Day 2: San Jose – La Fortuna
Our room rate at the Hilton Garden Inn included breakfast. The breakfast buffet was quite extensive. We had time to sample the many food offerings since our driver from Travel Excellence wasn’t due to pick us up until 10am.
La Paz Waterfall Gardens
Our driver Alex took us from San Jose to our first stop, the La Paz Waterfall Gardens. It’s a privately owned property that includes a hotel. Alex served as both our driver and our guide inside the gardens.
There are several areas to explore such as an aviary, butterfly garden, and enclosures for sloths, monkeys, big cats, and more. Walking inside the butterfly garden was my kids’ favorite part of the day. The butterflies were fluttering all around us, the kids held out their hands and the butterflies landed on them. We spent quite awhile admiring the butterflies before moving on.
Lunch was included with our admission. This was the mid-point of our time at La Paz Waterfall Gardens. Most items were traditional Costa Rican foods such as chicken, pork, rice, beans, tortillas, etc. Hot dogs and pizza were also available. Juice, tea, and coffee were complimentary.
We got absolutely drenched during the second half of the tour. We only made it to two of the four waterfalls. The trails to the waterfalls consisted of gravel pathways and bridges. It’s relatively accessible however there were lots of stairs coming back up from the waterfalls. A shuttle in the form of a converted school bus returns guests to the visitor center.
Upon leaving, the drive to the La Fortuna area took a few hours. Although the rain continued for much of the drive, road conditions were pretty good.
Arenal Manoa Hot Springs Resort
We arrived at Arenal Manoa Hot Springs Resort in the late afternoon. Our room type was upgraded to a Chato Suite. To our surprise, we had a private plunge pool with a huge outdoor patio and an outdoor shower. My son didn’t waste a minute, and jumped right into the pool. We had views of the volcano for awhile, before clouds shrouded it.
Arenal Volcano is a conical stratovolcano. It’s a large, symmetrical volcano built upon layers of ash, rock and lava – and stands 5,437 feet. It was once Costa Rica’s most active volcano, but went into a resting period in 2010. The volcano was erupting when I last visited Costa Rica. We slept with our curtains open, watching streams of red lava drip down the sides of the volcano.
Our spacious room at Arenal Manoa slept four with two double beds. It had a large bathroom. There was a small seating area for two people inside. The room also had a desk and a large closet with a safe, iron, umbrellas, robes and slippers. We also appreciated the wet bar with a sink, small fridge and a Nespresso coffee maker.
Night fell, and the rains started just as we headed out for dinner. We’d made reservations at Ohashi Sushi at the hotel. The restaurant has just a few tables and is located next to one of the thermal pools. Eating sushi poolside in Costa Rica, was an unexpectedly delicious surprise. We had some great rolls and gyoza.
My son didn’t eat enough and was hungry a few hours later. Room service wasn’t available until after 10pm. So the boys walked to Alambique Pizzeria at the pool and brought back two wood-fired pizzas.
KidTripster Tip: The hotel doesn’t have any snacks or beverages for sale in reception. I’d recommend picking up a few snacks and drinks in town. There’s a grocery store about 10 minutes down the road.
Keep reading: click “3” to find out about our first sloth in the wild sighting.
[ Related: How to Plan a Family Trip to Costa Rica ]
