First time to Costa Rica - a few practical questions

Hello everyone!

I'm heading off to Costa Rica in a couple days for a short 9-day trip. It was a spontaneous decision, so I haven't had a chance to do much reading or planning, but I DO know that I want to take it easy, not move around so much, and I also want to do a fair bit of hiking and just simply enjoy Mother Nature... so I'll likely focus on the Volcan Arenal area and Santa Elena / Monteverde. I just have a few questions:

1. How safe is Costa Rica for a solo, female, petite, Asian backpacker? I backpacked through South America for a few months a number of years ago, and I was fine for the most part, but I did not always feel very secure... are taxi drivers trustworthy? Is theft common on public buses? Would I be better off sticking to the shuttle bus services for tourists? If so, how can I go about getting one from Alajuela to La Fortuna when I arrive - do I need to pre-book?

2. I fly in to SJO late evening, so I'm planning to spend my first night in a hostel in Alajuela before heading off to La Fortuna early the next morning. Any concerns about the taxi drivers at the airport? Would I be alright taking a city bus into town at 9pm?

3. Should I spend more time based in La Fortuna or Santa Elena? Which place is nicer for chilling out with a good selection of cafes and restaurants? It seems like Santa Elena has more activities on offer (coffee plantations, orchid garden, butterfly garden, cheese factory, etc... are these worthwhile??), plus I'd like to do my zip-lining and hanging bridges there. For Arenal area, I'm primarily interested in hiking Cerro Chato and spending time at one of the hot springs.

4. Is it worth visiting BOTH Reserva Biologica Bosque Nuboso Monteverde AND Reserva Santa Elena, or is just one enough? (ON TOP of doing a separate canopy tour?)

5. How widely accepted are USD?

Thank you in advance for any advice or recommendations, they would be much appreciated! Cheers!

What are your main interests for this trip, what would you like to see and do?

To be honest La Fortuna is fairly average, Arenal is not active. Monte Verde is nice but a pain to get to.

With only 9 days consider heading first to Tortuguero, 2-3 nights. Beautiful canal jungle area. Then head south to Cahuita, cool small town with an outstanding NP, tons of wild life and some nice beaches. Then maybe down to Puerto Viejo and Manzanillo, excellent jungle and beaches, very cool laid back area, few people.
http://www.tortuguerovillage.com/

Might think about rafting the Pacuare River on your last day, they'll drop you off back in Alajuela at the end of the day. It's a beautiful pristine jungle canyon river, lots of fun.

It's safe for a female traveler, just follow the normal precautions.
Alajuela is a cool small town great for walking around, I'd just stay there for your first night.
What's your daily budget?

• Safety for petite asian is the same as anyone else. if you figured out SA, same applies to CA. 2 Million tourist a year have visited CR each year for more than a decade...

• USD is widely accepted but local currency is needed for transport, smaller mom pops and misc rural areas. Use your ATM Debit Card for local currency.

-I would not put either of those places on my short list, especially Monteverde, out of the way, hard to reach, touristy, overrated, and in all honesty, not much wildlife to view.

-Arenal is not active, though the area is nice, its best with a rental car TBH.

• I agree with above, if you want a more authentic and rustic trip, and lots of wildlife, nature and bio diversity, head to Tortuguero, Cahuita and Pt Viejo, and raft the Rio Pacuare back to SJ.

No car needed, mainly bus and boats (gorgeous scenery most the time) and far cheaper than the Big 3 everyone thinks they should go to, but actually, IMO, best avoided (Monteverde/Arenal and Manual Antonio).

All the info you need is right here.

http://www.tortuguerovillage.com

http://www.puertoviejosatellite.com

http://thebusschedule.com/cr/

Thank you both very much for your thoughtful advice and recommendations, I will look into your suggestions! Cheers!

Hi Elaine, I agree with the above but then I have only been to the Caribbean coast so I can't help you with the rest. The airport is in Alajuela so yes, take a taxi from the airport for 5 or 6 dollars. They are safe because they will lose their jobs if they mess up. You will be at your hotel in no time. Start off fresh in the morning. There is a red bus from Alajuela that will take you to downtown San Jose for about a dollar. From there a short taxi ride to Terminal Norte Atlantic for the 4 hour bus to the Caribbean.

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