Chachagua Rainforest Hotel
We stayed at this hotel during the rainy season, more specifically, 2014.Oct.16th - 21st.
We bought a package deal to this hotel through Living Social and as we had been one of the lucky ones to get in early on it, got an upgrade to a bungalow suite.
> > Hotel Bungalow:
The bungalow is quite spacious. The outside patio/porch has a loveseat sofa, chair, hammock and table. Also a small bar table and 2 stools (we never used them). I thoroughly enjoyed reading in the hammock.
The bungalow had a king sized bed with a thinner coil mattress (heavier people may find this mattress not supportive enough). The bungalow has an armoire with a few shelves and a safe and for some reason only 2 coat hangers (more coat hangers please!).
There are 2 bedside tables, each with a lamp, a small table, 2 chairs and a drying rack. The windows have either wood shutters or roll down blinds that give you privacy and also block out the morning sun which can wake you up to early in the morning.
The bungalow has 2 ceiling fans in the main room and 1 in the washroom.
The washroom has a rain-style shower head with lots of room to maneuver in and comes with the usual shower gel, shampoo, conditioner and hand soap. The washroom has windows at head height, so you can look out into the jungle...Chachagua Rainforest Hotel
We stayed at this hotel during the rainy season, more specifically, 2014.Oct.16th - 21st.
We bought a package deal to this hotel through Living Social and as we had been one of the lucky ones to get in early on it, got an upgrade to a bungalow suite.
> > Hotel Bungalow:
The bungalow is quite spacious. The outside patio/porch has a loveseat sofa, chair, hammock and table. Also a small bar table and 2 stools (we never used them). I thoroughly enjoyed reading in the hammock.
The bungalow had a king sized bed with a thinner coil mattress (heavier people may find this mattress not supportive enough). The bungalow has an armoire with a few shelves and a safe and for some reason only 2 coat hangers (more coat hangers please!).
There are 2 bedside tables, each with a lamp, a small table, 2 chairs and a drying rack. The windows have either wood shutters or roll down blinds that give you privacy and also block out the morning sun which can wake you up to early in the morning.
The bungalow has 2 ceiling fans in the main room and 1 in the washroom.
The washroom has a rain-style shower head with lots of room to maneuver in and comes with the usual shower gel, shampoo, conditioner and hand soap. The washroom has windows at head height, so you can look out into the jungle as you shower.
You will need to bring your own toothbrush/paste, razor, etc. If you need a hairdryer, you can borrow one from the staff in the reception area. There are no electronics in the room (phone, tv, clock radio, etc).
> > Hotel Restaurant:
The restaurant for this hotel was the most vexing part of the stay. The food was very westernized, I don't mind eating "American" style food but when I travel, I would prefer to eat local flavours and products.
The other aspect is that the food felt expensive for what it was. As we had not rented a vehicle, we had numerous meals at the restaurant, breakfast was included, in our package, but lunches and dinners were not.
We had some sandwiches with fries for lunch one time and the sandwich was contained in a small hot dog bun with less than a handful of fries. Add 23% tax on it and the meal does not match the price. This is probably why the menu is not listed on their website.
Dinner meals were slightly more expensive and more filling than lunch but we still could have gotten a better deal at home or in the nearby town of La Fortuna.
On one occasion, we bought food in La Fortuna and stuffed ourselves for less than half the price of dinner at the hotel. On another occasion, we ate in town and had leftovers which the kitchen staff were nice enough to let us store in their fridge.
For breakfast, to get the most out of your meal, order the American breakfast which includes fruit in the beginning, juice, eggs, toast, rice & beans. For lunch, the best bang for your buck is probably the Casado Tipico.
Do NOT order dessert, it's overpriced for what it is. Some of the items feel store bought and tasted of artificial flavour.
> > Hotel Pool:
The pool is just beside the restaurant and is spring feed (so the sign says). The water is cool to cold, depending on what you're used to. The pool is in the shape of 2 ovals, one smaller oval is the shallow pool, great for kids and the other is deeper and although not optimal for swimming laps, is still suitable for such use.
We had almost exclusive use of the pool during our stay and swam laps in the deeper pool. The water is very clean and clear, no salt or chlorine. Some spots closer to where the water comes in were a little slimy/slippery, but otherwise not really an issue. There were tadpoles living in the pool at the bottom which were fun to see.
> > Hotel Tours:
Included with our package deal was one on-site activity and one off-site activity. For our on-site activity, we chose the night walk which was lead by David, this was the best part of our stay at the hotel. David is very knowledgeable and we saw numerous types of frogs, spiders, lizards, an opossum and insects. This tour started at 6 pm and went until almost 9 pm.
I suggest having lunch late before the tour, otherwise you'll get hungry during it (if you had lunch at noon, you won't be eating until almost 9 hours later). Or bring snacks for the tour.
For our off-site activity, we chose the Arenal Volcano tour + hot springs visit. This tour was contracted out to Desafio Adventure Company. We had a good time and enjoyed the hot spring at Los Lagos. We also had dinner there which was very good (just don't order the steak though, it's tough). I will try and put in a review for it as well.
We also signed up for 2 more off site tours with Desafio through the hotel. They were the Arenal hanging bridges tour and the chocolate tour. Both of these tours were fun, but if I had to choose between one or the other, I'd go with the chocolate tour.
* * My tour tip * * Take the tours in the morning, it felt as if there was more rain in the afternoon versus the morning.
> > Wi-Fi:
The hotel's wi-fi can be used in the reception area, restaurant / pool area and surprisingly we had a pretty good signal in our room which was one of the closer bungalows. I did see a desktop at the back of the restaurant but never used it myself.
> > Overall Feel:
The price point for food and the 23% tax are the deal breakers for this place, but if you've got the money to spare, then it can be worth it.
We did enjoy our stay at this hotel, but we kept comparing it to Morgan's Rock in Nicaragua which is similar in style.
In the end we both felt that Morgan's Rock was a better stay in terms of food, environment, location. You can read my review about it.
If we were to stay in Costa Rica again, we'd probably pick something in La Fortuna or around the Arenal Volcano area just so that we're closer to more food options and activities, having to drive around so much cuts into enjoyment time.More
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