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Los Lagos Costa Rica La Fortuna Area Tours
While trying to decide where to stay in the Arenal area, you can be overwhelmed by the many different choices. And everyone on the board is giving one opinion better than the other.
If you are very choosy, nit picky and only want the plushiest atmosphere do not come to this hotel.
Los Lagos is closer to La Fortuna than to Arenal. And there is not much to do in La Fortuna. If you blink you are through the town. And the town is dismal. Not a picturesque type of place.
But let’s start with the hotel-----
The rooms are very large, we booked 2 supreme rooms for 2 adults and 2 teens, when we could have gotten away with 1 room. There are 2 queen size beds. Each one has a trundle (double size) that slides out of the front end. So each of our kids could have had a bed for themselves. The bathroom was also very new and large. But since we are in a tropical area, no matter how clean they try to keep the rooms, there were always little, tiny bugs (in the bathroom). If you keep the door open at night you will get more.
As I said the rooms are very large, sparsely furnished, but with enough furniture to hold our luggage, clothing etc. We stayed for 3 days, which was 1 day too many in my opinion.
The breakfast buffet had a large selection of fruit and each day the menu changed for hot items. They tried to accommodate the American breakfast diet, along with the Costa Rican diet, so you can try a little bit of everything. This was more of a 3 star hotel.
The food was plentiful, but just okay. When we had dinner there I found the same to be true.
The staff was pleasant and helpful, but again I found it hard to deal with the theory of 2 people to a room therefore only 2 towels to a room idea. Since I know how poor the country is, I did not want to push it. They are trying to conserve water and energy just like all over the world.
The pool at the hotel is great for kids, with the wonderful slide going under a tunnel, and the hot water spa, being off to the side, so the parents can sit in it and even watch the kids there. But it might not be so grand for people without kids.
The main attraction that drew me to this hotel was the fact that it had acres of land to roam……. According to the web site. And animals on site to see.
So I booked this hotel even thought the travel agent recommended other places nearby.
Well I would just like to say that this hotel has the potential to be a Disneyesque type of facility if the owner took the time and money to put into it.
They do in fact have the land and animals here. There is a lovely walk way to see, turtles, alligators, butterflies, and birds at breakfast. They do have horses on the premises for rides. There are several lovely fish tanks.
This hotel is built on the side of the road along the volcano. There were too many clouds covering the volcano during our stay, perhaps you will be luckier. There is a walkway to an observatory.
Just up the road there is a brand new hotel that has built individual cabins right up along a hill looking smack up facing the volcano, but it won’t do you any good unless you have a clear day. And I think it will cost you an arm and a leg. Look before you leap for that hotel, cause they may have nothing else there to entertain you.
While in La Fortuna/Arenal we went for the Volcano Hike and Tabacon Hot Springs Tour.
Well in my humble opinion you could probably do without both. But that is just me. If you are going all the way to Costa Rica, I guess you have to go see a volcano, but all we got to see was a walk on the beach. Really. We walked for 45 minutes along what could have been along any other walk in the park, until you got to the part where you are actually walking on the lava flow at the very end. Then for 10 minutes you climb a very steep crag and look around (mind you again it could be cloudy, or raining, which it was for us) then you turn around and have to walk back.
Then later you go to the Tabacon Hot Springs which is so overcrowded that you have to be there for your time slot, not a minute before……. You get to sit in hot water, hotter water, and water so hot that you can’t sit in it. Hey some people like this kind of stuff.
Then you change and if everyone on your tour meets up at the agreed upon time, you are ushered into dinner for a buffet that again is mediocre. But by this time you are so hungry you will eat anything.
If I had to do it over again, I would have gone to the smaller hot springs Baldi, or not hot springs at all.
The next day we went white water rafting. Since we went in January and not the rainy season the water was just perfect for us. We only went for half a day. And only went on #3 rapids. This was perfect for fearful me. And even my teens and husband loved it too. We had a beautiful sunny day and it wasn’t too hot. The water was cold, but that made it perfect. This was along the Sarapiqui River. We wore our bathing suits with T shirts on top. They supplied the helmets, life preservers. If you have to wear sunglasses, make sure you also bring those things that attach them to your head. And wear Tevas, or sneakers. No flip flops or open sandals. You will just lose them. If you are wearing water shoes, make sure they are tight. This is white water rafting, not canoeing.
Along this trip they will be taking pictures of you, so SMILE…… You will stop mid point to have a small snack. They say during the heavy raining season, the water is so high that there are almost no rapids cause the water is just one big rush and you just move so fast that the trip that took us 2 ½ hours would take 1 hour. And afterwards when the season becomes hotter and the water dries up, it becomes more and more shallow, that you have to get out of the boat in places and carry it. Makes sense.
For the whole day trip you get lunch.
At the end of this trip you are taken back tour place nearby to change out of your bathing suits into dry clothing. No showers. And you might want to bring a light sweater along as the bus is air conditioned. At this point they will try to sell you a CD of the pictures of your trip. So remember smile. It’s a blast.
Next we took the Cano Negro Tour. This was not what I was expecting. First I did not know it was going to be a Boat Tour. And I didn’t know what we were going to see.
If you love birds. This is for you. The guides looked everywhere to spot all the nature life. We saw birds, of course, monkey’s, even an albino. Cayman’s, which is an alligator down there, lizards that look like UFO’s. etc. It was a nice relaxing afternoon.
Then the next day we went to Monteverde and the Zip Line Tour.
Save your zip line tour for Monteverde if you can. It’s up in the mountains and so much fun, and the hanging bridges are there too.
If you are going to go to the Taxi, boat, taxi route to Monteverde know that you will have to carry your luggage down a steep hill to the boat from the taxi, then up a steep slope with stairs to the next taxi. Unless you have a very nice driver that does this for you. Or your husband has the patience to do all of this. TRAVEL LIGHT.
When you get off the boat on the side of Monteverde, run to the nicest looking van with the cushiest seats. DON”T laugh. Your bottom will thank me. And don’t take the seats in the very back, no matter where anyone directs you. Even take the seat next to the driver if you can.
Look for the topic Monteverde Costa Rica next.
Crocs at Hotel Los Lagos
Crocs at Hotel Los Lagos in La Fortuna
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