I arrived with my family in early August. To our surprise the weather was really nice--occasional thunderstorms at night but always very sunny and dry during the day.
Hotel Linda Vista was perfect for our stay. The grounds are nice and well kept and the pool is great with a hot tub and 180 degree views of the lake and arenal. The restaurant and upper deck are a great place to sit with unobstructed views of arenal. The complimentary breakfast was the best we had in Costa Rica with fresh fruit and choice of either a Tico or American breakfast. We did not have a car but were able to walk to the center of el castillo and beyond. We also walked to the national park entrance--6km and saw lots of wildlife on the way. You can take a cab easily to and from the hotel. The rooms are clean, spacious and well kept. If interested in taking a zip line or canopy tour sky tours is in short walking distance of hotel. Located on a hill Linda Vista has the best views in el castillo. The staff are very helpful and after looking at all the other hotels would not recommend staying anywhere else!
On a side note If you like pizza- pizza Johns is a must with homemade pizza and ice cream--3 km away.

Hotel Linda Vista does live up to it's name.... It's view is Spectacular. We only got to see the Volcano on the day we arrived and being that we were there for just two days we could not have been happier, because upon awakening the next day you couldn't even tell there was a volcano. My family and I were not thrilled with our stayed at Linda vista, and here's why. Everyone speaks of the road leading to the Hotel and how horrible they are because they are unpaved. This is true in fact it took us 26 minutes driving in a 4x4 at moderate speed to get from the main road to our hotel room each time we left the hotel grounds, which makes you think twice about leaving, so to avoid this treck we chose to eat a few more meals than we would have other wise preffered at the hotel restaurant. The hotels menu is so limited, and when your stuck in a place haveing lunch and dinner there for two days a little variety wouldn't hurt especially with children. The prices are definetly overpriced, and the selection is poor. Not to mention besides the fact the resterant always looks empty they take forever to bring out your meal. The only meal we looked forward to was breakfast, They had a nice fruit dish and a nice typical CR dish of rice & beans and eggs and plantains and cheese. Next let me tell you another reason why we would not be so quick to recommend this hotel. This hotel is the first hotel we have ever stayed in that does not have a phone in the room so you can reach the front desk. This means that when our family of four went to take showers at 10pm and realized we only had 3 towels my husband had to get in the car drive up the winding road to reception and ask to have another towel, which was then delivered to the room about 10 minutes later. We had a problem with our safety deposit box. It kept locking and then not opening back up to the code we had pre-programed, this happened no less than 5 or 6 times, each time ending in my husband haveing to get in the car and drive up to reception to let them know the safe had once again malfunctioned. Finally after not being able to fix the problem they gave us the key to our safety deposit box. We were there for two nights and both nights housekeeping couldn't get it right that a family of four needs enough towels. We always came up short. On our last night there after I had just come out of the shower, and thankfully both my husband and both kids had already showered, I was about to blow dry my hair when in the middle of a really bad storm we lost all power, we had water coming in through our sliding glass doors that faced the volcano. The very same sliders that were once the highlight of the room were now our main fear with the wind being so strong and their constant shaking and water seepage. We had brough our own small flashlights and boy did they come in handy, because other than our flashlights it was picth black. Eventually I went to sleep with the children while my husband stood awake wacthing the shaky sliding doors, lets just say the storm was bad enough to scare us, and we are from Florida, Storm capital of the United States :) not to mention our fair share of Hurricanes. Any how, in all fairness, it was not all bad, we did have a very nice young man at the front desk his name was Brian, he was able to set up a horseback riding tour for us, with a local rancher that was perfect for our family. Since our two boys ages 8 and 11 had never been horseback riding we were not sure the tours offered in the brochures would be appropriate for them. They all seem to be very long, some were 5 hours long, others spoke of haveing to go through heavy bush, but Brian set up a 2.5 hour tour with a local rancher that was the most memorable time. We went up a beautiful mountain path and the sights were incredible. It was perfect. Thanks Brian. In conclusion other than the view on that first day we got there, I say it was really not worth it at all to stay at Linda Vista del Norte. We would not go back. They really need to improve their customer service. It's a huge shame because I do believe they have a gem of a complex there, unfortunatly it's being managed by the wrong hands.

Getting there was the most difficult part of all. Beautiful views of the Arenal. The cleaning crew arrange the towels in different shapes and added flowers too! The pool is much smaller from what it seems...the food at the restaurant was ok, and not overpriced. William and Johnny in reception were very helpful and accommodating, but when their shift ended, and they were replace by a woman, who's name I don't know it got so bad! She wouldn't greet us and she seemed annoyed every time we asked something. Such a shame she spoiled our visit in an otherwise great place!

We had a great stay in the hotel which is a short drive away from the main town. The staff were very welcoming and great for organising tours et al. The breakfast and restaurant is also of a good quality.

Amazing views from the pool and restaurant, the only downside is that its a drive into town which costs unless you've got your own car.