Tabacon Thermal Resort and Spa
Arenal
The luxurious Tabacon Thermal Resort and Spa, a member of the elite Virtuoso group of hotels, is located directly in front of the imposing Arenal Volcano and surrounded by lush rainforest. Renowned as one of the top hot springs resorts in the world, Tabacon offers guests a natural and beautiful location from which to enjoy the Arenal region. The thermal springs run through the bottom of the property, meandering through forest and tropical gardens, creating a spectacular natural display. Guests of this 5-star resort can also enjoy amenities such as swimming pools with lounge areas, a swim-up bar at the hot springs, several restaurants and bars, a world-class spa, trails through tropical gardens, and much more!
Arenal Volcano is undoubtedly the top attraction in the region. The iconic volcano looms over Tabacon and visitors can drive to any one of several trails at the base of the volcano within minutes. The beautiful La Fortuna Waterfall is another nearby top attraction. Visitors can hike down to the base of the 200 foot falls and swim in the warm tropical waters beneath it! Anglers can try their luck fishing for rainbow bass (Guapote) and machaca in the nearby Lake Arenal. Of course, Arenal is known as the adventure capital of Central America, so thrill-seekers can enjoy a plethora of activities including canopy zipline, whitewater rafting, canyoneering, ATV riding and many other epic adventures. Nature lovers can look for toucans, monkeys, sloths and many other rare and exotic animals at sites such as Arenal Hanging Bridges, trails at the base of the volcano, and on boating tours such as the safari float on the Rio Penas Blancas or a riverboat safari at Cano Negro Wildlife Refuge.
While there is plenty to do in this area, guests of Tabacon Thermal Resort and Spa can take it easy and enjoy the many onsite amenities. All guests have complimentary access to the thermal hot springs. Set within the forest and tropical gardens, the springs vary in temperature and can be enjoyed in natural stream areas or larger pool areas. There is even a swim-up bar and large waterslide! Between hot springs sessions, you can relax and soak up the sun in the lounge areas or cool off in the cold water swimming pools.
The luxurious, award-winning Spa at Tabacon is set in bungalows within the trees and tropical gardens and near the natural hot springs. The private and relaxing environment will set you at ease and in harmony with nature. The Spa menu includes a variety of massages, treatments, facials, and hot springs enhancements.
The resort offers several delightful dining options and reservations are recommended for each. The Ave del Paraiso Restaurant is a casual restaurant located near the hot springs area. Serving International fare and Costa Rican cuisine, this restaurant offers a la carte options for lunch and a buffet for dinner. The Los Tucanes Restaurant is located on the main hotel grounds. This restaurant recommends that gentlemen refrain from wearing short sleeve shirts, and swimwear and flip flops for men and women is frowned upon. Serving International cuisine, this restaurant offers an a la carte dining experience. Tabacon also offers a private dining experience, Ephemeral Table, which is prepared and served in a private open-air rainforest bungalow. Not to be overlooked, the resort offers four bars and snack stations. The Arenal Pool Bar serves snacks and drinks by the main pool. The Cana Brava Bar is located in the hotel lobby, serving snacks and drinks. The Shangri-La Gardens Bar, located in the resort's Shangri-La Gardens, offers an adults-only experience.
Rooms and Suites at the Tabacon Resort are thoughtfully appointed and tastefully decorated. All room styles offer air-conditioning, cable television, in-room safe deposit box, mini-fridge, espresso coffee machine, hairdryer, and internet service. Please check on individual room styles below to see comprehensive amenity lists for each room style.
Tabacon Thermal Resort and Spa is consistently rated among Costa Rica's top resorts. If you are seeking a luxurious hot springs resort with Costa Rican style and flare, this just may be the perfect place for your vacation at Arenal Volcano!
Latitude: N 10° 29' 25.24"
Longitude: W 84° 43' 18.95"
12/23/2022
Hotel was beautiful. Loved the feel. The rooms were beautiful and spacious. The spa and springs were relaxing and gorgeous. Hadn't realized there would be a pre-fixe menu for Xmas eve. The meal was a little pricey for what was served but the staff was lovely to interact with. The breakfast buffet was delicious and plentiful.
08/06/2022
Great, friendly staff who was always willing to help
07/31/2022
The hot springs were amazing. We had issues with climate control in our room, but the hotel was very responsive in resolving the issue. The hotel staff was very helpful. The restaurant food at Tucanes was overpriced and the quality was okay. The included breakfast was a good representation of local produce/cuisine but was the same all three days.
07/27/2022
The food wasn’t the best, but I love that it was actually Costa Rican food and drinks.
06/03/2022
The hotel was amazing and we loved the hot springs. My only complaint is that all the restaurants there were pretty expensive and we had to drive to get to the nearest restaurant.
05/04/2022
Wonderful place!
03/22/2022
Loved the hot springs! Beautiful resort. Rooms were great and beds comfortable. The grounds are immaculate. Worth the money for the hot springs experience. Didn’t like that I had to get 2 rooms since my 17 and 13 year olds were considered adults. Food was ok and pricey that is what I didn’t give the resort a 10.
03/02/2022
Worth the money. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The gardens and thermal pools were wonderful. The Spa treatments were amazing....
02/03/2022
Amazing experience at hotel with the hot springs and amenities. Whole family enjoyed our stay
01/11/2022
This place is amazing! The staff is very friendly and accommodating. The hot springs is one of the most beautiful places I have seen. The experience was excellent.
11/23/2021
Beautiful resort.
09/18/2021
Very glad I made change to tabacon spa, it was the nicest resort. Staff was super friendly and the meals were great. Rooms are super clean and very nice.
08/07/2021
To be sure, the river of hot springs at the bottom of the hotel property is absolutely spectacular. Much of this is open to the public, but the two hottest pools (101 degrees F) at thee top of the series are open to hotel guests only. It is photo-perfect and wonderfully relaxing.
However, the hotel itself is somewhat disappointing. The hotel is some distance from La Fortuna, the closest town. The we were surrounded by opportunities to buy simple goods are vastly inflated prices and luxury goods at exorbitant prices. It reminded us of Las Vegas in presenting the appearance affordable luxury with constant attempts to separate the guest from his money. Hotel staff were curiously resistant to helping with travel or dining away from the hotel. Taxi to anywhere starts from La Fortuna and begins at about $18 USD each way. All costs in this area are in USD. Uber is of questionable local legality but is only about $6 USD each way. Dining and tours are best purchased in La Fortuna or in El Castillo (local towns).
Spend a day or two to experience the hot springs. Stay elsewhere to experience the rainforest and volcano.
Breakfast in Las Tucanes was a good buffet. It is included. Dinner at the Ave was disappointing and expensive. Seafood was poorly overcooked, or, in the case of ceviche, too little lime. A white chocolate mousse was almost completely flavorless. Much better food is to be had in La Fortuna.
06/15/2021
This resort is absolutely beautiful and the service was superb. The rooms were very large, comfortable, and super clean. Prices for the food and drinks were a bit high, but the quality of food and drinks was not that high to match. They were still good.
03/19/2021
Beautiful resort with even more beautiful spa, although the drinks are way to overpriced even for US standard.
01/17/2021
Top notch resort.
11/21/2020
Amazing!
02/07/2020
Tabacon Grand Spa Thermal Resort exceeded all our expectations!!! All of the staff was extremely friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful; rooms were excellent, service throughout our stay was on the highest level. We would definitely love to come back and stay here again for a vacation. Thermal pools and spa services were also excellent! Dinning experiences at the hotel are equal to fine dining at Michelin star restaurants. We loved how the hotel is situated in the nature.
01/16/2020
Amazing hotel
10/15/2019
Spectacular and luxurious hotel. top notch in every aspect, felt like royalty staying here. Our room was beautiful with a breathtaking view. Only complaint is the lunch/dinner food is overpriced and we felt town was a far drive away (but worth it).
10/10/2019
Staff went above and beyond to assist and answer questions
09/26/2019
The resort could benefit from having a non-thermal swimming pool. Hotter showers would be a plus.
09/09/2019
Everyone there were so welcoming and friendly
09/06/2019
Everything was so nice here. The food was good. the staff was friendly, the views from the room was spectular. Access to the hot springs and then even having a hotel guest area was great.
07/07/2019
I love Tabacon so much. I wish we would have spent another day just because we got there so late the first day. It was perfect even though we had some rain. Our room was as perfect as we could have imagined.
05/17/2019
This is a wonderful hotel with fabulous facilities and staff. We were sad to leave and definitely want to return to this hotel.
03/26/2019
The hotel was amazing, and the staff so friendly, and very helpful in organizing taxis to town.
03/14/2019
Excellent hotel. Restaurants were overpriced; good but not great.
02/28/2019
When we arrived our suite had an awful smell. The staff immediately addressed the smell (cleaning the room again while we were at dinner). The room was great after that. The resort staff checked in on us several times to make sure we were comfortable. Loved the welcome drinks they provided and how nice to have a cool lavender rag to freshen up with. The breakfast buffet, fit everyone's wants. So fun, to walk to the hot springs in our robes. The front desk did a great job helping us get transportation into town for dinner. It was a wonderful place to stay.
01/29/2019
One of the nicest places we have ever stayed. Amazing service.
01/13/2019
One of best hotels, from the staff to the overall experience. From our entire stay in Costa Rica, one of the best hotels we have been in. I totally recommend it, 100%.
01/09/2019
Knowing our daughter had Gluten diet issues there was no real effort made for accomodate her neds
12/15/2018
Clean hotel with good staff. Lunch and dinner are expensive on property with limited off-property options.
12/04/2018
I Love the hotel and staff and location however the room had a nasty moldy odor and we told hotel and they offered us a humidifier but told us we had to keep the air conditioner off if we kept the humidifier in our room but we declined so they offered incense instead which we thought would help but sadly the nasty moldy smell transferred to all of our clothes for our next hotel and we had to hand wash most of our clothes and put lots of perfume on other clothes to disguise the moldy smell would not stay here again due to moldy smell of rooms sadly but they had an excellent view of volcano and staff were very nice people
11/28/2018
Our first room had a strong mold smell. The hotel staff (before we said anything, recognized this and put in a de-humidifier, but it was not sufficient so we had to change rooms. Also, the food options required a long walk for breakfast, even though there is a restaurant (open only for dinner) near the guest rooms. It would have been nice to have that restaurant open for breakfast as well as the one next to the hot springs. The hot springs were great though, and we spent a lot of time in the water.
11/09/2018
Beautiful! Have recommended this to others already! Want to go back and stay here again!!
10/08/2018
We loved it here!
09/20/2018
Staff was very friendly hotel was beautiful. The dinner buffet was over priced and poor quality.
09/02/2018
Everything is great except food at restaurant.
08/14/2018
They went above and beyond. With the initial greeting, throughout, with the swan towels and wine in our room honeymoon Banner, and overall service with everything.
12/09/2017
I thought the thermal resort was not very hot. We are used to much warmer springs in Japan.
06/18/2017
the resort was beautiful and the hot spring was wonderful, this resort is probably one of my top 3 resort I ever stayed and I have stayed many places all over the world.
04/28/2017
Tremendous place to vacation. Pools are awesome!
03/10/2017
Loved the hotel and springs. Food on site was extremely over priced and not very good. Included breakfast buffet was good.
02/24/2017
For such a nice hotel, being able to hear doors slamming early in the morning and voices loud and clear, was a bit disappointing. Staff was very nice and even called to find us in the lobby upon our departure when they found a Kindle left on the bed table. Breakfast was good and the setting perfect.
01/22/2017
Fantastic resort. The breakfasts were delicious and the staff so friendly and accommodating. The Pizote were funny to see at the morning breakfasts, the drinks well made, cuisine good, and the hot spring was one-of-a-kind. Our room was set up so nicely for our honeymoon with the treats and presentation. a GREAT start to our trip.
12/31/2016
This hotel was absolutely amazing
04/17/2016
Amazing! Loved every minute of our time there.
03/19/2016
The room was beautiful and more than expected. The staff was awesome and placed a birthday pastry in my room with happy birthday on it. Also on the bed was towels in the shape of a sloth. It made my stay special.
02/08/2016
Weather cold and rainy which affected our experience, although this obviously beyond your control.
The exclusive area for the resort located in the Spa is not well advertised. The Thermal Spa itself is not well marked along the various pathways - easy to get lost.
08/14/2015
The hot springs were amazing and the food at the hotel restaurant was delicious
05/08/2015
Great hotel, felt like paradise at the hot springs. Grounds were immaculate. We were welcomed and taken care off as soon as we arrived. The only thing we didn't like was that I felt like I had to tip and carry money with us. Shuttle drivers to and from the hot springs, door men, cleaning staff in the rooms. I would prefer if the price included all that or if I could just tip once at the end of my stay. Everyone was exceptional and I felt like I was tipping $ 2 dollars every time we took the shuttle to and from the springs.
04/29/2015
We loved the room and the hot springs/spa, but the hotel wasn't always accommodating. There was an issue with the wifi and it took 3 calls over the course of a whole day before the issue was addressed. We also feel Tony and Sue were over charged at the pool bar for their drinks. We wouldn't stay there again.
04/20/2015
Hotel in need for a full scale renovation. It's out dated by any standard.staff don't care about service.way overrated. How can it be five stars is a big question.
I should have listened to my travel agent and stayed at other hotel and go to spa on tour.
The thermal spa is sum thing must to go to.
04/06/2015
The hot springs were a paradise. I was concerned we wouldn't have that much time to enjoy them, but we arrived early the first day and spent the rest of the day there, and were able to go back for 2-3 hrs every days afterwards. My only complain would be the cost of the food at the resort ($30 for breakfast that we always avoided because of the cost, $40 for a dinner buffet at the hot springs that was just okay). That pushed us to go to Fortuna the last 2 evening despite the distance.
01/29/2015
this was fabulous thank you
01/28/2015
overpriced, unspectacular food for very high price
