Rica Arctic Hotel, Kirkenes

Advantages: Wonderful Hotel and Food/Service; close to trains and busses, smoking rooms available
Disadvantages: Difficult to find from Airport

...INTRODUCTION We stayed at the Villa Rica Lisboa Hotel in Portugal about 2 weeks ago. It is a lovely, modern hotel near the center of busy Lisbon (if you can find a real center in that large, sprawling city!). Finding the hotel was a little difficult at night. We had asked directions from the Car Rental agency, but also had to ask from several pedestrians. The one who gave us the best and final directions was a young man who seemed to be a bit drunk or stoned (!). LOL But once we located it, it wasn't difficult to find again. But once we found it, we discovered that we were only around the corner from the underground train station..which is very cheap and very efficient. PARKING Luckily there is a free, very clean and well-lighted underground parking structure, which you enter directly next to the front door of the hotel. They... Read review

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Advantages: Friendly, small, interesting museums
Disadvantages: There are FAR better places in Costa Rica

...I have spent quite a lot of time recently in San Jose, Costa Rica - what with spending time there on my gap year and going back to visit. This review will be about San Jose itself , but in my opinion, any tourist would be well advised to visit other places in Costa Rica (eg. coast, beaches, mountains). Many hotels in San Jose organise tours, so if you use San Jose as a base than that is fair enough! If you come to Costa Rica and only see San Jose, you will have really missed out! San Jose itself is a smallish city. The best way of getting around if you are a tourist is to use one of the official cabs . These are red with yellow signs, or orange at the airport. They are incredibly cheap, and a reasonably safe option. Always sensible to agree a price with the driver beforehand just in case he tries to rip you off later, but I never... Read review

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Advantages: Scenery, friendliness of people, public transport, beaches!
Disadvantages: Cold showers, more expensive than rest of S.America, mosquitoes

...I spent a couple of weeks backpacking in Costa Rica during the rainy season (specifically, August - September). I had a fabulous time and learnt a lot about living on a budget. It is possible to live on around $15-17 dollars a day if you don't mind cutting back on the activities you do. One thing you will have to get used to is converting prices from colones to dollars to pounds. Generally, if a price is given in dollars straight away, be wary because its probably hugely marked up for tourists. I visted Monteverde, San Jose, Ciudad Quesada (In San Carlos), Montezuma and Tamarindo. Out of all these places, Montezuma was my favourite. We stayed in a hostel called Hotel Lys which I would not recommend at all. It was filthy and the manager was extremely unwelcoming. However, the beach was amazing. Quiet and beautiful with shallow, warm... Read review

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