travelbug821

I just returned from a 1 wk. Honeymoon to Costa Rica. I went to Arenal/La Fortuna and Monteverde. Although I sprained my ankle the 1st day I got there and didn't do much hiking and sigh-seeing, I would still like to provide some vendor reviews:

Arenal Lodge - Arenal Volcano area: Stayed in a Jr. Suite w/2 full size beds and tile flooring. Direct view of the volcano. Nice size room, with DirecTV with English channels which is nice. There's no phone in the room. The pillows are flat like usual hotel pillows. The mattress are wearing out, not as firm. Bathroom has only a shower stall and it's kind of narrow, with hair dryer. Hotel restaurant is decent, with breakfast included in your stay. We ate a few meals there for convenience. It's a 3 km slow and semi-rough drive up to the actual lodge from the street. Watch out for the rain ditch at the bottom of the steps from your room. That's how I sprained my ankle, stepped in the rain ditch. The owner talked to us on the last day, and informed me that she's going to do something about it. I told her that she either needs to put some warning signs, or put some kind of cover over that area. She said she's going to install hand rails along the steps, which I don't see how it will prevent people from stepping into the ditch.

Arenal Volcano: only saw the full volcano on the 1st day. Saw some smoke come out from top of the cone and heard some rumbling noises. Besides that, it was socked in fog. I didn't go on any Volcano viewing tours, but met a couple who did who saw lava rocks tumble down the hillside setting off red sparks. So, you may want to try the tour.

Eco Termales Hot Spring: unmarked private hot spring right across the street from Baldi. Price was $20/person, don't require you to have meals there unlike Tabacon. Very quiet, not crowded at all. Set in a lush rain foresty atmosphere. 4 sets of pools heated by the volcano. We just stayed in the lowest one, which is suppose to be the coolest, but it was hot enough for us. They have a bar there and you can order drinks.

El Novillo: steakhouse before Tabacon. The sign is not well displayed. If you see white, plastic lawn chairs and tables, you are at the right place. We had steaks and a side of Yuca for only $27.00 including drinks. Not a bad deal.

Cano Negro Wildlife refuge through Adventuras Arenal. For $55/person, you get luxury bus ride to and from the river, lunch, and the boat cruise. It's an all day trip from 7am to 4pm but it was great. We had an awesome tour guide and boat driver who took their time to spot animals. Other tours who were there not only left before us, but got back before us. We saw howler monkeys, a golden monkey (mutation), white-face money, bats, caymans, pink spoonbills, herrings, and other type of birds. On the way back, we saw a sloth sitting in a tree. My husband had a blast.

Taxi/Boat/Taxi trip from Arenal to Monteverde: Desafio Expeditions: only gripe is that they changed their pick-up time on us last minute from 2:15pm to 2:50pm. We sat at the hotel lobby with nothing to do. The taxi takes you to the Arenal Dam and you board a boat which takes about 30 minutes to cross. Once you are on the other side, there are shuttles waiting for you to take you to Monteverde. They do stop at a small soda place for you to go to the bathroom, which is good. The drive to Monteverde is 2 hours of horrible, unpaved, up-the-mountain road. I was sort of thrown out of my seat a few times from the bumpiness. You can start seeing the fog or "cloud" once you get high up there.

Hotel Heliconia, Monteverde: Super super nice hotel staff who greeted us by name, and also introduced themselves. Sort of weirded me out because I've never had hotel staffs be so chatty and nice to us. Stayed in a Jr. Suite on the 2nd floor, which is up a little hill. But they have shuttles to help you get your luggage up there. You get beautiful sunset views from the balcony, which is shared with other guests on that floor. Nice size rooms with 2 king size beds, the bathroom is very large and roomy with a huge tub. The bed is pretty firm and comfortable, the pillow was okay. Nice, thick covers which you need for the cold, windy nights. The room is carpeted and is wood varnish. Missing: TV, alarm clock, and hair dryer. Ate at hotel restaurant for 1 dinner. Kind of pricy, better to go somewhere else around town to eat. No breakfast w/room.

Monteverde area in general: My husband took a guided tour at the reserve and didn't see anything. Saw various birds which he wasn't really into. The guide had no choice but kept on saying how he saw some animal at a particular location there yesterday, what's the point of that. I didn't like it there. It's EXTERMELY windy, cold, and misty all the time. The wind is so strong, you can hear it howling at night. I don't think I'll go back there.

Sophia's Latin restaurant: good food, kind of pricy. I got the chicken breast w/guava sauce, pretty good. My husband got sea bass with some mashed coconut cream sauce. He got the mango-ginger mojito, didn't like it. I got the Sophia colada, that was good.

Pizzeria de Johnny: good, fresh pizza. We got the Monteverde pizza and split it. Their hot sauce on the pizza is excellent.

La Palma restaurant, right across the street from Hotel Heliconia. Nothing fancy, had their Spaghetti Bolognese. Decent.

Grayline shuttle service: read my complaint post. Just be careful of long distance driving and natural urges.

Grand Garden Hotel right by the airport. Typical Best Western style room accomendations. Satellite TV with a lot of English channels. We stayed there for the free airport shuttle service. Didn't do anything in San Jose.

Driving in Costa Rica: I was very scared after hearing all these horrible stories about road conditions. Even though we didn't drive the entire time, I found the drive from the airport to La Fortuna to be pleasant. It's a 2 lane freeway, curvy. You just take it slow and enjoy the scenary. I didn't experience any pot holes until we acutally got to Arenal Lodge. I would drive again the next time I'm there.

I wish I had planned to go to the beach. I would of forgo Monteverde if I knew that's how the weather is like up there. Next time I guess.

shillmac

Oh I do hope there will be a next time for you. Spraining an ankle would seriously dampen a good time in the two locations you had selected. So sorry about that.

You mean Tabacon Hot Springs doesn't allow people in to enjoy the springs unless they eat there as well?? If so, that is something new and I can't imagine it would be very successful.
They aren't known for their food! It's been a couple of years since we were there, but we paid about $29 per person and had an all day pass. We went in the afternoon for a couple of hours, left, had dinner elsewhere, then returned at night.

Hotel Heliconia does sound lovely. Thanks for the review. And congratulations on your marriage. I hope you'll have many happy years together!

missypie

Do you remember if El Novillo takes credit cards?

seawitch1

I just checked that out on Frommers. They do not accept credit cards, but their prices seem very reasonable.

billruth

Just wanted to add that we ate at El Novillo when we were there the first week of January and we loved it. I also recall that they do not take credit cards, but the dinners were so reasonable, we spent as much on wine as we did on our meal. They did have a good bottle of Chilean wine at $ 18 a bottle. There were 5 of us so we drank 2 bottle. Our meals were about $ 7.00 - $ 8.00 each, and they were very good.
I highly recommend this restaurant.