Whatever you do please dont pay attention to the negative reviews. Many hotels, including this one, pride themselves in being as rural as possible. Think of all the construction that would have to take placxe to accomadate guests who need their hotel to be "bug free". Give me a break! Costa Rica is a place to come to to enjoy its beaches and rainforests. I'm proud of this area who has decided not to rebuild their hotels on these beaches. If you dont want to enjoy the natural beauty that Costa Rica has to offer than stay at a 5 star hotel, like Paradisus! Just be prepared to pay $600 a night to stay there!

I'll start by the positives which unfortunately aren't many. We were looking for a hotel to stay and from the outside this hotel seemed perfect. It had a guard which offered us some safety, it sat right on the beach (which is rare for Samara) and the Villas looked really cute. Due to the location, we expected to pay a little more but felt we were charged an outrageous rate for what we actually got. Now the negatives. ... At first glance the pool looks very inviting but on a closer look it was very very cloudy and dirty. Once we were brought to our Villa, I was extremely disappointed with how filthy it was. The bathroom is usually where I go first to check for cleanliness and it was awful - to the point that I told my family that they had to wear their sandals to take a shower! I tried cleaning up a bit and finally was so frustrated I went in search of a local market to buy Clorox and a scrub brush to at least clean the bathroom because I could not stand it. At some point, sanity set back in and I went to speak to the girl at the Reception area. I told her I was extremely unhappy and even showed her a towel I used to clean the bathroom that was needless to say very dirty. I was given a very dirty look and security was then called to my Villa. "Security" apparently was sent to investigate whether or not I was telling the truth. Security listened to me and agreed that for the price - we were indeed been shafted! He then called to maids to clean my room again. They lasted all of 5 min and left. I gave up on cleaning my room. Now the next part of our stay was nice as well..... apparently there must have been a sewer back up somewhere because we had a very nice young man going back and forth with a wheelbarrel in front of our villa (which was facing the ocean) carrying sewage. The smell was unbearable Yes, I am sure that at some point this Villa and this property had once been absolutely gorgeous but unfortunately both were under very serious neglect. Suffice it to say, we left very early the next morning after finding a beautiful hotel at Playa Carillo right up the coast.

The villas are right on the beach. The vary large pool is great if you have kids who would rather the pool than the ocean. The rooms are not luxury. The seating includes concrete slabs that double as extra beds (there mattrresses). The bedrooms are Motel 6 quality. The nice part is the tropical vegetation. There is also an open air restaurant and poolside bar. The food is good.

This area is being developed like everything else in Costa Rica. A stream exits down the beach carrying results of this excavation, so the sand isn't really white anymore.

There is a nice island if you can swim for an hour. This beach is small and very nice. Next to the beach are fish you can see if you bring some snorkeling gear.

I seems to me this resourt used to be very nice, but now is a little neglected. I will go back if the price is right because when I want a high rise hotel and room service I stay in Miami.

Rather than give my opinion of this hotel, I will just state the facts of our experience, and let you be the judge. This hotel is an attractively laid out collection of villas. The garden areas are well maintained, and the whole complex sits right on the beach, though not all of the rooms have an ocean view. Our villa had a living area with an L-shaped concrete bed (two "twins" ) topped with aged cushions, and a small table with four chairs. No TV, no phone, no sofa. The small kitchen area was in very rough shape. The wooden trim around the counter was detached. The drawers were broken at every seam, and practically fell apart when I tried to open them. The fridge did not fit into its allotted space, and so was sitting in the middle of the kitchen. The cabinet drawers were all hanging loosely from their hinges. In the bedroom, there was a queen bed and an old folding metal cot . There were side tables with two small lamps that had lampshades that were so filthy that I took them off and hid them in the closet. There were vertical blinds on all of the windows that didn't work--we did our best to open and close them manually every day. In the bathroom, the drawers were in the same shape as the ones in the kitchen. The shower was fine. Other misc. things: My husband was stung by a scorpion in the bathroom. The pool was cloudy. The beach was nice for walking, but the water is darkened by silty sand near the wave break--it improves a few yards out. The restaurant was very good, and reasonably priced. The staff offered to transfer us to a new room, but it wasn't really any better, so we stayed put. We ended up staying three of our planned nights because we had already paid for them, and there aren't that many choices in the area. The fourth night we transfered to a hotel on Playa Carillo right up the road. It is really too bad that the inside of these rooms have not been maintained, because the set up and location are nice. I bet some of the villas are in better shape, because I think some are privately owned. If you are looking for a place to stay in Samara, keep on looking! If you have already booked here, I hope you get a better room.