DOCROX

Planning our second "girls trip" to C.R. Last time we stayed in Jaco, Fonda Vela, Tabacon, San Jose. Would like to do more in the reserves and rafting this time. Does anyone know of a lodge/inn close enough to hear water from our room at night? Want to stay away from "resorts". Natural but not tenting. Going Jan. 12. Flying into San Jose, and get in 1:45 pm. Thanks.

kaneda

Lodging next to a waterfall can be incredibly noisy all night long.

DOCROX

Point taken. O.K. how about next to a river?

raderbarbarian

Here are three suggestions.

Next to a waterfall:

http://www.catarata-del-toro.com/

And on a river nearby is:

http://www.bosquedepaz.com/

and up the road a short distance, with a river and hot springs, is:

http://www.termalesdelbosque.com/

None of these places are anywhere near the "beaten path" but they are quite special, and not too far from San Jose.

Millie64

I can comment on Bosque de Paz. Went there a couple of years ago and am going back Dec 28-30. It is a private reserve run by a Tico family that has worked hard to perserve the rainforest. It is a cloud forest.. we go there because we didn't want to do the drive to Monteverde and we consider it our "find". WOnderful people, very small. Not only is it primary forest but on the trail you look at "virgin" forest which means no one has every been in it. They feed lots of birds and mammels so you can just sit on their porch and watch them come to you. The only thing that was a bit disappointing is we couldn't see the monkeys because the forest was so thick (ARenal was better for that). Also the food is excellent. There is a little town nearby and the largest waterfall outside of Brazil within a short drive. Its also cool (in fact when we were there it was unusaully cold. We had to wear polartecs!).
I'd be happy to tell you more if you want.

DOCROX

Thanks for the sites. I have checked them all out. I would like to check out the waterfall at Catarata Del Toro. Maybe stay there, or at least have lunch and rappel. Any lodging close to La Paz?

Millie64

I'm not sure what you mean La Paz. Bosque de Paz is lodging and its about 10 minutes from catarata del toro.

DOCROX

Sorry... I was talking about La Paz Waterfall gardens which I think is North of Alajuela. We did not see any waterfalls the last trip. We were planning on going to Dominica this year for waterfall action but it was too big of a pain to get there.

Millie64

We stopped at La Paz Waterfall on our way from Selva Verde to the airport. That was enough for us... although nice you just look at it from the road. Was one of the only places we saw crowds. The Catarara near La Bosque, on the other hand, was bigger and you can hike to the bottom.If you search on my name you can see my trip report if you're interested how we packed it all in without moving around to much.