On our Panama Canal Cruise one of the ports of call was, Costa Rica...
And I took the advise and used the Rccl excruison to Tabacon Hot Springs.
This is one place you must really watch out for time.. Everything that you want to go and see is far from pier.
I wanted to see this Hot Springs and it was a 6 hour tour with lunch..
I am posting the link here also.. you can see what a wonder place it is ..
There are so many differant pools of differant temps to sit and relax in..
and it is at the foot of the volcano.. While I was relazing in one pool, I got to see a burp from the volcano.. and hear some rocks falling...
Tabacon Hot Springs, it worth the Rccl booking.. as the ship will wait for your tour bus to arrive back at port.. Ours was about 30 mins late arriving back to port.. And a private group of 4 never made it back to the ship at all. And that must have been very costly for air out of Costa Rica for them.. There roads are very narrow and big trucks are driving on roads that are not wide enough for them.. So others have to stop and let the trucks drive by first. And this can take up a lot of time.
Plus we seen two wrecks on our way back to ship, and that held us up also..
Now for the Hot Springs.
IT was one of the best times we ever had.. The food was A plus, and service was great.. They had a big and Clean area for changing .. with Hot showers and private dressing rooms. Towels and Lockers.. I was really happy with the clean and hot showers after using all the hot spring pools.. And feel safe with Lockers...
They have a very nice gift shop, small but nice.. and prices was reasonable to say the least. Great place to buy your Costa Rica Coffee..
One of the pools has a water slide into the pool with a swim up bar.. It was so beauiful all around the grounds of this place.. If you want to relax and enjoy pool time, let me tell ya.. this is the one and only place to get the best of all ......
TABACON Hot Springs Resort & Spa - Arenal Volcano Costa Rica
That is the link go check it out...
The bus ride is about 2 hours each way depends on traffic ....
But We did see lots of animals on the way up and back.. but sorry we did not see any monkeys that day.. But we did see a pool of gators all grouped up together ... that was really neat. And then I notice a big huge Helo Monster (sp) IT was about 6 feet long walking on the muddy banks.. I was so shocked to see this thing ..
His crown piece was open and it made him look so much bigger .. Sorry to say the pic of him got window flash from the bus.. but everyone on the bus was excited when I pointed it out.. the bus driver even stopped the bus so everyone got to see it..
The bus did some stops on the way up in a city with a big steel church which was build back in the 1800 ... yes all steel ...
I hope you do decide to try this Tabacon Hot Springs.. in Costa Rica on your next travels there.. You will just love it..
I would rate this place on a scale of 1-10.... a ,,, 9+..... Not a 10 only because of the traffic to get there and back..
Thanks and I hope you enjoyed reading my post here..