Villa Lapas Jungle Village

Short overnight stay. If you want rest make sure your neighbors are not a family with children. The hotel changed my room asap and it was wonderful to hear the rain and night noises. This “ you can hear “ everuthing is an issue here. Personnel is lovely and caring!

1. We checked in & no power in our room. We dropped off our bags & drove back to the reception. They said it should be fixed w/in 20 min. They didn't say anything when we checked in. Ugh. 2. We asked where the Tarcoles River was & where we could see the Crocodiles. I did not ask for a tour but for the bridge to view the crocodiles. She stated go out, turn left, then turn right. That's all she told us so we assumed it was immediately after or at least right there. Of course, she did Not mention that we had to drive 2 Kilometers down a small road to get to the river. Then she also failed to mention she sent us to a Tour site rather than the area where it is free to view from the bridge. 3. We asked for a recommendation of a restaurant. We were told of a place 'several' minutes away just down the street & there would be signs. Well, turned out it was 20-25 min away & there were No signs anywhere. 4. We got back from a late dinner, about 9:45pm, the power was back on. We had to get up at 5am to leave for our flight so we were ready for bed. My girlfriend pulled the sheet & Bam!! 2 bugs dead on the bedsheet. One in the middle of the bed & the other about a foot away right next to a pillow. We packed up & going to ask for another room. NO One there. Reception Closed. We left the key & drove up 1.5 hrs to San Jose. I called them in the morning to complain & asked for a refund. She took my email to give to the manager. 3 days later, still nothing from them. DO NOT GO. PICTURES LIE

The main attraction for me is all the wildlife present at and around Villa Lapas. The trails could be maintained better, they are mainly now for tractor tours, but they still work well if you wear rubber knee boots. Nice staff, the pools look good, but I did not use them. The restaurant food does not seem to be very good. The rooms are comfortable with nice showers, in room safes, and good mattresses. It is very convenient to Carara National Park and the crocodile tours on the Tarcoles River.

The grounds of the hotel were beautiful and the staff was very friendly. The room was semi clean. Poor construction left lots of spaces for bugs to get in. Ants on the walls and spiders every day. The bed was very uncomfortable. Felt like we were sleeping on a box spring. No hot water at first, but after telling the front desk, they had it fixed in a couple of hours. The absolute worst thing was that there was extremely loud construction going on right outside our door which started at 6:30 every morning. They should have started later or not rented the rooms near where they were working. Bar area and dining area were nice. Food was ok. Drinks were cheap. Canopy tour was nice and we had a great time exploring by ourselves. The $20 charge per person was a bit much though for which turned out to be a five minute drive up the hill to where the hike started. The pool area was small, but nice, however the lounge chairs were dirty and very uncomfortable. The pool bar was never open during our stay.

Simultaneously one of the best and worst places I've ever stayed. Beautiful grounds, we sat in one of their 10+ small pools when we got in and watched macaws and toucans fly around, then saw an anteater and a ton of other great creatures at night. Our first night a baby woke us from the next room over, the rooms are nice enough, if a bit old, but sound just passes right through the walls and we barely slept. It's no one's fault, babies cry. We told them we like to go to bed early and sleep late because we're birders. We asked if it would be possible to move and they obliged... But then moved us next to the on site discotheque. Which is at least as loud as a baby screaming. I can't help but see it as a "screw you" from staff, but I swear on a stack of Bibles we were polite when we asked for our room change. Meals were fine, some local flavors, some us/UK standards at the buffet. The plumbing needs help. Our first room had a shower that shot red water in spurts and couldn't maintain heat. The second room's bathroom smells so powerfully of methane (fart smell) I can't even describe. In balance, a great hotel as long as you can sleep through anything or luck into better rooms than we got. As others have said the whole place is also a bit old.