For those of you contemplating a trip to Costa Rica, I offer the following based on a 16 day trip that ended January 4, 2009. First, there are a few errors in the 2009 edition of Fodor's Costa Rica (which must have been published some time ago and sorry Fodor's, but you've never acknowledged my emails while on this trip!). The recommended Hotel Playa Hermosa Basque Del Mar has been closed for renovations for six months and you should check their website to see when they will actually reopen. Also, the highly recommended sail adventure on the Samonique III should be ignored - the sailboat is no longer in operation (it has actually been disassembled and the owner is said to be wanting to sell it). As far as other recommendations go, while the Hacienda Guachipelin near the Rincon de la Vieja National Park is fine, steer clear of the recommendation to try the spa (called the Simbiosis located down a rough dirt road). The mud baths are a joke, the insects are intense, and the massages are performed by young girls without any training. It is a waste of money. Another recommended (and expensive) resort is the Tabacon Grand Spa and Thermal Resort. The hotel is extremely well-run, beautiful, and has terrific food. The problem is the Spa/Thermal resort. It is over-run with tour groups (despite paying a king's ransom for our room we were unable to book any spa treatments), there is an incredible lack of space (particularly just some simple lounge chairs they could easily add), and the staff seems indifferent - perhaps because business is so good (let's see what happens with the recession). We moved and actually preferred Montana de Fuego down the road which is downscale but much more inexpensive, friendly and inviting (though the food isn't noteworthy). We did stay at Arenas Del Mar Beach and Resort in Manuel Antonio and absolutely loved it - the rooms were terrific, the guide great, the ecological attention very noteworthy and the beach very nice (though if you have a problem with gay men beware as they do go to the semi-private beach, though they no longer go their nude). Finally I would advise you to think carefully about the recommended Hotel Sugar Beach. While the beach is nice and the nearby town of Playa Flamingo has two good restaurants (Mar y Sol and the new Angelina's which is not listed in the guide), the hotel has its problems. Granted it is a nice location and the hotel itself is fine. However, the management of the resort and in particular the training and discipline of the staff is sub-par. In particular, the manager is a passive woman who appears not to have the leadership skills to train, motivate, and discipline the staff. The quality of the staff was quite uneven and that most of them did not proactively take care of the guests and anticipate their needs. The most disconcerting part of our experience was finding ourselves abandoned and left to fend for ourselves alone at the Tamarindo airport in the dark when the shuttle we had pre-arranged to pick us up failed to do so. We were also upset with the way we were treated upon our arrival. I don't think they could have cared less about what had happened to us and offered no apology at all.

We also experienced a number of other service problems that were due to errors by the staff, including booking our car for 3 days instead of 4 (a problem I had straightened out with them before I even left the U.S.), a lack of information about the sailboat we'd booked (the Samonique III which I've already mentioned), and poor directions to various destinations. It is a great place and a great beach, but the service and management is simply poor and the owners (who live in Michigan) are absent and reputedly are trying to sell the hotel.

With all of this said, we still had a great time in Costa Rica and hope that you will too!

Well, I agree with you about Tabacon. It is beautiful, but we read that you could get a discount if you went after a certain time, so we went late, and the guy said it would be seventy dollars, but we thought he said seventeen, so my husband gave him seventeen. The guy started laughing hysterically and telling us seventy. It just seemed kind of greedy and like an "I've got so much business that I couldn't care less about you" moment.

The owners are not popular with the locals because they're foreigners and that they don't really care about anything but packing people in. I heard so many guides go off about that. We did think it was pretty, but it was really crowded. We tried Eco Termales on our next trip and really enjoyed it - it's locally owned, has wonderful dinners, and they limit entry to 100 people a night, so it's not crowded. They even serve drinks on the honor system, and they were so reasonably priced - big hit with us.


I'm glad you had a good trip despite the issues.

Thanks for posting very informative..

www.tabacon.com has improved

their food which was not great...

My massage was $35 not crowded

in early AM before buses arrive...

Paragraphs....

Interesting comments. Thanks

One thing you might need to be aware of is that Tabacon Grand Spa is not associated with Tabacon Hot Springs except to operate on the property. Two different entities.

Crowds at Tabacon Springs depend on time of day and time of year. We've been 3-4 times, never had a problem with it being too crowded, until the tour buses rolled in in the early-mid afternoon. We buy a full day, leave during that time, and return after dinner for a night soak.

The spa (having been twice for multiple treatments) in my opinion, is excellent. There is a reason it was listed as one of the top 10 in Mexico, Central and South America. However, I can't imagine a $35 massage! When I was there, it was $90 for 60 minutes and $120 or $130 for 90 minutes. Well worth it (both gals I had), but quite pricey. The spa ambience is outstanding.

As for Hotel Sugar Beach, the owner is Gary (can't remember last name) who also owns Orquideas Inn. He actually lives in Costa Rica, has for many years. This is the first poor review I've seen of the hotel. I was aware that Orquideas was for sale, but didn' know about Sugar Beach also being for sale.

Pat Hewitt is a friend of Gary's. Pat, what do you know about this?

Thanks for the information. Sorry your experience wasn't top notch.

I am curious which shuttle company neglected you in Tamarindo. I recommend several to the renters in Conchal, and would like to know if any of them treated you shabbily.

Yes, Jed, paragraphs are nice. LOL!

Sorry about the lack of paragraphs! I actually tried but it didn't seem to take. I just learned the owners of the Hotel Sugar Beach are actually a group of 9 people who have invested in a company that owns the hotel. Most, if not all, are Americans - and they are definitely looking to sell. The woman (named Sarah) who is effectively "managing" the place right now is the daughter of one of the owners who owns car dealerships in Michigan (so he DEFINITELY would like to sell!).

As for the company that was supposed to pick us up at Tamarindo it was Ecotrans. Very disappointing.

I didn't know the spa at Tabacon was different than the hotel. But even so, when you pay so much for the hotel and are promised so much before arriving, you'd think you'd at least be told to make a reservation in advance. And yes, the prices were very high.

Don't get me wrong - I loved Costa Rica and we had a great time. I'm just trying to help future travelers out. And I can't say enough about how great Arenas del Mar was!

Hope the paragraph breaks work this time!

Tom