I have stayed in many hotels in Arenal including many 4 star hotels and the Gran Arenal is clearly my favorite. The view of the Volcano is perfect. The location seems peaceful and serene like you are 20 km away from town when you are really within walking distance. The cabinas are only like 2 years old and are all very nice and clean. There is more wildlife hear then anywhere else we visited. We say toucans, sloths and iguanas galore. The free breakfast is cooked to order and great. Luis will attend to your every need. And the rates cannot be beat. THIS IS DEFINITELY my go to hotel next time in Arenal. We were a family of 5 and had a tremendous amount of room.

La Fortuna is a great place overall and this hotel was amazing. The grounds were immaculate. Grounds keepers work on them all day and into the evening hours as they carefully work around the bunny rabbits! The bungalows have clean tiled floors, a rustic stone shower and clean comfortable beds. You have flowers and long hot showers. (Hey that rhymes!) The restaurant has a great menu, wonderful food and turned out to be one of the best values in the three weeks we were in Costa Rica! It had a buffet for breakfast with tons of great food which was included in our price. Dinner offered menu service which ended up being about $10 per person for dinner. A group of tourists in a big tour appeared to be eating even better!! (Costa Rica is fairly pricey for a Central American country which surprised us...don't be fooled into thinking it's a cheap place to visit!!) The pool was sparkling clean with romantic lighting, a small waterfall effect, a swim-up bar AND views of the smoking volcano! It had the OMG effect. You will love it.
Oh and even the gift shop had some nice values. I'm glad we purchased some things there and didn't wait for the rest of our trip (this was our second night in Costa Rica). The lady working there was as gracious as the ground keepers, the restaurant waiter, the breakfast server and the concierge! As you drive around La Fortuna, you will see many new, fancy hotels on large estates. Many of them may be very nice as well, but this place was excellant for a very reasonable price. We didn't get a chance to visit the Gran Tabacon Spa Resort and I wish we had, but all in all this place was just amazing!!!!!

A 10-minute walk from downtown La Fortuna, this was a great place to stay! We stayed in a private villa for 5, which was very reasonably priced. The room was large, clean, and we had an all-around comfortable sleeping experience.

The grounds were neatly kept, and the pool was great. Breakfast served in a really awesome group dining area. Every place on the grounds had a view of the volcano.

The man at the front desk spoke immaculate English, and was exceptionally helpful, providing us with a map, restaurant and activity recommendations, and transportation arrangements.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!

This hotel is pretty far out of town, but a taxi into La Fortuna is only 2000 colones or so, or you can walk. I loved that each room is it's own separate house. Our room was nice and relaxing; there were flowers on the little table when we got there. The pool is nice- not very big, but certainly not small. Breakfast is included, which I liked a lot, but we had to wait for the eggs and rice and beans to be refilled every morning, and there wasn't always fruit.

The owner really cares, and it shows. Also, he speaks perfect English, which is not that common among hotel owners in Costa Rica, as we found out.