Costa Rica - Arenal & MA Choices
 

Hi - going to Costa Rica for a week in December...I think this is my itinerary, welcome any suggestions and your opinion - young couple.

Flights : Can either fly AA w/ 1 stop into Liberia OR direct on Continental
-if going to Arenal first and then Manuel Antonio - which is preferable, they are about same price.

Arenal - I have no idea where to stay:
Tabacon seems a bit like disneyland (Atlantis in Paradise Island)
Lost Igauna?
Kioro ?
Activities in Arenal:
Zip lining - Sky Trek?
Restaurant recommendations?

Manuel Antonio - where to stay
La Mansion vs Gaia vs Si Como No - all roughly the same price, which is nicer.
looking to do some surfing while down there - any recs?

For a week, is this the right approach, Arenal and MA. Which airport is better to fly into.

Thanks al

We always stay at the Lost Iguana - it's located a little outside of town on a big acreage with beautiful landscaping and volcano views, currently on the lava side. We love the jacuzzi tub and rocking chairs on the balconies. It's a pretty property.

Don Rufino was our favorite restaurant; we also like La Choza de Laurel, El Novillo, and La Parada soda. Fave activities are the Cano Negro tour with Sunset Tours to see wildlife, seeing the volcano, going to Eco Termales for their great chicken dinner and hot springs, hiking La Fortuna waterfall - there's a pretty little beach area there where you can swim, and white water rafting with Rios Tropicales. We got rained out of Sky Trek, but we've zipped elsewhere, and it was fun. Sky Trek has a great rep for long lines and good views.

In MA, I'd stay at Buena Vista Villas or Tulemar Bungalows because they have their own beach; we had friends that stayed at Si Como No and liked it. Take a guided tour of the park and remember it's closed on Mondays. The beach inside the park is very pretty.

We always fly into SJO. I think Arenal and MA is a good combo, especially for a first trip.

Marina, you think Lost Iguana is pricey? Have you checked out the prices at The Springs Resort that you're recommending? We looked at rooms there, and the rate for their cheapest room was $375 a night for the time period we wanted. I had some sticker shock looking at those prices - lol.

The Lost Iguana has some great specials on their website. They gave us 20% off just for asking when we made our reservation. We paid about half of what we would have paid at The Springs. We just love it there.

Yes, we are staying at LI, buy 3 nights, get 2 free right now, few blackout dates. We got lucky and won it in a silent auction. We cannot wait to go....July 26th is around the corner!!!!!

holly, that is so cool! I think now is a great time to get some good deals in CR. Our guides told us that tourism is down 50% because of the economy.

I havent seen many posts in Fodors Forums about Gaia and it looks like one of the nicest places I have seen so far. Why is it not well recommended?

Which is a nicer place in Arenal - Lost Igauana or Tabacon - are the views the same from the 2 hotels?

Personally I would not want to stay at Tabacon; we went to use their hot springs and it was packed with tourists like us that come to use the springs. LI is on the lava side of the Volcano and Tabacon is not; both of them have volcano views though. I think LI is a more naturally beautiful property, and Tabacon is a little more flashy. Check out tripadvisor.com for pics and reviews and see which one is more your style.

I think Gaia looks very nice, just never hear much about it. If you go, let us know what you think.

www.gaiahr.com nice up on a hill no beach remote location

www.tulemar.com Mot Mot

For me www.thespringscostarica.com most like disney

www.lostiguanaresort.com best luxury lava view for price

www.tabacon.com volcano view rooms are great especially

considering all day springs admission is included.

www.arenalobservatorylodge.com not luxury more of

an eco-camp really Smithsonian rooms are the only decent

rooms food is marginal would not be worth it for me

Actually I had a perfect Lava view from my room

at Tabacon when I was there could even hear the

lava cracking down at night it was AWESOME.

http://www.arenal.net/arenal-costa-rica-map.htm is a good site for checking out current lava flow. Currently flowing toward Lost Iguana and AOL. gwo, was your trip recent?

I think Tulemar is a great rec too; they have their own beach.

If I were to stay at Gaia- which is how I am leaning, do you recommend going into the park for a full day? I looked at Tulemar, and to be honest, it doesnt look very nice from their website. Neither does La Mansion - are those the same category as Gaia? Are the beaches that nice around there? Is 3 days in MA enough time? Any surfing schools in MA that you can recommend.

Thanks so much for the chat so far.

There are many nice places to stay in Manuel Antonio, so what type of place exactly are you looking for? Tulemar beautiful, especially Villa Mot-Mot which also has great views. The property has the benefit of having it's own swimable beach with boogie boards, kayaks and snack shack and within walking distance to some great restaurants like Barba Roja and Kapi-Kapi.

No matter where you stay, I would recommend going to the park for a day; remember they are closed on Mondays. The beach inside the park is gorgeous, and there's lots of wildlife - pretty tame wildlife because they're used to being around people. We hired a guide and saw a lot of things we would have missed on our own. We stayed 3 nights in MA, and it was enough for us. We're not big on just chilling on the beach though.

Looking to stay at a nice place for a young couple. Gaia and Kioro look like the nicest places from the individual websites, but seems like the forums like Tulemar more - which doesnt look that nice from the website. Besides going to MA for a day, we would probably just chill at the pool or beach the rest of the time in MA.

If you want to keep you costs down - in Arenal look at Arenal Paraiso

Regarding Tabacon - the hotel itself is not attached to the springs. It is actually fairly low key and not flashy at all. The grounds are very beautiful. The rooms are quite nice. And the biggest plus for us was that in your room rate, the admission to the springs was included. That is a big plus if you plan to go to any of the springs, and even more so if you plan to go more than once. We were there in May, and on an evening had the place virtually to ourselves. It was beautiful and I would not hesitate to go back to the Tabacon springs.

With all that being said - I do think their room prices were a bit pricey for what we paid for them. They don't include breakfast in their rates and their onsite restaurants are expensive. We did pay extra for a volcano view, and at the time (this was 2 years ago) it was not a lava view. At this point, it's still not a lava view as far as I know. But you do get a decent volcano view.

If you're not going to take full advantage of the springs, I think Tabacon is overpriced for what you get at the hotel itself.

I've heard positive things about Gaia - but haven't seen it myself. I believe it's adults only - which can be a plus. What we liked so much about Tulemar was the private beach. Not many places in MA have that option. We liked being able to not leave the property and have the beach right there. Also the cost was right and the mot-mot villa was absolutely beautiful with amazing views. I'm sure there are more luxurious properties with amazing service - but for our family, this was ideal.

We haven't stayed at Kioro, but we picked people up there for our rafting trip. I asked them how it was, and the guy said that the rooms looked like something you would find in rehab! The grounds looked pretty from what I could tell. I always use tripadvisor to help me decide. You can usually tell from all the reviews and pics which place would be a good fit for you.

gwo, regarding The Springs, do you think it's more Disney than the Peace Lodge, or about the same? We wanted to swing by on our recent trip but couldn't squeeze it in. We would never pay the prices they expect, but I was curious to see it.

We recently got back from a two-week coast-to-coast CR adventure and stayed in Arenal Observatory Lodge for a few days. Other than the KILLER lava view, I wouldn't recommend it at all. Pricey, no internet anywhere, mediocre restaurant, gates lock down at 11pm, rooms are spartan.

We did ziplining with SkyTrek and it was incredibly fun. They have the longest cables with nice equipment and good guides. A bit pricey at 66USD/each, but I don't feel like I got ripped off.

One of the restaurants we ate in was Lava Lounge on the main road in La Fortuna. Really delicious, with innovative daily specials. For lunch (with sangria and possibly a few beers), it was about 33USD for both of us. Gecko Gourmet is good, too, and they have free WiFi.

During our time in Manuel Antonio, we stayed at La Posada and it's absolutely the CLOSEST to the entrance of Manuel Antonio. We passed the entrance to Gaia a few times and frankly, the sign looked dirty. For what's supposed to be a high-end hotel, you would think they would ensure the entrance looks good. It is located across the street from the beach. I don't remember how close a beach access was from that hotel.

There's more details on our adventures on my blog if you're interested....

Pura Vida! (they love saying that to tourists...)
http://onlinelily.blogspot.com

The AOL is indeed non-luxury. It's a big tradeoff--the remite location and unremarkable amenities cd the best lava and wildlife viewing in the entire region.