Costa Rica amazing
Costa Rica | Mar 4 - Mar 19, 2026

KLAUS
KLAUS A.
Bon Air, VA | Reviewed on Mar 25, 2026

Yuliana did an excellent job transforming our wishes and expectations for our Costa Rica trip into great activities and hotels. All her recommendations were spot on and overall we had a wonderful experience.

Hotel Reviews
Valverde Glamping & Ecolodge

The location of the Valverde is excellent, with beautiful river views, including from the open dining room. Our bedroom was better than a glamping experience, as we had a hotel style room with a very large bathroom and AC. What made the greatest difference was the awesome staff attention to details and extreme friendliness. We felt truly welcome. Thank you to manager RONNY and restaurant team and captain JASON. This hotel offer guided trips to the park multiple times of day, with their own boat, super convenient. This was a simple hotel but had an interesting character being directly on the river and a great attentive staff.

Authenticity & Character
In the middle of the jungle
Location
Great river views, including animals, open dining room to the river
Staff
Super friendly and attentive!
Cleanliness & Comfort
A simple but very competent hotel experience
Cariblue Beach & Jungle Resort
South Puerto Viejo

Great resort, across the street from the beautiful beach. Pool opened 24h with a good happy hour. They have a restaurant right on the beach, we had dinner there everyday given the beautiful view and atmosphere. Water filters conveniently placed around the property. Competent staff and friendly front desk. Beautiful forest/garden setting embedded around the rooms.

Authenticity & Character
Beautiful garden everywhere, with ancient trees
Location
Across the street from the beautiful beach
Staff
Competent
Cleanliness & Comfort
Very good
Lomas del Volcán
Fortuna

A beautiful bungalow hotel located within its own park, with jacuzzi overlooking the forest/mountain. Plenty of animals around the wonderfully manicured gardens. Very good food and drink options. Quiet, and isolated from the town. Great pool. GIORGIOLINA at the front desk was wonderful, providing us with the mountain view bungalow we thought we were getting (but some miscommunication between the travel agent and the hotel prevented us to have that on first night). Spending time here was a blessing immersion into the Arenal park forest setting.

Authenticity & Character
Though a modern facility, the bungalows are immersed into the park
Location
Within its own incredible forest park.
Staff
Competent and very friendly front desk
Cleanliness & Comfort
Excellent facilities
Hotel La Mariposa
Manuel Antonio

The views from the top of the hill down to the ocean are stunning. Very good restaurant and pool with same great views. Front desk staff not as friendly (not even a smile upon arrival) as we learned to expect in Costa Rica, including a discussion due to a disappointing lack of room cleaning on the first day (had to call at 3:30pm to clean room, though we had been out of it since 7:00am on our activity). The restaurant staff was great, thank you to JOHN and MAGALY for getting us an awesome view table twice. The hotel is relatively far from the beautiful beach below, hotel offers rides 4x/daily (walking is 25min down and 40min up if you are fit - which is what we did - also taxi is $10).

Authenticity & Character
Good layout, with great views from everywhere
Location
Stunning views
Staff
Restaurant staff great, front-desk staff lacking manners and customer orientation
Cleanliness & Comfort
Somehow they missed cleaning our room first day, but otherwise OK
Corcovado Wilderness Lodge by SCP
Drake Bay

Staying in this resort is an incredible experience on its own merit. It is located next to the national park. You cannot reach it unless by boat. We took a private road trip to the port near Sierpe and from there a met the hotel team. Then a beautiful river ride (2h stopping along to observe animals) and final ocean ride to hotel beach (30m). On the way back we took a 30m boat ride to Drake bay and 30m to the Drake airport back to San Jose to our international flight same day. All of it organized by the hotel, impeccable planning and execution. The hotel borders the national park and has beautiful beaches of its own. There are many nature and eco activities to be done here. There are 2 restaurants all great, one with stunning view of the pacific. We had a regular bungalow and was excellent. Thank you LUIZ at the restaurant for tables with beautiful views and MARISA and SOL at front desk and coordination of everything including our perfect return trip. In this resort everyone of their staff is focused on a delightful and awesome experience for all their guests.

Authenticity & Character
Beautiful, we had birds and other animals
Location
Tremendous location with beach, forest, animals
Staff
Top experience
Cleanliness & Comfort
Good performance. We had a minor issue and informed the management, who was receptive to fixing this.
Local specialist: Yuliana Valverde
Yuliana
Yuliana Valverde
Local specialist in San José, Costa Rica | Replied on Mar 25, 2026

Hello Klaus,

Thank you so much for your kind words. It truly means a lot to know that I was able to bring your vision for Costa Rica to life in a way that matched your expectations. I am so happy to hear you enjoyed the activities and hotels, those thoughtful details always make such a difference in the overall experience.

It was a pleasure helping you plan this journey, and I am grateful you trusted me with your trip. I hope Costa Rica left you with beautiful memories, and I would love to assist you again whenever you are ready for your next adventure.

Pura Vida!
Yuliana