Hotel Heliconias Nature Inn & Hot Springs

Great property

It was a nice stay! Wish they had more options for food in the menu. It was the same breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. The hot springs were not always hot and not all were working. The massages were amazing tho! Highly recommended.

amazing hot springs. lots of plants and anomsks

We loved our stay at Hotel Heliconias. The staff was so welcoming and friendly. The grounds were beautiful. A sloth was right on the property. Beautiful flowers and birds. The restaurant had a wonderful free breakfast in the morning and great dinner options. The hot springs on the property were delightful. About 30 minutes from Arenal Volcano

Our family had the pleasure of staying at Heliconias Nature Inn and Hot Springs for a few days in April, and we left with wonderful memories and a few suggestions for future improvement.

We stayed in the Glass House Bungalow, which was an absolute highlight of our trip. The room was beautifully surrounded by nature, and we thoroughly enjoyed relaxing in the hammocks on our private balcony. The peaceful atmosphere, combined with the lush greenery and natural sounds, made it feel like a true escape from everyday life.

The hotel breakfast was excellent—fresh, flavorful, and a perfect start to each day. However, it would be great if there were more variety offered on different days to keep the experience exciting for longer stays.

We made good use of the pool and the hot springs during our stay. The hot springs were relaxing and serene, and the pool was enjoyable, especially for families. To enhance the pool experience further, it would be helpful if the hotel provided pool floats or toys for children to play with. Additionally, offering ice cream and snacks by the pool (even for an extra charge) would be a great touch for guests spending time by the water.

The staff at Heliconias were incredibly friendly and helpful. We especially appreciated their willingness to transport us to and from our room using company golf carts—this added a convenient and thoughtful touch to our stay.

Overall, we had a great experience and left feeling very satisfied.

It was our first time in Costa Rica and hotel Heliconias was a very good stay. It was perfect for the hot springs. It was very nice and the hotel rooms were like a treehouse. Service was good. The food was great. The traditional Costa Rican food, Gallo Pinto, is a must try.

Beautiful, well maintained grounds and excellent service. Every encounter with the staff from the reception desk, to the restaurant and hotel room was a pleasant experience. We travelled with families and rented three premium treehouse and all kids and adults loved it. Waking up to the sound of tweeting birds was the best good morning. We loved the peace and quiet and did not mind that it was 25 mins from La Fortuna or took longer to get to Arenal area. The free breakfast was delicious and lunch dinner (same menu) were generous portions. Will definitely come back again. We saw three sloths near the petting zoo and another in the hiking area. This was hands down our favorite hotel

This resort is amazing and I wish I was back there now. We only stayed here 2 nights of our 8 night stay in Costa Rica, but it was our favorite. We have a family of 4 and we stayed in a deluxe treehouse which fit us nicely. The grounds are beautiful and walkable and the staff is friendly. We were able to see multiple sloths and plenty of other wildlife. One afternoon, my teenaged daughter accidently left her wallet (with cash) in the restaurant, but it was kept safe by the staff (Luis) until she realized her mistake and retrieved it. We took the night tour with Victor and thoroughly enjoyed it, and we appreciated his passion about farming and sustainability. Also, the coffee is amazing. We ate all of our meals here and the food was fresh and delicious (I would personally recommend the farm to table casado and the breakfast omelet). Overall we recommend this resort to anyone looking for a relaxing, quiet stay, close to nature with quality food and great staff.

We had a lovely time! Our room was very nice, as were the pool and hot springs. We booked one of the tours through the hotel and loved it! The only downside was the restaurant, which had very limited options for vegetarians and slow service.

Staff extremely nice, they went out of their wy to make us feel like home, good place to relax. Hot springs are not natural, towels need to be updated they were torn, hotel it is very far away from tourists places, a car is needed to drive around . Restaurant food it is not that good and expensive.

BED BUGS!! There were live bed bugs in the king bed in treehouse #2 when we stayed. I understand the property is in the jungle, but these were actual human parasitic bed bugs that were in the bed biting me, and I have videos and photos. When we smushed a couple of them, blood came out, similar to when you kill a mosquito. I realized at 11pm the first night and contacted reception immediately. He switched us to a smaller room however, the next day the manager only would refund one night, not the 2 that we booked. A full refund would’ve been the only way to fully remedy the bed bug issue, in my opinion.

Other notes of the property: The second night, the electricity went out when we were showering/changing in the evening 4 times for a few minutes each time. And I’m not sure the “hot springs” are truly from the source, as the water in the first pool would run hot for a few minutes, then cold, and kept switching back and forth. The highlight was seeing a mother sloth with her baby and a toucan on the property trail. The restaurant food was good and generally the service around the property was also good.

The property is amazing for the nature lover. It’s a bit remote so no food options other than their restaurant around. Rooms are mediocre (cabin like). The staff is really nice and hard working. The thermal pool is lukewarm temperature not really hot.

Cons
*WiFi works only in the room
*Daily power outages! (You sit in a hot spring and all the lights go off and water stops and this can happen every ten minutes)
*Five cascading “hot springs”, only one hot and it’s small and the water alternates between hot and cold
*hot springs work only since 2pm
*round trip by taxi is $70 to/from La Fortuna (about $15 by uber from the town)
*one way taxi shuttle from SJO airport is $175
*breakfast is served only for two hours 7:30-9:30
*Breakfast has a small selection and you can’t ask for anything extra. For example, the eggs platter comes only with one piece of bacon. Pancakes is a breakfast selection on its own.
*If you book activities through reception they give you higher prices… (highly recommend booking directly with Maquique tours)
*activities recommendation is not the best at reception, they don’t know what’s included in the activity
*Safe box in the rooms doesn’t work, if you wanna keep your belongings safe you have to leave it at the reception (I didn’t)
*theres no phone in the room, you have to use your phone to communicate with reception through WhatsApp
*the pool is shallow
*the walk from glass bungalows to the restaurant is very steep
*theres no stores or pharmacies around so it would be nice to have something in the hotel like a little pharmacy for daily necessities

Pros
*Massage with Marivelle was amazing
*Victor is really great at showing around hotel
*smart TV
*goats, sloths, chickens at hotel

Amazing stay

Amazing little resort in the rain forest. Super helpful and friendly and a lot to do.

It is a bit far from La Fortuna however.

It was a magical stay for my wife’s 50th birthday. Diego, Carlos , Victor were especially excellent in everything they did for us. The hotel rooms and the grounds were beautiful and well maintained. There almost no need to go anywhere else. The amount of detail they put into all of thier work is superb. They really accommodate your every need. Check in and checkout was a breeze. The food was also delightful and done with so much love. We left feeling like we were a part of the family. We will be back with friends hopefully sooner than later. Thank you so much Heliconias!!!

: )

Had high hopes for this property judging by reviews and photos, however it did not live up to our expectations. Its set up is ok but it all looks quite tired. The pool is not attractive but guess functional for little kids. The thermal baths were definitely not attractive or nice. Tried water of one and was cold. The decor in the bungalow was tired and not much room to walk so very difficult to put down your suitcases. Shower didn't drain properly which was in the end sorted by the staff. At times there was a drain smell outside the bungalow. The restaurant was quite odd in my opinion. Food very average but quite expensive.

I guess this can be compared to a tired Center Parcs (for those who are familiar with that), so probably ok if you have (very) little kids, but for us it wasn't what we wanted.

Loved our Glass Bungalow, their restaurant was really good

Loved our stay. The place is kept beautifully, every one is very nice. There is one restaurant on premise, very good food. The big pool is refreshing, the hot springs are very cute. There are several sloths living in the property and the local guide was super helpful to show them to us. It was amazing to see them so close up. We stayed at la Iguana, real immersive experience and waking up in the morning in a quite and beautiful place was really nice. We had 2 kids under 10, and felt so safe. Also front desk was very helpful in providing information on tours and we ended up doing our own route as we had a rented car. We visited the volcano, around 35 to 40 min away. We all really loved our stay!