Club Rio Outdoor Centre
 

We are headed to Cost Rica next week again...yay! Something about that place just gets in your blood :) . My question is about the Club Rio Outdoor Centre at the Springs Spa & Resort in Arenal area. I found out about it on a thread somewhere on here and it sounds fantastic. Does anyone know if you can sign up for this $99.00 tour without staying at the Springs? I would so love to stay at the Springs, but simply cannot afford the price, which if I understand correctly is over $500.00 a night? Can that be right??? So, my plan is to find a much more budget friendly motel in Arenal and hope to be able to do this...we will have a rental car. Any help here would be appreciated, thanks!

I know they let people buy day passes to use the springs, so seems like they would let you purchase access to Club Rio as well. We stayed there on a Groupon deal and paid half price - it was fantastic. We did tubing on the river, and the area is really beautiful. We had two guides all to ourselves when we did it and were able to run the river twice. They also offered to make a video for us if we wanted to buy it, but we passed on that. If you get a chance, eat at the little open air restaurant by the river; the setting is wonderful. They also have kayaking, horseback riding, rock climbing, etc. I'd just e-mail them to ask about the Club Rio details. They're very responsive. There's a bus that picks people up outside the lobby and drives down to the river. It's a fairly long way down.

Thanks so much for your input Volcanogirl! I will be emailing them tomorrow and will post when I find out their answer!

Sounds good. Good luck!

I am looking at purchasing the Club Rio day pass for my family also. Volcanogirl - how much time did you spend at Club Rio and did you only do the river tubing? Since we will not be staying at the resort it makes sense to purchase the day pass so we get access to the hot springs but it also allows for 2 activities. I am just trying to figure out how much time I should plan to be at Club Rio and the springs and still fit in zip lines and Proyecto ASIS.

We stayed there so we spent a lot of time in the hot springs themselves, but the river tubing is done at specific times. We set it up the day before. They'll say, "We have an opening at 9:00, 11:00, etc." And you pick the time that you want. Before we went, I thought you could just go down and start kayaking or tubing whenever you wanted. I would call them and set up a specific time so you know what you need to work around. We met our guides down by the river at our appointed time, and they did a little safety training, then we did the river, took the bus back to the beginning, and then did the river a second time. There's also a naturally heated waterfall at the end that they let us climb up.

I just heard back from the Springs and they said that anyone can book this fantastic deal...they also sent me some other deals with hot springs and meals. They recommended booking beforehand of course, which I will as soon as I find out when exactly we will be there. Thanks to all for your valuable input, love reading all the advice on here!

Oh, great, have fun! When we went there was no one down at that little restaurant by the river; the bartender is really friendly and serves good tropical drinks!