apprenticeship

It seems like many recommend Tabacon Resort for the access to the hot springs and view of the volcano. But the reviews at Travel Advisor are very mixed. Some love it, some hate it. Can anyone explain such a mix of reviews about Tabacon? What about mosquitos if you're sitting in your outdoor jacuzzi? Are there lots of them? Would the Lost Iguana be a better choice than Tabacon? Someone else recommended the Peace Lodge as another great place to stay. Anyone got recommendations for a romantic resort near the volcano area and maybe another one on the ocean for 3 days at each place? It would be our first time to Costa Rica and we would like to see as much of the country as would be reasonable in 6 days. Ideally, we would like some accomodations that have outdoor showers or complete visual privacy from the balcony for a uninhibited, romantic appeal.

Thank You!!

apprenticeship

sandyc

I can tell you why I don't like to stay at Tabacon. First I'll say I highly recommend seeing the hot springs there -- the place looks like heaven and is definitely worth spending a half day there. But it's very crowded, very commercial, the food is not very good, you don't get the wonderful service you get at other places, and there's only so much time you can spend in the hot springs -- they're really hot! My personal preference is for smaller, quiter, charming Costa Rican style places. I love Arenal Lodge. It's way back away from everything and the food & service are good, rainforest trails, butterfly house, etc. There's a really good energy at that place. There's no pool or swim-up bar there if you need that. Arenal Paraiso is nice -- they have a spa, hot pool, & swim-up bar w/o the crowds, and if you want a jacuzzi in your room try the new Arenal Kioro. It's expensive, but the rooms are gorgeous. Jacuzzis face the volcano, and the food is very good.

I haven't had any problems w/ mosquitos in Arenal, but be prepared w/ your bug repellant.

Sandy

wherenext

Tabacon is a pretty, very comfortable place to be. The people were all nice there to us. The mosquitos are not too bad. However, I would use deet in the evening. The wildlife on the property was a highlight. It is not roughing it and if you want that kind of expereince then this is not for you.

The preveious post is correct about the food at the hot springs. Lunch is good but dinner is much better at the Tabacon Resort but it is not cheap.

I would suggest that you stay at a different kind of property somewhere else in Costa Rica, but I don't think you would be disappointed with Tabacon. We really enjoyed it and it was a great way to ease into our holiday.

meliss35

I am planning on going to Arenal sometime in July. I havent booked my flight yet but was looking at the Arenal Lodge website and they are booked alot of days in July. Am I going to have trouble booking a hotel in Arenal during July.

greenfieldhunter

AWEFUL food, surly staff, overpriced moldy rooms, tour buses unloading screaming kids on the hour....I could go on and on but prefer not to remember the experience.

Any place requiring guests to wear a plastic arm band as soon as you check in will forever give me pause- forget about privacy

On 3 trips to CR Tabacon was by far our least favorite place- obviously many on tripadvisor would agree.

Stay anywhere but Tabacon- check your other thread for my recommendation (I am not normally a package kind of guy but the place is top notch)

dfarmer

As you suggested, I am here checking out this post. Unfortunately I have no personal experience with either of your Arenal area choices.

Lost Iguana is getting some very nice reports, it would get my vote.

We chose to avoid Tabacon mainly due to it's size and the crowds. The day we considered trying the springs, there were several large tour buses as well as tons of people in the parking lot. For us just too many people.

The hotel just simply did not appeal to me, maybe because it reminded me too much of any other hotel. Too generic, not enough Costa Rican influence.

But yes the reviews are extrememly varied.

There are other hot springs that are smaller in the area to enjoy - search for Eco-Termales and Baldi - if this type thing seems appealing.

As to Peace Lodge, been there, done that. Enjoyed it immensely, but not sure we will return, just too many other places to see and some favs to return to.

Peace is definately an over the top kind of place. I felt as though I was in a fairy tale. The rooms are incredible, everything the website shows and more. The gardens, butterflies, hummingbirds and falls are just beautiful. As to the balconies, well they are not all that private. We could certainly see everything on several of the adjacent balconies. Hopefully they have done some privacy screening, it was needed.

Ok so 6 days - does that many just 5 nights in country? If so you may only have time for your beach stay and maybe a nice place for your final night.

jdp867

Hi Dfarmer!
We enjoyed Peace- agree with your synopsis but didn't mind the balcony issue. We are returning in April with our kids this time (and my folks).

We stayed at Lost Iguana in December- it is very nice and the grounds are beatiful. But we did not experience the level of service found at other places, and the staff, while nice, was not nearly as friendly as other places. The owner is nice but somewhat aloof, and the dinner was very mediocre. We are returning to Arenal in April and just chose La Mansion, which is pricey but got excellent reviews on tripadvisor.com. Looks worth it if you can swing it (we chose the more modest cottage)

NigelH

My wife and I are heading to Costa Rica in March and after reading the reviews here, we have decided to stay at the Lost Iguana for three nights. We have transportation from San Jose to Arenal, but my question is...should we rent a car in Arenal? The Lost Iguana seems to be off the beaten path, so would renting a car make getting around easier?

vtski

We just recently got back after 2 weeks in CR. We were in Arenal area for 2 nights during Christmas week and a lot of places were booked when we were making reservations. We end up choosing Hotel Fuego Arenal (not to confuse with Montana de fuego, theie locations are pretty close to each other though). The place was not luxury, but nice, clean and quet.
As for the springs we decided to go to Baldi as Tabacon seem to be to crowded. Baldi was very nice, not a lot of people. Can't comment on the food since we haven't eaten there.

Melissa5

Yes, you will want a rental car while staying at the Lost Iguana. WE loved this hotel. Hubby and I had the luxury suite, very nice, surpassed my expectations. Our young adult kids had the regular room (I think it's called deluxe.) It was very nicely decorated but much smaller than the luxury suite. All rooms at the lost iguana have a volcano view, assuming the volcano isn't covered by clouds.

Staff at the Lost Iguana is average by Costa Rican standards. It is a relatively new hotel. Meals were decent, above average by Costa Rican standards. (Costa Rica isn't known for fabulous gourmet food, the food in general tends to be bland.) We thought both the breakfast and dinner were above average compared to all the meals we had in Costa Rica. Don't order the dessert after dinner, it was frozen. but the dinner entrees, like beef and fish, were good. Lunch was NOT the best meal though, that would be a good time to go elsewhere. My sandwich was quite boring at lunch. Yes, we ate there a lot, because we had a lot of activities to fit in and didn't want to spend time hunting all around for food. Plus breakfast is included. Once we had the dinner buffet at the Observatory lodge which we enjoyed.

Travel_Eye

Just returned from 11 nights in CR. Spent 3 nights at the Lost Iguana last week. Here are my thoughts:

Location
LI is located about 20 minutes from La Fortuna. There are lots of restaurants and attractions between the resort and La Fortuna. There were four of us traveling and we were relying on taxis. The front desk were good in arranging taxis for us. Cost into town was between $13 and $15 each way. Since there were four of us, the cost wasn't a big concern.

Rooms
We were put into the rooms that were just opened last month. Honestly, there were a lot of minor things that still needed to be completed - moulding not stained, safes not bolted down in rooms, ceiling fans/bedside tables and lamps missing. Probably needed a few more weeks to be completed. If you do decide to stay here and are put into the new rooms ask for an upper level room as the sound installation between the room that we stayed in on the ground floor and the room above was not that great.

Restaurant
Found that breakfast and lunch were the best. The dinner that we had on our first night was mediocre and decided to eat off the resort on the next two nights. If you can't make it to breakfast because you have an early morning tour the restaurant will provide you with a "breakfast box" the night before with cereal, juice and fruit. There was however a lot of confusion on the part of the staff as to what time the restaurant actually opened. Depending upon who we asked, it was supposed to open anywhere from 6:30 to 7:30.

Bar/Pool Area
Enjoyed the happy hour on 3 ocassions. One of the bartenders was very friendly. The pool area is very nice but the pool heater wasn't working and landed up not using the pool.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Janster

we just got back from CR and stayed at lost iguana - we loved it - the staff - aaron (sp?) in particular - were great and friendly - stephanie was sweet and firendly and helped us on a few occasion for making calls, etc - we would stay again - we were 2 nights in a new room that was not finished, but nothing that affected our stay in any way really - we decided to add a night and were thus moved to a room that was older and thus finished so we saw the differences, but like i said, we did not have complaints - the other thing was that when we checked out, they took $40 per night off of the 1st room since it was unfinished - that was a nice bonus!

oh, just one other thing, we never used off or any other bug spray and never got bit - trust me, mosquitos could find me in the arctic, i get bit that much, but was never bit in costa rica until we were near the coast and then you deal - i mean, i don't out off on when i am laying on a beach in the US, so why would i there???!!!