Rica Victoria Hotel, Floro

Advantages: Spectacular lava eruptions at night
Disadvantages: Cloudy at times

...A volcano is like a candle, one year the lava drips on one side, the next year it drips on the other. We visited in March 2004, and stayed at the Hotel Arenal Los Lagos on the north face and could see the lava from our bed! You can find more info on this helpful site (we booked with them), a map of the lava flow & the locations of the hotels: http://www.arenal.net We explored the area because we plan on returning with our families. The hotels we saw with a direct view are: Los Lagos, Volcano Lodge, Arenal Paraiso, Montana de Fuego, and Tabacon. The los Lagos having the best trails, and best views. The Arenal Lodge is way out on the lake, with not a good view of the lava, being to far away. Often the area is cloudy, covering the crater, that's why it's important to stay in a hotel with direct view, just to be there when it clears up... Read review

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Advantages: Central Location
Disadvantages: Can be noisy as on busy road

...A brillaint hotel with lovely food. Next to Victoria mainline station and underground station. Also situated across the road from the bus station. 10minutes walk from Buckingham palace and about 15 from Downing street. Local shops and souvenir shops are 2 minutes walk away. The hotel is a great place for a short weekend break. Brilliant place to stay for families and couples. The rooms are a good size, very clean and comfortable. The hotel is very central with everything you need a short walk away. I would recommend this hotel greatly but can get fully booked quite easily. I would therefore recommend booking early to take advantage of this hotel. The hotel can get quite busy as conference meetings are taken place throughout the year. Overall, a brillaint and nice place to stay.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

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 had... Read review

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