Casa Luna Hotel & Spa — Hotel in La Fortuna

Casa Luna Hotel – Honest Review

Casa Luna was a great eco-friendly hotel to stay at during our visit to La Fortuna. It’s located about a 5-minute drive from the main town center (around $8 by taxi or $3 with Uber). There isn’t much within walking distance except for a local soda (small restaurant) down the road. The surrounding roads are winding and not pedestrian-friendly, so walking to town isn’t recommended.

The hotel helped us book tours through Eco Tours, which were absolutely perfect. The hotel shuttle driver was also excellent—friendly, helpful, and made our trips comfortable.

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Pros • Eco-friendly atmosphere • Excellent shuttle driver and tour booking support • Nice views from 2nd-floor rooms: Our room had large windows and a balcony with a lovely view (note: not all 2nd-floor rooms face the volcano, and 1st-floor rooms do not have volcano views). • Incredible spa experience: The massage at the spa was one of the best we’ve ever had—outdoors, surrounded by the soothing sounds of the rainforest, including rain and wildlife. It was a truly magical, immersive experience. • Memorable experience with a friendly bartender: One of the highlights was a bartender who offered to take us on a night walk around the trails where we spotted frogs and even a sloth. If you bring a good flashlight, it’s definitely worth doing your own night tour—there’s plenty of wildlife to see.

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Cons • No real hot springs: The “hot springs” are actually three small hot tubs with lukewarm water. • Cold pool: Even in June, the pool was too cold to use comfortably. • Overpriced and mediocre restaurant food: The meals were underwhelming, and prices were steep (e.g., $15 for a small dessert). • Unwelcoming staff: Unfortunately, we found the staff to be generally unfriendly. When we asked for recommendations or extra towels, the responses were curt and unhelpful. This might be due to strict eco policies or a limited budget, but it created a cold atmosphere compared to other hotels we visited. • Bathroom quirks: The hotel has a strict policy of not flushing toilet paper, which took some getting used to. • Humidity control: The AC worked fine but needed to run continuously to manage humidity in the room. • Minor insect presence: We encountered one cockroach and a few small bugs during our stay—not bad considering the jungle setting.

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Final Thoughts Casa Luna offers a beautiful eco-lodge experience with great tour access, jungle immersion, and an unforgettable spa experience. However, the hospitality and some amenities could use improvement. It’s a solid option if you value sustainability, natural beauty, and don’t mind a few...

Overall, I really liked this hotel. It isn't exactly a 5-star hotel experience or anything, but for the price and my expectations, I was quite happy.

The room was comfortable and quiet. I do wish we had screened windows we could open at night so we didn't have to use the AC and could enjoy the jungle sounds and flowing creek nearby. We really loved the balcony - sitting outside and hearing the wildlife was great. The room had a lot of natural light and decent views outside. The landscaping was really great, and attracted a lot of birds. Our first night, there were howler monkeys right at the corner of our building! The outdoor lighting could be improved - the overhead lights are rather bright and get too bright as you walk under them. Some warm, low-voltage path lighting and up-lighting the plant features would really add a luxurious touch.

The pool was decent - nothing to rave about, but enjoyable. I liked the waterfall feature for a bit of a neck massage! The hot tubs were either not hot with jets, or hot but the jets didn't work. That was probably the most disappointing part.

Breakfast was buffet style, solid 3/5. Fruit was always ripe and delicious. Custom egg station was decent - omelettes were as one would probably expect from this sort of arrangement - hastily made, without grilling the veggies before making the omelette. The over-easy eggs were to perfection!

We did get a couple's Luna massage at the spa. While the environment was very tranquil - set outdoors next to a running stream, with candles, soft music, etc, and the therapists were very nice - the massage was relaxing but that's about it. It was very light touch and didn't seem to really relieve any tension in my muscles. Perhaps we should have gotten deep tissue massages, but I suspect the therapists aren't really adept at true therapeutic massage. That's probably true of most hotel spas, though.

I quite liked that we were a bit out of La Fortuna's main town, as we got to enjoy the sounds of nature. If we didn't have a rental car, it might have been a bit far and inconvenient from other places.

Overall, this place was a solid value and I'll have fond memories of it, but it just wasn't an exceptional...

Casa Luna is a nice quiet hotel 5 minutes drive away from La Fortuna. The grounds are well maintained and the hotel rooms are well spaced out so that it doesn't feel like a hotel.

The amenities are amazing. Having a great pool, pool bar, hot tubs, a restaurant, spa and the view of Arenal Volcano all in one place is perfect.

I spent most of my visit sitting in one of the four hot tubs reading a book with a drink in hand thanks to Melvin at the pool bar who always checked in to see if I needed anything.

I visited the spa for a massage one day. The facilities were very clean and the most amazing part was that the massage room was open to the outside. It faced the backside of the hotel which was beautiful with so much green and the stream running underneath. It was raining during my treatment and hearing that and the other sounds of nature made it incredibly relaxing.

I was staying in a junior suite during my stay. The room was huge. The bathroom was as well. It was nice to sit outside on the patio listening to the sounds of nature and enjoying the view of Arenal Volcano. The view is a bit covered with the foliage if you are on the first floor. Also, the walls are paper thin. I could hear all the conversations my next door neighbors were having. I could have even joined in through the wall. The Wi-Fi is horrible in the rooms as I heard many a times when I was sitting in the lobby and hearing people come to the reception desk to complain. You just need to come to the lobby if you need internet which is a small inconvenience.

I visited the onsite restaurant for dinner once and breakfast both days. They have a decent sized menu for dinner. It's a good option for a first night of your stay but there are better options in town. Just be aware that you'll need a car or taxi to get into town as it's at least a 40 minute walk to get there in the dark otherwise. Breakfast is included with your stay and the buffet is very good. The view from the restaurant of Arenal Volcano is also...