Hola, prestogeorge!

Congrats on choosing to visit Costa Rica, and for giving yourself a decent amount of time to explore during your first trip! 🙂

La Fortuna and Monteverde are very popular destinations, so I don’t doubt why your instinct would be to avoid them during the high season if you wish to avoid crowds. That said, much of the country will be filled with visitors during February, one of the four busiest months of the year, so as a heads up, you’ll likely run into crowds at most destinations you visit, especially Manuel Antonio. Have you already decided which destinations you intend to visit? If so, based on that list, I can let you know whether adding La Fortuna and/or Monteverde to your trip would be wise or relatively unnecessary. For now, it’s worth mentioning that La Fortuna offers a lot of rainforest exploration and Monteverde is one of Costa Rica’s cloud forests, so if you’re interested in nature (as you note), you’ll likely decide to spend some time in both of those places, even if you keep your time at each short, to limit your exposure to crowds.

Pura vida!