Riu Palace Costa Rica: Absolutely Amazing!!

Stayed here from Sept 17-25. This resort is absolutely beautiful. The staff are very friendly and can speak English which is awesome. The room was like something out of a magazine and was very clean. Only negative thing about the room was that the pillows weren’t very comfortable. Not much to complain about, right? The food was delicious. So much to choose from and everything tasted delicious. The grounds were gorgeous. They had top of the line alcohol as well. The beach was beautiful even tho [... read more]ugh it was black sand. Will definitely be returning to this resort!

JW Marriott Costa Elena Resort and Spa: Amazing Trip!

Dreams was one amazing resort to stay in! We had an amazing ocean view and all the shops and restaurants were very close to us. Staff were very helpful and the resort was just beautiful! I would definitely go back and stay at the pool all day again! Maybe this time I will try more excursions that were offered in the resort!

Hotel Villas Playa Samara: Nice little resort.

Good food, nice room, friendly staff. Beautiful beach with beautiful horses coming to visit daily. Only downfall was too few beach chairs and the day they ran out of beer in one of the bars. Fixed that by getting in cans. Real nice walk along the beach to town.

Hotel Villas Playa Samara: Beautiful resort! Beautiful country!

Everything was nice, but the restaurant menu could have more choice. The villas were nice, big, comfortable, beautiful interior, there was coffee maker, but only one package of coffee for the whole stay .

Riu Guanacaste: Great family time !

I was worried about where we were staying after reading some reviews on trip advisor. They were unfounded. We had a great time the resort was clean, the rooms were a good size, the beach was fab!!! I would go back. It was a great price point and everything I expected.

JW Marriott Costa Elena Resort and Spa: Best ever resort

My husband and I enjoyed this resort so much that we are hoping to take our 4 grown kids with their partners and grandchildren to celebrate our 40 th wedding anniversary. We felt so comfortable, the food was superb, ( and we love nice food), the staff were ALL so sweet and kind. We came home so relaxed. We have never gone to a resort twice! We enjoyed the entertainment at night, especially the small groups of musicians. We danced on our balcony. Each pool area had a different feel to it.

Riu Guanacaste: Amazing Resort!

My husband and I took our 2 boys (ages 10 and 14) to this resort for a week and LOVED it!! It's a beautuful hotel right on the beach, and offers clean swimming pools. The buffet offers a wide variety of foods to choose from, and there are 4 restaurants. The staff were very friendly and accommodating. We plan on going back!!

Riu Palace Costa Rica: Beautiful Resort

The food was excellent Our Trip Central Representative, Eliana Anton was amazing. Sunwing Flight attendants were Superb, they always had smiles on their faces and were courteous. The outward appearance of the hotel is very attractive and groundsmen did a great job maintaining the place.All the food was delicious but they could have done a better job providing Premium Rum. all they had was 3 and 5 years old rum. Sunwing representative Gerry was great. Thank you to everyone

JW Marriott Costa Elena Resort and Spa: Amazing, breath taking resort

We went to Dreams for our honeymoon and we couldn't have asked for a better resort! It was rainy season, but that was perfect because everywhere you looked, there was greenery. The grounds were kept so clean, as were the pools. There were so many pools to choose from and plenty of towels and chairs! All of them were very clean and maintained really well. There weren't many pool activities but we were okay with that because we wanted to relax. At first we were hesitant because of the all ages res [... read more]ort, but we actually ended up using the all ages pool more then the adults only pool. The bars by the pools had quick service and the bartenders would always come around and ask if we wanted any drinks. The bartenders were honestly so amazing. It made staying by the kid's pool side better! The beach was okay. The mountain view in the background was great but if you're going to Costa Rica for the beach, then this isn't the destination for you. Because it is a public beach, there are locals there who will try and sell you their excursions. They are friendly, but it did get kind of annoying after which made us avoid the beach altogether. We stayed at the jungle view building and it was great. At first, all we saw were green trees but every morning, we'd see white faced monkeys jumping through the trees! Some even came to our balcony for fruits. The room was very open. There are frosted glass doors but that's about it.. I suggest you definitely be comfortable with your roommate. We didn't use the tub in the balcony, but it was a cool feature. The World Cafe (all you can eat buffet) was good. The food was kind of repetitive after 5 days but if you switch it up and go to the a la cartes, then you'll be okay. We did however get sick the last day of our 7 day vacation and we suspect that it may be from the raw sushi. Himitsu was amazing. Great show and the best restaurant at the resort. Portifino (Italian) and El Patio (Mexican) restaurants weren't bad. Coco Cafe also had great coffee and gelato. The Barefoot Grill by the pool also had good lunch but it was the same everyday - burgers, sausages, quesadillas and wraps. We did the Mega Combo excursion through Swiss Travel. It was amazing! Best experience ever. The package came with hiking, natural water slide, zip lining, horseback riding, mud bath and volcanic hot springs! Definitely worth the experience for sure. Overall, we are very happy with our decision to go to Dreams for our honeymoon.

Wyndham Tamarindo: Great Views

Every suite is ocean facing, I enjoyed waking up to incredible views. The resort is modern chic and staff were fabulous and friendly. The infinity pool was great to relax in. The resort is peaceful and perfect to chill and melt away in the sun. The breakfast was good, all servers were friendly and attentive. The activity and bustle happens at the many spots downtown. Regular shuttle service was convenient and it dropped you off at the Langosta beach club or right downtown in front of ho [... read more]pping day/nightspots. The walk to and from is great excercise. Langosta beach club has lounge chairs at the beach that you can enjoy along with other amenities. If you are thinking about taking a surfing or stand up paddleboard lesson, Nicholas works at the watersports area, and is just about the most amazing person ever, and will happily help and take care of you speaking perfectly in either English, Spanish or French. Overall, a 4.5/5 experience. Highly recommended, I'd do it again for sure!

Hotel Villas Playa Samara: Worst Resort ever visited

False advertising: stated buffet and lunch dinner but only breakfast buffet. Lacarte lunch and dinner same munu everyday. Very little choices no vegetables. Reheated food again and again. Some menu items not available. 99% of the staff has no idea about hotel management nor do they understand English. Only plus was the room was ok but some towels were not good condition. Roof in the verendah was leaking, no hangers in the room. No telephone for emergency though from the reception. Will never u [... read more]se aircanada vacation. Kept at the airport waiting for others but not even a bottle of water provided. Our money and phone was stolen at the nearby beach (not the hotel) terrible people. Tripcentral price was higher than aircanada website promised to match but did not

Riu Palace Costa Rica: Amazing Resort

The resort is beautiful, food was great and it was very clean. Except when it rains, there are lots of bugs and insects. There should be more trees by the beach as it is extremely hot. When it rains, you cannot get to the Steakhouse as it is closer to the beach and the rain is extremely heavy and rains almost everyday.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: Great Week At Riu Palace

We had a fantastic time with our family of 5. Don't worry about the weather forecast, as we were supposed to get thunderstorms every day but only had a few hours of rain for the whole week. Enjoy - Pura Vida!

Hotel Villas Playa Samara: Beautiful intimate resort that will soon be an amazing resort when fully renovated.

This place will be amazing when all the villas are renovated. As of right now though it is still really nice and better then some larger 4 star all inclusive resorts. We stayed here May 15-22 with a 4 year old and 2 year old. The staff were amazing with our boys and the beach was great for them to run and find shells. There was only about 30 people staying at the resort and so there was no buffet and every meal was a la carte. The food was the best I have ever had and we were blown away by the a [... read more] la carte suppers. The shrimp were enormous. The snacks and lunches were basically pub food but was as good or better then most Canadian restaurants. Javier was the best and friendliest waiter and was on top of his game. He was very patient and friendly with my 2 year old also. Service was at the forefront for us. We were in an unrenovated villa and just asked for a room with a tv for our kids for some quiet time before bed and Andrey the concierge hooked us up with one of their renovated one bedroom villas on the beach. It was literally the best room on the whole resort. We were 20 yards to the beach and since it is such an intimate resort we were still only 100 yards from the restaurant and 60 from the pool. Everything is nice and close unlike the huge resorts. There is construction going on next door on the sister resort but it was nothing very intrusive. They are also busy renovating many other villas and they are huge and beautiful when they are finished. The ones that aren't complete yet are still very nice and nothing to complain about. There are iguanas everywhere which the kids loved seeing and the beach has horses running down the beach from a farm where they escaped. We were able to see howler monkeys just beside the resort and across the road and Brainer the security guard showed us pictures of a monkey right in the middle of the resort by the beach. This is something that adds to the reasons to choose Costa Rica as a vacation destination. The pool was nice with the shallow entry for the kids and the waterfalls and jacuzzi area kept them entertained. Marcos, Allan, and Javier were great in the pool bar even though they had to double between there and the lobby bar. We never had to wait more then a few minutes for a drink and Marcos is an artist with the detail he puts into his drinks. We had the best all inclusive vacation ever here because of the beauty of Costa Rica and this resort being so empty. It is safe enough to be able to walk outside the resort and check out Samara and Carrillo Beach. The cons are the 5 hour flight and 2 hour bus ride. Even though the drive is long it is beautiful and there is tons of amazing landscapes and towns to see. A perfect resort for honeymooners and people looking for a quiet vacation at a picturesque intimate resort.

Hotel Villas Playa Samara: Beautiful Resort

I loved this small resort that was within 1 minute walk of the pool and beach. The meals were delicious with lots of variety. The beach sand in front of the resort had no stony or rocky areas - beautiful sand with shallow water extending 50-75 ft out - great for kids. Water has some larger waves so knowing the tides is important. Resort rooms were roomy but basic - lovely showers and King beds - mattress could have been more comfy and pillows were not great. Staff were VERY friendly and helpful. [... read more] Dinner entertainment was very nice. Since we went in the off season (early May), excursions sold at the resort were based on minimum numbers. HIGHLY recommend Canopy Tours Ziplining and surfing lessons in very near by Samara village. I would definitely return to this resort!

Occidental Papagayo: below my expectations

what I do not like there is: Very poor buffet. In Dominican resorts it was, at least, 5 times more variety! Minimum sea food. beef, chicken, chicken, beef.... Boring - no entertainments No shuttle bus service. Hm. $50 from air port + $50 back = $100 Sorry, will not come there any more.

Allegro Papagayo by Occidental: We had a wonderful time!

We stayed at this resort during the week of April 21st to 28th and we were very satisfied with our stay. The staff at the resort were quite helpful when our air conditioning wasn't working properly and we never had to wait long at the bar for a drink. They also don't water down their drinks and they have quite a great selection of liquor. The food at the buffet was so good that not once did we book an a la carte. Every night we managed to find something good to eat. The fresh fruit available in  [... read more]the morning is amazing and so are there fresh made donuts. Given that this is the south, we did stick to eating a lot of fish at night and vegetable dishes that are prominent to that region of the world, which is why we probably didn't have any complaints about the food. I think if you are hoping to eat like you do at home and eat largely western world junk food, you might be a little disappointed. They aren't very good at making junk food, which to me isn't really a problem (however their ice cream is top notch). There was a smoking section available by the quiet pool and up by the lobby bar, as a smoker I recognize this is inconvenient, however at the same time I was somewhat happy not to smell smoke by the pool and find butts all over the resort. Remember that this is the dry forest and consequently the driest province in Costa Rica, so much of the vegetation was brown as we were just on the cusp of rainy season. They seem to spray the grounds well for bugs and consequently there isn't really any bugs bothering you. This resort was also really great at managing lines, despite the amount of people staying at the resort. The upgraded gold wrist band really isn't worth the price, given how well they seem to manage their guests's needs. All in all I would go back here and probably will! This is a nice resort, the other reviews on here are just people nit picking. Yes we saw racoons, but they weren't bothering people unless you were walking around with food from the buffet. They aren't vicious, I think people just need to realize that this is Costa Rica, in the middle of the wild, animals are bound to be a little less tame than what you are used to at home.

Occidental Papagayo: Very nice resort!

Good services, hospitality, quality in entertaining. We are not happy with the credit card that you send us by mail to use it, can not be used for the services and locations listed so what is the point of sending such kind of " gifts"?

Riu Guanacaste: Wonderful Resort

The resort was beautiful and well maintained. The gardens her gorgeous, rooms and grounds were extremely clean. Our A/C unit stopped working half way through our trip and we called down for maintenance. They were at our door within 15 min fixing it. Loved that there were different areas for the pool. Kids area, 18+ area (Pool Bar), Games area. The beach was less than a 5min walk from the resort. Beaches are public so you get panhandlers and got to watch your personal items. Everything was easy [... read more] to find. The Buffet always had a huge variety of food to choose from. The steakhouse and Toucan restaurant are delicious. Can't wait to go back.

Hotel Villas Playa Samara: Great family fun vacation

Had a wonderful time at this cozy resort. We had a family group of 22 people in age range from 7 months to 64 years and everyone and I mean everyone had a fun time. Felt very safe and comfortable. Staff so helpful and so pleasant.Great beach, great food with a good variety. Especially liked the snack time fare in the afternoon....Yummy burgers, nachos, fries etc. Super pool bartender . I hope to be back soon. Sue