Enjoyed the resort

I really liked the 1 Bedroom Bungalows.The buffet was up and down but mostly good.The a la cartes were in the Azure section of the complex are were good also. The drinks were excellent.it is right on the beach and I have to say No comparision to Cuban beaches which are the best. Waves were there everyday.It was hot all the times as the rainy season had not started yet. The Villas section closed Monday for a renovation to the rooms, pool and restaurants.I do not know what it will be like when it [... read more] opens in Oct/Nov but I expect the price will rise.Costa Rica is an expensive place mostly because everything is so far away.You really have to choose different areas and I should have gone when I was younger.

Great for a beach vacation

The villa itself was very nice, the food not so good. Depends on the type of vacation you are looking for weather I would recommend or not. If you are wanting to see the rainforest, volcanoes, or take a tour of the coffee and chocolate plantations I found it was just too far off the beaten path. However the river boat cruise was very enjoyable,got to see monkeys crocs and few different species of birds.

Not what I hoped

Overall we managed . The beach is nice relaxing. The villa grounds need upkeep better then what was done. The mini golf area is unusable as it is unkempt. Pool ok if you like lots of bleach I guess cloud y water dirty edges walls that you could see. The wait staff bartenders are friendly nice. The meals are ok I ate salad and fruit there beans and ham was good oh loved there meatballs. The la a carte option was grill and chill steak good the rest of my plate not the Italian loved it thumbs up bu [... read more]t that is my opinion. They had another beach club option but menu did not appeal to me im not a fish sea food kind of person and I had steak already. As for my room dirty it maybe tidy but dirty floor was slippery when we walked into the room open no privacy to shower no hot water but one day Hydro and wifi went out touler ran on i'm guessing the bug was a cockroach and then these little things that crawled around that. Looked like ants, but they were also in our bed. Which was disgusting constantly wiping it out and make sure you wipe your feet off before you got into bed. That probably was what brought him in there. Air conditioning was good ceiling fan. The blinds were broke hubby fixed those he fixed the toilet. The little shelf underneath the sink was coming out of the wall, probably didn't even bother with that. Because he had no tools to fix that no screen on the patio. Door but in little cheap, little chairs to sit on outside which we're uncomfortable. A lot of iguanas, squirrels, nice to see the oats birds housekeeping, got late in the day, we had AI think, a couple times in the morning and they just make your bed. They don't change your sheets. We did get clean towels when we needed lots of toilet paper. After all, you hover over the toilet bowl all the time. Because whatever's in the water or food or is not nice to your system, even if you are vaccinated and have all the necessary things needed. Now, our biggest thing, when the long ride to the resort was 2 and a 1 hours plus the congestion time over in Liberia. And then when you get to the gate, they didn't have your name, did anything good thing I had in my paperwork. Another couple we spoke to, they had to sit for a while. Because they didn't have a name or they had their paperwork. But they had no listing for them. Whatsoever, then when we got there, we had to stand for 20 minutes or so I don't get checked in no communication. As to where you go, cause, you gotta go over to the other hotel. That's attached to the resort. As soon I guess to check-in. But what the purpose they had your paperwork at the other desk? When you first got there and then the guy was rude to you. It's like that there just when you first got there. After having a long flight and then another long ride and to be treated like that. When you get there, our driver from the resort. From 2 the resort did not really speak any English. So quiet ride didn't see anything as it was dark. Anyway. Uh, U. I've met a few people same thing. A lot of complaints about their rooms as well. Thank you so much. Overall, I would not go back that's the resort ask for the agency that booked. They jacked up the prices for a 3 star hotel or resort. Whatever you wanna call it very disappointed for what it costs. And then I hear what other people's paying, that's even worse.

CHANGE THE GENERAL MANAGER

They had another couple in our Villa the 1st night there. We had to accept a room in a complex further away that had a very bad septic smell. The next morning we still could not have our villa. That afternoon the onsite manager (Hugo) provided us with an upgraded Villa. A short time later the General Manager (Farida) came to our upgraded villa demanding that we pack up again and move to another villa. We lost the enjoyment of 2 out of 5 days of our vacation due to poor management. Overall [... read more] the resort it quite nice. It is well kept and clean. Very peaceful. The staff is a little slow. The food is good. The beach is nice. Staying in a beach front Villa is the best way to go. The resort just needs a more professional general manager.

Disappointed

My one week stay in this resort is full of disappointment, the food is very bad, the main restarunt is closed and there is only one kitchen serving 3 meals during my entire stay. No buffet, I can choose the meal from the menu and there is no variety. Food qualit is so bad, so I need to ask the chef to customize, so I can remove the items I cannot eat and choose only a few item I can manage to eat. In my room there is a small kitchen but the stove is sealed so I cannot use the kitchen, no micr [... read more]owave and no coffe maker. I never recommend this hotel to anyone

Cute quiet resort

. Loved: Communicating with the front desk via WhatsApp. Wifi throughout the resort. Staff No fight for chairs at pool or beach Heard howler monkeys twice but did not see them. Beach was clean. Some coral in the water but it wasn’t hard to walk in. Warm pacific water. Pool was clean. Quirks: figuring out the shower. Some days we ended up with hot water coming out of the shower head but cold water coming out of the handheld sprayer lol. Not a big deal to us. Room key s [... read more]topped working twice which leads into the third and last “issue” With the room key not working I was able to gain entry easily through the patio door just the way the balcony lined up. We notified the hotel and they came and fixed it a bit but still didn’t lock. This wasn’t an issue for me- I didn’t fear for our safety at all. Short power outages a few times. Drive to hotel ended up being closer to 5 hours - this was related to traffic and not the hotel or driver. The way back to airport was more accurate, closer to 2.5 hours. Also this is a me issue for not researching it enough prior to going but I did find CR to be more expensive generally than most other countries I’ve been to. They have 13% tax and as a Canadian the exchange was 0.38 cents to the dollar so this ended up being quite more than I thought. As another example the taxi ride to Samara (3.2 km from hotel) was $12.00 usd (not including tip/tax) each way and if you want the taxi Driver to wait for you it is $25.00 usd an hour. Probably cheaper alternatives but I didn’t have any need to go into the town this time. Amstar was the company air Canada works with and we were shuttled from the airport to hotel with them. There was wifi in the van. No air Canada rep on site but available by WhatsApp and they were easy to reach. Excursions: we booked 2 through the resort and they were both great. We did the adrenaline (zip line, horse ride to waterfall, tubing, hot spring/mud) and I would recommend this to anyone that wants to do a ton of activities in a day. It was about 2.5 hour drive one way. The second was a pottery and river tour at national park. The pottery part was short and interesting. The river tour also great, we got to see white faces monkeys crocodiles iguanas and many birds. A couple we spoke to had booked some excursions off resort and said they were significantly cheaper. Food - breakfast and lunch typical buffet. Dinner had to be by reservation but was also buffet lol. I heard that you could book 2 dinners at the restaurants next door at the adults only azure restaurant. Entertainment- there was a few different people singing/ playing guitar a few times during the week we stayed. Not your typical themed big loud activities like larger resorts. Store- expensive but to be expected. We bought coffee and chocolate and had it shipped home. We haven’t received it yet but it’s only been one day since we have been back and it can take 15 days. Didn’t realize we packed expired sunscreen, I had a reaction and had to buy sunscreen here and it was $32.99 USD before taxes. It was the same price at a gas station/pharmacy when I checked another day. We booked last minute all inclusive through air Canada. All was well with in that regard.

Serenity in the tropics

We really lucked out with perfect weather and a villa right on the beach, where we woke up to the sound of the waves and a view of a long palm-lined beach, with hardly a soul on it. No thumping music, no "animators" trying to get the crowd excited and noisy. The beach itself is super clean, though not the expected bright white sand. The water temperature was perfect in our April 2024 visit: cool enough to refresh, warm enough to just walk in. Water was not clear enough for great snorkellin [... read more]g, but we did manage one decent outing in shallow water on a small reef just off the beach itself. The food was ok, the staff was super friendly, and the grounds beautiful. The best part of the food were the daily fresh mini croissants. In my opinion, it's not worth bothering with the fancy speciality restaurants. All around a lovely place to spend a week in quiet relaxation.

Great little resort

Hotel is on the smaller side. But that was a good thing. Great place to relax. Pool had lots of sitting.pool bar was great. Beach had lots of room and seats. Great views. Rooms were always clean. Common areas well maintained. Bar was really great drinks were excellent. Staff were all friendly. Great service.

The resort was amazing perfect beach view.

The villas were well placed on the beach it was a lovely setting. The villas only had one outside restaurant. It could do with a couple of more restaurants or outside eating areas. It would have been better if we could have used the restaurants in the hotel where they had three restaurants which looked really lovely. The food was very good at the villas restaurant and bar and the staff were lovely. The housekeeping service was a lot to be desired we were there a week didn’t see a cleaner we w [... read more]ent over and got a change of towels ourselves, we kept asking but it didn’t happen. A lot of the villas need an update our key didn’t work the safe did not work and the water went off twice, they did come and fix it pretty quickly. They did move us into a better one.

A great resort!

This was a lovely resort with all the amenities we needed. Very peaceful but also fun with great beach access and a lovely pool and spa. Food was good although menu was a bit limited but what they did offer was generally quite well done. Beautiful sunsets and lots of nature to see. The only thing missing was entertainment, it would’ve been nice to hear some live music in the evening.

Amazing Resort

It was an amazing resort food was good had lots of choices and options. They also had a Lacarte which was very good and I definitely recommend that everybody go there the pools were wonderful and clean and the staff was great and always helpful but especially the bartenders they were amazing.

Dream resort

Our resent trip to Costa Rica was absolutely amazing. The resort was so friendly and welcoming. The beach was nothing like I’ve ever experienced before. Very quiet and long as the eye can see. The town Samara is magical, small surf town with so many places to eat and enjoy breathtaking sunsets.

Great renewed clean

Grounds are clean and lush with palm trees and other plants. Plenty of birds sing pretty songs and even colibers fly around. Eguanas are walking around near the dining room chilling in the hot sun. There is even a friendly duck that gets fed by the guests. Bar and dining room staff is welcoming and helpful. They try to be fair and serve everyone equally regardless of how much you tip them. The cleaning ladies are polite and quiet :) ... The beach is amazing except for the murky wat [... read more]er makes it hard to snorkel and see anything. But the sunsets over the ocean more then make up for that. The only issue I can think of I had was when we got a "Garden View Room" that had a view out to the laundry facility and parking and the generator was making noise in the afternoon. When I asked to be moved I was denied with a cold shoulder. It was a solid NO and I'm a type of guy that always 'eventually' get a room I like. Would I go back to Villas Playa Samara? YES!!! Way more good things about this resort then the few issues I had.

Great value

Overall good ! Expect friendly staff clean rooms , nice grounds , chill atmosphere, no smoking on resort expect a 2.5 hr drive from airport ! Lots of bars and restaurants 5 min taxi ride to town solid 3.5 star

Relaxing

This resort was very nice. It was neat and clean and employees were courteous. Rooms were clean and well appointed. We were disappointed about the amount of chairs available at the beach- this could definitely be improved. There is no entertainment with the exception of a soloist performing at dinner. Also no disco so keep this in mind when booking. This resort is also quite far away from any excursions you may want to take. Overall though we had a wonderful time at the resort and in Costa Rica [... read more]. What a beautiful country!

Average resort

Coles notes.... upon arrival be prepared to wait for your rooms 3 hours average we saw most incoming guests surprised and upset about this including us..lesson in patience...Resort clean.. food was repetitive but very good. No smoking at this resort very little service .even if you tip..get your own drinks..food..wait for all other services...must be patient All tours off resort...hundreds of us dollars..car rental in town better..very beautiful country..great weather

Comfortable and attractive resort

We enjoyed our stay at Playa Villas Samara. The beach was awesome, great for walking early in the day or at sunset. The pool was immaculate. The dining room was open air with overhead fans. The food was OK. There was always an assortment of fresh fruit, the desserts were delicious and the main course always had something appealing. The bartenders made delicious coladas; my favourite was a mango colada. The staff was pleasant and helpful. On the downside, it was very far away from any of the [... read more] Costa Rican attractions. You were looking at a drive of 4 hours for the most popular. The resort did not offer any non motorized water equipment included in your stay.

Amazing

Much better thank we accepted good to very good. Rain was 🔥.No hummidyty, green and fresh air .Perfect service ,some people's slow,but is Central America, maniana is normal ,and very OK when Is vacation TIME. BIG THANK YOU. Val

Outstanding

We travelled during the rainy season but that did not dampen our experience of the hotel or CR. The villas are super - spacious, clean, comfy bed. We were directly on the ocean and had ocean views out each window. Staff are polite and very accommodating. If you don't like your room, ask for a change. The food...wow! All a la carte due to quiet season, and every dish was 5 star. And the coffee...top notch machine so you can make yourself cappuccinos all day long. I cannot recommend this place en [... read more]ough - if you are a laid back, low key traveller who wants peace and quiet to enjoy CR, then this is the place for you. If you're looking to be entertained with music and games, go elsewhere. Grounds are beautiful and the whole place is reminiscent of a bygone era. Big thank you to all staff at villas playa samara!

Not a great resort

The hotel is a dump pulling up... the lobby is small so there's no where to hang out.. the town is way too small.. not enough restaurants/ shops. The food/drinks are good and the staff are very nice... they won't let you smoke there and they will try to rip you off left and right. Avoid this place.