We stayed at Amor Arenal for 3 nights in early January and appreciated all the COVID safety precautions they were taking during our time. Compared to other hotels in the La Fortuna/Arenal area, my husband and I would highly suggest Amor Arenal. The staff were incredibly attentive and friendly, the service was excellent, and the rooms/property were stunning.
Rooms/property: We loved that the property only had ~30 rooms as it never felt crowded. While the property is on a hill, a buggy was always prompt/available for us. This property is less hilly than other resorts in the area. The grounds were always well maintained and very lush, with incredible views of Arenal Volcano. All rooms have an outside jacuzzi tub fed from the hot springs, and a great indoor shower that overlooks the rainforest/canyon (rooms 15+ have a great view of the canyon/volcano). The property had 2 cold pools along with a warm pool (at the wet bar). The gym was well equipped and always quiet. They did provide multiple kettlebells and a yoga mat in the room if you preferred in room workouts. While it usually has 2 restaurants, one of the restaurants (a Tapas Bar with live music) was not open at the time of our visit due to COVID. This led us to eat at the main restaurant or the wet bar for our meals – the food was great, so we didn’t mind. We appreciated how they offered excursions through the hotel, we utilized this to book a rafting trip (highly recommend!). One big surprise we learned was that they had 2 trails on property – one was more difficult and the other was easier, and that they offered complimentary guides for these trails. This was such a big perk that we utilized every day. The trails are through the rainforest and the guide we had (Rudy) is incredibly knowledgeable and friendly (we saw owls, parrots, all different birds, etc.).
Service: Exceptional. The bartenders (Oscar, Fabio) are extremely talented and friendly as well as our waiters (Enrique, and Ronald). Raquel/Jaylin/Will at concierge/reception are attentive and great. Rudy is one of the best guides we have had – incredibly knowledgeable and a librarian of Costa Rican nature. House keeping was excellent. Whenever we requested ice or anything to the room, they were extremely prompt. The only issue we ran into was they advertised complimentary laundry service, and unfortunately, due to COVID, they stopped. As we had been in Costa Rica already for 4 days (that included adventure), we were hoping to have our clothing washed. Though they did offer to dry our clothes.
Talking to many of the staff, we were very excited to hear the plans that Amor Arenal has for its future. I truly believe that this new hotel is going to be the next big thing and look forward to returning.
