3

I don't know which hot springs you guys went to outside Arenal, but I went to the Baldi Termae. That place was THE SHIT! In addition to the swim-up bars, they had giant water slides that you could ride down into the hot springs, and other pools had waterfalls. It was a little more expensive then the other hot spring options but I thought it was well worth it.

2/1/2010 1:47:39 PM

Kiwi is talking about Tabacon, which I've heard is good but overpriced and way too crowded.

We went to Eco Termales and it was great. I think it was ~$45 to go at night and it included a dinner. Drinks were like $3/mix drink and they made everything fresh.

2/1/2010 2:06:37 PM

Also folks, don't think that the ONLY hot springs are around Arenal. They are scattered all over central Costa Rica. The ones around Arenal are just the really touristy ones. When I was on my study program in 04, we went to a remote hot spring in a totally different area. They even had a pool that was 48 degrees Celsius (118 F)! While it didn't have all the glitz and glamor, it was still really cool and they made the best Piña Coladas I've ever had.

Also, looking through my pictures I found the place I stayed in San Jose that I really liked, it's called Hotel La Amistad.

[Edited on February 1, 2010 at 2:44 PM. Reason : ]

2/1/2010 2:41:48 PM

Well, we decided that we just wanted to do all accommodations free, so we're staying three nights at Costa Rica Marriott San Jose: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sjocr-costa-rica-marriott-hotel-san-jose/



And three nights at JW Marriott Guanacaste Resort & Spa: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sjojw-jw-marriott-guanacaste-resort-and-spa/



I can't wait! T minus 10 days!

I'll take plenty of pics and report back.

[Edited on March 18, 2010 at 11:12 AM. Reason : ]

3/18/2010 11:12:26 AM

one of my coworkers got a sweet job lined up in costa rica but she had to sign a 2 or 3 year contract and bailed. wtf!

3/18/2010 6:16:00 PM

what kind of job? two years is a long time to commit to. i loved costa rica but don't know if i could do it for two years...

3/18/2010 8:34:29 PM

i'm fairly certain it was a teaching position. i'd have done it in a heartbeat!

maybe. i'd have to know more specifics. but i'm dying to get out of here!

3/19/2010 5:35:31 PM

bump

2/27/2012 2:37:35 PM

this thread bumpage reminds me that I would love to get back there.

2/27/2012 2:47:01 PM

hi everyone!

so a friend and i are going in june for 11 nights. we are flying into san jose and then the plan is to head to arenal for 3 nights, 1 night in a hotel right by the rio celeste river in the tenorio national park, 4 nights at an all inclusive resort in playa samara, and then the last three nights we were thinking of staying in montezuma.

i was mainly wondering if anyone had seen the rio celeste and if it is worth it, from what i've read its a hike to get to and would take pretty much the whole day, but the youtube videos ive seen look really awesome (mainly the waterfall). there is a hotel right by the park but it is kind of expensive, so i'm wondering if we should just skip this stop.

if anyone has stayed in those areas and has any must see/must do activities and food recommendations that would be awesome!

we are also thinking of renting a car since we will be driving to so many locations. neither of us has been so any input on car vs. public transportation that would be helpful as well

2/27/2012 2:54:16 PM

sky trek zip lines are arenal were awesome/crazy/terrifying/spectacular. highly, highly recommended.

we stayed at the lost iguana in arenal and it was fantastic.

if we were going to do it again, we probably would've rented a car. just a heads up, the roads in costa rica are terribad

2/27/2012 2:58:52 PM

^^
Montezuma is awesome. The food there is really good and monkeys tend to hang out nearby in the mornings. Definitely go to the waterfalls. There are different ones you can jump off up to 50'.

For Santa Teresa, I second the zipline. I did the Monteverde and it was really amazing. I'd try to do a hike also so you can see the forest at a slower pace.

[Edited on February 27, 2012 at 3:22 PM. Reason : .]

2/27/2012 3:22:23 PM

I highly recommend staying at Casa Luna near Arenal. You have a view of Arenal, free breakfast, walking distance to a waterfall, and free wifi.

http://www.casalunahotel.com/

2/27/2012 3:41:55 PM

+1 to Casa Luna.

2/27/2012 3:44:12 PM

this thread bumpage reminds me that I would love to get back there. take my husband there and I also question what the heck was I on back in 2006 when I posted on the first page

2/27/2012 8:07:48 PM

Luckez, if either of you have even basic Spanish skills, you can save a lot of money and make your way around rather easily using public transportation, the bus system is good. Especially since you're not traveling to too many places on your itinerary. Not to mention that driving there is pretty hectic, I wouldn't want to drive unless I had to.

2/27/2012 11:34:16 PM

Nayara Arenal is the bomb. My wife and i stayed there for the first leg of our honeymoon.

BTW you can go to the hot springs at Tabacon without being a guest there. Ask your hotel about an excursion.. we did an evening there and ate a wonderful buffet that had lots of awesome stuff to eat. Enjoy Costa Rica, we can't wait to go back

2/29/2012 1:39:00 PM

just an idea... my brother and his wife honeymooned in costa rica. instead of registering for wedding gifts, they registered their honeymoon on a website - wedding guests could put $ toward the flight or lodging, or purchase an excursion for them. their entire trip ended up being paid for!

2/29/2012 1:54:50 PM

wow nayara looks really nice! unfortunately its a little more than we want to spend in arenal. we will probably go with casa luna or hotel las lagos (hot springs @ the hotel).

so no comments on rio celeste? i was really hoping someone had been there.

we are definitely ziplining and waterfall rappelling in arenal, and waterfall jumping in montezuma. hopefully we will see some sloths at some point

2/29/2012 8:11:00 PM

Seriously, Casa Luna is a great deal.

2/29/2012 9:20:24 PM

Quote :

"wow nayara looks really nice! unfortunately its a little more than we want to spend in arenal. we will probably go with casa luna or hotel las lagos (hot springs @ the hotel). so no comments on rio celeste? i was really hoping someone had been there. we are definitely ziplining and waterfall rappelling in arenal, and waterfall jumping in montezuma. hopefully we will see some sloths at some point "

We hoped for the same thing! we whizzed past a bus load of ppl taking pictures of one in a tree but after 8 days of nothing it happened. On our last day in CR (Manual Antonio) one of the hotel boys pointed one out to me high in a tree. It was awesome.. don't be afraid to ask the front desk about sloth sightings

3/2/2012 1:28:10 PM

also before you book anything, take a look at this site: http://www.costaricaexperts.com..
it's a US based company but they scored us an awesome deal on what would have been an expensive honeymoon. this is the dude that helped us:

aaron@costaricaexperts.com


you can simply tell him what your price range is, what you're into, what excursions you're interested in, what you DON'T want etc.. and he can custom tailor a package for you

3/2/2012 1:36:55 PM

This was our favorite restaurant in La Fortuna (near Arenal):

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g309226-d1232382-Reviews-Nene_s_Restaurant-La_Fortuna_de_San_Carlos_Arenal_Volcano_National_Park_Province_of_Alajuela.html

3/2/2012 6:18:24 PM

For those of you who stayed in Manuel Antonio, which hotel did you choose? I'm having a hard time deciding. Thanks!

5/1/2012 8:44:17 PM

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g309274-d1155011-Reviews-Falls_Resort_at_Manuel_Antonio-Manuel_Antonio_National_Park_Province_of_Puntarenas.html

5/1/2012 9:12:49 PM

We stayed at Byblos. Hotel Si Como No is also nice (it was recommended to us by our friends that actually live in Costa Rica but it was already booked).

5/4/2012 10:25:03 AM

3 words: Bot Fly Larvae

5/4/2012 10:27:15 AM

going at the end of the month for just shy of 2 weeks

any suggestions for less touristy places that are worth going to? i don't mean that they don't have tourists, just looking for some places that aren't THE places everyone visits

thinking about renting a car, so it should give us a fair amount of freedom

also: any good reason not to do roundtrip to san jose? i'd glady fly into/out of san jose/liberia if it's worth driving from one to the other (ie. lots to see in between)

[Edited on April 5, 2014 at 7:56 PM. Reason : .]

4/5/2014 7:47:03 PM

go see the rio celeste in the tenorio national park. its like an hour from arenal in a town called bijagua.

http://www.anywherecostarica.com/attractions/river/rio-celeste

we went early in the day and it was maybe a 20 minute hike to the main waterfall (not 1 hour like all the websites say). there were a few other people there but not so many that if felt "touristy". after swimming in the waterfall you can hike along the river and find another big swimming hole and hot springs (although we didn't find the hot springs).

stay at la carolina lodge (i believe owned by a couple from SC)

http://cms.lacarolinalodge.com/

it is a rustic little place with a main house and the individual cabins also. we didn't have reservations anywhere in costa rica just walked in and got the best prices that way, however no one here spoke english so it was a little challenging. they do family style meals outside of the main house so it is a good way to socialize if other people are staying there. dinners were candlelit (almost no electricity here) so it was also romantic. they do horse back rides to the waterfall although we decided to just hike on our own. there is also a natural hot tub on the river behind the lodge. a metal coil wraps around a fire pit, water flows in one end from the river and out the other end into the hot tub which is just a bunch of rocks built into the side of the river.


waterfall


swimming in river (we got scolded for this by some hippie woman)


river hot tub


trails leading to cabins


my other favorite place was montezuma. it is a little hippie beach town, lots of americans but it seemed mostly like young student types, not too touristy. you can hike to a set of three waterfalls and jump off of the first two. the third would probably kill you. i only did the first one but regretted not jumping off the second (bigger) fall.

we also rented atv's here and drove to the next town over (santa teresa). we drove out onto the beach and went for miles and miles where there were no houses/people/anything. it was like being on a deserted island, we found a sea tortoise skeleton which was neat.



walkin the streets of montezuma


PM me if you want a link to my photo albums, i don't want to spam too much!


ps if you go to jaco say hello to the kitty bartender for me



[Edited on April 5, 2014 at 9:25 PM. Reason : meow]

4/5/2014 9:19:05 PM