Arenal Oasis is truly a terrific place. The best place I stayed in Costa Rica, while also being reasonably priced. It helps that the place is more sustainable than most. The restaurant on site and the night tour are also great. Recommend it highly!
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This lovely little eco nature reserve is certainly well worth a visit. We did a night walk and were treated to a great display of nature's wonders. Firstly a visit to see Cayman and crocs, which for a variety of reasons, need to be kept in captivity and we were enlightened to the differences between them. The tour continued, with the guide imparting a constant, detailed wealth of knowledge of fauna and flora as we walked. We had been given torches and were encouraged to look for frogs and between us (with help from the guide!), we found a remarkable variety of frogs including the iconic tree frog. We also saw a number of mammals, and reptiles and some awesome spiders. I cannot recommend this tour highly enough. It was reasonably priced at about $30 per head and we learnt so much and experienced so much. Seeing nature in the dark like this is not part of the usual tourist fare and was certainly a memorable part of our holiday, especially as we all love frogs!! There is a small simple cafe attached and we returned a couple of days later to have lunch which was well cooked, well flavoured and very well priced. Support this superb wildlife spot and you will be greatly rewarded in a fantastic experience and also in the knowledge that they are doing a great eco project which you are helping by going there.
We took the night tour and it was awesome! We saw lots of frogs, snakes and spiders! We were staying at another hotel when we booked the tour. The picked up up and dropped off at the hotel. Their English was perfect. They were very knowledgeable and we learned a lot about the animals and plants that we saw. Thanks Isaac for being a wonderful tour guide.
Such a great night time frog tour. Our guide Brandan was amazing. Not sure how he even saw some of the frogs . We also saw an eye lash viper and some other bugs. We got great pictures and learned at lot. If you want some great pics take this tour
We really enjoyed the small, rustic, and off the beaten path nature of this resort. Dirt road and "sidewalk," howler monkeys at daybreak, small resort - just a few units, and the hiking trail is short but lovely.
So what's missing? A comfortable bed. The mattresses are beat up with small little pillows. We slept in separate beds because the double couldn't comfortably accommodate us both without one of us feeling like we would roll out of it.
Listen, I appreciate rustic simplicity. I'm fine with the spartan nature of the room. But the primary reason I pay for lodging is to get a good night's sleep. That's difficult to do on an uncomfortable bed.
We stayed here for 3 nights and enjoyed it. The cabin was simple but clean. It rained a lot while we were there and the roof made it pretty loud, but the front patio is covered enough that we could sit out and listen to the rain and the jungle sounds. The staff (especially Pablo) was very helpful with information and helping us book activities in the area. Their night hike on the property was amazing (highly recommended) and we saw lots of different frogs, snakes and insects. The breakfast was nice in a covered patio area where they put some fruit out nearby and it draws dozens of different kinds of birds in to eat. One night we had a pineapple that we bought and I took it down to the restaurant area to ask for help in cutting it up. Daniel insisted that I go back to my cabin and he would cut it and bring it to us. He came up just a few minutes later with a very artfully-arranged presentation of the pineapple; he definitely went the extra mile for us.
