Following a very smooth flight from Toronto on Air Canada, we are picked up at the airport at 2:00 in the afternoon by a driver from Xandari. His english was not great, and our spanish is minimal, so me and my then husband to be just giggled and pinched ourselves-we were finally in Costa Rica! This was my 7th trip, his 6th.
The ride up to Xandari was only about 20 minutes, passing through some typical Costa Rican towns, and finally we start ascending a large hill. After reading about the fabulous views, we knew we would soon be sitting on our patio with vodka sodas in hand, looking down from above. Well, as soon as we entered through the gate, we knew we were in for a bit of pampering! Beautiful gardens everywhere, flowering shrubs, it was gorgeous! And it didn't hurt that the weather was perfect-fluffy white clouds and bluest of blue skies, with just the right amount of breeze. Paradise.
We were taken to our villa (we chose #4, the honeymoon suite-after all we were getting married in Costa Rica) and it was over the top! More than enough room for 2 people with a private, massive patio overlooking the town of Alaluela. The view was the best we had ever had in this area, although Vista del Valle has a lovely view, this topped it. The room had a 2 separate areas, a living room/kitchen combo, and then to the back, the very comfortable king size bed. Huge sliding doors across the entire width of the villa to take in the views. The villa had a very modern feel to it, the owners are artists from California and a lot of their artwork is displayed in the rooms and throughout the grounds. Very funky feel.
So after showering, we sat watching the sun go down on our patio, vodkas in hand, and decided to go for dinner at the restaurant. It's a nice spot, again, overlooking the knock-out view. The food was just OK, not great. But the ambience made up for it!
Almost forgot to mention, you can take some wonderful walks on the property. They have a number of paths that lead to 5 different waterfalls, and they are beautifully groomed. We walked for over an hour, saw some great waterfalls, and checked out the pools (there are 2, and there was never anyone in them!)
So, would I go back? Probably not. Although it was very upscale and posh, I found it lacked the Costa Rica flavour that I have felt in other resorts. Also, we saw a few birds, but it was surprisingly lacking in wildlife. When we were walking down to the waterfalls (very steep walk up and down), we ran into a woman and her husband. She was in very, very high heels, fully made-up, and was carrying a gucci bag. I prefer something a bit more laid back.
So, tomorrow I will tell you about Bosque del Cabo. Until then....

Thanks for bringing back good memories of our stay at Xandari. It is a beautiful place.

I do wish the owners would bring the restaurant up to the standards of the rest of the place.

Thanks for the info. on Xandari - we haven't stayed there yet, but it's always nice to see reviews of places for first or last night's stay near the airport. Congrats on your marriage!

Congrats

Thanks for Xandari update...

we were there in July

agree that the view oustrips the food...

New chef would work wonders...

Thanks for the info on Xandari. I've been dithering on where to spend my last night and Xandari is one of those options. Not sure I could've help my tongue at the lady with spiky heels & gucci (my, what interesting footwear you chose to hike in, how's the traction?). Looking forward to the rest!

Love the response to the gucci woman, Tully! It was rather bizarre, she did make a point of asking me how steep the trails were!

I've stayed at Xandari three times and there were only "regular" people there, no Gucci. The best I saw of that kind of thing was in Italy at an amusement park and the ladies in their tottering heels couldn't even load their small children onto the rides.

I'm not saying the resort was full of Gucci type people, I was referring to the one incident that I found quite humourous. I still found the resort a bit more uptight than other resorts I have stayed in, but saying that, it was still beautiful. Everyone has certain likes and dislikes, and perhaps I am the type of person that prefers a Ylang Ylang scene to Xandari. Ylang Ylang is a small family run resort and there just seemed to be so much more spirit overall. I also found Bosque incredibly friendly and spirited. And I guess if you look at the cost of one night at Xandari (we paid over nearly $400 with the exchange and that only included breakfast)I'd have to say the value wasn't there when compared to Bosque or Ylang Ylang, or many other places we have stayed in Costa Rica.

Thanks for the assessment of Xandari. I've heard that it is very nice and the grounds are lovely, but for that price it better be! ;-)

I was completely satisfied with Orquideas as a 'close-to-the-airport' accommodation on our last CR trip. And BdC is of course, absolutely wonderful!

I had friends who stayed at Hotel Bougainvilla,not far from the airport, and loved it! The gardens are beautiful, the rooms clean, and the prices seemed very reasonable. We'd probably try there next time.

Well, sounds like you splurged for your honeymoon! Congrats! Did you try any spa services? The price is out of my range, but nice to hear everyone's opinion on the place.

Hip, we didn't really have time to try the spa services. If I had more time (and money) I would have splurged. The spa is beautiful, and has a little waterfall with a table you can sit at while you are awaiting treatments.

It looks like Xandari offers a lot of good day trips as well. Even some river rafting trips which intrigues me. How was the walk to the waterfalls? - we tried to do the one at Vista del Valle and thought we might die. Peace Lodge was pretty easy. I love waterfall hikes. Was it steep and treacherous at all?

Vgirl:

Keep in mind that some of those day trips might not be available--anything involving the Sarapiqui or attractions in that area won't be accessible from the Alajuela area because the earthquake destroyed the road between the two. Pacuare river should be available from there, however.

Thanks, RAC, what about the Reventazon River? That's one I've never heard of, but I saw it mentioned along with Xandari.

VG-last year we successfully completed that treacherous VdV waterfall hike - I thought I would die, too, especially when you have to descend the ladder on the side of the cliff overlooking the canyon. The Xandari trails are much calmer, not as steep, and really quite beautiful. If we had more time, we would have done all 5 waterfalls, but the 2 we saw were quite nice.

Volcanogirl:

The Reventazon is very close to the Pacuare--so it would be a bit further than the website makes it out to be.

Thanks, RAC. Was it your Pacuare pics I saw of people getting tossed wildly out of the boat? I want to do it, but that water looked really powerful, and it freaked me out a little. I want it to be exciting, but... Any idea when the Sarapiqui will reopen? I guess there's no telling.

Crl, I do believe you've convinced me to put Xandari on our to try list! I made reservations there for a previous trip and they took a while responding, so I ended up switching to Vista del Valle and Peace Lodge and never got to try it, but I keep hearing such good things.

Is it worth staying at Xandari for my last night in CR on my extremely belated honeymoon (had to postpone multiple times, sadly), if are arriving at 3:15 PM on Sansa flight from Tambor, and have to get to the SJO the following morning at 5:15 AM for a 7:15 AM flight? The waterfall hikes are what are attracting me to this. They only have the Palm Villa and Ultra Villa left with King beds (otherwise, I would have booked the cheaper rooms).

We're also doing the 2 day/1 night Pacuare Jungle Lodge rafting trip, and spending 5 nights at Florblanca, both splurges.

Honestly,Venicegirl, I would not, given your time frame. If your plane gets in at 3:15, you won't get to the resort until 4:30. It gets dark around 6:00. I just don't think you'll get to enjoy the property. And the food is pretty unremarkable there. Just my 2 cents...