Amazing Family Trip with Super Guides!

Costa Rica | Aug 5 - Aug 20, 2023

This hotel exceeded our expectations. While the room decor is pretty basic, the bathroom is beautiful, the grounds are very nicely manicured and host many birds and wildlife, and the location was an easy walk to town but also at the top of a hill which afforded stunning sunset views. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful.

The hotel and hot springs are nothing short of stunning. The grounds are beautiful. The walk to the pool, main building and hot springs are easy and so pleasant. The fact that the hot springs open to hotel guests two hours before the general opening allowed us to visit feeling like we had the place to ourselves. The secluded areas with cabanas and the plethora of flora makes it seem like you’re in a magic rainforest setting.

The Westin was a great place to relax after 8 days of adventure in Monteverde and Arenal/La Fortuna. The grounds were very nicely maintained, the many restaurants ensured we didn’t get bored with the food over the course of a week, the staff were absolutely amazing - really friendly and helpful. Just a shout out to a few: Ruddy was a fun and knowledgeable instructor of yoga and water aerobics (do this! It’s so fun!), and Christopher, Bryan, Gabriel and Christian were incredible bartenders who knew our names and always greeted us with a smile, were really fun to chat with and also were great bartenders.

A great way to start the vacation! The cloud forest is gorgeous and looks spectacular from the top.

It was interesting and delicious!

The guides were super but unfortunately the nocturnal animals were not cooperative.

Our guide was friendly and took a lot of great pictures. The setting is pretty spectacular.

This was my family’s favorite adventure. The canyoning was gorgeous, in the cloud forest and down a waterfall through a series of rappelling and zip lining and features with walks along the river in between. The whitewater rafting was exciting. There were class 2-3 rapids which were just adventurous enough (a couple of us did bounce out into the water but it was fine). Mario was our whitewater rafting guide, and he was SO fun. This adventure also came with a meal which was delicious.

The volcano hike and waterfall hike (two different hikes in different locations on the same day) were both beautiful. They have completely different views but are equally nice. The power of the waterfall and the fact that you can swim in the water near it is really cool. Mariano was our guide, and he was awesome! He’s a seasoned guide with a deep knowledge not only of the flora and fauna but also the history and politics of the region. He took great photos and was patient while we swam. He also took us to some great restaurants.

This was a great trip. You can’t believe how blue this water is until you see it in person. Stunning.