Hotel La Rana de Arenal

Friendly host. And good German beer. Nice birding view

No power in our two units. No response from emergency number for 4 hours by which time we had left. Main hotel property had power but our remote double unit had none. Which meant no showers for us. Asked for refund but he refused because it was power outage. The power problem. Was a property issue and not the local power coop Diner was marginal and slow and wine was not drinkable.

I had a nice and comfortable room with a spectacular view on the beautiful garden and on the Arenal lake. The host Reinhard en hostess Cecilia are very warm and welcoming and ready to help with anything.

Beautiful spot. Grounds well groomed, fantastic view of Lake Arenal. Floral absolutely stunning. Sound of birds everywhere. Lovely path runs along adjoining creek. Beautiful rain forest area. Room nicely kept. Clean. Quiet. Only one hour from Arenal National Park. 20 minutes to Lake Arenal public beach.

The accommodations were basic. Which is what I expected and what I paid for. The room and bathroom were small, but clean and comfortable. The hotel owner and his staff were friendly. I was one of only two people staying in the hotel (off season). The room does not have AC, but that was not an issue as the evenings at that elevation were cool. The howler monkeys woke me up a few times during the night. The trucks out on the road got a bit loud when going downhill and using the Jake Brake, and that would trigger the howler monkeys to call out. Nothing that could be done about that. The view of the lake was very nice from the patio outside of my room and the restaurant balcony above me. The food prices were reasonable. I had a very nice breakfast each of the two mornings of my stay, for about $10 (fresh fruit, fresh bread with butter and jellies, scrambled eggs, coffee, etc.) and dinner one evening for about $22 (steak, sides and a couple of pints of beer).

The property is a beautifully landscaped mountain hideaway. I thoroughly enjoyed touring the extensive garden and you have to go find the hidden swimming lagoon in the forest !

The driveway is quite steep, might be tight space for a larger vehicle.

nice view to the lake