Find the Best Santa Lucia Hotels

We stayed twice at Bougainvillea, 3 nights at the start of our birding tour, and one night at the end. It is a great introduction to Costa Rica and birding. We really loved the garden out the back, which had plenty of new birds for us. The buffet breakfast in the morning was probably the best on our trip (the only one that had a good muesli for me!) and the restaurant catered well for gluten free and vegetarian diets, with enough variety when staying a couple of days. The sandwiches are highly recommended. The rooms are spacious. There is a security box that works, and WiFi is flawless. There is a fan in the rooms but no air conditioning, and on the hot days we were there I did find the rooms a little too hot in the evenings when trying to sleep. It does cool down to around 20 degrees overnight, but that is a little hot for me. Service from all staff was excellent. They do money exchange at reception and help organise taxis for going in to San Jose. This hotel is very popular with western birders arriving in the country and it lives up to its reputation. Highly recommended.

As you can see from my previous reviews, I am generally a positive person. I do not give bad reviews. It’s a fault I know but I hate to be critical as I can generally sympathise. In this case I’m prepared to make an exception. Recommended by a friend who lived nearby we booked with high expectations. We landed in San Jose and encountered a luggage problem; someone had mistakenly taken my suitcase. Luckily I had an apple tag in it so we got in our hire car and followed them across San Jose. This meant that we were late checking in. No big deal you would think. It’s 9:30 pm. We drove into the hills to find the hotel gates barred, the security post unmanned and no reply on any of the hotel numbers. Unusual for a hotel in my experience. We had resigned ourself to a night on our friends couch after a very long day, but luckily a local whatsapp call eventually led to us returning and being given a key. The security people were very kind and didn’t need us to do any formalities, but simply directed us to our room. The room was interesting. A light sparkling of glitter on the floor, dimly illuminated by a ceiling fixture in which 2 of the 5 bulbs actually worked. The room is a good size as is the bathroom. The ceiling light in the bathroom was dimmed by the amount of waste in the fixture; dead insects I’m assuming. The loo seat was broken, there was no drain or plug in the basin. On to the positives. There was a huge jacuzzi bath which I made full use of in the morning and loads of hot water. The bed was also large and comfortable. In the morning we went to breakfast but we were too early as it didn’t start until 8:30. It was at this point that we realised that we might be the only guests. We didn’t see another guest in the three nights that we were there. Breakfast was good. Great coffee and Costa Rica’s favourite, gallo pinto with scrambled egg and fried plantain. A good fruit course as well. We left on a days jungle hike, and on our return showered (also good). We had decided to walk to our friends house for an early evening barbecue. On the way out we stopped and chatted with the security guard. “ What sort of time go you think you might close the gates tonight?” “Oh probably around 10 pm”. Excellent we thought until we returned at 8:30 pm to a padlocked gate. We jumped up and down in front of the security camera, we phoned, we yelled, all to no avail. Luckily my wife who is smaller than I, decided that a storm gulley to the left of the gate, was of a sufficient size to crawl under on her belly, commando style. She crawled under in the dark, walked down the road and roused the security guard. Obviously he didn’t see her at first as she was camouflaged by the leaves and twigs covering her clothes! It’s 8:30pm. It’s not really what I would expect of any decent accommodation, never mind a hotel where we might have been the only guests. You think that they might have cared. Save your money. I’ll try to affix some pictures. Mor

We arrived late at night. Jose at the front desk took care of our taxi from SJO. He showed us to our room and made us feel very welcome. The room was clean and comfortable with an air conditioner and ceiling fan. The breakfast was absolutely delicious and really makes this lovely inn an incredible bargain. Our rental car was delivered the next day and we were able to complete all the paperwork in an upstairs lounge space. My son lost his wallet we discovered after we were many miles away at our rental house. Nahiel from Adventure Inn emailed us the next day telling us that it had been found and offering to mail it to us. The kind, helpful and professional staff at Adventure Inn make staying with them a very special experience.

I arrived in Costa Rica and this is where I spent my first two nights as I prepared for an extensive journey through the national parks. This hotel provided a fine room. The building is in the shape of an ”O”, with the pools and dining areas in the middle. There were many different types of birds flying around, the traffic noise was minimal inside the pool area, and I enjoyed relaxing in the pool area. Breakfast was excellent and available to all guests. Dinner was purchased in a smaller bar/dining area with an overhead view of the pool area. I ordered salmon, and it was surprisingly good! This is not a destination hotel, but it was just what I needed, as I got my international bearings. There is a tour desk, in which one may schedule a variety of tours and day trips of San Jose or areas around Costa Rica.

PROS: Very clean, air conditioned and modern for a good rate. Wifi and decent breakfast included. The stromanthe triostar plants in the lobby were very nice. CONS: Staff is miserable and takes no accountability for customer service. Stephanie literally lies to your face and tries to overcharge you. Examples: -”oh your safe is broken? just reset with code 123456.” nope. the safe code was set by a previous guest and left open so this didn't fix the problem. We had to take all our valuables on a 13 hour tour because of this - very inconvenient. -”oh, you need another towel because we only gave you 2 despite 3 people in the room? we'll send someone up right away”. no one ever shows. when you call back, if they ever pick up, they say the same thing. -”your shuttle from the airport is confirmed and the driver will have a sign with your name on it” nope; after a long trip we had no one to pick us up. The driver didn't have my booking (he had another name on the sign), so he called the hotel and they confirmed nothing had been booked for us. -”well there's no booking because you obviously have to book it in advance; how would we know you need a shuttle?”. Excuse me? Yes, in fact, I did book it in advance and showed them the email chain (7 emails) with her own confirmation 3 days earlier! -”ok so you found the driver, perfect”. No, not perfect as we've been searching in the sweltering heat, walking up and down through the crowds for 45 minutes with a small child after a long trip. An apology, not a dismissal would be more appropriate in this situation. After speaking to the driver and Stephanie (we are still in the heat outside the airport), Stephanie who confirmed the booking by email then blamed her colleague who in fact didn't book it, And, they still charged us $16 USD for it - which was like rubbing salt in the wound. -”it will be an additional $20 USD for the shuttle” - when they previous told me $16 USD (thankfully in writing) -”it will be $16 USD to have a child in the room” - when my confirmation clearly shows children stay free (thankfully in writing) -guests aren't ”allowed to use the stairs”; long wait for the elevator