This hotel left a lot to be desired. The road in is beyond treacherous. The potholes are unbelievable and you really have to plan your day to make a maximum of one trip out and one trip in.

The restaurant was expensive and the food not that great.

We arrived a day after one of the worst storms in years so they were running off of a generator. We had no hot water for the first day and a half which, while not their fault, did not help me enjoy my stay.

I agree with other writers that the front desk staff was a little pushy in trying to get you to sign up for their affiliated services and not very accommodating when you ask for help beyond that.

BUT, despite the drawbacks if you are lucky enough to catch the volcano on one of the few nights that it is not covered by cloud you will be in prime location for an experience that you will not soon forget. As I understand it, it is the only hotel that currently has a view of the lava flow after the shift in the flow last year.

We stayed 3 nights and the volcano was for the most part covered by cloud the whole time. On our second night in the early morning hours we woke up and watched the volcano spewing lava down its slopes. We stayed up all night watching it. It was unbelievable and amazing.

We quickly forgot about any complaints we had and were astonished by the experience.

So, as long as the lava stays where it is, I'd say it's worth putting up with a few problems and keeping your fingers cross that the clouds will clear out long enough to see the volcano in action.

We were booked in to the rooms directly opposit the bar/restauraunt and had a balcony which looked over the volcano, via the balcony to our right.

The Volcano and the weather are beyond the control of the lodge so any failure to see eruptions/lava I'll leave aside.

The rooms are so-so. I thought the restauraunt lazy and disappointing. Once you're at the lodge you are going to eat there, but that's no excuse for a lack of imagination or care in cooking. This was probably one of the least exciting places to eat.

There's some good birdlife in the grounds and you can be entertained by an incredibly obese coati.

There are several trails that are walkable from the Lodge which are worth doing - we did the trail to the nearby waterfall, and the Tucanes Trail which leads to the old Lava fields; in daytime both of these are self-guided.

I found our room noisy in the evening - staff (and guests) standing around below our balcony talking loudly. It went quiet at about 10pm when the pond pumps and other electrical systems went off, and you could just hear periodic volcanic eruptions.

The onsite museum is OK but could be so much more.

We found staff in the office to be brusque and less than helpful with questions and guidance.

I'd stay here again for a view of the volcano, but not for the lodge, its rooms or amenities.

We were only there for one night. We would have seen lava or the volcano if we were there a day earlier. The ground was beautiful. The pool with the waterfall seems nice. The suspension bridge to the restaurant was fun. We saw many species of birds as well as mammals. The Smithsonian room was large, no air-conditioner needed. I would rate the lodge excellent if the walls surrounding the bathroom had better sound-proof. We wish we spent more days there.

To see the volcano in full action this is the only place to stay and it is set in very nice grounds. However I`m sure that they rely on this monopoly position. The staff were OK but we found it the least friendly or helpful of the seven places we stayed in CR. The fact that cloud hid the volcano most of the time was a further disappointment but unfortunately this does seem to be the norm. We had a Smithsonian room which had huge windows facing the volcano. However it was partly hidden by a large conifer planted by the hotel, and there was a road just in front of the window so all the staff arriving early in the morning stared straight in if the curtains were open. All that said at just before midnight on our last night the cloud lifted and we had a brief but very spectacular display of red hot rocks pouring down the mountainside which made the visit worthwhile.
The meals on site were expensive and the place had the feel of a holiday camp resort. To go anywhere else is at least a 30 minute drive. There are places in the area worth visiting and we particularly enjoyed the Sky Tram and Train nearby amd Arenal Hanging Bridges near the dam.