Name: Lake Arenal Hotel And Microbrewery
Address: Route 142, Tilaran, Tilaran, Tilaran, 50804, Costa Rica
Rating: 8

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Lake Arenal Hotel And Microbrewery

Tilaran

This place is full of charm.  It’s very chilled on a beautiful spot above the lake.  The hotel was built 30 years ago (I think). It’s been well maintained with care  but not updated which means it has plenty of character.  Downstairs is the Brewery, really unique.  The ethos of the restaurant is excellent, ingredients sourced from the hotel’s own grounds. We had delicious dinner and breakfast. 

We were given a flight of beers to try which was fun and enjoyed playing pool. 

The shower in our room was excellent!!!

Don’t drive past, stay, eat or just try the beers… 🍻

Unique place to stay

My wife and I stoped in for lunch on our way from La Fortuna to Guanacaste. Reviews were mixed but I am a sucker for a craft beer so we tried it. 

Mixed reviews. Service was ok. Food was pretty good. We ordered the burger and a chicken bowl. 

The place is tired and needs some TLC. We almost moved on to be honest when we walked in.

Was much better than we thought it would be based on appearance. 

Beer was ok. Food was better.

Beer was ok, food was better.

The location overlooking Lake Arenal and the peace and seclusion is nice. The on-site restaurant and brewery are especially convenient because it gets dark after sunset and it is not advisable to drive at night (road safety). 

La Vista Organica is the pub/restaurant as per of the hotel. The plating of the food is amazing, the beer is average. The service is very uneven. The dinner service was good.

We had stayed the night at the hotel. Breakfast was advertised to start at 0700. However we waited till 0730 and no one was in the restaurant or reception desk. We finally left at 0745, left the keys at the reception desk and drove out. Just as we were exiting the compound, we saw one employee entering the gates, too late for us though…

The rooms are spacious but very old/worn and are in need of a serious facelift. Felt safe though.

So much potential!

We love this place. It's the fourth time my husband and I have been to eat at the restaurant, and the first time we got to stay at the hotel. We were a group of 9, including 3 kids. There are games for kids in the lobby, and abundant wildlife around the grounds. It was the perfect place for us to stay after enjoying La Fortuna and before we flew home from Liberia.

The pool and hot tub were a little disappointing. The pool was very cold and had lots of bugs in it, and the hot tub looked about the same. There was a sign in the hotel room mentioning that you had to ask the front desk to turn the hot tub on, and they could only do it between 6-9pm, and I didn't want to bother the front desk.

The restaurant and beers are just as good as they were during our previous visits in 2012 and 2016. The view of the lake is amazing, and it was the perfect place to chill out on the last night of our vacation. We saw howler monkeys, toucans and a variety of frogs on the grounds.

The bed in the hotel room was comfortable, and the shower was a good size. We were in room 209, and the drain in that shower is tiny and didn't drain very quickly, so I was showering in ankle-deep water. The shower head in that room should probably be replaced, as it was shooting water in various directions instead of down.

It was a little dark in the room, but I know the place runs on solar power and renewable energy so I'm not sure what can be done about that. I was a little worried about the lack of air conditioning, but the ceiling fan kept the room plenty comfortable, so it wasn't an issue and shouldn't deter others.

Overall, this is a great place to stay to break up the drive between La Fortuna and Liberia. If you are expecting a 5 star resort you will likely be disappointed, but if you keep your expectations in check you will enjoy this remote Costa Rican jewel.  

A unique experience

We stayed in a maintenance room full of moisture, spiders, cockroaches and dirt under the beds.The balcony window had no glass-to-glass junction, so there was about 10cm through which all sorts of creatures could enter.The closet didn't open.They didn't want to return us the money from the reservation.

Terrible 

Horrendous staff who do not have a clue what they are doing, completely incompetent. Couldn’t find our booking at first then tried to charge us again for the booking. The two rooms were worse than a prison cell. Dog friendly but I wouldn’t even let my dog stay there. Drinks orders kept having to ask where our drinks were. Ordered a cocktail that looked like frog spawn and tasted vile. They got the food order wrong and the food was not nice. This place makes Fawlty Towers look like the Ritz in London. It needs a complete refurbishment and staff that know what they are doing and what customer service is. It’s worse than Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen nightmares. We didn’t even stay for breakfast the place was horrific AVOID this place.

AVOID AVOID AVOID!!!

On our trip from Liberia to LA Fortuna, we followed some signs to the Lake Arenal Brewery. We are so glad we did!! The craft beers had such good flavor. I recommend the nitro porter and the Lava Red. Also had a snack...one of their bowls - you choose everything and it's the same price for shrimp, chicken, steak, etc.  It was the best place to stop and had amazing views of the lake.

Craft Beer - don't miss it!

We haven't stayed or eaten here, but it's a really nice place, and the view of the lake is great, and the beer and fruit juices are really good, and it's a nice stop between Fortuna and Monteverde.

A very pleasant stop

Beer (IPA) was decent, but not the best we’ve had in Costa Rica. The view from the bar is good of the lake. Food was good, we tried a quinoa bowl. What let the experience down was the less than friendly and unresponsive staff. We were initially the only folks in at lunchtime and the main server just seemed pit out that we wanted to taste a beer before ordering. She never did warm up or appear pleased to be there, and never came back around after the food arrived to see if we wanted anything else. The other server was less severe, but too busy picking at his beard in the bar mirror to ask if we wanted another drink. So it was just the one beer and out.

Decent beer, good food, great view, unfriendly unresponsive service.

It's a beautiful hotel with a wonderful view of the lake. Surrounded by nature with the possibility of walking a small trail through the forest or sitting in a beautifully landscaped garden. But the absolute highlight is the beer that is brewed and given away there in your own brewery. Top quality and unbeatable cheap. You can spend your time with pool billiards and the people there are all super friendly. An absolute recommendation to us.

Lake Arenal Hotel And Microbrewery

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