ag123

I am booking a hotel in Arenal the 24th throuht the 27th of November. Does anyone know which side the lava flow is on, we would like a lava view room to up our chances of actually seeing it!

volcanogirl

You may be able to find this on Arenal.net; they have a map showing the direction of the lava flow. They're not always good about updating it though. And unfortunately, things could change between now and November. Recent postings said you could see the flow from the Lost Iguana, so that may give you an idea. I hope you get to see it - it's amazing!

mitdoac

We just got back a week ago. The lava was on the south/ south west side and we had to drive to go see it. I am not sure if you could see it from any hotel. Maybe the Observatory lodge...not sure.

The lava is not like a long slow lava flow, it is like giant fire balls bouncing down the hill. We had a van drive us to a spot, where us and about 30 others waited in the dark for the lava to roll and the clouds to part at the same time. Every 10 minutes or so we would get lucky and have a clear view when the hot boulders were flying down the volcano.

Good Luck

Tim

Linda137

Can you take a bus or van to the Observatory side for evening viewing? We are hoping there will be some organized tours to view the activity.

We are going in late November too.

CarolM

What I've done is book the late afternoon guided hike with one of the tour companies (I used Sunset Tours)... they pick you up at your hotel around 3pm (which is nice if you have no car in Arenal), hike the old lava flows and watch for lava as the sun is setting.

That said (since I'll be going in a couple months with no car again), does anyone else have other suggestions? Has anyone simply taken a taxi to the park entrance and done this themselves? We might do the hike/Ecotermales tour package anyway, but I'm also curious about the options.

rmeyer

We stressed about the whole lava flow thing before we left for our trip. But when it came down to it, we were rarely in our hotel anyway (Lost Iguana, which is beautiful by the way), and you can drive to see the lava at any time. We were sitting in a restaurant eating and watching it bounce down the hill. Arenal.net was not accurate for us when we went. My recommendation is to just pick a nice hotel and enjoy your trip!