We need some advice about hotels in Arenal. Those in our price range are Arenal Lodge, Arenal Springs Resort and Silencio del Campo. Has anyone had experience with any of these or any recommendations? There seems to be mixed reviews of all three. Thank you for your help.

I am going next month, but we faced the same choices. We went with Silencio. It might get a few mixed reviews, but it's the #1 choice on tripadvisor and it's like the #4 or #5 rated hotel in the whole country.

If you have time to wait, I'll be posting a report in mid-May.

Silencio del Campo gets pretty consistently good reviews on this board. I know hipvirgochick loved it there.

Dear alw1977.
We are also going in May but thanks anyway.

Hi Sparki,

We stayed at Arenal Lodge in Dec 2006 and enjoyed our visit there. The grounds were very pretty and we saw quite a bit of wildlife right from our balcony (which I love!); coatis, tayras, lots of beautiful birds... The rooms were nothing overly fancy, but were clean and comfortable. We had a Jr. Suite room that had a terrific view of the volcano. The room rates include a nice breakfast buffet and the grounds offer a pool, hot tub, hiking trail and small butterfly house.

The lodge is a little way out from town (~20 minutes), so you have to take transportation into consideration, depending on what you plan to do in the area. We had a rental car, so that wasn't an issue for us. And by rental &quot;car&quot;, I mean small SUV which came in very handy for making it up the long, <i>steep</i>, winding drive from the main road to the hotel buildings. There's a sign at the top of the drive that says &quot;Congratulations, you made it!&quot;. Getting there was a bit of an adventure, but worth the effort.

We were perfectly content there, but I've heard good things about Silencio as well on this forum. You honestly probably wouldn't go wrong with either choice. Silencio is closer into town if that weighs into your decision at all. I think Arenal Paraiso might also be within your budget range, and lots of people recommend that as a place to stay.

We stayed at Arenal Springs last November and liked it. The units are like duplexes and they're spaced nicely across the hill. The grounds are beautiful, the upper portion of the resort is new and the free breakfast is very good. We got bored with their dinner menu and went into LaFortuna. A cab ride into town was only $6 and they get there to pick you up within just a couple of minutes. The resort has a horse stable on-site and the ride into the foothills is fun. They offer dozens of other days trips too. Can't say it was amazing, but we had a pleasant time there.

We stayed at Silencio del Campo in Jan. We loved the casitas, hot springs pool, grounds, restaurant and wonderful owners. One problem. A HUGE new resort is being built right next to their property. The power tools were going from 6am to 6pm 6 days a week. I would check on the progress of this resort before I would make reservations. Good luck.

Of the three you mentioned, I've been to two. I prefer Arenal Lodge over Arenal Springs. Arenal Springs is cute, but it's on the main road and it was a lot noisier than Arenal Lodge. Arenal Lodge has a lot more grounds and nicer atmosphere in the dining room, etc., and as someone mentioned there's a lot of wildlife to be seen from the breakfast table. A. Springs is newer, so the rooms are more modern, but the Lodge's large, rustic style rooms were pretty cool and they have a great view of the volcano.

Sandy