We had a fantastic time! We would highly recommend Barcelo Playa Tambor, especially for kids. Our son had a great time. We were pleased with the 3 half-day tours we did through the hotel. 1) boat ride to Montezuma and hike to waterfall 2) visit to curu 3) boat ride to isla tortuga (snorkling from boat). Visit to curu was favorite due to amount of monkeys we saw followed by isla tortuga. Montezuma is a "hippy" town ie lots of drug use so given that I am a social worker I found this place very sad. But we saw dolphins in the ocean which was great. The waterfall was, well, kind of like the other waterfalls we have hiked to on other trips!! My son also enjoyed feeding the crocodile on their night hike and horseback riding.
Hotel Los Lagos was also overall fine. The setting, again, especially for kids was great. The food was also very, very good. The room was acceptable and most of the employees were professional.
Thanks for your help. We will be recommending you to our friends.
Catherine Castillo
Vivian,
I wanted to thank you again for arranging our trip to Tambor, Costa Rica. It was by far one of the best vacations I have been on. From the accomodations, to the service and of course the fabulous weather, I couldn't imagine it being any better! We had a fantastic time!
The hotel was clean and well maintained with a beautiful landscape. The buffet had good meals that we were accustomed to but the al la carte was geared towards "fine dining" with more exquisite tastes. In my opinion the lobster was the best dish served there. At the buffet we found it neat to be eating outside without any walls and had birds flying in under the roof. The beer was on tap and after one day we were into the liquor, for which I beleive we tried every brand they had. I opted to pay for some imported beer as the week went on and it was a well deserved treat!
We went on as many excursions as possible but obviously could not do them all in the amount of time we were there. It was sooo hot that Brian and myself could only golf once during our visit and after 18 holes had to lay down in our hotel room with the a/c cranked as we were both unable to move from heat exhaustion. Bonnie and Carla went horseback riding that day and both burned themselves severly. Apparantly Bonnie's horse took off on her when it reached the beach away from the group but thankfully she was able to stop it before we had a scrambled baby on ours hands.
Besides the girls going horseback riding, surprisingly, we used only one excursion through the hotel and that was the crocodile feeding at night which was on the premises. Along with seeing the crocs we seen an armadillo as well by which the guide explained doesn't happen very often.
I met a local on the beach who had a boat and was willing to take us on the same excursions that our hotel provided but at a cheaper price. I immediatley took advantage and asked him to take us right away and thus our excursions commenced. His name was Hansel and he spoke a little english, enough to get by and his job was to sell the excursions. We then later met the guides, ( Alex & George ) who knew the terrain like the backs of their hands but spoke hardly any english. Hansel came with us during our first excursion to Monetezumu waterfalls and made all the interpetations for me that was needed. I tipped them and from then on Hansel made sure he was with us on every one after that. We asked him what his job was and he said that he never went on any tours and that he always stayed on the beach. We felt privilaged and from then on he claimed we were special to him and that he really liked us. Alot of the excursions were 4 or 6 hours but we extended them well beyond that and they did not mind and enjoyed our company.
Alex prepared a gourmet bbq that consisted of fish called Maui-Maui, chopped peppers, potatoes and coconuts for desert on the Island of Tortuga where we snorkelled around a reef just off the island. This is where I suffered a pretty good cut on my ankle but didn't realize it until Carla mentioned it to me when I was back on the boat. I imagine it could of been much worse leaving a trail of blood behind me as I kicked my flippers, must of looked like a big meal to a great white. Thankfully there was none around.
We visited the town of Montezumu twice since we liked it so much and on one of the later days we did the canopy tour and went on the zip lines. There were very intimidating at first but after speeding down the first zip line we seemed much more confortable on the second one. Brian went first as I found out he is the type of person that is willing to try anything once and also has a need for speed and pioneering the unknown.
We also visited Curu National Park where we seen all kinds of different animals including white faced monkeys, iguanas and a 12ft snake that scared me almost breathless.
On behalf of all of us we thank you so much for putting this trip together for us Vivian. We had a fantastic time from beginning to end and could not have been more pleased. We would recommend Barcelo Playa Tambor to anyone who wishes to have a vacation there!
Sincerely, Mitch
Vivian
We had a wonderful time. I think the beach rates as one of the best I've ever seen. The rooms were fine, the design of the resort well done, the food good, the music at the pool too loud, the staff wonderful and my daughter loved the evening shows! The resort was full of Costa Ricans for Easter Week, which was great, because we got a lot of Spanish immersion. Thanks for all your help. We will definitely go back to Costa Rica.
Joan Lamb
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