We spent four nights at the Volcano Lodge and enjoyed every almost minute at the hotel. Our room for four just had the standard two double beds, but it was a bit bigger than average and not as cramped as many chain hotels in the US. The bathroom was nice and they do provide a nice set of shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and soap.

The perfectly landscaped grounds were the nicest we saw anywhere in Costa Rica, with beautiful tropical flowers of every color all around. The cement paths between buildings are all lined with purple Mexican Heather. I think every room has a nice clear view of the Arenal volcano, either from the front or the back patio.

The pool and hot-tub were very nice and refreshing, again surrounded by tropical flowers. One of the two restaurants is a big open air Costa Rican style place beside the pool. They serve the very nice buffet breakfast (included with the room) there and it is the perfect place to begin your day. A nice assortment of fresh fruit, juice, eggs, pinto gallo, sausage, omelets to order, coffee, tea, and cocoa.

As a fun surprise each day, the staff supplying our clean bath towels would arrange them into a new inventive origami-like arrangement.

A few small complaints: the guy working the too-small tour desk wasn't very helpful at all. But we knew what we wanted to do and there were plenty of more helpful agencies in town. Everyone else at the hotel was friendly, nice, and helpful. The other complaint is that the rooms weren't very soundproof. This wasn't normally very much of an issue for us, but each night, the "loud family" in an adjoining room would return to their room about 10:30, and their conversations sounded like they were from inside our own room.

You can't currently see the hot lava from the volcano from this location. You will have to drive somewhere else on the north side to see lava (about a 15 minute drive).

As I write this, there are two other reviews for this same hotel here on igougo. One is of the wrong hotel, the Observatory Lodge, and the other appears to be the same place a few years ago, but the Volcano Lodge is much nicer than what their photo shows. I think the hotel has probably expanded a lot in the last 4 years.

The Volcano Lodge isn't a huge multi-story hotel. It is a very nice medium size, with the one story rooms divided into a few separate sections. It is about 5 km outside of the town of La Fortuna, on the way to the volcano national park. It was nice to have a car to pop into town with or to drive at night to watch for the lava, but it wouldn't be absolutely necessary since most of the adventure tour companies will pick you up from your hotel.

I’ve always been fascinated with volcanoes. I love the idea that the earth is alive beneath us, just looking for a place to push up and release. When we decided to go to Costa Rica, I knew this was my chance to visit Volcano Arenal, a world-famous volcano. I bought a guidebook and found the ‘perfect’ place for us to stay: Arenal Observatory Lodge. This is where seismologists had stayed when studying Arenal, and it seemed a perfect spot for my husband and me. (We had read in a local newspaper to avoid Tabacon Springs Resort at the base of the hotel, as seismologists had been against building a resort at that particular site. Good enough for me!) We arrived at Arenal and settled into our comfortable, but basic cabin. We immediately made a beeline for the pool, and relaxed under the stars. A peaceful evening. It wasn’t really until we were lying in bed, listening to the rumble of the rocks rolling down the volcano that I began to wonder why the seismologists were no longer using the Observatory to monitor the volcano. Gulp. Needless to say, it took a little longer to fall asleep that night! We woke up to a beautiful sunny day, and were able to see the peak and crater of the volcano from several decks around the lodge. We discovered that a valley separated the active part of the volcano from where our hotel was, and that was one of the reasons it was judged to be a safe observation spot. The hotel was filled with families as well as older travelers. It was more expensive than hotels at the bottom of the volcano, but it was clean, peaceful, and the views were amazing! We booked a tour with a local guide and hiked on an old lava flow, which is rough terrain. (Bring hiking boots, you will need them!) Again, we could hear boulders being tossed from the volcano and rolling down the sides, but because of a persistent cloud cover around the peak of the volcano we couldn’t see any action directly. It was an awesome experience to hear the volcano, alive and more powerful than we could really imagine. We returned to the lodge for an expensive but tasty lunch. We relaxed by the pool in the afternoon before joining up with another tour to glimpse the lava flows by night. Unfortunately clouds thwarted us again, however our guide was highly entertaining and we learned a lot about the volcano and the best way to run if it was to blow! We left early the next morning, heading for the beaches of north Costa Rica. I never did figure out where the seismologists had gone, but we had a great time visiting a volcano from a seemingly safe vantage point. If you go, we recommend the Observatory Lodge for an up close and personal stay on a volcano! www.arenalobservatorylodge.com

The Volcano Lodge was incredible. From every room, you have a perfect view of the beautiful Arenal volcano. Just walk out the back door of your room and you have a terrace to sit and enjoy the view.

The hotel served us breakfast included with our room charge, and it was wonderful. You can have fruits, pancakes or the typical Costa Rica gallo pinto.

You can check out the hotel at www.volcanolodge.com