Website designed by:
Doubletree adds hotels in Costa Rica
Doubletree Hotels & Resorts rang in the new year with new properties in Costa Rica – the first full-service Hilton family hotels in the country. Both properties have undergone extensive renovations.
Only five miles from the airport and seven miles west of downtown San Jose is the Doubletree Cariari by Hilton San Jose. The hotel with a longstanding history of hosting presidents, heads of states and celebrities sits on 15 acres of lushly landscaped grounds.
The popular beachside Fiesta Resort in Puntarenas is now the Doubletree Resort by Hilton Puntarenas. The all-inclusive resort provides an array of activities including four specialty restaurants, four large swimming pools, seven bars, an upgraded fitness center and more. Rates for both properties start at $199 per night, single or double occupancy.
A third property, the Hilton Papagayo Resort, opened in January. Also an all-inclusive resort, it previously was known as Premier Fiesta Resort and Spa. Rates start at $539 per night. Information: www.hilton.com.
Golf Courses
First appeared in Costa Rica in 1944 at the exclusive Costa Rican Country Club just outside San Jose. This 9 hole course remained the only golf course in the country for the next 25 years. Finally in the 1970's, George Fazio was commissioned to design the first 18 hole championship golf course at what became known as the Cariari Country Club This course has a reputation of being one of the best in all of Central America. Built on an old coffee plantation, this 6,590 yard layout challenges the creative abilities of any golf course architect in the world. With it's tree-lined fairways, accuracy is far more important than length on most of the Cariari's 18 holes. (For a complete course description with photos, click onto each course listed individually below.)
Not until the tourist boom of the early 1990's did golf course construction return to Costa Rica. Hiring world-renown golf architects, several new golf projects were started on the northwestern pacific coast. And now, golfers coming to Costa Rica can enjoy courses designed by George Fazio, Robert Trent Jones II, Ron Garl, Ted Robinson, Mike Young, Arnold Palmer and Tracy May.
The beautiful Garra de Leon Golf Course was created during this boom. This magnificent 7,030 yard coastal golf course, designed by Robert Trent Jones II, also plays at 6,593, 6,045 and 5,396 yards. The spectacular resort surrounding Garra de Leon is considered the most luxurious golf & beach resort in the entire Central American continent.
Within driving distance is the 18 hole championship links style Hacienda Pinilla Golf & Country Club. Designed by Mike Young, this 7,274 yard coastal layout is an exciting course with open fairways and challenging winds. Nearby, the Royal Pacific Golf & Country Club was completed in 1997, but since then has been rather neglected. This Ron Garl design winds through a variety of natural settings within it's 6,802 yards. The front nine is fairly flat while the back nine has steep fairways cut through a rocky terrain creating a variety of exciting golf shots. Much further south along the coast is the Los Sueños Golf Course. Opened in 1999, this 6,707 yard course was designed by Ted Robinson with two things in mind: natural beauty and challenging golf. Bordered by ocean and rainforest, a dense canopy of exotic plants, hardwood trees and wildlife all share one of golf's most picturesque settings where magnificent ancient trees come into play testing a shot maker's ability for steering a ball around this most outstanding golf course.
One of the newest arrivals in Costa Rica is the Arnold Palmer designed course at the Four Seasons Hotel in the northern Guanacaste Province. This newer course rivals any of the country's golf courses in design and location. Unfortunately, this spectacular Oceanside course is currently available for 'guests only' staying at the Four Seasons hotel, which is one of Costa Rica's best, but most expensive hotels.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Caldera HighwayNew Highway Project Could Transform Caldera
After 30 years of delay, the long-awaited start of construction on the Caldera Highway will commence this month according to the CNC (Consejo Nacional de Concesiones). The section of the highway extending from Ciudad Cólon to Orotina is expected to be completed in thirty months, or by July 2010. The finance-related impasse was overcome the 21st of December when Autopistas del Sol reached an agreement with the BCIE (Banco Centroamerica de Integración Económica and the Caja de Madrid (a Spanish financial institution) to finance construction of the road, valued at $230 million. The total route will cover 77 kilometers (48 miles) and will link the capital of San Jose with the country’s most important port of Caldera , running through the towns of Santa Ana , Ciudad Colón, Atenas and Orotina. The road will require a pretty hefty toll of about $2.70. However, it will reduce the drive time to Jaco by about 30 minutes, from the current 2 to 2.5 hours. The road will have two lanes on the uphill segments and one lane on the downhills. This will help faster cars avoid the slow moving tractor-trailers. This road has been long-awaited by the investing community and will surely give rise to increases in property values in areas benefited by the new highway.
NEW HIGHWAY IN PUNTARENAS:
CLICK HERE FOR MAPS AND INFO
