The Blue Suites & Spa

The volcano view from our window was lovely, and the beds were quite comfortable. There was free parking right beside the hotel, with plenty of shops and places to eat all around. The location is handy, close to everything, and the staff were excellent and very accommodating. The downside was noise from loud vehicles all night, which kept me awake as a light sleeper. Good value for the price, but bear that in mind if you’re sensitive to noise.

It was easy to walk to plenty of bars and restaurants, and there’s a grocery store and Soda restaurant right next door. We had an amazing volcano view. The staff were kind and helpful, took great care of us, and organized our excursions.

The beds were comfortable, staff were super friendly, and parking was available. There’s no elevator, and the other conveniences are bare bones. It’s right across from a bar, which is handy if you want to walk back after a few drinks. But the road noise was horrible all night. I was hoping for an early night, so being on the busiest street in town wasn’t ideal.

Getting a quiet night's sleep was a problem. The building has almost no insulation, so we heard cars, bars, and neighbors all night. The location is great for walking to most things, though, and that noise probably comes with being right on the strip. Our rooms were clean enough, the hosts were kind and accommodating, and the price was alright. We had an unfortunate shuttle mix-up that left our stay feeling just okay. At check-in, we found the bed was a full, not the queen listed in the ad. I roll around in my sleep and was worried I’d fall off or hit my partner, so we asked the front desk about a bigger bed. They helped us get a king the next day without charging extra, since that room didn’t have a volcano view. That worked out well, because the paid-for volcano view was partly blocked by buildings and wasn’t great anyway. We’d already booked our excursions but wanted to support the hotel, so we asked them to arrange our ride back to the airport. We explained several times that we needed Liberia airport, where we’d flown in, because we also had to fly out from there after visiting Tamarindo. One front desk man understood and gave us details for a Liberia shuttle. We planned to get cash to avoid the taxes, but when we returned, a different front desk woman insisted she could help and asked us to go to lunch while she contacted shuttle companies. We said we could wait for the man or book online, but she promised she’d find the right shuttle. The company she booked only went to San Jose. Since San Jose wasn’t written on the receipt, we thought she had arranged Liberia as discussed. The driver spoke no English. Halfway through, we realized we were going the wrong way. We then had to change all our flights, spend the night at the airport, and pay far more than expected. We also spent a while on the phone disputing the wrong shuttle charge. They eventually refunded it, which we appreciated, but that didn’t cover the time and extra money we spent on new flights. We understand the language barrier and don’t expect everyone to speak English, but we could tell she hadn’t fully understood us. Since we were tourists booking an important trip, we wish she’d asked a coworker to help instead of assuring us she could handle it. Being in an unfamiliar country and sorting out flights over a wrong airport was really frustrating. It’s mostly taken care of now, but I wanted to give an honest review.