we're looking for the best place to stay within an hour or so of playa conchal for 4 days before we head off to arenal. we want to spend 2 nights at 2 different places. considering sugar beach hotel, villa casa blanca, cala luna, sueno del mar, capitan suizo. would appreciate any detailed comments or further ideas. thank you.

kev - we got back from cr recently and stayed 3 nights at sugar beach (trip report, "first trip ..." on this board if you're interested) - very relaxing, awesome beach. playa conchal is just ~15 min drive away (4WD is handy). didn't stay anywhere else - cap suizo looked pretty nice. you might want to consider 2 nights at sugar beach or similar (isolated, relaxed) and 2 nights at tamarindo (a bit more upbeat, more bars, restaurants, surfer dudes, etc).

thanks suburbantrain. can you please provide me some more details about sugar beach hotel and the area? especially the rooms, the beach, the atmosphere. not a lot of info or pics out there. we're thinking of staying in one of the palm or coconut suites. thanks.

Why not just stay at Playa Conchal....it's a great resort..

thanks. we're already spending a week at the Paradisus (and really looking forward to it) so we're looking for something else after. we're thinking 2 days at sugar beach and then 2 more in tamarindo. still can't decide.

kev - sounds like a good plan to me. sugar beach is pretty secluded - its at the end of a bumpy road (very drivable though) leading north from basilito. the rooms are nice enough - i think we stayed in a regular room/cabin. the bar/restaurant is very pleasant with views of the ocean and the grounds - nice place to sit, have a cocktail or two, then later dinner - food was good by hotel standards. complimentary breakfast was rice and beans with fruit etc.
the beach, a couple minutes walk from our room (some are closer) is really the reason to stay there though - because its a bit isolated the only people on it are those staying there so its pretty quiet. its a small cove with rocks on each side, sand in between - the surf is safe and fun for swimming. in general i'd say sugar beach is a place to chill and take it easy.
playa conchal is easy to get to, brasilito is a nice place for lunch and tamarindo isn't much of a drive. staying there as well will give you a slightly different experience,
enjoy
st