Driving from Monteverde to Arenal

The two most publicized ways to get between Monteverde and Arenal are the "jeep-boat-jeep" tour (supposedly 3 hours) or similar horseback ride-boat-jeep tour (5.5 hours). If you don't have a rental car, by all means go for one of these options and have some fun. But if you have a rental car, by going on one of these tours you'd incur an additional expense for someone to drive your car to your destination - plus you wouldn't save any time. By all means forego the tours and drive yourself! It took us 3 hours to drive from Monteverde to the Tabacon Resort in Arenal (budget between 3-4 hrs). How bad was it? Not bad! The road out of Monteverde to Arenal is no worse than the road leading in, and once you're out of the mountains you don't even need a 4x4 to get to Arenal.

Here's how to do it (the directions are very simple):

• Leaving Monteverde you want to head for Tilaran. (It's a dirt road all the way to Tilaran.) The route is marked in RED on this map here:
• Note: On your way you'll encounter a fork in the road - going left takes you through San Miguel, going right takes you through Chiripa. The road signs direct you to the left, but the road on the right actually looks like smoother road. I wish I had tried it instead. Maybe someone can try it and post some feedback regarding how it is.
  
• After you reach Tilaran the road is paved all the way to Arenal, except for a few very short sections of dirt road. This section is a really easy drive and you definitely wouldn't need a 4x4 for it! Here's a map showing the road around Lake Arenal.

You'll find road signs along the way and not a lot of turnoffs to get lost on. See, wasn't that an easy drive?