Hortensias Chalets — Hotel in Varablanca

We came across this place while driving for fun on a Sunday. We decided to stay for lunch. The service was excellent. The views are amazing! My husband and I had a chicken pesto sandwich (his with salad, mine with soup). The bread was homemade and really made the sandwich tasty. My son had chicken strips which were freshly made, not frozen premade ones. My son then had ice cream - tasted like real cream was used to make it! I had a tart. It was small, but good. We are looking into coming back to stay for a night in the cute cabins! UPDATE: We stayed here for one night for a little getaway (we live in San José). The roads to get here are decent so no problems getting here. Previously we had come across the hotel when we were out for a drive and stayed for lunch. We loved the food and vowed to return for a night. We're so glad we did. The staff are very welcoming. The location in the mountains makes for variable and beautiful scenery, going from clear and sunny to misty within minutes sometimes. The cabins were cosy and well-kept. It does get quite cool at night, so dress accordingly. The electric heater in the room helped keep the chill out. Wifi is decent although not as strong as in the city of course. The dinner and breakfast we had was wonderful. We went to Poas the next morning. We left at 7 am and arrived around 7:30 am. The drive was beautiful and easy, and we were back to the hotel in time for breakfast before 10 am. An excellent spot for a night or more. We'll be back.

Edit: we returned here on December 23. The Christmas decorations were up and gave an amazing feel during this time of year. Again, our dinners and breakfasts were excellent. We took time to enjoy the games...

We stayed two nights in a cute little chalet and everything was perfect. An additional plus is that the everybdy who worked there taked the Covid 19 protective measures very serious and we felt very safe during our stay and the meals.||||The rooms are clean and comfortable, the location is very convenient, central but calm and the hotel is at a beautiful setting, surrounded by gardens and strawberry fields that you can visit. ||||The common areas like the restaurant and the huge lounge are very stylish and beautiful and the breakfast is yummy and generous. In general I think this hotel offers terrific value, both for the rooms and the restaurant. ||||We loved the food at the on-site restaurant and ate there both nights because we loved it so much. The cook dished up really tasty food and did accommodate any special dietary requirements and adapted the food to our liking. The food is fresh, homemade and very reasonably priced, even the wines were much cheaper (and tastier) than in the other hotels that we stayed at in Costa Rica. ||||But what makes this place really special are the people running it. The hotel is run by a lovely family who will go out of their way to help you with everything and make you feel welcomed and comfortable. We loved that the place is family run and you actually meet the people who are running it and you can meet local ticos and have a positive impact on the region. The family is really lovely, and they treat their guests like family and deliver a very professional service at the same time. ||||We will 100% stay here again if we come back...

Such a wonderful day. We wanted to break up our drive from Arnel back to San Jose before flying out and found this area. Very close to the waterfall and hiking trails. I will admit I will a little bit apprehensive at first because Google says it’s a three star hotel but it was such a wonderful experience. The rooms are cozy and cute. The nature and surrounding area is so picture ask, feels like you’re in the countryside in Europe. The staff is so incredibly friendly, attentive, and wonderful. The full breakfast was very nice. They give you an option of four different types of breakfast. My husband had the Costa Rican style breakfast, which came with rice and beans, eggs, toast, and sausage. I had the continental which came with eggs, fruit, yogurt, and granola, and toast. There is a cute space heater in the room in case you are like me and get very cold. Shower was hot with good water pressure. Such a quaint place to stay. All the other reviews are very accurate. We stayed in the CALA chalet and our only complaint is the mattress was extremely hard. I did not mind it, but my husband woke up several times. Regardless we still very much enjoyed our stay. The property is stunning. There also seems to be a game room which we did not use but it is a nice touch. Family owned business, which I...