Lodge Pacuare is a pristene lodge located on a private reserve on the Pacuare River. It is a wonderful place to stay while visiting Costa Rica. The lodge is not too large, so you have a pretty good chance of seeing more wildlife. It has a thatched roof and blends in with its natural surroundings.
This lodge is rustic and if you are looking for a 5-star luxury resort stay away from this place. It has simple accommodations but the air conditioning works well and the rooms are clean enough. If you are a nature lover, this place is perfect for you! The views from the rooms cannot be beat! The staff at Lodge Pacuare was wonderful and friendly. They did their very best to make us feel comfortable during our stay at the lodge.
We stayed in an amazing room which was on the top floor. We had our own personal balcony with a hammock overlooking the river below us. During breakfast we would see monkeys hanging out around us eating bananas from trees just outside our balcony! During our stay at the lodge we saw spider monkeys, toucans, macaws, gorgeous butterflies, and many other animals we never expected to see in Costa Rica! We also witnessed two hippos spouting in between rapids in an area of the river called “the whirlpool” which was incredible! The water there was crystal clear and it is definitely worth taking an afternoon trip there to experience it yourself! You can book this excursion directly through your hotel or through one of their tour companies such as Aventuras Naturales or Turismo De La Selva (both located in La Fortuna).
We started with one activity each day at 8:30AM and most times we finished by 2:00PM or 3:00PM (depending on how much time we wanted to spend hiking)! This allowed us plenty of time to explore more activities like horseback riding (with our guide Angel), ziplining (at Zipline Canopy Tours), or walking through their butterfly garden/learning about all different types of butterflies that live in tropical rainforests (at Butterfly Garden). All these activities were included in our package also with transportation included from/to San Jose Airport (SJO) which made it really easy for us while traveling alone since sometimes English speaking guides aren’t available along with transportation options being limited due to language barriers when traveling alone while visiting other countries especially when you do not speak fluent Spanish or Portuguese languages fluently like I do not :p
If you are looking for something more luxurious then Dos Pueblos Hotel located just outside of San Jose may be right up your alley although I have never stayed there so I cannot say anything about the hotel itself other than it looks nice from what I have seen online but I have heard nothing but great things about it so if luxury suites are what you prefer then Dos Pueblos Hotel may be worth considering if staying closer to San Jose area is something that interests you instead of staying closer to La Fortuna area where most hotels listed here are located unless you wish to walk 15-20 minutes into town for dinner/desserts/dancing at night etc… If that doesn’t matter then definitely consider staying closer to La Fortuna area where all these hotels below are located instead because it will give you easy access into town during dinner/desserts/dancing etc… Also many local restaurants are only open 6-9PM which means getting dinner after 6PM means having dinner around 9PM since most people eat earlier than that at restaurants close by…. Most hotels listed here allow guests free access into town during dinner time so no need to worry about eating late if staying here because many local restaurants close up shop early anyways…. Just saying ;) Hope this helps anyone who has booked hotels listed here thinking they don’t serve food until 7PM or 8PM when actually they serve food earlier than that since everything closes up shop early around 10PM anyways…
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