Pura Vida Costa Rica!

Costa Rica | Jan 23 - Feb 2, 2024

Pros: Wonderful staff, great location, breakfast buffet, swim up bar, quiet Cons: dated premise, spotty Wifi (at checkout the credit card machine went offline), our bathroom had soap scum and hair, common areas are hot, quiet (we were here on a weekday so the vibe might pick up during the weekend idk) Our meals were fine at the hotel, very nice and friendly staff. We also ventured out and can recommend El Chante (low key 80/90's American pop music), Morpho Beach Bar (walkable) and El Avion (nice sunset views in an old airplane hanger)

We spent most our time off-site but we did enjoy the volcanic mud spa massage and little walking trail. Location was convenient for us, we had parking, breakfast buffet was good, enjoyed the rainforest showers and birds from our 'porch'. Close by recommendations: El Chante Verde, Rainbow Chocolate tour, Tiquicia - town is a 7 min drive We went to Paradise Hot Springs at night, the front desk was able to rearrange a pass on short notice.

This place was a dream. Don't leave during sunset, the views are amazing. We had the honeymoon suite, which was huge and the balcony made my life. We only had the breakfast buffet, which was great, bustling during pre-tour hours and the good variety. Treated to a spa massage, amazing. Wish we had more time here to check out the indoor pool and canopy tour but next time! Note: Take the hotel shuttle or drive, everything is uphill; or walk, your calves will look amazing afterwards.

All-inclusive with great view of the bay. Very kid-friendly. We stayed in the hotel section, which had it's own parking lot, view of the bay overlooking the main pool and buffet restaurant (dinner/breakfast was fine but they ran out of food so sometime you were waiting) Staff was nice, my Spanish is rusty so they were patient and kind. Cocktails were inconsistent but it's free so not complaining. They have a lot of on-site activities (like movie night by the pool, dancing lessons) and beach shuttle. Note: need to go to the pool by the wet bar to trade in your towel card, open til 5pm. In the hotel, we didn't see elevators, it's not hard to navigate the stairs but just a note if you have heavy suitcases :) Driving in Entrance is split by two booths, one for Condovac on the left and Villa Sol on the right.

Our guide, Luis, was so knowledgeable and set the bar pretty high for the rest of our trip. He balanced giving information, addressing questions, taking photos in a great pace. The tour walk is short in distance but I felt very satisfied in what we learned and saw. We spent some extra time in the park afterwards exploring the beaches and other trails, we definitely did not see much without Luis' trained eye :)

I was nervous about kayaking the ocean waves but our guide was kind and patient, he explained the schedule and we were off! It was basically a straight shot to the snorkel area, we had good time, it was a bit cloudy but we saw some cool fish and starfish. Our guide tried to point out as much as he could but it was a bit cloudy and here was just some fish (at the time, and I was admittedly a little distracted with the low tide and avoiding rocks). The snorkel gear was basic and I couldn't get my life jacket out of the way (lol) but it was a good kayak, swim, fruit snack, and then kayak back, hop in the shuttle and drove to the tour's restaurant for casado lunch.

Walking the dark trails were exciting, we loved the idea of being able to see the nocturnal nightlife. We saw a lot of bugs and an armadillo lol but it was still fun. Our guide had fun stories and good trivia facts. I enjoyed how the guides helped each other, communicated via radio and left sticks pointing to sleeping creatures. Wish we saw some more frogs and more animals but that's definitely not in the control of the our guide.

I'm terrified of heights and had to do the 7-course zipline! I would recommend the Sky Adventure Sky tram + Zipline tour, we had a nice ride up the skytram, where the guides made small talk about a little history of Arenal and some biodiversity facts. The only way down was going through the 7 ziplines (1 intro, 5 long, 1 short to the finish line), our group made it through fairly quickly and with ease. The guides did a great job distracting us during any hold ups or waiting on line. I felt very safe and comfortable, even when I was terrified. This was for sure a once in a lifetime experience for me, I even bought the photo package.

Kuna Vela was great time! The staff was helpful, they even took some photos on the beach and on the boat. Originally, when we booked it we thought we were going to a snorkeling site but with the recent rainstorms, they recommended going to Huevos Playa where we could check out the caves AND do some snorkeling. It was a great alternative. We spent an hour on the beach, checked out the cave (we didn't get to walk to the other beach but it was still good photo op and great timing cause after 45min there were waves and the tide was definitely coming in), they gave out some snorkel gear and noodles to float, some people saw a turtle, lots of fish. Then we took the dingy back to the sailboat, plenty of food, offered lots of drinks, relaxing sail back, saw some dolphins, flying fish, birds, birds, birds, and a manta ray.