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san jose
I am planning a couple of days north of san jose in the arenal ares. Any hotel or particular activities you recommend ? Also, I will be spending my last trip night in or near San Jose in preparation for a 10:00 am flight out. I would like a recommendation for a hotel close enough to san jose airport to allow us to easily make our flight.Thanks.
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In Arenal, we loved the Lost Iguana. Go to Tabacon or Eco Termales for hot springs, volcano watch, do the Cano Negro tour with Sunset Tours, hike the Hanging Bridges for a nice hike, zipline at SkyTrek, and maybe go see the waterfall.
We liked Grano de Oro in San Jose - great service and restaurant, cute boutique hotel. |
La Paz Waterfall Gardens
Doka Coffee Estate tour Arenal suggestions from Volcanogirl are excellent as well. . For our first and last nights, we like Hotel Villa Bonita, 5 min. from the airport. It is a small bed and breakfast, nothing fancy, but clean, basic, great breakfast, and lovely Costa Rican host and hostess, Humberto and Carmen Brenes. $50. So many places are owned by Americans or Germans or people other than the Ticos, we like to stay at the smaller Tico owned hotels when we can. . . OR we also like Orquideas Inn for its good restaurant and Marilyn Monroe Bar. . .$70 or thereabout More upscale. . .Vista del Valle, 20 min. from airport, $150. . .good food, lovely overlook of the central valley, hiking to a waterfall. . . Grano de Oro in San Jose would be very nice as well, as vg stated--about 30 min. from the airport. Good if you want to explore the town a bit at night (by taxi, of course). Maybe you could book the Folklorico dance show or take a taxi to El Pueblo (mall of bars, restaurants and artisan shops) or see a performance at el Teatro Nacional. . . Have fun! |
There are two hotels that are about as close to the airport as you would want to get. The Garden Court Hotel (and Casino) and the Hampton Inn next door. Free shuttle service will get you to the terminal in the morning very quickly without having to rise extremely early to protect yourself against traffic problems. We favor the Hampton Inn. Once you are in it, it's just like any other Hampton Inn, and I mean that in a good way.
At the end of a visit to CR, once we reach the outskirts of San Jose, we are out of the exotic part of the country that interests us, and we are completely in departure mode. We eat at Denny's, across the parking lot, watch a bad movie on TV, and are ready to rise at a decent hour. We eat the free breakfast and settle down into the yuckage of travel mode. Both hotels mentioned are within walking distance (possibly 150 paces) of the rental car companies. I realize that many people on this forum have other favorites, but I always feel like these two airport hotels deserve mention for those who arrive late in San Jose and leave early or by midday. Since you are asking for convenience and "ease," I felt obligated to bring them up. If we arrived earlier in San Jose and departed after noon, our choice would be very different. David. M. |
There is another hotel close to the airport, the Mango Inn. It is next to the Garden Court Hotel.
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