Resorts in Costa Rica

Andaz papagayo or Four Seasons papagayo - 45 minutes from Liberia Airport

I'll expand a bit on my post...

This was our first time in Costa Rica or at any all-inclusive so we didn't know what to expect. We didn't choose the destination, as we were attending a wedding there. We stayed at the Riu Palace at Playa Matapalo on the Gulf of Papagayo. I understand that some consider this the "wrong" side of Costa Rica since it's not in the rain forest/volcano area, and when I researched the hotel there were plenty negative reviews - but further research showed that the bad reviews generally come from eco-warriors who blame Riu for wreaking havoc on the natural habitat by building the resort. All I can say is that the hotel, the location, and the trip were phenomenal. The hotel is in a beautifully scenic, secluded area.















Riu actually has two hotels on site - the older Riu Guanacaste (the tan one) and the Riu Palace (the white one). The Riu Palace is more modern in styling, has 24 hr. Wifi (RG only has it 2 hrs. daily in the lobby), has 24 hr. room service, has more prime liquor (there are liquor dispensers in each room), and guests of the Riu Palace have access to everything at Riu Guanacaste - whereas they do not have access to the Palace. The shuttle from the Liberia airport to the hotel was only 35 minutes.

You have access to the beautiful beach right behind the hotel - pictures do not do it justice. The sand is dark because it's volcanic rock sand, but the water is very much blue. There is abundant wildlife in the area. We got up early one morning to look for monkeys and walked along the beach as far as you can until the mountain ridge protrudes out into the water. You could hear a couple groups of howler monkeys howling back and forth at each other, and we tracked down some to get pics. Iguanas are also abundant around the beach. Coatis are also around, but we didn't see any on our walk.









The food was great. There are extravagant buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but there are also a few smaller restaurants with specific menus - Italian, Steakhouse, Japanese, and Fusion. Here's a couple sample menus...





As good as the hotel food was, our favorite meal came from a little shack called "Monkey's Bar" a short distance away - a 10 minute walk down the beach then a 5 minute walk down a trail thru the woods. Literally one of the best meals I've ever eaten. Of course, the monkeys hang out in that area for photo ops as well.







The two hotels both have huge showrooms with decent entertainment - the highlight being a Michael Jackson show. There's also a casino and discotheque on site.





Right next door is Diamante Eco Adventure Park. If you want to walk uphill the distance is short enough, but they send a free shuttle to the hotel every 30 minutes.They have one of the best ziplines in Costa Rica, superman-style from the top of the mountain. Here's my son in action, and you can see the hotels down below.



There are 5 ziplines total on the route, and you end at the eco park with a rope bridge walk over a crocodile pit. There's a nice zoo featuring all the local wildlife - much nicer than I was expecting. They also have horseback or ATV tours there that take you on the mountain trails and along the beach for around an hour.

Jet skis are available right from the beach behind the hotel, as are fishing trips and sailboat or catamaran cruises/snorkeling trips. We took a snorkeling/sunset catamaran cruise and it was phenomenal. Here's the area we snorkeled, where we also got to check out a cool little cave on the beach. I wish I had pictures from inside the cave - it was one of the coolest things I've experienced - but we left the phone on the boat and snorkeled to the beach.







I wish we had more time to do more excursions (you can book anything in Costa Rica from one of the tour guides in the lobby or on the beach), but we got plenty done in the week we were there. I also have various health issues and couldn't do everything I wanted to do - we had a large group of people for the wedding, so some did some things, others did other things. As I said, I'm sure there are better and more "genuine" ways to experience Costa Rica. But for a convenient, no hassle, all-inclusive vacation with lots to do without ever venturing too far from the resort, this was a phenomenal experience at a beautiful resort.

We went in Feb for two weeks and had a blast.

We stayed at Nayara Springs resort in La Fortuna


They are individual cabanas in the rainforest complete privacy. Plus we had a an amazing view of the Volcano from our bed!




Then we went to Manuel Antonio after a quick overnight stay in Monte Verde.
We stayed at Makanda By the Sea




Once again completely private


Both of these places were Adults Only

I think this is one of those “better ways to experience Costa Rica” that I was talking about.