$10 Choza Inn Hostel | Hostel | Backpackers Arenal Volcano

Location :

300 MTS West from the Post Office, Provincia de Alajuela, La Fortuna, 21007

• Anynomous

  04 March 2018

  Liars and cheats. Services aren’t what they say offer like the unlimited shuttle pass or the hot springs service (one time use for both) the lady at the front blatantly lied to us a few times and continued to stand by her lies even when we called her out on them. Over half the bathrooms don’t work, no hot water, dirty rooms, horrible employees, next to no wifi and overall probably worst hostel experience I’ve had in Costa Rica. Breakfast was ok, but otherwise nothing nice to say about the whole place.

• Anynomous

  02 February 2018

  Good hospitality but the Wi-Fi was really weak in our rooms, we had to leave our rooms to get full Wi-Fi.

• Anynomous

  10 December 2017

  Firstly, it appears that there's three different listings on Google Maps for this place, but they are all the same thing. To avoid confusion with taxi/shuttle drivers, just let them know you want La Choza Inn. It is an interesting hybrid of a hotel/hostel, featuring quite a few private rooms that are much nicer than I would have expected for a hostel. I think really it must have once been purely a hotel but they wanted to tap into the tourist market and offer a hostel experience as well. There's a little garden courtyard in the center, and adjacent is a large common dining area with a nice little home style kitchen where guests can prepare their own meals, and where the complimentary breakfast of Gallo Pinto and scrambled eggs is cooked and served along with fresh pineapple, toast, coffee, and juice. The front desk is typically occupied by about 3 different people nearly all day, and they were very helpful in most regards. You may do well NOT to ask any of them about any hot spring resorts or other attractions that are not on their list in the front desk. They seem to have some sort of agreement/kickback from the Baldi resort, so when we asked about Paradise Hotsprings, they tried to scare us off of the idea with flat out bogus info. We had a wonderful time at Paradise, at half the price of Baldi. The bogus info about competing resorts is really the only negative I have for La Choza. They offer an "unlimited" shuttle for a one time fee of $15 per person that basically lasts your entire stay. We were there in the off-season, so that may explain why our "shuttle" was just a dude and his car. Think "Uber." While the shuttle is "unlimited" in the sense that you can use it as much as you like during your stay, they limit pickup times to about 4-5 set times per day, and they limit the locations the shuttle will take you to Baldi, the free hot spring river, the Volcan Arenal National Park, the private wilderness reserve adjacent/in competition with the park, and their preferred adventure canopy/zip line tours. In town, taxis were pretty reasonably priced, but they have a pretty high set-price for the national park of about $25 each way, so the shuttle turned out to save us a little money.

• Anynomous

  16 November 2017

  Great place and staff, just a weird key system for the rooms

• Anynomous

  04 November 2017

  It is a lovely place with extremely friendly and helpful staff. The place is clean and well-maintained. They also run a tight ship like closing down the kitchen at 10pm when a bunch of people were very loudly playing a drinking game, not respecting the house rules and keeping the other guests awake. This is how a hostel should be run. They also offer a lot of tours and the unlimited tour pass is really a good deal : for 15 dollars you can get around La Fortuna as long as you stay at their place. And the breakfast is one of the most complete I have seen. So basically for 8$, you have a bed and a breakfast that will get you through most of the day

• Anynomous

  26 October 2017

  Price/quality is extremely good. Staff is helpful for information, the included breakfast is sufficient and the rooms are clean + good internet. All that for 8$/night.

• Anynomous

  24 October 2017

  We stayed at la choza inn for 2 nights during the low season and really enjoyed the stay. It's a bit off the main busy area of the city but really close (everything in la fortuna is pretty close) to it. The hostel looks lovely, with nice common areas. The dormitory was clean, including AC turned on during the night, breakfast is plenty and the kitchen equipment is good for preparing your own meals. The staff was helpful and nice

• Anynomous

  13 August 2017

  Tucked away off the main square this is a quiet hostel. We stayed in a large private room equipped with a balcony looked out at the town/volcano a fridge, safe, desk, daily coffee and private bath. Daily free breakfast is simple and filling with eggs, bananas, toast and juice. The staff is willing to answer the RELENTLESS questions we had about booking tours/getting around. All three tours we ended up booking at he front desk after looking around the town and the guides were excellent.
  
  There's a free nighty shuttle to the local public hot springs (go at least once) and the front desk speaks English and Spanish very well. One star off for spotty WiFi and hot water but those are small issues in an otherwise really excellent for the price place to stay in La Fortuna.

• Anynomous

  12 May 2017

  One of the cheapest places in la fortuna. It's got free breakfast, a good kitchen and bathroom facilities. There were a lot of young backpackers when I was here and it turned into a party with people staying up late and talking loudly in the common area right outside the rooms. Good place to meet people and have fun but if you want a more quiet place I recommend you stay elsewhere.

• Anynomous

  25 March 2017

  Good place; bedroom clean and breackfast. Supermarket is near the hostel

• Anynomous

  15 March 2017

  Great place to stay! A little hard to find though...
  
  The dormitories are ok but the staff kept "forgetting" to turn on the AC si it was hot!
  
  The staff were helpfull and the breakfast is quite good.
  
  Everything is cleaned daily and the kitchen has everything you need to cook.
  
  The free shuttle ride to the hot springs is very nice but make sure to bring some sort of water shoe or you'll hurt your feet.
  
  Good place to stay for a few nights👍
  

• Anynomous

  28 January 2017

  There is not enough space for your luggage in the dorms, but it's still very nice and we loved the greenery around :)

• Anynomous

  26 January 2017

  Nice hostel, very clean. The breakfast is basic but good (includes scrambled eggs made right in front of you). The beds were wide and comfortable (we were in the 6 bed dorm). They have lockers in the room and also at the front so you can leave items after checkout. They also offered a shower and bathroom for after out expedition, even though we had checked out.
  The "hang-out" area isn't too exciting, more of a small dining hall. But there are plenty of bars and restaurants in walking distance. The private room our friends got included towels, but the dorm did not.

• Anynomous

  27 July 2016

  We really enjoyed our stay here. The location is a side step from downtown so it was quiet to sleep at, but still only a 2min walk to go eat and shop. The staff are cheerful and awesome with helping tourists. The only downside was the internet being out for a few days and the hot water being a bit temperamental. Not sure how much they could've done so I still recommend this to travellers looking for a nice place to stay. Very hard to beat it on a budget! Breakfast included eggs where many hostels only offer fruit/toast. The protein helps with all the activities you'll be doing :)