loud-ninja
Here to point out the illogical
WWi thought about staying at one of the spots that had a hot spring. I decided I'll just visit one that had it in a tour.I used to live there. Arenal is amazing to see but you're gonna be in a lot of shuttles for your excursions because there's not much close to there except the rafting. La Fortuna is tiny but there are some nice spots to hang out and have a beer or grab some food. One can't miss thing in that area is Tabacon hot springs. It's expensive to stay there but just for a day pass it's not bad and completely worth it. Avoid Baldi and not those "free" hot spring tours where they'll have you sitting in runoff water under the bridge.
San Jose is trash for the most part but depending on what area you're in there's this restaurant called Cafe Mundo that's in an old mansion and the food and atmosphere are great.
Also... never order a steak in that whole country no matter how good they say it is.
Why wouldn't you get a steak there?