Hello,

I am planning a honeymoon to Costa Rica this coming April. The first leg will be near Arenal, and I was hoping I might be able to get some input regarding hotels.

One of the places we are considering is the Hotel El Silencio Del Campo. The main question I had regarding this place is the location. Is this hotel located in La Fortuna or in San Carlos (or are these the same town). If it's not in La Fortuna, how far is it away?, and how far is it to a town center and good restaurants? Also, does it have a view of lava flow?

If you have stayed there, is it a good place to stay for a honeymoon? From what we saw, we like the balance of privacy, ammenities and price.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? We were considering the Arenal Paraiso as well, any thoughts?

Thanks for any help you may be able to provide?

We liked Arenal Springs Resort. This is a fairly new large complex with separate duplex cabinas with lawns, and porches with rocking chairs. All of the cabinas have an unobstructed view of Arenal.

There is also a viewing patio off the lobby/gift shop building.

There is a very good open air restaurant which serves an included breakfast ... cooked to order .... eggs, etc.

It has two pools, one with a swim-up bar.

With your permission, the staff will wake you if there is a good lava showing during the night. We were there for two nights and saw several flows.

We drove into La Fortuna for lunch one day. It seemed like a short trip, but I don't know how many miles...my husband says less than 10...I thougt it was more like 5. Our daughter lives in Costa Rica and she chose the hotel.

Happy honeymoon.

I have written arenal.net numerous times inquiring about more information regarding Silencio de Campo--location in particular. They have responded with reservation forms, but no answers. Tried to make it clear that I was just wanting to find out more about the hotel, since I was unfamiliar with it--no luck. I finally gave up.

Hi Wildmaxd,

The official name of La Fortuna is 'La Fortuna de San Carlos', but most just call it La Fortuna (courtesy of my Lonely Planet guidebook). It's a bustling little town with several restaurant choices (we really enjoyed La Choza de Laurel).

Most of the hotels that people write about on this forum are outside the town along the road that winds around the volcano to the lake.

According to the arenal.net map, Silencio del Campo is just past Baldi Hot Springs. I vaguely remember seeing the entrance sign for it when we were there in December. If the arenal.net map is accurate, you would probably only be about 5 minutes from town. This location should currently have lava views (if you are lucky enough to see the cone when its not shrouded in clouds; we were thwarted all three nights we were there, although we did get a clear shot of the volcano on one of the days). Also keep in mind that the lava direction can change.

We stayed at the Arenal Lodge for our visit and were happy there, but it is farther out from town. Jtrandolph's account of Arenal Springs sounds very nice. Prices look fairly comparable to what you would pay at Arenal Paraiso.

Good luck with your planning! Costa Rica is wonderful!

I have spoken with Silencio del Campo and plan to stay there in March - it is a bit outside of La Fortuna on the way towards Tabacon, but not as far down the road. It is very near the Ecothermales hot springs (owned by the same family) - it does have volcano views from their pictures and from reviews on tripadvisor.com (there are multiple reviews on that site - all of which are very good)
Lisa

We stayed at the Tabacon Resort http://www.tabacon.com/ and it was fabulous. Our room did have a volcano view. The staff was so helpful in arranging tours. As a bonus by staying at the hotel you have unlimited access to the Tabacon Hot Springs which was a nice way to end a day of hiking.

The Lost Iguana is new and supposed to be very beautiful. They have nice suites all with volcano views. Congratulations!

I would only stay at Tabacon - it is within the park and gives guests unlimited access to the park and springs and you can watch the eruptions from your bed.

Here's another vote for Tabacon. We were there in January and it was wonderful. Volcano view room, unimited access to hot springs, beautiful grounds. Only downside was on-site retaurants were expensive, but we had a car and rarely ate there.

Hi Wildmaxd - I just made reservations at Hotel El Silencio Del Campo for May (after researching about 10 other places in the area). It is not as widely talked about on this forum, but only great things said on others. Good luck with your planning

Congrats!