The Springs Hotel in Arenal

Like I’d previously said, I let a travel agent coordinate everything for our last minute trip & she suggested The Springs Resort near the Arenal volcano.  After checking out their website, I quickly agreed it would be an amazing place to stay.  We took a private transfer and drove 2-3 hours from San Jose to a remote resort on a steep hillside with stunning volcano views when the clouds lifted.

The main building is 5 stories tall, each with spectacular views and open-air design with lots of open windows and light breezes blowing through.  You arrive on the top level and that’s where the front desk is located and one of the many scenic lounge areas to relax and enjoy the views.

The first set of stairs down opens up into more gorgeous views & a little bar where you can sit and stare over the valley.  The hotel is fairly small (40-ish rooms?) and only a few years old, so everything seems nice and new and we never felt like it was crowded at all.

Also on this level is the 3 Waterfalls restaurant, where we ate a yummy buffet breakfast every morning & enjoyed a few lunches.

We ate dinner 2 nights in this quiet corner since it was dark & we could enjoy the babbling of the waterfalls at night.  One night the food was great and one night it was average. Although our breakfasts were included, lunch and dinner were additional.  I thought the prices were a bit steep, but probably typical for resort prices.  I also didn’t realize that the tip/service was already included & we tipped 20% on top of the total.  It was our fault for not noticing sooner & we usually received excellent service.

The Windows restaurants is their fancy dining experience with great views above the tree tops.  Since it was dark most nights around 6, we decided to skip dining here since there’s not much of  a view at night.

The mid-level of the resort is for the spa and gym facilities.  They were running a 2-for-1 massage special that made the prices reasonable, but without it, the prices would have been very high.   The gym facilities were large & I loved running on the treadmill and staring out the huge bay windows.  The spa was super-swank with tons of rooms and all the amenities you’d expect at a such a resort.   One more level down was the casual floor with the sushi bar & game room filled with tons of board games, adult games (chess, darts, pool) and video games.  We ate dinner 2 nights at the sushi bar and found it to be excellent.  It was casual and we really enjoyed visiting with other couples at the resort.

Although the resort is really nice, it’s really all about the Arenal volcano!  You stay at this resort for the amazing views & all the local fun you can have exploring the rain forests. Since I was having camera troubles, I didn’t get a chance to take any room photos, but it was plush.  The enormous covered porch had 2 hammocks, a table with chairs & 2 rocking chairs where you could sit for hours enjoying the views.  There were floor to ceiling windows in the room & the bed faced the view above.  We enjoyed free wi-fi, a large flat-screen above the windows, integrated surround sound where we could plug in our iPod, a well-stocked minibar with snacks & 8 bottles of wine.  The bathroom was cavernous & super-swank with a gigantic tub and plenty of room.

Unfortunately, with all the rain, this was our more typical view of the volcano with clouds & frequent rain hiding the top of the cone.  There were two bird feeders out on our porch & a constant stream of hummingbirds whirring around.  It was so neat to sit there & watch them fly so closely.

Between the rain & being busy with other activities, we really didn’t spend much time in the pools or the springs.  The main pool was chlorinated and offered great views of the volcano when it was out.

The bottom level of the main resort is the pool with a swim-up bar & about half of the upper hot springs.  We grabbed a few quick drinks here several times- both in and out of the water.

The lunch restaurant is the treetops casual dining area.  We enjoyed a lovely lunch one day, watching the birds flying around, sitting at the tops of the trees & sipping on a bottle of wine.

We only got really clear views of the Arenal  Volcano on our last day & I grabbed my 300mm lens to snap a few photos.  The volcano had been active up until about 6 months ago & it has stopped erupting lava, so none of the volcano tours were currently operating while we were there.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY:  After 8 years of traveling for work, finally missed a connection last night & spent the night in the wrong city.  6AM flight from Cleveland got me home to Houston already though & I’m ready for the weekend!