Travel Log: Tabacón Resort & Spa, La Fortuna Area, Costa Rica

If you follow me on Instagram you saw that I recently spent about a week in Costa Rica (9 days including travel days) with three of my dearest friends. Our itinerary included one night in San Jose to reset after redeye flights and ~12 hours total travel time from Seattle, two nights in Quepos to explore Manuel Antonio National Park (you can click on the links to read the posts), a stop at the stunning Starbucks Hacienda Alsacia Coffee Farm, two nights at the stunning Tabacón Resort & Spa near La Fortuna and Arenal Volcano that included a nature walk at the Mistico Hanging Bridges, and three nights at a resort on the Gulf of Papagayo in Guanacaste before flying home from the Liberia Guanacaste airport. Today I am sharing more on our stay at Tabacón Resort & Spa in the La Fortuna area, a gorgeous property created and owned by a Costa Rican family. When we started to plan out our Costa Rica girls' trip approximately two years ago, this resort was one that we decided we must visit and stay for a couple of nights. Please continue scrolling to see more photos and details of our stay at Tabacón Resort & Spa in the La Fortuna area near the base of the Arenal volcano.

Tabacón Resort & Spa is located approximately a 2.5-3 hour drive from San Jose (the primary international airport where most tourists arrive into Costa Rica), depending on traffic, and it feels like you are standing right at the base of the Arenal volcano. It was approximately a 5 hour drive from our first stop at Manual Antonio National Park on the Pacific Coast, and the weather change from the hot and sunny coast up into the cooler misty mountains was so pretty to see. This resort is located on a large private reserve and is the only resort in the area with a free-flowing thermal river. There are 105 rooms of various sizes at this resort, and we chose to splurge on a two bedroom, two bathroom suite with over 2,200 square feet and plenty of space for our group of four women. Our room had a view of the forest, not the volcano, but some rooms do have views of the volcano! Besides those rooms, the best views of the volcano are from the pool, right next to Tucanes Restaurant when the clouds are not in the way. The clouds move very fast, so when you see the volcano you have to quickly snap a photo or the next minute it could be gone! I swear that the volcano is in the background of the below photo, you can see part of it above the trees, but it was not easy to snap a clear pic and the second one (zoomed in) is much better.

I mentioned earlier that when we started planning out this Costa Rica trip approximately two years ago, the first decision we made was to ensure that we planned our stay to include a couple of nights at Tabacón Resort & Spa in the La Fortuna area near the Arenal volcano. We shifted our trip dates a couple of times due to schedules, but thankfully I was able to book our luxurious and roomy suite for our stay. The resort rooms and grounds are not only stunning, but guests also enjoy unlimited access to the natural hot springs. These hot springs are are a series of free-flowing pools that flow down the mountain (as opposed to some other resorts that fill stationary thermal pools daily and drain them at night) and are located a short 1-2 minute drive or 5-7 minute walk from the hotel's main lobby entrance. There is a free shuttle for hotel guests that runs consistently throughout the day and into the evening, or if you want the exercise there is a paved pathway as well. After check-in and some videos of our amazing two bedroom suite, we wasted no time changing into our swimsuits and heading to the hot springs to check out all of the thermal pools.

After spending a couple of hours walking around and testing out the thermal pools for optimal temperature (the pools vary in temperature from 72 degrees F to 105 degrees F, and we preferred the hotter pools), we decided we were ready for a bite to eat. Ave, Tabacón Resort's casual dinner restaurant, is located right next to the spa and is accessible to both those staying at the resort and those who visit with a day pass ($99 per adult) during their visit to the hot springs. We utilized the resort shuttle to get back to our room to shower and get ready for dinner, then  took the shuttle back to the restaurant for a lovely meal. I initially thought that it would be inconvenient to have the hot springs and Ave Restaurant set away from the main hotel, but it really did not bother us at all. I tried the Patacón Pisao, which was a mixture of shredded beef, refried beans, guacamole, Bagaces cheese (a tasty drier cheese that reminded me of halloumi and was served frequently during our week in Costa Rica), greens, tomato, and cilantro mayo on top of fried smashed plantains and served with a side salad. I also had a cocktail called the "Volcano Smash" that consisted of gin, guava syrup, lime juice, and Aperol foam. Everything was delicious!

Day two at Tabacón Resort & Spa consisted of an early buffet breakfast at Tucanes restaurant, located a short walk from our room and included with the cost of our room. There was a selection of hot items, an omelette station, fresh fruit, breads, cereals, yogurt, charcuterie and cheeses, and more. After a tasty breakfast, we met our guide and driver for a nature-filled outing to the Místico Hanging Bridges (more on that soon). It was an amazing few hours and I cannot wait to share more with you. After returning to the resort, we spent more time relaxing at the pool, enjoyed spa treatments, and spent more time relaxing in the hot springs before an incredible dinner on site. I think it is worth noting that since there are quite a few thermal pools within this natural preserve (one source said 12, another said 15), while there were always a lot of visitors it felt like we could consistently find a quiet spot to relax on our own. In addition, the pool area at the resort never felt crowded during our visit and we had no trouble finding space in the morning or afternoon.

Besides the amazing hot springs, another highlight of our visit to Tabacón Resort was a private six course tasting menu dinner prepared by a private chef in a separate bungalow a short walk from the Tucanes Restaurant. This tasting menu experience is called Ephemeral Table, you need to book it separately in advance, and you can find more details here. Our six course tasting menu felt more like 8 courses, because the first course was 3 small seafood dishes plated together, and included with each dish was either a cocktail or wine/beer pairing (we got to choose). I had a hard time choosing drinks, and ended up going with cocktails for the first two courses, wine for the third through fifth, and port with dessert. In addition to the first course that included scallop, shrimp, and tuna, we were also served dishes with duck, pork, and steak. A merengue palate cleanser and chocolate dessert with gold flakes rounded out our delicious meal. While this meal was not cheap at approximately $200 per person USD, every dish and drink pairing was fantastic and we were very impressed. 10/10 recommend.

I cannot say enough good things about our stay at Tabacón Resort & Spa and highly recommend if you want to enjoy a luxury resort and access to a natural hot springs with over a dozen free flowing pools while in Costa Rica. The La Fortuna area at the base of Arenal Volcano is stunning with not only the views of the volcano but also the rainforest and diverse wildlife. We also very much enjoyed our Mistico Hanging Bridges tour with a guide in this area (please stay tuned for a recap of that adventure!) before heading onward to the Gulf of Papagayo and some beach time as our final stop of our Costa Rica adventure. Thank you for following along, visiting my blog today, and I hope you have a wonderful week!

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