El Castillo de La Fortuna, El Castillo, Arenal Volcano National Park 21007 Costa Rica, El Castillo, Costa Rica | (888) 399-9863
Fantastic view of Lake Arenal
Off the tourist track, with authentic local feel
Simple, homey rooms with local artwork, ceiling fans, mini-fridges, and coffeemakers
Adjacent restaurant with ever-changing menu uses only fresh, local ingredients
Free Wi-Fi
Free tasty breakfast using fresh eggs
Small spa, plus a hot tub
Spring-fed pool has great view of the lake
Too far for easy access to La Fortuna
The dam and national park are 40 or so minute away over bad roads
Not in or as near the rainforest as many other hotels in the region that emphasize nature
Rooms in the main building afford little privacy
Poor water pressure in the room we stayed in
Nepenthe is a remote, modest seven-room hotel off the beaten track from the Arenal tourist circuit and just outside small-town El Castillo, close to the lake and the southwest slope of the volcano. It offers a choice of modest motel-like rooms in the main building or kitchenette-appointed cabins below. The hotel is too far to be convenient to La Fortuna's tourist hub, but it's within a 40-minute drive of the entrance to Arenal National Park and offers a slice of local tico culture. The unofficial hotel restaurant next door, Tres Cabras, serves seasonal fare; the pool has an excellent view of the lake; and treatments are available at a small, simple spa. Travelers who want a similar hotel closer to La Fortuna may want to check out the Hotel Cerro Azul just south of town -- though it lacks Nepenthe's pool and views.
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Scene
A small-town collection of hillside houses overlooking Lake Arenal that attracts mostly European travelers looking to avoid the touristy scene nearer to La Fortuna
A collection of buildings up a mid-grade slope that overlooks Lake Arenal, Nepenthe is low-key and mellow, seeming almost more like a collection of hillside suburban dwellings with a great view than a hotel. The rooms are decorated with paintings of village life from Nicaragua, there are hanging chairs everywhere, and there's a large common area that doubles as the breakfast nook in the main building on the top of the hill. Staff said the guests were largely European, with a sizable chunk from France, a change of pace from the North Americans who seem to dominate every other hotel in the region. It's a small-town vibe through and through here, and both locals, expats, and staff tend to turn in by 9 p.m.
Location
Near the sleepy, one-horse town of El Castillo, it's a destination to escape the tourist masses of Arenal -- but inconvenient when you want to enjoy some touristy amenities.
The hotel sits just outside of the tiny town of El Castillo, which is probably most known to tourists as the home of the modest EcoZone snake-and-frog zoo whose signs dot the entire region. It's a good 45 minutes from the Arenal dam (twice that from La Fortuna) over badly maintained roads pitted with potholes, and once you get to the outskirts of El Castillo, it's another 10-minute drive up a gravelly, sloped road till you get to Nepenthe. The location is great if you plan on hitting the EcoZone or butterfly garden in town, or just want to experience small-town Costa Rican life. The trip to Arenal National Park or the dam, however, take a good, bumpy while (40 minutes or so), and unless you're really hankering for a cappuccino or banana pancakes, you're probably going to give up the idea of quick day trips into La Fortuna.
Rooms
Rooms are serviceable and clean, most with views of the lake, but rooms in the main building have little privacy -- or water pressure.
Rooms are clean and serviceable, with little of note aside from the colorful paintings of Nicaraguan (not tico!) village life and the occasional regional knickknack. The rugs and linens in the bathrooms and bedrooms look like the assortment of mismatched castoffs and extras you'd use to furnish your summer cabin. Amenities include mini-fridges, coffeemakers, and safes -- no TVs, and a ceiling fan instead of AC. Bathrooms in the motel-like standard rooms are actually larger than those in the cabins, which have a hot-plate kitchenettes and porches with hanging chairs looking onto the lake. The curtains in the rooms in the main house match the duvets, but these units are afforded little privacy -- they're easy to see into at night with the light on inside. Water pressure in our room was ludicrously poor -- the shower gave out a mere trickle of water, while the sink faucet gasped out as much air as it did liquid. Rooms are far from the main road, so there's no issue with nearby traffic, and the hotel traffic is occasional and quiet, but can be clearly heard within main-house rooms when it does come by.
Features
The hotel's spa offers a variety of treatments in a quiet building across from the cabins, and the unofficial hotel restaurant puts out ever-changing, seasonal menus.
The hotel's spa is a quiet building off to one side with a variety of treatments inside and a hot tub out back. The attractive restaurant at the foot of the property, Tres Cabras, is owned by a couple from Toronto (one of whom was the first winner of Canadian Idol). It offers an ever-changing menu based on whatever fresh victuals the owners get that morning. It's a great change of pace from the other hotel restaurants in the area, and attracts a growing share of diners staying elsewhere. (It's a good idea to call ahead and ask about reservations.)
The free breakfast, offered in the main hotel building, is of high quality and includes fresh eggs from the property's chickens. The outdoor pool is a highlight, and has terrific vies of the lake.
