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Our Choice Beachfront Hotel in Tamarindo, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica


Have you visited Tamarindo? If so, where did you stay?

Mention @JustWanderMaya and hashtag your photo with #JustWanderWithUs


We say "Goodbye!" Left on Saturday but didn't get home until Sunday. Although we checked out 3 different accommodations (... Best Western Tamarindo Vista Villas and Villa Amarilla Beachfront Hotel ...) in Tamarindo, this beachfront stay was the best - La Palapa Hotel (Tamarindo, Costa Rica). I'll miss:

  • morning breakfast of fresh sweet plantains.
  • mid-day fresh coconut from vendors walking by
  • surf steps away from our room
  • $30/hr oceanview massages
  • swinging on the hammocks

Drone Footage: Goodbye Tamarindo


Coastal, Oceanview Tamarindo Accommodations: Hotel La Palapa

The Room

What a beautiful and ornate door handle. You use your key from both the inside and outside to lock the door.

Perfect arrangement and a lot roomier than all the other hotels we stayed while in Costa Rica. A king sized bed upstairs and twin mattress for the sofa couch giving some separate living quarters, when/if needed.

Outlet for lamp and console table is perfect for recharging any electronics.

The property during our stay had some plumbing issues with giving guests hot water... so, we took mostly cool showers during our days here. Management was made aware and they did follow up with the issue.

Something to get used to in Costa Rica... you cannot flush your toilet paper! There will always be a "poopy trash can / waste basket" for this. The pipes used in Costa Rican plumbing are too small to allow for any paper, or they will instantly clog.

They provided 4 wooden hangers, extra cozy blanket and a safe upstairs. With their rails, it was a perfect area to dry damp items after a fun water activity. I packed extra hangers which helped, as well. Both a the ceiling fan and a/c helped dry our damp clothing, too.

Comfort

(Arrival) Rolando was very helpful throughout our entire stay... He was helpful in confirming our reservation last minute and was patient for us to get cash out of the ATM to pay for portions of our stay... sometimes opening/closing the parking gate... to offering advice about food about town.

(Extras) Every morning we had out coffee. Housekeeping always left a new bag of fresh ground coffee. Glasses were great for the mango juice we bought at the local grocery store. We went to a local supermarket - Mega Super off Rte155 - to also buy extras like: sugar, creamer, shampoo & conditioner, chips, etc. as we were staying for a few weeks. Thank goodness, our room also had a fridge to keep our drinks or left over ceviche cold.

(The Courtyard)

In non-peak season, there sure was plenty of space to lounge around... choice of hammocks to lounge chairs offering ocean views.

All types of vendors walk by... from those offering horseback-riding on the beach, fresh coconut, jewelry, hand-rolled cigars and the rest. Simply, say "No gracias!" But I rarely said no to fresh coconut...! 30 minutes later, the vendor would be on their return trip and would split the coconut in half for me so I can eat the coconut meat, too!

1 hour Massages offered to the right, under the blue tarp... only $30/1hr. Was so heavenly to arrange a massage after a good surf!

We had our daily battles of backgammon with the best views!

(Noise Level) With great neighbors, being a good distance from the restaurant, and having the a/c plus fan turned on... a light sleeper like myself was able to get a great night's Zzzzz's.

(Compliments) The entire staff... hotel or restaurant alike... were all very friendly. And the hotel property was always being raked and cleaned.

WiFi

Somehow we were able to watch Netflix movies on most occasions and intermittently stream the Stanley Cup Series as it was getting close to the finals.

Parking & Security

You're given a key to the gate for parking. Great for when you had to wake up extra early for an adventure out of town (i.e. Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin's Adventure Tours).

Vary narrow so be sure if you have a car rental, you get a small one. Got to say our Toyota Rush SUV from Green Motion Car and Van Rental had great on gas and got us around from Tamarindo to Samara.

We had left our 2 longboards, rented from Eric of Salty Sols Surf School,  wedged to the lefthand side of the porch for our entire stay and the staff said it was perfectly safe there. And it was!

Rooms for Improvement

We had a wonderful porch. The only thing that would make this outdoor seating area perfect would be a fan. We visited during rainy season so, there were a lot of flying ants and what I suspect... normal number of visits from mosquitos hovering here. The property did exterminate and spray occasionally though during our stay. Happy to say, these critters didn't get inside our room. Bill did sweep them up though although housekeeping would have swept up, as well.

On-Site Restaurant

Our reservation included complimentary breakfast. I usually ordered fried, sweet plantains for ¢1,000 CRC (about $1.70 US). It was delicious!!!

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