I recently spent some time traveling around Costa Rica and hit up three major destinations within the country. You can read about my first stop in Costa Rica here — this blog picks up as we headed out of La Fortuna towards our second destination of Monteverde.
While Monteverde is well traveled by tourists, it definitely felt like the most remote place we visited. That largely had to do with the roads — which were unpaved the majority of the way there. Obviously, this is another drive I would not recommend doing at night.
The main “highway” to Monteverde
That being said, the drive itself is part of the experience so it is a must, even if you choose to hire a driver rather than do it yourself (if you do do it yourself, get a GPS — there are no questions). On a map, it doesn’t look like it’s very far from Arenal to Monteverde, but it takes at least 3 hours on the twisty-turney roads all the way around Lake Arenal. Give yourself at least half a day though to do the drive, so you can stop at some of the very interesting local spots along the way.
The Travel Kit 