a day from Vinales and add it somewhere between Cienfuegos and Playa Larga....but that is just me.

Gran Canaria and La Palma would be my choice, both have wonderful hiking. But you could easily do 2 weeks on Gran Canaria, there so many hiking routes. Gran Canaria would be best done as a two centre, the north and south are very contrasting. Just avoid Playa Ingles/Maspalomas area, the capital is quite interesting.

Hi,

I believe Colombia has what you are looking for. In the North you can find Santa Marta with lovely places like Tayrona and Minca, there you can rent an ecolodge or stay in a local farm. The great thing about is you can hike in the Sierra Nevada, enjoy the exotic jungle beaches and river, birdwatching, learn about coffee and cacao. You can get a good deal beacuse you'll book for a group of 4. Also, from there you can go to the coffee region (amazing landscapes and charming villages) and explore NP Los Nevados, Cocora Valley in Salento, Santa Rosa and Marsella.
If you need help with your planning you can contact http://en.nattravel.co/ they can customize the itinerary for your family.

Playa Hermosa I am referring to is south Playa Jaco, where you get the water taxi to Playa Montezuma.

But how long would one spend at chichen itza?

Mostly this depends upon you, and your schedule. I would say two to three hours for a site the size of Chichen Itza.

Also, we will only spend our last 12hrs in Cancun before flying out. Is there anything we should do there?

Besides the beaches, which are an attraction, there is a small ruin near Playa Delfines, several sports filels and professional teams, a casa de cultura, ecoparque, etc.

October is the rainiest month in CR, so expect delays and heavy non stop rains for days, not hours. Flooding is not uncommon as well. This is the low season and least travel/tourist month in country, so there is no need to pre book anything, as cash is king with longer stays of a few days...just saying.

I dont understand why you need a car at the beach? In Playa Chequita you can just rent bicycles, and or take the bus which is hourly, in either direction up and down the coast. There are no Day Trips from Pt VIeijo area, other than other beaches, which you can bike or bus or taxi. The nearest day trip would be Cahuita, to hike the park and enjoy the beach, but buses go here hourly from PV and back. The other is Bribri for the indigenous Indians, but you need to go on a escorted guided tour, foreigners with a guide arranged with permission are not welcome.

The road is paved from SJ to Limon/Pt Viejo. There can be landslides on Rt32, so be aware of conditions, as then you would take the back way, via Cartago/Terriubla/Squirres. Get the GPS in the car, to get around SJ shortcuts and avoid the traffic/getting near city center, you want to go round the downtown, not thru it. If you have a phone with Data/International Roaming, use the WAZE App, and Google Map as a back up.

You can rent a car oneway from PV to La Fortuna. (Alamo), or take a shuttle, easily arranged in PV. There is a lot to do in Arenal area, so a car for 2 days would be fine as well.

The road is paved, you want to consider going the back way, to avoid traffic and tough driving for road turn offs in San Jose, which is hell 6AM to to 7PM (gets dark 6PM). You would turn off Rt 32 at Guapiles and take Rt 4 up to La Fortuna area, much more relaxing and thats the way the shuttles go...

Arenal is NOT active, and it will be very wet and cloudy up there, so if you even see the cone of the volcano, early mornings will be best, before the clouds and weather move in.

But here is a good base for visiting Cano Negro, Tenerio/Rio Celeste areas, though I would overnight at least 1 night in those areas. 9 nights in Arenal is 6 too many...

For La Fortuna/Arenal to Mal Pais area, you could also rent a car, or shuttle, though a shuttle that time of year may need 4 people minimum. This is a long drive no mater how you go, figure 6-7 hours, with the ferry in Puntarenas taking 1 hour to cross and you need to get in line for ferry at least 30 minutes prior.

The road is paved to south Cobano, then its gravel down to the coast and Mal Pais. Keep in mind its much more rain here in southern Nicoya than other areas, and the towns all but close up until around Thanksgiving (end Nov), its mess too, the road to Santa Teresa is a mud pool. Most use quads here to get around. Plan getting dirty, and the beaches polluted due to river flow after rains, which is muddy waters.

You can not get between Mal Pais and Samara in rainy season on the back roads. You will need to return to Tambor and ferry to Puntarenas, and then take another ferry to Paquera and then drive to Nicoya the town, then to beaches. You can also drive from Puntarenas via the Freindship bridge to Nicoya, then down to beaches.

There are no day trips to anything from Mal Pais, other than to Cabo Blanco, but in rainy season that road is probably closed, its a single lane trail at points. You could drive to Cobana and then down to Montezuma as well.

There are not day trips from Samara either, other than to Playa Ostional, for the mangroves and turtle nesting if its that month, check with Lagarta Lodge, but they may be closed up Oct/Nov.

The coastal roads between Samara, Garza, Guoines, Nosora are all gravel, and require small river crossings, but it rainy season these may be too deep to cross, so you would head from Samara, back to Nicoya, then back down to Nosora area, which is paved until you get to the beach coastal roads again...

You might want to consider changing your Pacific beach time to include Playa Tamarindo, as it tends to be much drier than souther Nicoya in those months, and you have everything there, including the best swimming beach on your list, and plenty of surf nearby with Playa Grande and Playa Negra.

Also, consider Tortuguero, as you can possibly see turtle nesting here, and all the wildlife viewing is via boat or canoe, which is really easy and relaxing. You can bus to boats from SJ. To Cahuita and PV you boat 3 hours to Moin, then just taxi hire to Cahuita or bus down coast from Limon or Cahuita.

Expect a lot cloudy days, a lot of rain, humidity and nothing ever getting dry.

Nov on the caribe side is one the driest months on this coast.....so might want to go there last...

https://nicoyapeninsula.com

https://www.puertoviejosatellite.com

You might prefer Mazunte if you want younger faux hippies with tie dyed shirts and expensive lattes. I'd say Zipolite is full of aging hippies (and naked men parading on the beach.) Try Shambhala at the west end of Playa Zipolite to find your nirvana.

5 nights in Cahuita not so outrageous as others are saying, in my opinion, though I would probably base closer to Puerto Viejo/Manzanillo for those 5 days (only 30 minutes or so from Playa Cocles to Cahuita). Also, it's wise to schedule a lot of downtime in the Caribe as you're going to get rained on, probably every day.

Besides the long travel day from Tortuguero, that would leave you four full days for:
Day 1) Cahuita
Day 2) Manzanillo
Day 3) Maybe Jaguar Rescue Center
Day 4) Beach exploration, chilling if you're staying at particularly nice place/chocolate tours/any of the other many worthy things to do in the area.

We stayed at Geckoes Lodge (rented the 2 bedroom house there) near Playa Cocles and it was spectacular. Our last morning there I saw/photographed 8 Keel-billed Toucans in one tree.

In the Arenal area, I'd recommend the Arenal Observatory Lodge--an old Smithsonian seismological research station that's now a destination unto itself, as well as providing decent lodging at a good value. Best volcano views, hiking, and wildlife in the Arenal area and one of the very best places for wildlife in the entire country.

In Rio Celeste, check out the Celeste Mountain Lodge, a cool marriage of modern design/art and natural immersion.