Riu Guanacaste

Check In - Was seamless, took less than two minutes Hotel Grounds - We're beautiful! The hotel isn't located near much, but it is on a beautiful beach and the grounds are well kept. During the time we were there, there they were experiencing red tide so it wasn't the best to go in the water, but it was still pretty. Love the free paddle boarding and kayaking. The employees at the scuba shop are wonderful! In order to get a beach towel, you need a card which was a bit annoying. If you lost the card (or towel) it was $20 USD. Rooms - Pretty outdated, but they have everything you need and are spacious. The rooms are quite loud since the walls are thin, but it was fine. They restalk your drinks and water every two days. I read a lot of reviews about people saying the toilets didn't flush, but we didn't have any issues, you just need to hold down the flusher longer than normal. The bed and pillows were not that great, but they were fine in the end. We did however, have to leave our fan on in order to get power to charge our electronics. Food - Food was decent. Don't expect anything too fancy, but there was always something to eat that everyone liked. The pasta bar and ice cream we're our preferred choices by bar. The steak restaurant was also a favourite however, there are racoons that come out when you eat from the bushes. They don't bug you, but it is a bit scary since they can carry diseases. Entertainment - The onsite entertainment wasn't good. You will need to find ways to amuse yourself. There is one show per night and it isn't very good. One day it rained the entire day and we didn't have anything to do besides match movies in our rooms Excursions - We booked both our excursions through Nexus on-site and both were wonderful. We went ziplining and on a catamaran to see the sunset. They were both well worth it. Negotiate with whoever you buy it from since they have wiggle room in the price

We have been here several days now having come with TUI from the UK. Before we arrived I read the reviews and wondered what we had let ourselves in for. But I just wonder where these negative reviewers have been staying as it clearly isn’t here. So here I will try and cover a few of the negatives off if you are just about to head this way and are similarly concerned..... “Checking In was a nightmare, took 2 hours” We arrived, were handed a lovely cold cocktail and then our keys. Whole thing took approx 2 minutes. “The staff are rude” Rubbish. The staff are brilliant, funny, happy and helpful. Haven’t met a bad one yet. “The pool is noisy, too busy etc” Nonsense, yes some music plays whilst the Animation team do some fun and games but that’s it, the rest of the day it’s chilled and relaxed. Loads of sun beds, no need to put towels on, just turn up any time. “The bar staff are slow and don’t want to serve you” Absolute rubbish. They are fast, fun and often bring you another drink before you finish your first without asking. Sit around the pool and they will come to you delivering welcome cocktails. “The food is terrible” Once again, nonsense. Ok it’s not the Ritz but since when is an all inclusive cuisine 5 star? There are plenty of choices, it’s well cooked and even my vegetarian wife is enjoying the selection available. “The beach is black sand and rocky” Are these people blind? We bought beach shoes after reading this and that’s a waste of packing space. The beach is lovely, normal sand and no need for shoes at all. There are the usual beach sellers there but a simple no thank you gets a “Pura Vida” response (life is good). Do buy a coconut from the old chap with a blue barrow, he shapes it like an ice cream for you for 2 dollars! It’s not perfect (hence the 4 not 5 stars) but we are loving it here. The evenings are limited as there is only really one outside bar open and that’s where they have the shows. These are preceded by the kids show which are painful to the ears! The Animation team do a great job to try and create entertainment but I just wish there was a beach bar to chill out and chat to people in. We’ve stayed at a number of Riu’s and they all suffer this issue. The weather is epic (ignore the forecast) 30 plus degrees, glorious sunshine and so far just one rain shower for 20 minutes. I can only assume the negative posts are from rude people who treat the staff badly so get poor service (we’ve seen a few tourists doing this). Treat people how you want to be treated and you will get no problems. Have a great holiday and see you next week if you are heading here soon.

this was my first trip to Costa Rica which happened in Sept/18--their rainy season. fair to say the weather was extremely humid and enjoyable on the beach. the hotel Riu Guanacaste showed elements of being outdated but fair to say it was helpful there was a 24 hr snack bar available