We're excited because we had to cancel our trip to Costa Rica last year due to COVID. I tried to fly into Liberia but it didn't work out this time. As the title says, I've booked a hotel already in Manuel Antonio, and we rented a car with Vamos for the entire duration of our stay. I am struggling to come up with a good plan for the second half of our trip.

Option 1) Drive straight to Arenal and spend 4 days there. 5 hours is a lot of driving for one day! If this is the best choice, are there any good places to stop for food or sights along the way? I've heard you don't want to drive in Arenal at night, which implies we should plan to arrive before 5PM, meaning we can't stop anywhere for too long. Is that right?

Option 2) Spend 1-2 nights somewhere in between Manuel Antonio and Arenal. From what I can tell, there really isn't anywhere worth stopping, but I'm not an expert. I considered leaving the car at Jaco and taking a two-day trip to Montezuma via the fast boats available there, but I was worried about leaving the car for two days unattended. Even if we do that, the trip from Jaco to Arenal is still 4 hours. Is there somewhere better to spend night along the way?

Do you have a better idea of how to spend those 4 days? I don't think we can make it to the Caribbean coast, the drive seems too far :( Thanks everyone!