We flew into SJO, rented a car from Tricolor and drove to the Arenal Paraiso. We really enjoyed this hotel. The view of the volcano was amazing & the hot springs were great. We had stayed at the Tabacon before but I liked this hotel much better, not as touristy. We were always able to find a hot springs to call our own. The ziplines there were terrifying (as expected) but great. Having no railing around the platform was very unnerving. We stayed in a SUP room & it was very large. It had 2 dbl beds, a rollaway & my husband's 9ft surfboard bag & we still had ample room to walk around. The only real surprise that I had here was the prices in the restaurant. After traveling the entire day we just wanted to relax and eat our first dinner at the hotel. $27 for a steak was a lot more than I expected. Other than that everything was fine. We took the horseback riding tour to the La Fortuna Waterfall & would highly recommend it! Even though everyone had different riding abilities we were all able to enjoy ourselves. We stayed 2 nights & then headed for Playa Grande. My son got sick with a fever on the day we made the drive so he was pretty miserable for the 4 hour car ride. I've read a lot of posts about the German Bakery on the drive around the lake so this time we stopped. I had the apple strudel w/vanilla ice cream which was great, & was glad we stopped. Once in Playa Grande we stayed at Hotel Las Tortugas again. I just love this hotel. It's such a friendly place with great access to the beach. My husband did plenty of surfing & we were also able to see the turtles hatch & make their way to the ocean. It's always one of the highlights for me. My daughter & I also ventured out for a 2hr horseback ride right from the hotel. The guide brought the horses to us at 7am & off we went. We rode the fastest I've ever ridden & for most of the 2 hours. My 11 yr old daughter was in her glory & wanted to do it again the next day. All I could think of was that I should've booked Arenal after this so I could relax in the hot springs! Every bone in my body hurt & my legs are still slightly bruised. Despite all the pain I absolutely loved it & am so glad we were able to have such a fun ride together. We also took a drive to Lola's in Playa Avellanas. I really liked that area because it's still so undeveloped. We all enjoyed the pizza. Tamarindo on the other hand is disgusting. The amount of construction going on there is crazy. It had rained (first time in 60 yrs for month of Feb) so the roads were just giant mud puddles. The whole place just smelled like sewage. (I could go on & on about that issue) We were at Las Tortugas for 6 nights & hated to leave. It was a long 5 1/2 hour drive back to SJO. We came back to snow here in NY, very depressing. This was trip #5 for me & I'm already trying to figure out when I can get back. Pura Vida!

Thanks for posting. The trip sounds lovely and and the Hotel Las Tortugas sounds great. I have an 11 year old daughter as well so I can just picture galloping down the beach with the wind in your hair! Hope your body's recovering well. Have fun planning your next trip!

You said it best, petite--Pura Vida!

Sounds like a great time! Thanks for posting.

We'll have to try Las Tortugas next time. Still haven't seen the turtles at Playa Grande. . .

I checked out The Tortuga Hotel...it looks great!

I'm already planning my next trip to CR and I want to go to a different area, this place looks great and is a great price.

I loved Manuel Antonio but the prices of the nice hotels are high and getting higher!

I'm hoping the hotel will be around for a while but from what I've been reading, I'm not to sure. There are a lot of dwellings built too close to the water in Playa Grande & the government has started proceedings to reclaim the land & knock down existing buildings. The articles I've seen don't specify exactly which ones might be affected but Las Tortugas is very close to the beach. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.