Trip Report, Arenal & Villa Blanca, Dec. 2007
Dec 25th, 2007, 01:13 PM
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Trip Report, Arenal & Villa Blanca, Dec. 2007
Hi everyone,
I just came back from a quick 1-week trip to Arenal and Villa Blanca (near San Ramon). I posted some pictures online if you want to take a look:
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u...a%20Rica%2007/
We had a week packed with activities… basically a travel day on each end, and 5 full days of activities. We flew from Miami to San Juan, then had drivers transfer us. On Day 1 in Arenal, we did the ziplines in the morning, lunch in La Fortuna, then a 3pm volcano hike followed by Eco-Thermales (what a great day!). Day 2 was waterfall rappelling in the morning, then Hanging Bridges in the afternoon (I didn’t realize how much hiking was involved in the Hanging Bridges, and in retrospect it was a physically exhausting day!). Then Day 3 in Arenal was Cano Negro, then a volcano hike, then hot tub back at the hotel (whew!) Day 4 we transferred to Villa Blanca and did a horseback ride then hit the spa for massages (it’s about time!), and Day 5 was a full-day tour of Poas/La Paz/Sarchi. Details below
ARENAL Hotel: We stayed at Montana de Fuego and loved it, even though it’s not on the “lava side” right now. (It turns out the weather didn’t cooperate for our stay and we only saw the volcano about halfway up). Our cabina had a porch with rocking chairs facing the volcano, and a beautiful view from our rear balcony, overlooking the Arenal River canyon area. The hotel had a nice pool and 2 hot tubs (1 indoor, 1 outdoor.). The only negative is that the restaurant food was atrocious! (However, I kind of expected this and knew we’d venture out for dinner anyway.)
ARENAL ZIPLINE: We did the ziplines at Arenal Paraiso. Let me tell you, this is hands-down the best zipline I’ve done! I’ve done ziplines in Monteverde (Original Canopy) and Manuel Antonio (Canopy Safari), and while those were really great, Arenal Paraiso was even better. There were 11 lines, and they were mostly really long and quite high up, however not completely above the canopy so you still have that sense of being in the forest somewhat. The views were beyond spectacular… you can see the river, the rolling hills, and we got lucky to see a toucan flying (it looked like a flying banana!). One really long zipline is much lower and goes right over the river, which was incredible. On the last line, you have the option of going upside down (which I can’t believe I did!!!) I will say that you can definitely sense the height on this tour, so I’d recommend it for people who don’t have height issues (I recommend those people stick with a tour more “inside” the canopy). Also, this tour does require you to brake with your gloved hand (which I found hard to do since I have zero upper body strength) so I kinda came flying into the platforms a bit fast… not a problem, but a bit jarring
There was a photographer zipping with us, and he took some really high-quality pictures (you can purchase a CD of the photos at the end), and one of the guides shot footage while zipping with my video-camera. Anyway, these ziplines were definitely one of the highlights of the trip!
VOLCANO HIKE / ECO-THERMALES: Well, here’s a contrary note about Sunset Tours. I booked 2 tours with them, and while I still enjoyed what we did, I was disappointed with a couple of things. I booked the “Volcano Hike & Eco-Thermales with Dinner.” I had done the Volcano Hike with Sunset Tours about 5 years ago, and it was great… we hiked into the National Park and over the old lava flows, with views of Lake Arenal behind us. However, on this tour the guide told me we were going to El Silencio private trail and NOT into the National Park, and that Sunset Tours no longer goes into the park. I was extremely disappointed, and pressed him on this, and he gave me some story about tourists being injured by ash or something (I’m not sure this is true). That said, we had a nice hike through the rain forest and we saw howler monkeys, mot-mots, and then drove to an observation point where we got lucky and saw some lava. Long story short, we later booked the Volcano Hike another night with Aventuras Arenal and they DID go into the National Park (much closer to the volcano), exactly as I had done with Sunset years ago. In a way, I felt a little “cheated” by Sunset Tours, and intend to contact them with my feedback. By the way, Eco-Thermales was absolutely fantastic! Thank you everyone who recommended this. They also cooked us a special dinner since we’re vegetarians, and they were very nice and accommodating.
WATERFALL RAPPELLING (Canyoning): We did this tour with Desafio and it was a blast… another trip highlight! It was also extremely physical. I’m a 42-year-old female, and I could do it, but I was pretty sore the next day! What’s hard is all the “down-climbing” through the rushing river, having to scramble down and lower yourself between rocks, plus there’s quite a steep hike out at the end. By the way, I recommend close-toed water shoes. I wore Tevas and struggled because of them (stubbed my toes, almost lost my shoe a couple of times…the Velcro wouldn’t hold). The rappelling itself was very easy – in fact, it’s not quite “real” rappelling because the two guides have a lot of control over you (they can swing you in various directions) and most of it is really lowering yourself straight down, as opposed to having to negotiate the rock wall with your feet. Also, not to be a “negative Nellie” (just trying to report honestly) the email they sent me said there would be 8 waterfalls and one was 155 ft and one was 210 ft. Well, there were really only 5 rappels (the same as Pure Trek, I think) and 3 of them were tiny (hardly count as “waterfalls”… just angled declines of maybe 12-15 feet each). There were basically 2 big waterfalls you rappel down and they were quite high, but there’s no way that last one was 210 feet (I think they’ve got some number-fudging going on!) All that said, I still highly recommend the tour – it was a fantastic experience in a very beautiful setting. Lunch afterwards was really great and the guides were a lot of fun. Even the truck ride up and down was gorgeous.
HANGING BRIDGES: I had done the bridges at Selvatura (in Monteverde), and these are similar – very beautiful. However, I think these bridges in Arenal are more of a hike, with steeper trails. If you’re going both places and deciding between the two, and prefer a much easier walk, go with Selvatura. We decided to go without a guide and just enjoy the scenery, and it was perfect for us. When we got back to the entrance, we were waiting for our taxi and the “Tourist Police” showed up (just a routine stop, I suppose)… except one officer had an Uzi strapped to his chest! I guess as Americans we’re really not used to seeing machine guns in public! We talked to the officer for a while (of course I had to pose for a photo with Uzi-guy) and he was very nice. Not sure exactly why automatic weaponry might be needed at the hanging bridges!
CANO NEGRO: This was Sunset Tour minor-gripe #2 (not a biggie, but I thought I’d mention it). We booked with Sunset and had a pick-up time of 7:30 am. But at 7:00 they knocked on our door telling us our tour bus was waiting… and it was Aventuras Arenal, not Sunset. They told me Sunset didn’t have enough people to go out for Cano Negro that day, so they put us with Aventuras Arenal (however, they never bothered to contact us or tell us our new pick-up time). So we had to rush out of our room and skip breakfast. I booked with Sunset because of the good feedback on this tour, but I’ll never know if the tour was as good. I can tell you the lunch wasn’t near the river, as I’ve read about Sunset. Unfortunately, it rained lightly most of the time, but we still got to see a bunch of capuchin monkeys, a few howlers, a sloth, iguanas, bats and several birds (anhingas and egrets mostly). Overall I personally felt this tour had way too much travel time (in the bus) for so little actual time on the river (maybe less than 2 hours). While I know we probably saw less wildlife because of the weather, I’d still recommend that if you’re going to Manuel Antonio, do the Damas Island Mangrove boat tour instead of Cano Negro… you’ll see tons of wildlife (including capuchin monkeys), but it won’t take up your whole day like Cano Negro. The only difference is you won’t see howlers at Damas Island.
Regarding food, we enjoyed La Choza de Laurel, but found ourselves happiest at our favorite little soda – La Parada – right across from the taxi stand (next to the park). Great food, local atmosphere, and SO inexpensive. And coconut flan to die for!
VILLA BLANCA Hotel: This is a fantastic hotel up in the cloud forest near San Ramon. It’s a sister hotel of Si Como No (in MA) and Aguila de Osa (Drake Bay). The rooms (cabinas) were great – each had a fireplace and rocking chairs, private patio with table and chairs, and a beautiful bathroom with a shower looking out onto a gorgeous view. The grounds were beautiful (including nice little trails in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest), and the food was good, albeit really expensive. We did a horseback riding tour here and it was fantastic – half of the time we weren’t on trails, but just riding up and down the rolling hills, looking at spectacular views.
POAS / LA PAZ / SARCHI tour: we booked this tour through the Villa Blanca hotel, and unfortunately had rain the whole day. So we went to Poas and sadly saw nothing (and got drenched trying), but La Paz was fantastic. We had a naturalist guide with us, and I’m so glad we did because I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much without him. He took us through the aviary, butterflies, snakes, frogs, etc. and really made it fascinating. The falls were spectacular, and we really enjoyed it here. Then the tour description said we were to visit an oxcart factory in Sarchi, which sounded great… except that didn’t happen, and they plopped us at a souvenir/furniture store in Sarchi. I think I’m gonna give some “feedback” on that too. I just think that as CR becomes an increasingly popular destination, they have to be careful about doing obvious shlocky tourist stuff – it’s too transparent
I hope this trip report didn’t sound too negative… we really had a wonderful, wonderful time! I just thought some of the other information might be helpful to others before they go… things to keep in mind or to expect.
I live in South Florida and the good news I just learned is that American Airlines just opened a direct flight from Ft. Lauderdale (very convenient for me) so that just might make hopping down for a quick weekend even easier! I’m already planning it in my head
Thanks to everyone for their advice before I went – it made all the difference!
Carol
I just came back from a quick 1-week trip to Arenal and Villa Blanca (near San Ramon). I posted some pictures online if you want to take a look:
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u...a%20Rica%2007/
We had a week packed with activities… basically a travel day on each end, and 5 full days of activities. We flew from Miami to San Juan, then had drivers transfer us. On Day 1 in Arenal, we did the ziplines in the morning, lunch in La Fortuna, then a 3pm volcano hike followed by Eco-Thermales (what a great day!). Day 2 was waterfall rappelling in the morning, then Hanging Bridges in the afternoon (I didn’t realize how much hiking was involved in the Hanging Bridges, and in retrospect it was a physically exhausting day!). Then Day 3 in Arenal was Cano Negro, then a volcano hike, then hot tub back at the hotel (whew!) Day 4 we transferred to Villa Blanca and did a horseback ride then hit the spa for massages (it’s about time!), and Day 5 was a full-day tour of Poas/La Paz/Sarchi. Details below
ARENAL Hotel: We stayed at Montana de Fuego and loved it, even though it’s not on the “lava side” right now. (It turns out the weather didn’t cooperate for our stay and we only saw the volcano about halfway up). Our cabina had a porch with rocking chairs facing the volcano, and a beautiful view from our rear balcony, overlooking the Arenal River canyon area. The hotel had a nice pool and 2 hot tubs (1 indoor, 1 outdoor.). The only negative is that the restaurant food was atrocious! (However, I kind of expected this and knew we’d venture out for dinner anyway.)
ARENAL ZIPLINE: We did the ziplines at Arenal Paraiso. Let me tell you, this is hands-down the best zipline I’ve done! I’ve done ziplines in Monteverde (Original Canopy) and Manuel Antonio (Canopy Safari), and while those were really great, Arenal Paraiso was even better. There were 11 lines, and they were mostly really long and quite high up, however not completely above the canopy so you still have that sense of being in the forest somewhat. The views were beyond spectacular… you can see the river, the rolling hills, and we got lucky to see a toucan flying (it looked like a flying banana!). One really long zipline is much lower and goes right over the river, which was incredible. On the last line, you have the option of going upside down (which I can’t believe I did!!!) I will say that you can definitely sense the height on this tour, so I’d recommend it for people who don’t have height issues (I recommend those people stick with a tour more “inside” the canopy). Also, this tour does require you to brake with your gloved hand (which I found hard to do since I have zero upper body strength) so I kinda came flying into the platforms a bit fast… not a problem, but a bit jarring
There was a photographer zipping with us, and he took some really high-quality pictures (you can purchase a CD of the photos at the end), and one of the guides shot footage while zipping with my video-camera. Anyway, these ziplines were definitely one of the highlights of the trip!VOLCANO HIKE / ECO-THERMALES: Well, here’s a contrary note about Sunset Tours. I booked 2 tours with them, and while I still enjoyed what we did, I was disappointed with a couple of things. I booked the “Volcano Hike & Eco-Thermales with Dinner.” I had done the Volcano Hike with Sunset Tours about 5 years ago, and it was great… we hiked into the National Park and over the old lava flows, with views of Lake Arenal behind us. However, on this tour the guide told me we were going to El Silencio private trail and NOT into the National Park, and that Sunset Tours no longer goes into the park. I was extremely disappointed, and pressed him on this, and he gave me some story about tourists being injured by ash or something (I’m not sure this is true). That said, we had a nice hike through the rain forest and we saw howler monkeys, mot-mots, and then drove to an observation point where we got lucky and saw some lava. Long story short, we later booked the Volcano Hike another night with Aventuras Arenal and they DID go into the National Park (much closer to the volcano), exactly as I had done with Sunset years ago. In a way, I felt a little “cheated” by Sunset Tours, and intend to contact them with my feedback. By the way, Eco-Thermales was absolutely fantastic! Thank you everyone who recommended this. They also cooked us a special dinner since we’re vegetarians, and they were very nice and accommodating.
WATERFALL RAPPELLING (Canyoning): We did this tour with Desafio and it was a blast… another trip highlight! It was also extremely physical. I’m a 42-year-old female, and I could do it, but I was pretty sore the next day! What’s hard is all the “down-climbing” through the rushing river, having to scramble down and lower yourself between rocks, plus there’s quite a steep hike out at the end. By the way, I recommend close-toed water shoes. I wore Tevas and struggled because of them (stubbed my toes, almost lost my shoe a couple of times…the Velcro wouldn’t hold). The rappelling itself was very easy – in fact, it’s not quite “real” rappelling because the two guides have a lot of control over you (they can swing you in various directions) and most of it is really lowering yourself straight down, as opposed to having to negotiate the rock wall with your feet. Also, not to be a “negative Nellie” (just trying to report honestly) the email they sent me said there would be 8 waterfalls and one was 155 ft and one was 210 ft. Well, there were really only 5 rappels (the same as Pure Trek, I think) and 3 of them were tiny (hardly count as “waterfalls”… just angled declines of maybe 12-15 feet each). There were basically 2 big waterfalls you rappel down and they were quite high, but there’s no way that last one was 210 feet (I think they’ve got some number-fudging going on!) All that said, I still highly recommend the tour – it was a fantastic experience in a very beautiful setting. Lunch afterwards was really great and the guides were a lot of fun. Even the truck ride up and down was gorgeous.
HANGING BRIDGES: I had done the bridges at Selvatura (in Monteverde), and these are similar – very beautiful. However, I think these bridges in Arenal are more of a hike, with steeper trails. If you’re going both places and deciding between the two, and prefer a much easier walk, go with Selvatura. We decided to go without a guide and just enjoy the scenery, and it was perfect for us. When we got back to the entrance, we were waiting for our taxi and the “Tourist Police” showed up (just a routine stop, I suppose)… except one officer had an Uzi strapped to his chest! I guess as Americans we’re really not used to seeing machine guns in public! We talked to the officer for a while (of course I had to pose for a photo with Uzi-guy) and he was very nice. Not sure exactly why automatic weaponry might be needed at the hanging bridges!
CANO NEGRO: This was Sunset Tour minor-gripe #2 (not a biggie, but I thought I’d mention it). We booked with Sunset and had a pick-up time of 7:30 am. But at 7:00 they knocked on our door telling us our tour bus was waiting… and it was Aventuras Arenal, not Sunset. They told me Sunset didn’t have enough people to go out for Cano Negro that day, so they put us with Aventuras Arenal (however, they never bothered to contact us or tell us our new pick-up time). So we had to rush out of our room and skip breakfast. I booked with Sunset because of the good feedback on this tour, but I’ll never know if the tour was as good. I can tell you the lunch wasn’t near the river, as I’ve read about Sunset. Unfortunately, it rained lightly most of the time, but we still got to see a bunch of capuchin monkeys, a few howlers, a sloth, iguanas, bats and several birds (anhingas and egrets mostly). Overall I personally felt this tour had way too much travel time (in the bus) for so little actual time on the river (maybe less than 2 hours). While I know we probably saw less wildlife because of the weather, I’d still recommend that if you’re going to Manuel Antonio, do the Damas Island Mangrove boat tour instead of Cano Negro… you’ll see tons of wildlife (including capuchin monkeys), but it won’t take up your whole day like Cano Negro. The only difference is you won’t see howlers at Damas Island.
Regarding food, we enjoyed La Choza de Laurel, but found ourselves happiest at our favorite little soda – La Parada – right across from the taxi stand (next to the park). Great food, local atmosphere, and SO inexpensive. And coconut flan to die for!
VILLA BLANCA Hotel: This is a fantastic hotel up in the cloud forest near San Ramon. It’s a sister hotel of Si Como No (in MA) and Aguila de Osa (Drake Bay). The rooms (cabinas) were great – each had a fireplace and rocking chairs, private patio with table and chairs, and a beautiful bathroom with a shower looking out onto a gorgeous view. The grounds were beautiful (including nice little trails in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest), and the food was good, albeit really expensive. We did a horseback riding tour here and it was fantastic – half of the time we weren’t on trails, but just riding up and down the rolling hills, looking at spectacular views.
POAS / LA PAZ / SARCHI tour: we booked this tour through the Villa Blanca hotel, and unfortunately had rain the whole day. So we went to Poas and sadly saw nothing (and got drenched trying), but La Paz was fantastic. We had a naturalist guide with us, and I’m so glad we did because I wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much without him. He took us through the aviary, butterflies, snakes, frogs, etc. and really made it fascinating. The falls were spectacular, and we really enjoyed it here. Then the tour description said we were to visit an oxcart factory in Sarchi, which sounded great… except that didn’t happen, and they plopped us at a souvenir/furniture store in Sarchi. I think I’m gonna give some “feedback” on that too. I just think that as CR becomes an increasingly popular destination, they have to be careful about doing obvious shlocky tourist stuff – it’s too transparent
I hope this trip report didn’t sound too negative… we really had a wonderful, wonderful time! I just thought some of the other information might be helpful to others before they go… things to keep in mind or to expect.
I live in South Florida and the good news I just learned is that American Airlines just opened a direct flight from Ft. Lauderdale (very convenient for me) so that just might make hopping down for a quick weekend even easier! I’m already planning it in my head
Thanks to everyone for their advice before I went – it made all the difference!
Carol
Dec 25th, 2007, 01:41 PM
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Great report--honesty always welcome! I wouldn't have been happy about those things either. That's one thing wonderful about Costa Rica. . .even if there are some minor inconveniences (or whatever you want to call them!), it's very hard to ruin a day entirely!
Thanks for taking the time. . welcome home, y Feliz Navidad!
Thanks for taking the time. . welcome home, y Feliz Navidad!
Dec 26th, 2007, 01:27 PM
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Thanks for the report, Carol! Where is the soda, La Parada, located? We will be in Arenal/La Fortuna in February. We had planned on doing the zipline with Sky Trek in Monteverde, however, we might change based on your recommendation.
Maureen
Maureen
Dec 26th, 2007, 06:30 PM
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Hi Maureen,
The soda La Parada is on the main street in La Fortuna, right across from the bus stop/ taxi stand, which is next to the central Park. Anyone in town can point you in the right direction, I'm sure. It's open 24-hours, takes credit cards, and serves just amazing food (but think "diner" atmosphere, of course). You can't beat it! Have a casado... lots of great food for like $4
Carol
The soda La Parada is on the main street in La Fortuna, right across from the bus stop/ taxi stand, which is next to the central Park. Anyone in town can point you in the right direction, I'm sure. It's open 24-hours, takes credit cards, and serves just amazing food (but think "diner" atmosphere, of course). You can't beat it! Have a casado... lots of great food for like $4
Carol
Dec 27th, 2007, 04:07 AM
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Carol, you had transfers from San Juan?! Was that on one of those James Bond floating cars ?? Just kidding! Sounds like a great trip, bummer about Sunset. Can't remember exactly which one I took, it was just the one where you end up at all the old lava rocks, and they definitely should've forewarned you about the earlier pick-up and change in companies! Sounds like you had a great time, gotta run but will look at pics later.
?? Just kidding! Sounds like a great trip, bummer about Sunset. Can't remember exactly which one I took, it was just the one where you end up at all the old lava rocks, and they definitely should've forewarned you about the earlier pick-up and change in companies! Sounds like you had a great time, gotta run but will look at pics later.
Dec 27th, 2007, 05:01 AM
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Great report! We'll be staying at the Arenal Paraiso in Feb & we're trying to decide if we should do the zip lines. I'm extremely terrified of heights & had to back out of Sky Trek in Monteverde a few years ago. I was able to do one last year only because we didn't have to climb to the top of a platform to get started. We only climbed a few stairs to a wooden platform & then once we got started the mountainside below dropped down instead. I was scared but enjoyed it. Can you tell me how you get started at the Arenal Paraiso? It sounds like one I'd like to try but if I have to climb high up to the top of some platform I'm not sure I can do it. Thanks!
Dec 27th, 2007, 05:46 AM
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San Juan! Whoops! Thanks tully 
petite1, for the start of the Arenal Paraiso ziplines you only have to hike up a small hill, then ascend a small wooden staircase (probably like the one you did before). There is no big platform to climb or anything like that.
For someone self-described as extremely afraid of heights, good for you! As I said, in this zipline tour, you can tell you're up high from the views, as opposed to some canopy tours where you seem almost enclosed by the trees. However, you never have the feeling of being completely exposed... none of the cables are completely above the tree-line. If you're okay with that, I think you'll be fine with this tour.
petite1, for the start of the Arenal Paraiso ziplines you only have to hike up a small hill, then ascend a small wooden staircase (probably like the one you did before). There is no big platform to climb or anything like that.
For someone self-described as extremely afraid of heights, good for you! As I said, in this zipline tour, you can tell you're up high from the views, as opposed to some canopy tours where you seem almost enclosed by the trees. However, you never have the feeling of being completely exposed... none of the cables are completely above the tree-line. If you're okay with that, I think you'll be fine with this tour.
Dec 30th, 2007, 05:17 AM
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Hey VG, I wanted to say a special thanks for all your input before I headed out on this trip. We DID do a lot! I keep thinking I'm still 25 It's taken me a week to recover!
The weather didn't cooperate the 2nd half of our trip, but I consoled myself by thinking that I'm coming home to the beaches of South Florida, whereas a nice couple we met was headed back to the frozen tundra (a.k.a. Chicago)
petite1, awesome! I'm glad you're gonna give these ziplines a try. Yesterday I showed my trip video to my mother (who had accompanied me on my first trip to CR). We had done ziplines together, but when she saw the video of the lines at Arenal Paraiso, she was SO jealous and wants to go back so she can do THESE lines!
It's taken me a week to recover! The weather didn't cooperate the 2nd half of our trip, but I consoled myself by thinking that I'm coming home to the beaches of South Florida, whereas a nice couple we met was headed back to the frozen tundra (a.k.a. Chicago)
petite1, awesome! I'm glad you're gonna give these ziplines a try. Yesterday I showed my trip video to my mother (who had accompanied me on my first trip to CR). We had done ziplines together, but when she saw the video of the lines at Arenal Paraiso, she was SO jealous and wants to go back so she can do THESE lines!
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