Kimkim Trip Reviews for Costa Rica

We have never seen a hotel room decorated so amazingly for our anniversary! There was a hand written note, balloons, heart shaped confetti, towels folded into swans and wine! They really went over the top to make our anniversary special! The airport shuttle was so helpful to have and worked out so well for us! I would highly recommend this hotel!

This is one of our favorite resorts we have ever stayed in! The staff was so genuinely sweet and helpful, the grounds were absolutely gorgeous and the room was new, beautiful and clean! We also had two of the best restaurant servers we have ever had in our lives! We also had a fabulous experience in the spa! It rained a ton while we were there and it only added to the fun of the experience!

It was a beautiful park, but for us the timing was not great!

We had a blast! It was so much and one of the highlights of our trip!

We had so much fun on this adventure and I'm so glad we did it!

The rooms were a good size, but not the most well-kept. The biggest issue is there is only one small fan in the corner of the room pointed at just one of the beds. The room was in desperate need of a couple ceiling fans or an air conditioning unit. The grounds of the property were very beautiful and the staff were all very friendly. The food served was also fairly good, and changed up the menu just enough between days.

The bungalows were a fantastic blend of jungle environment with modern accommodations. The rooms were very spacious and the beds comfortable. There were ceiling fans for each bed as well as mosquito nets, all of which were very much needed. The location was also fantastic, as it was close to several nice beachside restaurants in Cocles. If you wanted to go into Puerto Viejo, its a short taxi or bicycle ride. Breakfast was also good and quite filling

The town was very nice and enjoyable to walk through. It wasn't necessarily "guided" as it is mostly 90 minutes of your own time to explore the town

The boating tour was a great and relaxing way to see a lot of animals in the park up close. The guide as well as person operating the boat were quite good at spotting animals and making sure everyone on the boat got a chance to see them.

This was one of the better snorkeling experiences I've had as the waters were very calm and Kendall was a fantastic guide. We got to see many different schools of colorful fish and other aquatic life. The hike was a nice short walk through the park where we saw a snake, sloth, and plenty of monkeys!

The cooking class was a fun, intimate way of experiencing a part of Caribbean food and culture. Glenda was a fantastic host and made the experience special. Overall, it was the right balance of us getting to be involved in some of the steps, while not being stuck doing the more laborious tasks.

The zip-lining experience was great and a thrilling way to experience the rainforest! We did wish the guides would have talked a bit more about the nature as we went, but they were still great at making sure everyone was safe and enjoying the zip lines.

Nice evening stopover from the airport to our destinations

Wonderful location, staff, food and ambiance

Unique hotel with a wonderful “jungle” vibe. Staff was friendly and accommodating. Nice pools. Food was nice. Beach was scenic

Just did a massage, went to the pool, ate and slept

Got a chance to see the town for some shopping.

Best part of the trip- seeing a mama sea turtle lay eggs, bury them and return to the sea

Great visibility in warm water

Great highlight of the trip. Saw sloths and monkeys before hitting the beach. Wonderful cool, cloudy day

This a great value-for-money deal. The hotel is located apx 20 minutes away from the airport (depending on traffic), it's very clean with all standard amenities, good cruising although not particularly local, great breakfast and very helpful personnel.

Amazing people working in this 142 acres of excellence. My Mountain room was spacious and clean and although there is no AC, it wasn't needed when I was visiting. There are many activities to do and I did most of them: tubing, hanging bridges, ziplining. Breakfast was great but otherwise, the restaurant offered food is nothing exceptional and quite pricy. With no available markets in the close proximity that can be an issue for some people.

Nothing great and nothing bad. This accommodation is the perfect average but it is affordable, clean and in a good location.

An amazing experience! Rosie and Roger dreamt of a place where humans could connect with nature and they accomplished something extraordinary. I have nothing but compliments for this place.

This was my first time surfing. The instructors took about 20 minutes to prepare/inform me about safety and technic and then we jumped in the water. The guides were all super friendly giving me feedback after every attempt to surf:)

Very easy to find, the people working at the front desk speak good English and the guide (although super young) was very helpful and friendly.

Hospitable workers, clean room, amazing jacuzzi, tasty breakfast. Pretty place.

Hospitable workers, clean room, tasty breakfast and beautiful location. Nice pool. Negative: poor lighting in the room.

Very beautiful place. Room with a beautiful view. Very spacious and clean. Good breakfast, nice staff. Negative: bathtub plunge didn’t work so it kept draining the water, no space in bathroom for personal hygiene items and poor lighting. But overall we would stay at this location again.

Hospitable workers, clean room, tasty breakfast which was included. Lunch and dinner and drinks to buy but also pretty good. Beautiful view of the ocean. Has a pool but very strict on the close time which is 730/8pm. Provide beach towels. Location central to the tours we took. Negative: poor lighting in the room.

We stayed at the place for 6 hours to rest before flying out back home. Clean room with AC, friendly staff. In center of San Jose. Negative: poor lighting.

The tour guide gave us information in the car and then told us to get out of the car and look around at the location we stopped at. We stopped at 3 places and rest of the time we sat in the car looking out the window. We would not recommend THIS tour company for San Jose tour .

The tour guide was great. Very knowledgeable and took as many photos as we wanted of us. Provided great knowledge of the places we saw.

This place is soo amazing and pretty. It has lots of pool options with different temperatures. There were bars in each pool section. Very pretty views. Nice staff. Negative: the included dinner didn’t have good options. The food we choose wasn’t great.

The tour guide was very knowledgeable. We saw 4 sloughs, bats, frogs, insects and different plants/trees. Pretty good tour.

This was a fun activity. Great staff and your guides. Very knowledgeable. The zip line staff made us comfortable and safe during the activity. We saw monkeys, snakes, slough, plants/trees in the cloud forest.

The tour guide taught us about coffee, gave us samples to drink, showed us how to extract sugar from sugar cane, provided a sample of a sugar cane drink. During the night hike we were able to spot different birds, a snake and insects, frogs.

This was an amazing tour. We had a driver and two young tour guides who were fun, knowledgeable but at the same time respected us. On this tour you visit different waterfall locations that you can jump into the waterfall pool including a waterfall slide. My husband loved jumping off the waterfall but I decided to just swim/cool off in the water just because I am afraid if heights. The tour guides showed my husband how to jump safely and provided clear instructions. The tour guides didn’t push me to do stuff that I didn’t feel comfortable with. We had a delicious lunch at a tilapia farm and headed to a secluded beach. We had a coco loco drink and swam at the ocean. We had an amazing time this paddle 9 company.

Guide was very knowledgeable and fun. In the park we were able to spot monkeys, sloughs, crabs, birds and different types of plants/trees. We had option to stay at the beach and swim but we didn’t have the time as we had to check out and get transferred to San Jose for our departure. But we were still able to see the beach and take photos.

Hotel Pasatiempo was a very good experience for the cost. The grounds and pool were amazing. The room was adequate, and the staff was very friendly. The breakfast burrito was incredible. The only downsides are Saturday night can be a bit loud (most of Tamarindo is if you're centrally located) and you need to bring bug spray as there can be days with a few mosquitoes.

Bosque del Mar is one of the most relaxing hotels I've ever stayed it. It is located right on the beach, the accommodations are incredible, the rooms are very, very well done, the pool was very scenic and relaxing, and all of the food was great. The staff was very friendly, remembered my name, and were very accommodating with my requests.

I took the Private Surf Lesson and enjoyed it so much I came back for the group lesson (slightly less cost) and then three other days to just rent a board (you get 50% off if you take a class). I kept coming back because the staff was incredible and treated me like family. It is very professional and a great place to take your first surf lesson.

Amazing. I visited 12 beaches (I'm a bit crazy so I don't recommend going this far). The sand and beaches are amazing, you will love them!

Can't beat Guanaste for beaches :)

Amazing hotel to be based to explore the area. The hotel is the closest to Rincon de la Vieja volcano which was our goal. What we didn't realize was that the hotel itself has so many waterfalls, and hiking trails to explore. Our favorite was the Orenpendola Waterfall, which is a huge fall that drops into amazing clear turquoise water!! The kids loved the hike down with the hanging bridges and cool water! The only downside of the hotel is that the food gets a bit repetitive after 3 days. While there are 3 restaurants, they are all from the same kitchen.

Amazing location, you are almost in the center of Tamarindo, and can pretty much walk everywhere. The hotel itself has some updated rooms, and some older rooms, see if you can get a room with the renovations. My only complaint is that. they need to spray the dinning area for bugs. You can't really lounge in the bar area without being eaten alive by the mosquitos.

Great hotel in the center of Arenal. Good location if you don't have a car. The rooms are newly renovated, and have great comfy beds, and a view of the volcano. The downside is that you don't really feel like you are in the rainforests, instead you are in the middle of a town.

My 8 year old needed to see a Toucan before he left Costa Rica. Given we didn't see one in the wild, we decided to visit Diamante on our last day. Well his wish came true! We saw 4 toucans! And what was even more amazing was seeing the sloths up close! We've seen a couple of the sloths before in the wild, and they were always just in the distance, but here at Diamante, at the feeding time, the sloths are actually moving - it was amazing. There was also a jungle gym obstical course that my son went on multiple times, so all in all a good day.

Was super fun! The instructors were all very helpful to make sure that you were able to stand up on your first wave. I wouldn't have been able to do that with out their help.

They are not joking when they say you might see giant Manta Rays!! The Manta Rays were 15 ft across. I wasn't expecting it, since we didn't come in the peak season for seeing them, but was spectacular.

Pretty good tour, and we definitely saw lots of wildlife such as monkeys and the most amazing thing was the bats hanging on the tree trunk that looked like pieces of bark. The guide was very knowledgable, and was able to spot the animals that even with his direction we had to really search for to see. However, the boat part of the trip was pretty short, probably an hour. And the rest of the tour was the restaurant, pottery etc. Which is not really our cup of tea.

Good for a quick stop over on the way through Liberia. We only spent 20 minutes at the waterfall, took a quick dip and left. There is no hiking or anything like that, you are really just coming for the waterfall. Worth it if you are passing by, not worth it if you are coming just for the waterfall.

Super fun for the kids to see the volcanic activity. Come early as it can get really hot during the day. Lucky there are some pretty nice trees to shade a good portion of the hike. It was just the right length for our kids (8 & 10).

Super fun! The hot springs range from 100 degrees to 145 degrees. So take your pick. The hot springs are set on the banks of the river, so it was nice and peaceful to look out at the river as you are soaking. We came at the end of the day and was nice to walk back with the twinkling lights lighting the path for the short hike back. The volcanic mud was also fun. Kids had fun painting themselves.

Easy hike down to the waterfall, and a nice place to spend an afternoon. It can get pretty busy though, as everyone seems to have the same idea.

The beach was amazing, I can see why it is known as the best beach in Costa Rica. Pure white and squeaks as you walk over it (because of the broken shells). I came super early, so I had the whole place to myself, and did a bit of snorkeling too. Lots of fish in the water, but that day the water clarity wasn't the best.

I wanted to visit the town of Guaitil but didn't get a chance, so was super excited to do a pottery lesson. Was super fun to learn how to use the tools (such as a corn husk) to help shape my piece. The lesson took 3 hrs, one hr each day, so it was easy to schedule into the rest of my schedule.

A beautiful hike through the jungle. The waterfall was amazing,, and as blue as it looks on the photos. But what was even more amazing was the hike to the start of the color pigments. At the origin (mixing point) you can see where the clear river suddenly turns to a turquoise blue! That was amazing.

This hotel exceeded our expectations. While the room decor is pretty basic, the bathroom is beautiful, the grounds are very nicely manicured and host many birds and wildlife, and the location was an easy walk to town but also at the top of a hill which afforded stunning sunset views. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful.

The hotel and hot springs are nothing short of stunning. The grounds are beautiful. The walk to the pool, main building and hot springs are easy and so pleasant. The fact that the hot springs open to hotel guests two hours before the general opening allowed us to visit feeling like we had the place to ourselves. The secluded areas with cabanas and the plethora of flora makes it seem like you’re in a magic rainforest setting.

The Westin was a great place to relax after 8 days of adventure in Monteverde and Arenal/La Fortuna. The grounds were very nicely maintained, the many restaurants ensured we didn’t get bored with the food over the course of a week, the staff were absolutely amazing - really friendly and helpful. Just a shout out to a few: Ruddy was a fun and knowledgeable instructor of yoga and water aerobics (do this! It’s so fun!), and Christopher, Bryan, Gabriel and Christian were incredible bartenders who knew our names and always greeted us with a smile, were really fun to chat with and also were great bartenders.

A great way to start the vacation! The cloud forest is gorgeous and looks spectacular from the top.

It was interesting and delicious!

The guides were super but unfortunately the nocturnal animals were not cooperative.

Our guide was friendly and took a lot of great pictures. The setting is pretty spectacular.

This was my family’s favorite adventure. The canyoning was gorgeous, in the cloud forest and down a waterfall through a series of rappelling and zip lining and features with walks along the river in between. The whitewater rafting was exciting. There were class 2-3 rapids which were just adventurous enough (a couple of us did bounce out into the water but it was fine). Mario was our whitewater rafting guide, and he was SO fun. This adventure also came with a meal which was delicious.

The volcano hike and waterfall hike (two different hikes in different locations on the same day) were both beautiful. They have completely different views but are equally nice. The power of the waterfall and the fact that you can swim in the water near it is really cool. Mariano was our guide, and he was awesome! He’s a seasoned guide with a deep knowledge not only of the flora and fauna but also the history and politics of the region. He took great photos and was patient while we swam. He also took us to some great restaurants.

This was a great trip. You can’t believe how blue this water is until you see it in person. Stunning.

Good location right on the beach. Wildlife just outside the rooms.

You can find places with fancier rooms or facilities but you won't find a staff anywhere that's nicer, friendlier and more attentive. Super recommend.

We only stayed 2 nights but it was lovely. Awesome hot springs with bar. Very friendly and helpful staff.

Mariano was awesome. Very knowledgeable and funny, showed us beautiful places and took us to a great spot for lunch. I had told him I really like ceviche so he called the place in advance and they made up a ceviche recipe on the spot just for me! It was delicious :) The waterfall visit was one of our favorite activities.

Rappelling was so much fun. Thrilling but also felt very safe at all times. The waterfalls and hike through the forest were just beautiful. The whole staff was amazing. Rafting was also great (the favorite by far of our 15y boy). One of us fell off the raft but thanks to Christofer's guidance we were able to pull her back safely and she enjoyed the rest of the trip. Great lunch spot as well (best coffee).

We really enjoyed our night walk. Our guide, Walter, was incredibly knowledgable, and we learned so much. We saw a lot of tarantulas which our 11y old daughter was very excited for.

We enjoyed the hike and aerial bridges. Our guide was great and we learned a lot about the forest. The zip-lining was a ton of fun. My 60+ aunt and 70+ uncle both loved the experience. And our 15y old son loved the optional free-fall at the end.

We loved this activity with Brian and Mario. Smooth boat ride with drinks and delicious fruit and snacks. We snorkel a lot but this was our first time in a tropical location and loved to see different kind of sea life, including holding an octopus in our hands :)

This is a very unique hotel, right next to a Thermal River. We had a center bungalow and an east bungalow. The bungalow is nested in the jungle. It has a rustic feel outside, however, once you get in, everything is ultra model. There are windows along 3 sides of the room. The outdoor rain shower is super cool. Center bungalow gives a more unique experience with the out-door shower.

From our bungalows, there is a great view of Arenal. The ground is amazing, we didn't use any of the pool facility as we were busy with the activities. The menu of the onsite restaurants is on the pricy side.

It is a very small boutique hotel (14) rooms. Free laundry service is also great. The view of the hotel is magnificent.

It was a nice day walk. The guide told us due to the rain, the sloth went up high and curled into a ball. We were lucky enough to catch a 2 toe-sloth in a slight lower position. Was able to see a red frog, lizzard and few other birds.

The activity is super cool and something to brag about. Love the man-made Dam effect, got a really cool video out it.

The springs resort is beautiful, the spa setting is beautify. I am glad that Gaustavo picked the activity here for us to enjoy the view and food without needing to pay the exorbitant hotel room.

Maybe it is during the low season, it is like a private tour. There were no other people around the first 2 waterfalls, it was a bonus.

This is our favorite activity of the trip. It has the right balance of thrill and easiness. It was our kids first time rafting, the level 1-2 rapids are good learning ground. The river is warm and beautiful, there were good swimming spots a long the way. As the end, there were 3 level 3 and 1 Level 4 which adds the thrill.

The guide is knowledgeable about the animal. We were able to see a lot of water birds and crocodiles. The fresh coconut water is very refreshing.

Rooms had no Air conditioning and no fans were provided. N o nprivacy in the rooms open toilets. Guest service not upto the mark.

Beautiful room and view from the hotel and great service and food.

Nice large rooms and great service and freindly staff. Great buffet breakfast

Very good expereince and very good explanation by the staff

Evening tour was good but most musems were close and everthi g was in the dark

Great e xpereince but things were being rushed. Need to ntrain staff a bit more

Hotel was clean and the beds were very comfortable.

The hotel is an eco lodge meaning there’s no air conditioning. The flora and animals that surround you make sweating it out more than worth it! We saw monkeys and sloth right outside our door. We loved doing the Turtle nesting experience and the hotel made the experience very easy to book.

One of the highlights of our trip. We opted to drive our rental car and the journey to San Gerardo hotel savegre was definitely not something you should try if you are not confident with your driving skill. We called the last 3-4 miles stretch down to the valley to the hotel “road to hell”, the unfortunate part was we got slightly delayed at the airport with looking for our rental car and getting sim card activated and wasted maybe 2 hours prior to leaving SJO, we got to San Gerardo when it was dark and that was definitely an adventure to get down to the valley. We couldn’t see much because it was dark but we definitely saw a huge tapir on our way to the hotel. Once we got to the hotel, we were immediately greeted by the security guard who guided us to the reception and from there we had our first meal in the hotel. Let me say, this hotel is very well kept, the restaurant is clean and upscale provided pretty good food and service. Our rooms were beautiful and cleaned daily. The following day when we have sunlight, we were amazed at how beautiful and serene the valley was. We did bird watching and some hikes around the hotel. Definitely a place we will revisit. Wish we have more time to do more of the hiking trail.

I think this hotel has a lot of potential. It is sitting in a beautiful land with lots of vegetation but not maintained enough. When we get there, we immediately had a bad feeling at the entrance compare to our experience from hotel savegre. We got into the our rooms, we have 2 rooms, both rooms bedsheets were not very clean, 1 if the rooms smell very damp and the bathroom were leaking. This location is definitely not as comfortable compared to hotel savegre. 1 night were so hot even with fan going, but I guess we cannot really change the climate. The food quality in their restaurant were pretty bad. We relayed our experience to travel agent, who then spoke to the owner/manager of the hotel and they acknowledged they knew about the leak in the bathroom and immediately change our room to a better room that smell much better with clean linen, they brought us a bottle of wine and cancel our bill of dinner the night before. We appreciate them trying but I think this location is a good location if they have enough staff and maintain better.

This is an amazing location in the reserve. The people were nice and friendly, very helpful. The housekeeper washed our clothes daily and clean the villa. We were sleeping with the sound of wildlife. Saw lots of wild life, howler monkeys and many type of birds. The hammock was the highlight of this villa. We live in sweet dream house, it has 3 rooms, 1 of them has a/c. The location is cool enough, we did not use the a/c too much. A full function kitchen, outdoor sitting, dining, bbq area, walking trail and a waking path to the beach. Easy access to everywhere else. Will definitely return to this location.

We just stay here 1 night before our flight back home. Very standard Hampton in , clean, good breakfast and close to airport.

Our guide brought binoculars and the super birdwatching magnified spotting scope. We were able to see several quetzals. Learn about them from the guide. Again just a beautiful place to be in.

To be honest we went there with little to no expectations because the coffee shop where the coffee plantation tour attached to had some mixed review from google review. But once we met our guide everything changed, very knowledgeable guide, amazing tour with so much information from the fruits of coffee to the process and tasting of coffee. We learned so much!!

A nice detour between San Gerardo to turialba. My husband said it feel like a heated pool rather than hot spring. The weather was not so friendly, it was raining. It is a beautiful place, the lunch attached was descent.

This is the description we have from the travel agent: Today you will visit the iguana zoo farm of the KEKOLDY territory, where an indigenous family is dedicated to the reproduction of the Green Iguana, a species that was in danger of extinction, and thanks to initiatives like these it has been recovering. Next, in the Bri Bri territory, you will visit an indigenous family that grows medicinal plants and will guide you through the usage of several tropical plants, followed by a demonstration of the production of chocolate. Cacao (chocolate) within the Bribri culture is very important since they use it for purification, food, and medicine. In the last stage of the tour, you will visit a waterfall where you can take a bath and have a small fruit-based snack. Finish the tour in a typical restaurant in the area where you have typical lunch. Our actual trip: only include the last stage hike of primary and secondary forest to the falls, our guide is very nice and knowledgeable, this is not an easy hike. Very slipper from rain night before, we saw wild life. The guide Mynor, driver fofo and host Hermano? Who serve us lunch were are amazing people. We love this adventure.

One of the highlights of our trip. The guide were very knowledgeable and helpful. We felt very safe. And a nice lunch!

Very nice hike, unfortunately it was raining and foggy. But we love it. Very nice guide Gloria was very informative.

Again we had no expectations of this tour. We thought just another farm with lunch. We were so wrong!! We learn so much from this organic farm from zero to a full education center. So much knowledge and passion of the owner. We love learning her passion. Great lunch!

Again slightly different from what was described in our itinerary, Itinerary: You will go snorkeling for about two hours in the most important Coral Reef of Costa Rica… You will discover the National Park by White Beach sector, up to Cahuita point, crossing through beautiful beaches to relax and swim in the calm water of the Caribbean Sea for a while. In spots between Cahuita Point and the town of Cahuita (3.5 km), you will be able to see various types of snakes (boas, bocaraca, bushmaster, eyelash vipers, etc.), sloths, white-faced and howler monkeys, anteaters, armadillos, raccoons, blue morpho butterflies among others, birds and many more such as medicinal plants, orchids, trees, ferns, vertebrates, invertebrates, sea, and earth shellfish. Our actually experienced were hopped on the pick up van, drop off, get on a boat to do snorkeling. It was a nice trip still. Maybe the exploring the national park part is on our own? But our ride got us back immediately? Maybe in the future better description eg we can take our own ride to the boat, a snorkel and explore the national park on our own?

Great rooms, roof hot tubs, historic yet very comfortable and fantastic breakfast!