The Arenal and La Fortuna Area
This was the first part of our trip and it was really great. We took a private driver from the Hampton Inn in San Jose up to the Nayara. Our tours drove through La Fortuna but there wasn't anything in the town that we felt compelled to see.
Arenal Nayara Hotel, Spa & Gardens - Wow, what a place! It is one of the top resorts in Central and South America and we were really impressed with it. There are almost as many staff as guests and they were extremely responsive. We ate most of our meals in the main restaurant (Altamira) and were quite satisfied, especially with the breakfast buffet. The tours we took (below) came and picked us up right at the door so we did not miss having a rental car, especially after we saw the condition of the local roads.
Caño Negro - Our first day trip was straight north to see Caño Negro. The tour bus drove for nearly 2 hours to get us to the town of Los Chiles where we took a small tour boat to cruise down the Rio Frio. We were a little disappointed in it because most of what we saw were the same birds we see in Florida. Tourists with limited Florida experience were a lot more impressed with the egrets and herons. The high point of the trip for us may have been at the bio break that was taken half way to the boat, because there were a number of very large iguanas in the trees just feet away from where we were standing.
Sky Tram Arenal - This was a much shorter day trip that we took on our second day in the Arenal area. We weren't sure exactly what we were going to see, but we were sure that we did not want to go on the zip line.
Chocolate Tour - The Chocolate Tour was one of the most unassuming yet enjoyable tours of our trip. It was conducted in a small area, just off the road; we probably didn't walk more than 200 yards to see the plants. The balance of the tour was done in a small enclosure right behind the registration building. It was very interesting to see the process from tree to chocolate and to learn what is important for good chocolate. We got to sample the chocolate at the end but it was the real thing—not some milk chocolate from a store.
