Mount Dandenong

 The Dandenongs is a great example of the classic Aussie bush that you can experience without even leaving Melbourne.

You'll need at least a half day to do this trip. I drive to get there. Getting there is pretty self explanatory - just make your way to the Mount Dandenong Tourist Road, which goes through Ferntree Gully and Mount Dandenong.

You can stop anywhere along the way and there are a number of hikes accessible from the road. Take a walk through the dry bush and gum trees.

There's plenty of places to picnic, and if you do, keep an eye out for the colourful Australian parrots (like the red-bellied Rosellas). They tend to flock towards the picnic tables waiting for leftovers, so you should be able to see a few. There will be signs requesting that you not feed the birds.

Along the drive there will be restaurants and cafes to eat at too, still being in the suburbia of Melbourne. If you want to drive further East out of Melbourne, you could venture to the Yarra Valley for morning tea or lunch, and return via Mount Dandenong. If doing both in one day, keep in mind that many wineries in the Yarra Valley close as early as 3-4pm.

Toronto in a Day

I've lived in Toronto for just over 3 years now, and wow has my impressions of this city changed. On my first visit to Toronto, some locals advised me to check out the Eaton Centre, Dundas Square and Chinatown on Spadina Ave. Honestly, after doing these things, I was not impressed. Had I just seen any other place in the entire city during that visit, my first impression could have been the complete opposite.

Toronto as viewed from Tommy Thompson Park

What I mean to say, is that Toronto isn't a tourist town. Don't get me wrong, it's an amazing city to visit, - Toronto has it's own distinct Canadian culture, a bunch of beautiful parks, heaps of incredible restaurants with a diverse range of cuisines on offer, and plenty of historical buildings. But when Toronto does tourism, it can feel tacky.

There are enough websites out there to instruct you to visit the CN Tower and Nathan Phillips square. I'm not going to do that. If you want to be a tourist in Toronto, feel free to jump on the sightseeing double decker bus and join in the pilgrimage to those tourist hotspots. If you want to immerse yourself in the culture of this city, the local neighbourhoods, and some resident favourite restaurants and parks, then read on.

The Distillery District at night during the Christmas Markets

This itinerary is provided as an example of what I would do, and where I would take a friend, if I had a day to show them my favourite parts of Toronto.

This is a flexible itinerary. Go as fast, or as slow, as you want through these neighbourhoods. This itinerary is just aimed at taking the guesswork out of how to get places, and where to eat, but feel free to change it up as desired. Decide for yourself if you would rather walk between transit stops, or take the TTC (Toronto's public transport network), or if you want to skip some parts of the itinerary. Don't feel pressured to complete the itinerary in one day - I tend to skim through a lot of places briefly when I travel - go at the pace that suits you.

Of course, there's plenty more to do in Toronto, and this in no way covers everything in one day - that truly is impossible. If people like this, I will try to post some more ideas in the same style.

Historic Distillery District

Let's begin.


Start with obtaining a TTC day pass. This can be purchased at any subway station, and at some convenience stores. A day pass comes at $10.75 for unlimited travel on the TTC network - including the subway, streetcars and buses. On weekends and public holidays, one day pass will be valid for 2 adults and up to 4 kids. On a weekday, you'll need one day pass per person. Without the pass, each time you use transit it will cost about $3 per person (a bit less if you purchase tokens).

Yorkville

An easy place to start the tour is Yorkville, which is accessible from the Yonge/Bloor subway station. If you haven't had breakfast yet, walk north on Yonge St to Yorkville Ave, and drop by Crepes A Go Go for some Quebecois style crepes. The easiest way to orient yourself, is by realising that downhill invariably leads south towards Lake Ontario. So to walk north, you walk uphill.

Yorkville is a wealthy neighbourhood in Toronto, featuring some boutique brand stores on Bloor Street, and some more exclusive stores on Yorkville Ave and surrounding streets. Feel free to explore some of the residential streets north of Bloor as well, I like to walk down these streets and check out the neatly maintained town houses and gardens.

Residential streets in Yorkville

En-Route: The University of Toronto

From Yorkville, you may choose to walk to our next destination of Kensington Market through the University of Toronto. Follow Queen's Park south to Wellesley Street, find a way under the bridge and towards the front campus. You will see a beautiful old building, take a left to walk south again. Feel free to chill out in the park ground and enjoy the view of the CN tower that you will see to the south. From here you can continue to walk south, towards what looks like the regal main entrance to the university, to College Street. Turn right on College, and walk past Spadina until you reach Augusta Ave.

If you're not interested in seeing the historic buildings featured within the University, alternately you can take the subway from Yonge to College Station, then take the College tram (506 west toward High Park) to Major St (the stop after Spadina).

Kensington Market

This is a laid back outdoor market that features heaps of cheap eats, gourmet foods, and nicknacks. On Sundays, the market gets even better (and busier), with all roads being closed to car traffic, and live music being played out on the street.

The market can be found by walking south down August Ave from College Street. There are a few side streets to explore as part of the market, as well as some smaller alleys decorated with artful graffiti.

My favourite place to eat here is at the Latino Emporium, which serves El Salvadorian papusas, a traditional dish of savoury pancakes filled with beans and cheese, then served with salsa and cabbage salad. You can easily eat a lunch of this for under $10 including a drink, but you can order portions small enough to just try the delicacy if you're only interested in a snack. Try the fresh squeezed orange juice from the cart across the street - made to order.

This is an eclectic and inconsistent neighbourhood for sure, where you can get a full healthy lunch on a budget, or the most expensive grilled cheese you've ever seen.

Art Festival at Kensington Market

High Park

Make sure you've eaten well before proceeding with this part of the tour, or that you have some snack food on hand. This part will involve plenty of walking and won't have much food options available for a few hours.

Having walked through Kensington Market, eventually you'll hit the south edge of the market at Dundas Street. Turn right on Dundas, and walk until you hit the nearest tram stop. Hop on the next streetcar (505 west towards Dundas West Station), and enjoy the scenery on the way to the Bloor St West stop. Hop off at the Bloor St West stop, and continue walking west on Bloor St for just over another block. Once you pass Parkside Ave, you'll hit High Park. Enter wherever you like, and take a stroll through the park to the other side. This usually takes at least an hour, but you can spend several hours solely in this park, walking down all the larger and smaller trails that are available. There is also a community zoo within the park featuring a small selection of local and imported wildlife.

If you follow signs to the Granadier pond in springtime, you may be lucky enough to see the hill full of cherry blossoms in full bloom. Many Toronto residents go to High Park just to see these blossoms during spring.

Cherry blossom season at High Park

Detour: Sunnyside Park and Humber Bay

At the south end of High Park you will hit the Queensway road. From here you can directly go to the east end of town (The Beaches) by catching the 501 streetcar east towards Neville Park.

You may wish to first walk further south to Sunnyside beach - in doing so you will cross 3 major roads - the Queensway, underneath the Gardiner highway, and then Lakeshore Blvd.

Crossing from Sunnyside Park to Humber Bay Shores Park

Walk west through Sunnyside Park, and you will reach the iconic white bridge (you will have likely seen this driving in from Pearson airport). You can cross this bridge to a recently developed neighbourhood, where you will see some stunning views of Toronto's city skyline. The Eden Trattoria is easy to see across the road from the park, and a good place to stop for some takeout gelato and refreshments on a sunny day (I can't comment on the rest of the food because I've only stopped for gelato here).

View of Toronto from Humber Bay Shores Park

From Humber Bay Shores Park, you can walk a block inland to Lakeshore Blvd, where you can catch the 501 East tram towards Neville Park. If you didn't walk as far as the white bridge, then you will need to make your way back to the Queensway to catch the same tram (you can catch this streetcar from just about any street from Sunnyside Park that provides pedestrian crossings at Lakeshore Blvd, just keep walking back north until you hit Queensway, but don't cross the Queensway).

Humber Bay Park

The Beaches

Queen Street is a beautiful street. Enjoy the view from the streetcar, and feel free to hop off and on the street car at any time if you wish to walk part of the way and enjoy the shops.

If you're getting hungry at this point, I suggest hopping off the tram prematurely; either at Greenwood Ave to go to Chino Locos for an asian fusion burrito, or at Coxwell Ave for a Toronto famous burger at the Burger's Priest. (From Coxwell there is no reason to wait for the next tram, just continue walking east).

Finally, hop off the streetcar at Kingston Road. Walk south through Woodbine Park, and cross Lakeshore Blvd into Ashbridges Bay Park. Take a left to continue walking along the waterfront of the beaches. This is the most popular beach in Toronto. In summer, there's volleyball tournaments and nets set up for casual games. Eventually you'll reach another park (Kew Gardens) to walk up from the boardwalk. Walk through this park to reach the busy hub of Queen Street East. There's a bunch of restaurants here to eat at, icecream stores, etc. But if you want to trust me and you have a bit more energy left in you, wait a little bit for dinner. You can browse the local shops, hang at the beach, or walk through the residential streets in this trendy neighbourhood.

The Beaches (the colour of the water has not been edited)

Leslieville

As promised, a good dinner. Leslieville is an up-and-coming neighbourhood that just keeps getting better. It has the best concentration of excellent restaurants in Toronto, in my opinion anyway, and what's more is it's generally very well priced by Toronto standards for what you receive.

Take the 501 Queen St streetcar west this time from the beaches. Hop off at Leslie St.

Feel free to explore this area a bit - there's a lot of juxtaposition here of trendy and outdated buildings and businesses. My two greatest recommendations for dinner would be either the East Ender, or the next door Gio Rana's Really Really Nice Restaurant - an obviously recognisable building referred to as "the nose". The East Ender is a relatively new place, I find it excellent value, Canadian fusion comfort food and very well priced for what you receive. Gio Rana's is a bit older, a great Italian restaurant to go to when in a large group due to their tapas style menu that can be easily shared. Gio Rana's has a louder atmosphere and often has wait times to be seated without a reservation, whereas East Ender is a more relaxed dining experience and the service is better.

The Distillery

If you still have energy after all of the above, and if it's still not later than 9pm, then this is a worthwhile destination on your way back into the city. Take the 503 streetcar west (towards York) on Queen St from Leslieville. This tram will divert down King St on the way into town. (You can take the 501 too, you'll just have to walk a little further after getting off at Parliament).

Hop off the tram at Parliament St and walk a few minutes south towards the lake. Be prepared to take a left down Mill St or Distillery Lane when you see what looks like a very obvious old town. This is the Distillery District, a converted flourmill.

There's several bars and restaurants in the area, but it's really just a beautiful place to explore, especially with the soft lighting at nighttime. You can visit Soma, one of Toronto's most popular chocolate stores, where they produce their own chocolate locally. At this point, I usually grab a drink from Balzac's cafe to enjoy on their patio (I mainly like their lemonade during summer).

Christmas Markets at the Distillery District

For more current information about festivals, events, concerts, community activities, local markets and the like, it's a good idea to visit toronto.com and BlogTO during the week before your visit.

Costa Rica 3: Quepos & Manuel Antonio National Park

It was another half day drive to reach Quepos from Monteverde. We stopped half way at a bridge so the group could walk across it and the van picked us up the other side. This was specifically to show us the river below the bridge, which was teaming with crocodiles. The last time I saw this many crocodiles was at the Australia Zoo (which was run at the time by our famous Crocodile Hunter). A member of our group bought the hat off a local's head before we proceeded further towards Quepos.

Crocodiles on the way to Quepos

We checked in briefly to the hotel, which was actually about 10 minutes drive from Quepos town. There was a public bus that stopped nearby on the road to go direct to town so that wasn't an issue. After about an hour to check in , everyone in our group elected to spend a little extra to catch a scenic sunset boat tour. The ride included a fresh cooked meal as well as cocktails.

Boat ride from Quepos

It was relaxing to be on the boat for a few hours, especially after all the adventurous activities that were arranged on the days beforehand. The sunset on the water was incredible - I have never seen an entire sky turn the rose colour I saw that night, and the clouds made it even more surreal.

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We were all still a bit peckish after the mid-afternoon meal and lazy enough to dine at the hotel restaurant. I can't believe that I could forget the name of the hotel was the Hotel California, it just took a bunch of googling to finally remember it. I want to mention it because we liked the accommodations and mostly because we had a great meal at their restaurant. I ordered the sesame seared tuna - I usually don't eat tuna but have since tried to replicate it at home to no avail. Mike got the ribs which were spectacular, and this was the meal that I discovered that pork can be delicious. The restaurant was on the pricey side for Central America but it was wholesome and well prepared.

Manuel Antonio National Park

The next day was free for us to self-discover Manuel Antonio National Park. We took the bus in to Quepos and after catching a cheap breakfast in town, walked the rest of the way to the park. You can tell how much more tourist focussed Quepos is by the number of people selling chachkas outside the park. Unlike elsewhere in Central America though, when locals approach you to "sell you tickets", they are directing the tourists to the ticket desk which is situated over 100 meters away from the park entrance. We ignored them a few times, thinking they were trying to resell tickets, then were embarrassed when we reached the park entrance and were directed to return to the ticket desk to buy our entrance tickets.

Curious raccoons on the beach

We saw a few sloths in Manuel Antonio Park. Most of the sloths are found up in the trees, and I didn't have a good camera for zooming in on them back then so I'm afraid I don't have any adorable pictures of them. I hear there is a sloth sanctuary elsewhere in Costa Rica though, where tourists can get close up to the adult and baby sloths.

We walked a few trails to the several beaches available in the park. Some were busy, some were very isolated, all had white sand and clear blue water. There are monkeys everywhere, putting on shows of aerial acrobatics for all the tourists. We also caught some raccoons on the beach, trying to dig through someone's unattended backpack.

Manuel Antonio Park is a day trip, get there early to ensure that you can get one of the limited daily tickets available. We left the park in the afternoon to see more of Quepos. The beach in town has surf and many more tourists, compared to the quiet and serene beaches featured in the park. It's worth paying the entrance fee to spend at least one day at the more secluded beaches.

We grabbed one of our favourite treats of the whole trip - a Trix icecream sandwich. We had one of these whenever we got the chance, since one of our groupmates brought us one to try in Arenal. I still wish I could just go to a supermarket to get a Trix sandwich over here. We lounged on the Quepos beach for a short time while part of the group took surf lessons.

For dinner we went to the El Avion restaurant, which you won't miss on the way into town from the Hotel California. The restaurant is set around an old cargo plane, and the atmosphere is charming. The charm ends there though, as the service was slow, the food was pricey for the area and mediocre at best.

Mike in the cockpit at El Avian Restaurant

We were given an option by our CEO to spend a little extra and take private transport back to San Jose on our final day in Costa Rica, or go by the itinerary and spend most of the day taking public transit back to the city. The group unanimously preferred the private transport, so we spent the last day of the tour lounging around Quepos and the hotel, before returning to San Jose.

Mike and I left San Jose before dawn the following morning for our return flight home.

Previous: Monteverde

Costa Rica 2: Monteverde

View from the boat

It was almost the entire day of travelling to transit from Arenal to Monteverde. The journey started with a short drive to the lake, a transfer to a scenic ferry, followed by a few hours of a bumpy van ride to the destination.

The scenery on the road from Arenal to Monteverde

The total distance covered was not that far (about 50km), and the several hours it took to get there is an attestant to why I wouldn't want to drive these roads myself.

On the way to Monteverde, we stopped by the El Trapiche coffee plantation tour. The tour took a couple of hours, where we walked around the coffee farm and learnt about how coffee is made, from how the coffee beans are grown and harvested, to when they are dried, shelled, and roasted to the beans you see at the supermarket.

Part of the coffee plantation tour

They also showed us the ox and cart that used to be used for transportation, and we all got a turn at a cart ride. After this we made taffy from sugar cane, which we spent the remaining van ride munching on. The tour also provided a tasty lunch for us.

Ox pressing the sugar cane into juice

Taffee made from sugar cane

Next up was ziplining. This is definitely the best zipline I've ever seen. I've never felt an adrenaline rush with a zipline before, I've never exactly thought of it as a thrillride. But here, the course offered a bit of everything.

Ziplining in Monteverde

Bird just chilling out at the zipline office, socialising with passers by

We leapt off a platform holding onto a tarzan rope for dear life. And the final show - the superman zipline. The ride was 1km (takes about 60 seconds) trekking between two mountains at a significant elevation over the valley between them. In classic superman pose we were face down, arms spread, flying in the wind on this one. Around the centre, you can feel the slight wobble in the wire from the wind pushing you sideways as you race forward. Not a ride for those with fear of heights, but you can still do the whole course and the final 1km line in the seated position if you want.

The 1km Superman zipline

Arriving in Monteverde, we had the evening to ourselves. Mike and I took a brief walk around town and up to a sunset viewpoint recommended by our CEO. There was a cute puppy running around by the viewpoint that was very friendly, so Mike gave it a lot of attention. It then followed us all the way back to the hotel.

View of sunset from Monteverde

There was an option to do a night walk later that night. I decided against it after the guide joked that it was mainly looking at spiders and other creepy-crawlies.

Cloud Forest

Tree snake

Quetzal bird
(His head is looking the other way)

The following day we took a tour of the cloud forest. The tour started with seeing a little coati making his way through the parking lot, then one of the guides showed us a green tree snake (not necessarily a Green Tree snake species though, like I could tell them apart), also in close proximity to the parking lot.
We followed the guided tour through the cloud forest, which has a diverse array of flora. Costa Rica, for it's small land size, has a huge concentration of differing species of plant and wildlife. We were lucky enough during the tour to get a view of the national bird - the beautiful quetzal.

Coati at the Cloud Forest park entrance

After the Cloud Forest, Mike and I diverged from the group to go horse riding. This is the best horse riding tour I've ever taken, and I'm an experienced rider. Marvin was an impressive horseman, as he showed us after the 2.5 hour ride when he did a short horse-whisperer style show with his most trained horse. He has trained all of the horses himself, and all respond well to very subtle gestures and voice commands. The horse I rode was equipped with a sadle and head halter - no bridle or bit needed.

Marvin with his horse

He asked about our experience levels beforehand, and set me up with a racey enthusiastic horse that couldn't wait to go as fast as I would let him. Mike was put on a quieter horse that had a slower loping gait to suit his experience level. We saw a few viewpoints and spotted some sloths in the trees from the trail. At the end of the ride we visited Marvin's farm, where he showed us some tricks that no one should try at home, and even let me ride the horse in the pictures. Needless to say, we loved the whole experience from head to hoof.

Don't try this at home.

Ont the second night in Monteverde, the group went to town at a local bar. We grabbed dinner and several drinks and had a fun party, dancing the night away. We had a bunch of excitement as we stumbled back to the hotel. Smoke was coming out of one of the buildings, and it was apparent that a fire had broken out. I should note that an entire block of housing was attached to the one on fire, and the nearest fire station didn't really exist. One of our groupmates happened to be a fire fighter back home. He rushed into the property to assess the situation, and found the family filling cups with water and attempting to throw them on the fire, which they had oddly enough managed to reduce it's intensity. They were screaming in Spanish that it was under control now and he was trying to tell them in English that he was trying to help. They weren't really understanding him, so he grabbed a broom and broke through the wall in their house - where the fire was raging on behind the wall. Together they did manage to successfully put out the fire. That was awesome, talk about having someone in the right place at the right time.

The boat view on the way from Arenal to Monteverde

Monteverde also had a small township to explore (definitely worth a good walk through in the least, it takes an hour or two to explore adequately), a snake museum, and a butterfly garden which we didn't see.

Previous: La Fortuna & Arenal   Next: Quepos

Costa Rica 1: La Fortuna & Arenal

It was February 2012, and Mike and I were standing in the searing cold blizzard at Toronto Pearson's long term parking, waiting for a bus. I couldn't help but bring my warm windbreaker with to the airport.  Luckily, I wouldn't need it for the rest of the week. We were going to Costa Rica.

Boat ride in Quepos

We travelled in a group tour, which was a first for us, with G Adventures. We chose them mainly for the price, because it's a Canada based company, and the website really inspires you to go on their Costa Rica Quest. We thought we'd see how the group experience would enhance our travels, and for this tour it certainly did. We had a great tour group of about 12 people, and a fantastic guide in Randy. In all my experiences so far, Randy is the best guide I've ever had for any group tour.

There are definitely some good reasons to go with a group rather than a self-guided tour in this country. The main reason is the roads. We didn't travel very far by distance, but at times travelling 20km could take 5 hours on these roads. These drivers change their suspension twice a year because the roads are so rough on the cars. Above that, I barely saw a road sign in the rural areas, especially on the way to Monteverde. Coming to a T intersection with no signs can be pretty irritating as a tourist, and you can't assume that the locals can speak English to help you out.

Of course there was the social aspects too, we did more partying, and Costa Rica is certainly a place to party it up. It was great to have the guide to provide us information for all the sights we visited, and just in general make sure things went smoothly.

Manuel Antonio National Park

Costa Rica is not a cheap Central American getaway. All places accept US dollars, and prices are similar to what you'd find in the states, especially around tourist areas. But you won't get people hounding you to spend money in their stores or on the streets either, and you won't be hit in the face by poverty. As the tourism board suggests, Costa Rica is the happiest place on earth. Even the poor appear to the outsider to be enjoying their simple lives, and the country thrives on tourism revenue without socially pressuring money out of your pockets. No one is asking for a handout here.

9 Day Costa Rica Itinerary

Trip Style: Group tour

Transportation: 4x4, minibus, ferry

Average daily cost: CAD$170/night (generally including tour, accommodations, all activities, all meals)

Travel dates: February 11-19, 2012

San Jose

We arrived in San Jose late in the afternoon, so we only had time to join the group introduction, have dinner with the group, and buy some snacks for the road at a local supermarket. We never got to see much of San Jose, except for the drive through it the next morning. It gives the overall impression of most South American cities I've seen though, and we never felt we were missing anything here. This was reinforced by our group mates who had spent a day or two in town before leaving on the tour.

White Water Rafting

We departed for Arenal early on the second day of the tour. Mike and I had signed up for the Adventure package which included a rafting tour. We were dropped off before reaching Arenal for the white water rafting. The coordination between our CEO (Chief Experience Officer aka G adventures guide) and the companies that provided the activities was like clockwork. We had just enough time to sunscreen up and sign a waiver before the boats were in the water and we were drifting downstream.

This rafting had some fun and challenging waves. Our boat accidentally got stuck in an eddy, well it started off intentional until we couldn't get out. Our guide had to get out of the boat and find land to try and pull us out of the tide. That was a thrilling 15 minutes for all of us, and our exercise requirement for the day. One of our teammates had purchased a waterproof action-camera for the trip. He pinned it on his lifejacket, and it fell off and was lost at the first hint of a tumble.

A photographer provided pictures of our group for purchase at the end of the trip. We purchased the group's photos and shared them amongst ourselves afterwards.

Arenal

We arrived in Arenal later in the afternoon. We checked in at the Hotel La Fortuna, which was beautiful and tropical, it felt all the more classy following our basic San Jose accommodations. The afternoon was spent roaming around town, enjoying the park, and then a group of us shared a taxi to the La Fortuna waterfall.

The trail to La Fortuna Waterfall

There's a short 15-20 minute hike from the park entrance to the waterfall, with a few viewpoints for the waterfall on the way. We brought swimsuits and the weather was perfect to hop in the water at the bottom. We sunbaked on the rocks for a bit, and were dry by the time we got back into the taxi. When we returned to the park entrance we had the ticketer call the taxi for us because there were none waiting.

La Fortuna Waterfall

We grabbed cocktails during the happy hour downstairs, then went to a restaurant as recommended by our guide. One thing I notice about the tours I've taken with G Adventures, is they tend to take the groups on outings to gringo restaurants. I'm not sure if part of this is for food safety and regulation reasons - they surely don't want to be responsible for participants getting sick - or if it's trying to give tourists what they think we want. I'm sure it's partly to provide good business for certain local restaurants, which of course charge the 'tourist rate' on their menus. I would prefer to be taken to places that feel more local.

Park in Arenal town centre

The next day we had lunch at the restaurant across the road from the hotel entrance. We spent about $3-4 each on Casado - rice with beans, plantain and fried meat. This was my favourite meal of the trip. And no one got sick from it either (or for the whole trip, for that matter).

Canyoneering

As part of our adventure pack, we had arranged to go canyoneering in Arenal. This was a lot of fun, scrambling our way down the streams and absailing down some small waterfalls. The last waterfall was a tall one, and we took more of a leap of faith and glided to the bottom of that one. You can't bring your own camera for this activity because it's guaranteed to get wet, but the tour provided a photographer that sold us the photos at the end of the tour.

Canyoneering

There was a hiccup at the end of the canyoneering tour, when it was unclear if transportation had been arranged for our group or not. We all just ended up walking back into town instead of waiting to see what would happen.

View on the drive to Canyoneering

I only wish we had the time to also climb the Arenal Volcano, the people that did the climb said it was challenging but worth the sight at the top.

Hot Springs

On the third night in La Fortuna our group visited the local hot springs. Dinner was included, towel service was at a minimal extra cost but we brought our own. The lower pool had a water slide and wet bar service. The upper pools were smaller and quieter, and they got warmer the higher you walked uphill. One of the hotter pools also had a cold dunking pool next to it, so you could slip between the two. If you're in La Fortuna, these hot springs were relaxing and clean.

Arenal Volcano as viewed from the Hotel La Fortuna

After three nights in La Fortuna, we spent the next day travelling to Monteverde.

Next: Monteverde