Arenal – Volcano and Lake

Don’t expect rivers of lava, Hawaii style but do expect a spectacular sight.  Arenal is active and, at times, rumbles throatily, even alarmingly if this is not what you expected. ‘Is this normal?’ you ask yourself and then see other people going about their daily business and can only assume it is!  Smoke can be seen billowing from the crater and, during the day, the ashy flanks are disturbed as newly ejected  material tumbles and rolls down the sides. It’s not all the time of course, sometimes there is more activity than others. We have been to Arenal on three occasions and  each time the ‘volcano experience’ was different.

It is actually as if it isn’t there at all and this is a big thing to hide!

If you are there and its cloudy or raining, give it as much time as you can spare, the clouds may part and it is worth the wait.

If you are staying at a lodge or hotel on the ‘wrong’ side or in La Fortuna, or indeed if you are just visiting for the day, you can always drive around to visit one of the lodges in the lava zone, in the hope of getting to see something of the eruption. Visit www.arenal.net and check out the Hotel tab to see which hotels have lava views. Each hotel will even go as far as offering you rooms with or without lava views (prices obviously higher for those which do!) Some claim you can watch the lava from the comfort of your bed. Personally, if I am close enough to a volcano to see it erupting, I am going to make the effort to get up and take a proper loook.

You can also take a cruise out onto Lake Arenal to see the lava.

The road out of La Fortuna towards the Arenal Dam is in good condition and has hotels, lodges, attractions and Hot Springs along the way. Some of the Hot Springs are luxurious and the prices reflect that, but there is a place to suit most pockets. As with the hotels, the Hot Springs advertise their volcano views. Most things around here are volcano related.

At the Dam the road crosses and leads out along the lake shore.

Quickly, the outlying lodges of La Fortuna are left behind and the road, superb on this stretch, quietens down. Traffic is very light,  tranquility reigns. To the left is the lake shore; to the right the bank rises to open land. The journey to Nuevo Arenal is between 45 minutes and an hour. Nearer to Nuevo Arenal private homes, lots for sale and rental accommodations are on the bank overlooking the lake  as well as a couple of restaurants,  a tourist shop and a marina. Nowhere is there a concentration of buildings, the predominant look is one of natural beauty.

Travelling on from Nuevo Arenal the road bends around the top of the lake, leading to the town of Tilaran and down to the Monteverde region. The road is rugged and pot holed in places and local advice is to allow plenty of time for this route.

Lodge Transfer – some lodges will offer bus transfer to your next location if it is relatively local – it is worth asking

The taxi – boat – taxi service crosses the lake daily for those who do not want to take the long road around to the cloud forest region of Monteverde. The Taxi -boat -taxi operates a pick service around La Fortuna, incorporates the boat crossing and ‘taxis’ (usually 4X4 mini buses) wait on the other side to transport travellers over the mountains to the cloudforest area of Santa Elena and Monteverde.

www.arenalobservatorylodge.com

The main building centres around a wooden deck and dining room that have truly great views of the volcano. As you arrive at reception and get that first stunning look you cannot fail to be impressed. Some of the rooms are around the reception area, some scattered throughout the grounds and are graded according to their facilities and views. We stayed near the reception area in a room that faced out into the forest. The rooms there are very spacious and comfortable; the fact that we couldn’t see the volcano from the room didn’t bother us as we only needed to take half a dozen steps outside to get the best view in the house!

From a comfortable chair on the main deck you can sit and watch the volcano, the bird tables and surrounding forest. Coatis stroll in, brightly coloured birds come by to feed and, on one occasion, a flock of noisy parrots circled and  landed. To the left of the main building the beautiful shimmering, Lake Arenal stretches away.

Over a hammock bridge there are lovely gardens to walk in and a swimming pool and jacuzzi.

A free guided walk is offered each morning and an excellent buffet breakfast is provided. Lunch is quite ‘fast’ in  style; nachos and  hot dogs and chips are on the menu but dinner is served in the candlelit dining room and is a much more gracious dining experience! The service is excellent.

www.arenallodge.com

Impression number 1 . It is a long way up! Once entering at a barrier off the lake road you would be forgiven for thinking, ‘Ah, here we are!’ Wrong. The road winds up and up; it is steep and there are plenty of tight bends but persistence pays off and finally you are really there

Impression number 2. As you walk into the huge, open reception area that has a long desk and seating areas that huge flash of blue and yellow overhead really is a Macaw. The lodge has two of them, reared here (not native to Costa Rica) and what a wonderful pair of creatures they are. The lovely thing about them is that they fly free whenever they choose, wheeling high and noisily over the lodge before coming back to perch on trees inside the reception area.

The Volcano – The view from the deck looks out over gardens, a small but pretty pool and down over rolling hills toward the volcano. The view is unimpeded and picturesque though the volcano is quite a distance away.

The rooms, like many of the places here, are scattered around the property and quite different in character. We stayed first in one of the ‘chalets’ which are, in fact, glass fronted buildings high up on a hill over the lodge. The views are fantastic; out to the volcano and to the lake. There is no balcony or other outside sitting space but the there is a sofa a chairs on the room positioned to look out over the view.

Our next stay was in one of the Junior Suites which are adjacent to the main building and do have a balcony looking out toward the volcano, pool and garden. We preferred to be down in the Junior suite, near to the bird life and garden. One day we had a really close look at a Tayra that came close in to the viewing deck. This animal is part of the weasel family, about 2 feet long and quite ‘chunky’ in stature. Other visitors were coati and, at a distance, deer and peccaries.

The lodge has a long,  and very worthwhile, rainforest nature trail. There is a free guided walk each morning. Our guide was knowledgeable and enthusiastic and, we felt, worked hard in dripping rainy conditions to show us some of the wonders of the place. He did an unforgettable demonstration of the power of Soldier Ant jaws on his own hand!

Food – Dinner is particularly well prepared and the service absolutely excellent. Lunch is fine though the service is not as good during the day and, though it did not spoil our stay, the breakfast was quite poor.

www.kokoroarenal.net

The small staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful.

Though kokoro do provide breakfast, when we were this this was the only meal catered for. The closest place for lunch or dinner was to go down into La Fortuna where there is plenty of choice. We were told that a full restaurant service was planned but their website seems to indicate that hasn’t happened yet. It would be worth checking before booking; we didn’t know until we arrived. Though taxis are readily available this lodge is probably more suitable for travellers with their own transport.

www.hangingbridges.com

The trail has been cleverly constructed into the forest so that it is quite easy going under foot but doesn’t impinge on the natural surroundings.

Some of the bridges are the fixed floor type and some are hanging or hammock bridges. You do need to be reasonably comfortable with heights; as you walk you see bridges further along the trail straddling huge gaps and high above your present position! Up there, you are able to look down on mighty rainforest trees laden with epiphytes  and get a birds eye view of the canopy.

That isn’t all there is to see; as well as plant life the guide will be on the look out for all sorts of wildlife. Birds are plentiful and special walk are available in the early mornings. We saw howler monkeys and an eyelash viper perfectly camouflaged against a log.

currently available (2010) through www.homeaway.com

We stayed at Casa Lago for ten days in November 2009. We were met at the house by the friendly manager, Patrick who showed us the ropes and gave us his mobile number for any future questions.

Casa Lago is comfortable and quirky with a very well equipped kitchen; almost everything you could possibly need was in there including lots of storage tubs, foil, cling film etc. There is a huge fridge freezer and a highly efficient washer and dryer. The main bathroom has a double sink unit, brightly painted with tropical frogs!

The sitting room also accommodates a dining table and there is a TV for use with DVD’s above the fireplace.

For the two of us Casa Lago was a great little base to take walks by the lake and visit Nuevo Arenal. Taxis are readily available but with your own car the volcano area is easily reachable for a day out.

The website says ‘sleeps six’ but I would hesitate to take six people there except if some were children; it honestly isn’t spacious enough to be a six adult house.

For us the only issue was the outside space. The patio at the back had not been completed and wasn’t usable and the lovely little ‘front porch’ where there is a hot tub just needed a couple of nice easy chairs so that we could enjoy being outside. It’s maybe a small thing but, when we are away we don’t want to sit indoors and there were lots of birds to seen out there, including parrots and trogons!

This place is good value for money and maybe they have some garden furniture by now!

www.gingerbreadarenal.com

It is hard to imagine how anyone could be disappointed with a meal at the Gingerbread. Eyal, the ebullient chef is passionate about the dishes he creates and it shows! Busy or not he takes the time to explain each dish and, unusually, he will warn that the portions are large. ‘Are you big eaters?’ ‘One between two will be plenty!’ Indeed , we ate at the Gingerbread several times and each time shared a main dish. The temptation to order a dessert each was sometimes too strong to resist; any regrets on this decision were related purely to our waistlines.

The small, carefully balanced menu, is tweeked and changed often so that there is always a good choice but the quality of food and preparation is consistently divine!

Eyal is an artist and his staff are equally caught up in the quest to provide an exceptional dining experience! The service is professional but never stuffy, efficient but totally personal.

Go there and enjoy!

Note: We didn’t stay at the hotel but would love to on a future visit. Check out the website, the rooms look beautiful and we would like to bet the breakfast is too!

www.arenalfishing.com

Ron made our little cruise very interesting; he has a good local knowledge and can add an interesting commentary on the area. He worked hard, taking us in and out of small inlets, to find the birds we wanted to see and would stop for as long as we required.

Most of al,l Ron has a deep appreciation for his adopted home at Lake Arenal and his love of the area comes over in his enthusiasm for everything here.

www.moranlakearenal.com

Not the type of place we would usually review but if you are in the area, Moran Real Estate is next to the Gingerbread Restaurant on Lake Arenal, and you may want to call in for a chat. Terry Moran is friendly  and very knowledgeable about the local area.

Lots and houses for sale can be seen along the lake, though on the opposite side of the road. (building is not allowed on the actual shore). It is all very spread out and beautiful; there is no feeling of being crowded in the slightest. You never know – there may be a place with your name on it!