Occidental Papagayo: Beautiful resort

Amazing views from every direction. Not for the elderly or handicapped due to the stairs. Food was great, staff was amazing and the tours were worth every penny. You need to get off the resort to get the full enjoyment of Costa Rica. Hotel had monkeys, birds and iguana's roaming around. Would definitely return to this resort. Very clean and safe country to visit.

Occidental Papagayo: Amazing , Beautiful Hotel with Wonderful Staff!

Wonderful, helpful, friendly staff. Beautiful grounds. Cleanest well kept resort I have ever been too! LOTS of stairs and walking though so those with mobility problems should not go here. Food was good, Lots to do. Can't say enough good things about this resort. Will definitely be back!

Riu Palace Costa Rica: Absolutely stunning resort

Honestly, we loved everything about the Riu Palace, and after exploring the Riu Guanacaste (next door), we were very happy that we chose the palace. The grounds were amazing, the food was amazing, the pools were great and the staff was all extremely friendly and helpful. The cost of the photos that the resort photographers took was a bit ridiculous ($15 PER PHOTO to put them on a disk - with nothing printed) but that's my only complaint. Also, if you run out of sunscreen, there are people in t [... read more]he lobby with a tub that offers left over sun screen OR take the taxi boat into Coco Beach and you can purchase brand name sunscreen for $11 at the pharmacy... (To avoid payin $40 at the souveniour shops by the resort)

JW Marriott Costa Elena Resort and Spa: bad location

food was so so . bland . the rooms where great . staff was excellent . location was at the end of the world . then 10 miles further activities are available but expensive and another long trip to get to them .

The Westin Reserva Conchal Golf Resort & Spa: The PERFECT vacation from beginning to end!

We absolutely fell in love with Costa Rica and this resort. We upgrade to the Royal Beach Club package and felt like royalty with access to the adults only pool, concierge, etc. The entire resort was beautiful, it felt very exotic and so lovely. The food was incredible. We loved EVERY meal we had all week long. The beach is stunning. So peaceful and such raw beauty. We enjoyed the sunset every evening. We can't wait to return to this resort and to Costa Rica!

Occidental Papagayo: Outstanding Resort and trip

The hotel was awesome. Beautiful grounds, super friendly staff, great food and abundant wildlife right on the resort. Monkeys, iguanas and many different birds. The staff were all very helpful and friendly. The resort is quite hilly so be prepared to walk up hills and steps. It's not bad at all and there are shuttles readily available to take you from place to place. The ocean was beautiful and warm.

Secrets Papagayo Resort: Superb Secrets Papagayo!

This has become our favourite resort after many, many trial runs. Lol. We loved it from the beginning. The staff were so sweet and friendly, one of the best we have encountered. The buffet was absolutely fantastic, especially with their breakfasts. There was even a coffee 'shop' called Coco Cafe for early morning coffees, smoothies, and baked goods. The evening restaurants were lovely, especially the Seaside Grill with its sunset dining! Golf carts are necessary since the resort is spread out bu [... read more]t the wait for one is not long and the drivers are very friendly. Bartenders at the two pools were so gregarious and talented. We are beach people and so did not like the volcanic sand and so stayed at the pools, which was no hardship. Our oceanfront room was small but comfy. 'Loved the room service box which was accessed by both the employee and us without having to meet! Quite unique. An IPad on a night table gives all the info about what is going on in the resort at the touch of a finger. Wonderful. We have already booked for this December! Kim Hartlen from TripCentral out of Halifax is the best T.A we have ever had! We live in Ontario and get the same excellent service from her as do her DownEast customers!!!

JW Marriott Costa Elena Resort and Spa: it was all a dream...

Dreams Las Mareas is a beautiful resort, the staff are all so welcoming and helpful. Monkeys come by the balconies in the morning but are respectfully ushered out by breakfast, so you'll see plenty wildlife even if you don't head out for an excursion. :)

Tamarindo Diria: Great Place

After reading a few reviews that were not so great, we weren't sure what to expect. And I've never stayed at a resort that was not all inclusive...But we had such a good time. The resort itself was just what we wanted. Staff were friendly and helpful, and housekeeping was great. This is a beach town people...not sure what you were complaining about. The beach was great and so were the pools. Lots of restaurants to choose from and so many activities offered and places to visit. We were there for  [... read more]surf and sun and luv'd every minute of it.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: beautiful resort everything was fabulous

Only complaint only one washroom by pools. Everything else was fabulous. Staff amazing as was food and resort. Le carte restaurants really good and many to chose from. Pool staff around constantly to serve drinks, high end alcohol.

Villas Sol Beach Resort: it was okay not spectular

The food was consumable, not a lot to pick from. The rooms were clean and comfortable. I didn't care for the hillside resort, too much up and down. They had shuttle service, but I felt it wasn't a safe enough ride. I rate it a 3 out of 5, you get what you pay for. I won't be going back to this resort anytime soon.

Occidental Papagayo: Great Resort, Rock Star Staff..too many stairs

Hotel was beautiful. We went April 3-10, 2016 so we were at the end of the dry season so it wasn't as lush as it would be during other times of the year. We stayed in Room #806 Royal Luxury Package. Wine and chocolates were in the room upon arrival -- GREAT view! -- Room Service is free with the Luxury package. -- Wifi was available but VERY spotty, so it was better to just take my tablet to breakfast and dinner with me as there always seemed to be a good signal at reception --- Just too many st [... read more]airs to get to the room. Seriously, I can't see any senior or anyone with a disability being able to do that for a week let alone after laying in the sun and drained of energy. There are carts that you can call and have pick you up and take you to the lobby or wherever, but if you don't want to wait then you have quite a hike ahead of you. Food was fantastic and so was the variety. Staff could not have been nicer or more cheerful (Katherine "Katy Perry" is a rock star staff member...remembered everyone's names, always made it a point to speak to us, and has a FANTASTIC personality). There are many scheduled activities at this resort (snorkeling, rifle shooting, cooking lesson, archery, water volleyball, etc) but some of the equipment needs tending to (ie. archery....the arrow rest was like a plastic 3M mug hook that was falling off so it was hard to hold the arrow to shoot it). My only two complaints would be: ONE: there are NO CLOCKS ANYWHERE! This drove me nuts sicne I had no watch. There are activities that you have to sign up for and arrive at specific times. Also the snack bar and buffets close at certain hours so it would be helpful to have at least 2 clocks on the premises. II suggest one by reception for those catching buses to Coco Beach or the airport and one outside the snack bar so it is near the Activity center where you show up for scheduled activities and can be seen at the pool as well. TWO: it would be nice to have shelves in the shower. We had to line all our stuff around the floor of the shower and being low, water was getting in some of my shampoos that had paper-tear tops (like samples) rather than lids. I would suggest bringing eye moisturizer as well as there were several dry fires on the hills outside the resort and the smoke made my eyes dry and burn for the first couple of days...again, dry season issues. Rooms were cleaned well, but the last 2 days there our rooms were not tended to until around 4pm so we had no water or drinks. Also, that defeats the purpose of the nightime "turndown" other than to take our used towels from the morning. When we first arrived they came before noon, so I'm not sure what changed. Overall a great resort and we would go back again!

Secrets Papagayo Resort: Cozy resort, beautiful sunshine, friendly staff

This resort is fairly small and a bit more rustic or natural than some. It is quite beautiful with comfortable, well appointed rooms and clean, well-kept grounds. The staff go out of their way to provide good service. The weather is predictably hot and sunny each and every day. Although the menu selection across restaurants is not huge every meal was tasty. The wildlife right on the resort property is fun to see!

Riu Guanacaste: Best vacation yet!!

My family have done a lot of travelling and this was the best vacation yet. This hotel is magnificent. The food was delicious and plentiful everyday...i've never seen so much variety. The rooms were clean and modern, the grounds were beautifully kept and the beach was clean with chairs for everyone. The pool area offered lots of shade and lots of sun and no matter what time of day there were always pool loungers available. No getting up at 6:00am required just to save a seat. The staff were all  [... read more]fantastic and so focused on making their guests happy. I could say so much more but when it comes down to it this was just a perfect vacation.

Villas Sol Beach Resort: Friendly, cosy, and most staff very helpful.

The grounds of Villas So was kept up on a regular bases. Even the 4 legged staff where friendly at arms lengths. The view from our dinning area was beautiful and a joy to see every morning for breakfast. The weather was very kind during our 7 days away. Every person we came into contact with at the resort (staff) pleasant, helpful and always a smile and greeting with a joyful conversation. We did come in contact with a very few staff that did not wish to help us out with a question or problem so [... read more]lution....so we moved on and found someone that was very open to help us out and provide us an answer. This can happen anywhere...and any place you go. Nothing is perfect and people have bad days. So we moved on and our trip was amazing, and lots of fun and full of laughter.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: Super holiday

Our stay at the Riu Palace Costa Rica Hotel was very enjoyable and relaxing. The food was amazing and delicious. There were so many choices. The only restaurant that we didn' t care for was the one beside the Japanese restaurant. We ate lobster, salmon, steak etc. The disinfectant used to clean the rooms seemed very strong as we had to open the windows daily to air out the room.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: AWESOME RESORT!

EVERYTHING WAS FABULOUS AT THIS RESORT! ROOMS, SERVICE, WEATHER WAS EXCELLENT. TRAVEL A LOT AND THE RIU IS ONE OF THE NICEST PLACES WE HAVE STAYED...NOT TO MENTION THE AMAZING FOOD! WOULD RETURN TO THIS RESORT AGAIN.

Occidental Papagayo: Hot hot hot and awesome

The grounds were well maintained,buffets a little smaller then we were use to. But the food was fantastic. Room was beautiful. They are a little understaffed (especially in some of the bars..ie.beach area the bartender worked very hard to serve everyone...another person in this area would improve the service). The people are very friendly and willing to share there knowledge about the birds,trees culture truly enjoyable trip. Snorkeling off the beach was amazing even had a chance to swim with a  [... read more]Hawkbilled turtle no once but on three different occasion. The weather was hot everyday above 35 degrees C. Would recommend for everyone if your have leg issues or heat issues maybe another location would be better.

Riu Guanacaste: Set your expectations before booking

The resort: The resort looks beautiful and the grounds are well kept. However there are bad smells coming from the pool bar area and in some of the restaurants. I think it's a fertilizer they use on the plants but it smells like sewage at some points in the day, it's unbearable to even sit there. The beach area is a bit rocky but you can walk 5 minutes down the beach and have softer sand. There's also a place called the monkey bar 10 minutes down the beach and early morning between 7-8am you can [... read more] feed the monkeys, they are all over the place. They like watermelon and mango is their favorite. Don't bring bananas it makes the pregnant monkeys abort their babies. Entertainment: The evening shows are fantastic, you can tell the entertainers love what they do. There is usually some form of activity you can take part in from pool/beach volleyball, dance lessons, beer pong (if you are into that) etc. Overall they have a lot of activities for people to take part in. The Rooms: I typically don't care about the rooms, you are on vacation get outside! there is no English channels other then CNN and the rooms don't come with any toiletries other then hand soap which gave me a rash. I typically bring my own shampoo and conditioner but if you are expecting a shower cap or something, they are only available if you purchase a suite. Our toilet over flowed when we got there (we hadn't even used it yet) but when we called the front desk the maintenance crew was there in literally 1 minute taking care of the issue. Another night water started coming through our ceiling vents so I have a feeling we weren't the only people with this toilet issue. If you flushed the toilet it would run constantly. I don't know if this was just our room or an ongoing problem with the resort. The beds were fine, not extremely comfortable but not horrible either. Towels were always available if needed. They were good about filling our fridge and there are liquor dispensers in the room and variety of sodas and couple beers. The Food: the buffet was good, it was often the same food but there was lots of variety so you could eat a different meal each time. The service (for us) at the buffet was really great too. Always someone offering coffee, water, and drinks. At Breakfast they had fresh juices which was great because the rest of the day they just had sugar filled juices. One morning we watched someone run to get a juice before they took them away and the cook said no more and took it away from them. It was ridiculous. We started going to the buffet and getting a cup of fruit and bringing it to the bar so they could blend a smoothie for us. We only got to eat at the steakhouse and Asian restaurant because we had so many excursions booked that we couldn't make a reservation from 8am until noon. The steak at the steakhouse was awful! It was a huge piece of steak that was pure fat and the rest was rare and bleeding all over my plate, I asked to put it back on the grille and they never came back. No one around us ate it, they all complained but I heard that other nights people enjoyed it so maybe it was just a bad night, who knows. I really liked the sushi at the Asian restaurant and the service was good there. Front desk: Awful. We had a ton of excursions booked where we would leave early morning. I asked if they would leave a note for person making the dinner reservations to book is one at any restaurant for any time and we would check with each restaurant when we got back. They said absolutely not, I would have to wait in line to make the reservations or go to the buffet. I lost my wifi password and asked if they could give it to me again and they acted as if I was annoying them. We were going to miss our bus for the airport when leaving, I came down and asked about where I pay the exit fee tax and they said "if you are leaving you must hand in your towel cards and keys (which we left in the room on the night table) or else we wouldn't be able to get on the bus. An elderly couple asked about a shower cap and they said "if you aren't staying in a suite, you don't get one." There were lots of little things like this that added up. Overall a Motel 6 is more accommodating. Other things to note: -we asked about mimosas and they said they didn't do those, but then they appeared on the last night - they are lots of excursion companies in the lobby charging double the price as the other companies on the beach. -wifi in the lobby is free but if you want it for the rest of the resort its $15 USD a day, $39 USD for 3 days, or $70 USD for the week. -if you are a smoker, you can only smoke in a designated area, on the beach or in the parking lot. -there's a disco but you have to pay for drinks there (I thought this was all inclusive but apparently not) Overall - The hospitality that comes with booking any other 5 star resort in DR, Cuba or Mexico isn't the same here but Costa Rica is beautiful and the excursions are all great. I would definitely go back to Costa Rica but not this resort.

Riu Palace Costa Rica: 2nd time there, love it.

The entire place is just beautiful, well kept. Food is excellent. Pools and fountains are nice. Service is excellent. Complained about room floor not being clean the 2nd day and from that point no problem anymore.