Hotel Puntarenas Beach

The room setup was uncomfortable from the start. Our junior suite was really just a larger room, and although it had a jacuzzi, the water was barely warm, fine for a shower but not a bath. There was no shower holder or curtain, so standing to shower wasn’t practical either. But the service issues were much worse. We stayed two days and never got room cleaning. There was no soap in the bathroom, and the shower gel hadn’t been refilled. Breakfast was meant to begin at 7, but started ten minutes late. The woman serving everyone seemed annoyed and made no effort to speed things up, which was especially awkward with an excursion at 8. Then another guest parked across the middle of the garage, blocking three cars including ours. Staff couldn’t identify who it was, saying they didn’t have that information. Our car stayed blocked overnight, and we waited 40 minutes before the owner was found. I don’t know what the cameras are for or whether anyone monitors parking. We’ve traveled all over Costa Rica and stayed in plenty of places. This was by far the worst hotel, and I’m so fed up with it. Never again.

We had a full day at El Paseo de los Turistas and really enjoyed it. It felt safe to walk along the beach, and there were plenty of places selling local food and drinks, plus souvenirs to buy. A nice spot to spend the day.

The location was great, but the hotel seemed abandoned, with everything closed. The pool was dirty and unusable, and the front desk tried to charge an extra $50USD over the rate advertised online.

The breakfast buffet was very good, with typical Costa Rican food and decent coffee. We had a big room with simple furniture and a comfortable bed, though the lack of a shower curtain was inconvenient. The small pool was pretty clean, and the underground parking had 24/7 video surveillance, which was a big plus. Unfortunately, there was no Wi-Fi in our room, so we had to use it from the hallway.