Good morning,

Quick question- flying down to Osa via Liberia in March and need to book a place to stay near Liberia on both the front and back ends of the trip.

On the front end, we land Liberia at 6:50p, depart 12:40p the next day. I'm thinking we need to stay closer to airport. Any recommendations for place to stay, preferably a non-chain hotel?

On the return flight, here's where we have some flexibility- we arrive back to Liberia at 12:30p, and our flight back to the states is the following day at 8:00a. I would love to go somewhere not too far, but close to the beach and out of the city. I do not want to rent a car though unless absolutely necessary, so hoping for something with a shuttle or could use a driver.

Went looking on Trip Advisor but thought I would ask here too. Any advice is very appreciated!

Thank you,
Emily

Oh, and for price- don't have a clear budget, but want something that is worth the cost, if that makes sense. Would prefer a place less than $150- but if something is you-can't-miss-this quality, would pay more. It IS our belated honeymoon!!

You might start your search at
http://www.liberiacostarica.com .
I assume you are flying out the next day and want to be as near to the airport as possible. There is also a new Hilton Garden Inn that claims to be open. Cross check your choices with reviews here and at TripAdvisor. I am interested in your results, since I will be trying the same thing in a year or two. If you are willing to spend one or both nights on the coast, there are far more choices for that option. Get a few choices and then ask here, maybe putting the hotel name you are asking about in the topic/title.

Thanks, K- that's a good site. I was using some other Liberia site and wasn't overly impressed, but I like that one.

We're willing to drive a bit- maybe 30-60 minutes from the airport, so I'd prefer to be away from the airport, but not enough so that is is a hassle since we really don't have that much time. Nothing against the big chains, but I'd prefer to not stay at a Hilton or Best Western- I travel for work and stay at chain hotels plenty.

Issue I'm coming up with TripAdvisor and Kayak is distance- some of the distances seem incorrect or not consistent.

Here are some I found-

Hacienda Guachipelin, in La Vieja. Thinking of for first night, so can walk around grounds and park in the early morning before our noon flight

On the return
Villas del Sol
Casa Conde del Mar
Or going all out for Four Seasons, since really, when will I ever again want to pony up for the Four Seasons...

Um, yeah, scratch that Four Seasons idea. Too rich for my blood, unless there is some last minute Priceline deal.

I did consider ignoring the no-chain thought and booking the new Marriott using some of my zillion points, but the airport transfer looked steep- $100 each way. I've never booked a private transfer not through a hotel, and considering we will be needing to be at LIR pretty early for our international flight, wanted a reliable transfer. Don't want to rent a car since it would need to be dropped off at 6am.

Just to give feedback... we're booked at the Hilton Garden Inn on our arrival, and at the Hilton Resort Papagayo on the end. The resort is advertised as 11 miles/20 minutes from LIR.

Thought about logistics and we're probably just going to eat/sleep on arrival, so that didn't justify much need to travel. Since we have to catch such an early intl flight (8am) on the way back, wanted to go to a bigger resort to ensure there is a transport back up option.

The Hilton Papagayo is $189/nt, which pleasantly surprised me seeing it is a Level 6 Hilton and it's high season. Their transport services are $50 each way- which seems high- but I want something certain at 5am.

6 more weeks!!

Back to report... We chose the Hiltons because we wanted dependable and an easy place to stay.

Arrived on a Saturday night, around 8pm, NA flight departed at noon next day. Had tried to email the Hilton airport a couple of days before we left regarding the shuttle- got a reply 4 days later after we'd departed- but no worries, they were right there waiting for passengers to depart. We found the Hilton airport to be great and easy- inexpensive lodging ($90), free business center to check email that one last time, nice gym, all the comforts you'd expect from a Hilton. Had both dinner and breakfast- the breakfast buffet was especially wonderful. And it is impressive how close it is to the airport, yet very quiet. I didn't feel like I was in CR per se- I felt like I was at a Hilton- not a good or bad thing, just what it was. I think it was excellent for what we were looking for- got a couple of hot meals, a good night sleep, and bonus gym time.

On the return, went to the Hilton Papagayo spa. Booked the shuttle through the concierge ahead of time. Was only 20 minutes away, so is also very convenient to the airport and a lovely beach in a cove. I think the $40-$50 transport from Hilton is pretty steep, especially since that charge is per family and not share-able among passengers.

Overall, the Hilton Spa is a very nice resort. We were only there 18 hours, so didn't explore too much. Stayed at the rooms at the top of the hill. You have to take shuttles for everything, and they are very fast and we never waited more than 5-10 minutes, but it is a shuttle nonetheless. (Very easy to talk yourself out of going to the gym). At check in, we were told about the adult-only spa zone, and the peacefulness was lovely to just veg on the comfy chairs and meander into either the pool or beach. The beach is black sand and soft, the water is very calm. We did check out the main pool and swim up bar, very nice and gorgeous pools, but liked the quiet of the chairs by the spa. We were digging the peaceful vibe, and just wanted room service for dinner. I'll disclaim this by saying I think we were a bit tired after the NA flights to return from the Osa, it was our last day of vacation, and it was a bit shell-shocking to walk into a shiny resort and see so many people after our Osa week. $26 for a salad "plate", $20 for a small pizza, and lots of confusion- couldn't find salad dressing amongst the three restaurants (and they would call with updates), didn't bring silverware, forgot to put wine on the tab so had to come back, forgot food- and took two hours and lots of phone calls to resolve. The manager said he would comp the meal, but it hadn't been when we had checked out- they had also charged us for coming back ($10 each "trip"), and that's just tacky. They may have just been having a bad night, but it was a phone ringing hungry two hours, distracting to our goal of peace and quiet. In the end, we rolled our eyes and reminded ourselves that this was our vacation to enjoy, then had a quiet and lovely night, checked out the next morning at 5am and made it to our 8am flight with plenty of time.

I think I would recommend both, just depends what you're looking for.

Maybe I should write my Osa report...