My trip October 2005 , comments and suggestions
 

Hello,

Since I am not American, I went to different hotels than usually mentioned on this website but I hope my experience helps others.

Also some recommendations in places we stayed.

San Jose - Don Carlos Hotel - fantastic, we were so scared at the beggining reading about San jose but honestly we felt safe and walked around a lot experiencing the city as such. The hotel is near the centeral avenue and was very convinient, the staff were great and also very helpful.

Arenal - we went to Arenal Springs Resort, I wrote up about this hotel in a separate message but on the whole it was great. October is a great time to go, we saw the mountain all the time and had great fun viewing the smoke from it etc. Recommendations - do not take the Cerro Chatto hike unless you are an experienced hiker and know what you are doing. Although we did not go for the Canopy in Arenal we heard a lot of people who did it and enjoyed it more than the ones at MonteVerde. We went to Baldi hot springs, we were debating whether to go to Tabacon, but our hotel arranged for us a) a better price and also safer at Baldi, it was fun. But if you want to experience the beauty etc, go for Tabacon, but if not Baldi was great. We stayed for 3 nights in Arenal. Good places to eat - Lava Rocks (Soda), the mexican restaurant (forget its name)

I will post another reply so it is not too long.

We drove from Arenal to Monteverde (BTW the roads are bad but certainly drivable - we rented a Toyota 4*4 from Alamo/National - they were great in every aspect).
Don't forget to cross the Iguana bridge!

In Monteverde we were meant to stay at Sunset hotel, although the owner is a wonderful guy the hotel was dirty and really not our style, so we left and went to another hotel , searching until finding a place called Poco a Poco, what a great place and we highly recommend it. Also they recommended a guide called Juan Carlos for the Monteverde Cloud Forest who was FANTASTIC (really!). We canopied using Selvature, which was fun and went to galleries , again spending 3 days. Recommened food - there is a small soda opposite the Soccer Field in Santa Elena - highly recommended, the owner is CR but used to live in the US so speaks English fluently, he cooks himself and makes great food. Also good - Morpho's .

From there we went to Manuel Antonio - the most touristy of our stays, we stayed at Hotel California, which was very nice, especially the staff. The only glitch was the rafting - I will post again as it is a long story. Recommeneded food - Hacienda, Cafe Milagro.

Our one bad experience in MA was using Amigos del Rio. We had spoken to the owner - Carlos Ramirez and asked to book a trip for class 3 and 4, he said ok. The next day we arrive and another group of people joined us and he came to say hello, spoke to us joked about accidents and left. When we started driving we realised that we were driving to a far location - i..e the easier course (2-3) we spoke to him on the phone, he said if we were not happy he would refund the money. Anyway we had to stay, the course was fun andthe guides great but we wanted a different course! On our return we went to get our money back but nada...he dissapeared, he told us he would consider paying us half back and drop it off at our hotel that night or the next day (we told him we were leaving), no money, luckily we had one more day s we chased him, again nothing. Finally we told our hotel, who managed to speak to him, he promised to pay but we were on our way out of MA. We decided to give it one last chance and he said ok, I will pay you half a ticket ($)30 , my husband argued and finally he wrote a check- not for $60 but for $49...! Anyway I cut a long story short but basically he wasn't very nice...again the guides etc were all great.

Before returning to San Jose we stopped off at the Xandari resort in Aljeula, it was fantastic and a really great place to go to, highly recommneded.

We spent our last day and night at the Don Carlos again, shopping around for last minute gifts.

On the whole a great trip!

Tips
1) eat at Soda's as much as you can
2) don't forget to have a monteverde milkshake at the cheese factory
3) dont be afraid to go to San Jose, just be alert
4) if you take a car stop in places, explore we met so many nice people.
5) don't believe everything you read, each of us has a different experience, e.g roads, safety s judge what is best for yourself

I almost forgot in San Jose we took the La Paz Waterfalls combo tour (la paz, poas and doka coffee estate) it was really great, our guide Olman was informative and we had a wonderfull trip.

Hi,

I am leaving this Sat for CR. How was the weather? Are the roads in bad shape (I have heard that some roads got washed out with all the rain)?

Hello,
Thanks for all your useful info. I am wondering how nice the Arenal Springs resort was. I am bringing a small group in January. I am looking for a nice place (comfortable beds, nice rooms) to take them where I can also teach them Yoga and Pilates.
Thanks

Glad you enjoyed the Don Carlos. It is where we like to stay when in San Jose. Enjoyed your report! Good information. . ..always it is unfortunate to hear of an experience like your in MA, but it is good to let others know.

With regards to the roads, they were bad but with a 4X4 we managed no problem.

Arenal Springs would be nice to take a group they have large grass areas for Yoga (i.e. where you could teach) and the rooms are definately clean and the atmoshphere is very relaxed and calm.

Regarding kids 9,12,14 years old.
What do you think about Arenal Spring resort with kids.
And what about Baldi Springs with kids?
Thanks - Doreen

Baldi may actually be better for kids as a) less expensive and b) there were a lot of kids when I was there and it was fun for them. Arenal could be great for kids too the rooms are large enough, and you won't "bother" neighbours if they make noise or something.

last question.... 8 nts (not enough) with 3 kids.
Should we overnight in Sarapiqui or is the float visit on the highlight tour enough. Also visiting Arenal & MA
Thanks