Arenal area advice
 

My finace and I will be in Costa Rica for our honeymoon in December. We will be driving from the San Jose area to the Pacific coast (Playa Flamingo or something similar) and want to stop for two nights in the Arenal area. We're looking for something beautiful and convenient to the volcano, hot springs, canopy tours, etc., but also something that won't take us too far out of the way. A pool would be nice also. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Jen:<BR><BR>My husband and I stayed at the Arenal Lodge in March of this year and really enjoyed it. It was close to the hot springs, canapy tour, La Fortuna, etc. The view of the volcano was fabulous! It is not a fancy place, but was clean and spacious. We stayed in one of the chalets which I would highly recommend. It was floor to ceiling windows with an excellent view. The resort is at the top of a curvey hill, though. We actually ate most of our meals at the resort, too. I thought the food was very good. It was a bit pricey as we spent about $12 for a meal there and in La Fortuna we ate for maybe $6 or so. I have also recently spoken to someone who stayed at the Arenal Observatory Lodge and was very happy with it, although it is on the non lava flow side. Just my thoughts. Happy travels.<BR><BR>Tia

Jen:<BR><BR>Just thought of something else. The Observ. Lodge has a pool, however the Arenal Lodge only has a hot tub!!!<BR><BR>Tia

Tabacan Resort - has a pool and the hot springs, can view the volcano from the beautiful grounds.

If you do a search using the space above, and type in Arenal, you'll find a plethera of comments on the local lodging and eating choices.<BR><BR>Good luck!

Tabacon Resort has the incredible Hot Springs area. If you type Tabacon in a search you will find incredible pictures. And it's free when you stay in the hotel. It was wonderful to sit in the Pools at nite after a day of hiking, rafting, etc. I also stayed in Flamingo Beach be sure to go to Taminindo (sp) for an evening. We took a 5 hr afternoon sailing tour with Jim (from CA) that included the sunset from Flamingo Marina.