Riu Guanacaste

Even though it’s not the best time for travelling, it’s still a good time for planning your next trip. Here goes my tip. Costa Rica was on my bucket list for years and a dropped price at the end of November last year was a clear signal to try this destination. The flight was comfortable (no food though) and the cheerful young lady – a representative of Sunwing in Costa Rica with an interesting nick name “Charlie” made the trip from the airport to the Riu Guanacaste resort very enjoyable. The complex is big but well-designed and attractive with a lot of green. The hotel is a bit old and needs some upgrade, but rooms are spacious and comfortable. We got a room on the fifth floor with a view towards forest and the very first morning, I was lucky to see a black monkey jumping on the trees. What an amazing experience! After living in a very quiet part of the hotel for two days, my friend and I were interested in an ocean view, asked for it and couldn’t believe our dream came true on the fourth day of our stay, with no additional cost. Thank you, hotel management, for accommodating us. It was a fantastic gesture! Truly appreciated! Now, what we liked and what we didn’t like much… Food was tasty but being spoiled by Mexican and Jamaican huge choices of meals, we were slightly disappointed at the beginning. This completely changed ones we “discovered” A la Carte restaurants. We checked out all four and loved both the food and service. A few words about the beach and swimming. If you are looking for a calm water, this is probably not the right place for you. A bit windy weather was to blame for waves almost throughout the whole stay. Anyway, it depends on how good swimmer you are – my friend was swimming all the time while I was sometimes scared and didn’t go far. The beach is wide enough to offer comfort to many people. The sand is darker and not completely gentle but still very comfortable for walking, even a long distance (we walked every day and loved it). If you are full of energy and don’t want to spend your vacation on the beach/pool and restaurants only, you can enjoy plenty of activities in and out of the resort. Out of many exciting trips, such as ziplining across the rainforest canopy, exploring tropical rainforests, admiring waterfalls of Blue River and many others, my friend and I agreed on visiting Nicaragua and we made a great decision. Even though the trip was a bit long and tiring (15 hours), it was very informative and enjoyable. A big thank you belongs to our tour guide, a native from Nicaragua (I forgot his name but Charlie will tell you), who spoke about the history of the country so enthusiastically and knowledgeably that we didn’t want to miss a word. Since he knew many people on the border as well as along the way, all of our visits went extremely smoothly, and we were able to see a lot. We explored Granada, the oldest city in Nicaragua, admired various colonial buildings, looked into the Masaya active volcano crater, enjoyed a boat ride in the Lake Nicaragua with beautiful nature, and shopped at the Artisan market. Without exaggerating, it was an amazing trip, worth the money and time. Now, I can put a check mark on my bucket list beside Costa Rica but wouldn’t mind to put another one sometimes soon as I am planning to come back.

We came here 6 years ago and it was awesome. This time...not so much! We live in CR and have for many years but were treated pretty terribly. They set up a poolside bar. Costa Rican’s lined up without masks so we assumed it was like the swim up bar, no masks needed. So my husband stood in line like everyone else...everyone was served but my husband was sent away to get a mask but he was the only one. I went to the bar...two ladies in front of me (yes, Costa Rican), were leaning on the bar and face in the hole of the plastic opening to order drinks, when I went to order, I put my forearm against the edge of the counter and I was immediately told I wasn’t allowed to touch anything. We went to celebrate my daughters birthday, we asked them if they were able to get candles for us so we Could put it in a piece of dessert to sing to her, we were told because of Covid we couldn’t...but the table near us (yup you guessed it, Costa Rican), staff brought out a plate of brownies put together made to look like a cake with candles on top and sang. Hmmmmm......not to mention 5 of us staying in a family suite and everyday only giving us two towels and I had to call EVERY day we were there...the cleaners know how many people are in the room, what the heck!?!?! At check out I was asked how my stay was, I answered “some was ok and other stuff not so good.” He replied, “oh I understand, that happens.” Never asked what wasn’t good, etc... The Italian restaurant was great, the other food in buffet was ok but always the same. Some staff were great, but most were only great if they thought you were Costa Rican...which is sad because living here for as long as we have, we have always thought Costa Rican’s to be quite welcoming people so this was a MAJOR disappointment....I reccomend Costa Rica, just not this resort.