My husband, cousin, and I stayed the nights of March 7th & 8th while on a Caravan tour. We all loved this property, we enjoyed the feeling of isolation. The 90 minute boat ride to get their was a hoot and we saw plenty of wild life to include monkeys coming down from the trees for a drink.

The day of arrival we pretty much just checked-in and got situated. The next day we had (2) scheduled boat rides to view wild life and a stop in town. While on the boat tours we saw a J.C. lizard actually walking on water, an iguana swimming across the river, Caimans, many monkeys, and too many types of birds to name. Our second guide Ricky by far was the best and truly loves his job. He rescued my cousins lens cover that she accidentaly dropped in the shallows next to the Caimans!

Town surprisingly had some great little shops & was great for taking pictures. We found the local people to be friendly.

Our room was clean and comfortable, the bathroom was spotless. It was great to shower and listen to all of the birds and to look out the screened area to the jungle. The pool was lovely, not many lounge chairs available, but the pool is a zero entry so you can lay in the shallow end to catch your rays, it was really to hot to lay out in the sun.

Yes, it is basically like an adult summer camp, but pleased me immensley! How can you go wrong in that setting? Be sure to take a flash light, alarm clock, and binoculars.

The boat trip to Tortuguero reminded us of Bogart in the African Queen,, especially when you have to get out of the boat and push off of a sand bar when it was raining. This was the adventure I had dreamed of. The Lodge is like an oasis on the canal and the ocean on the other side was the best surprise of all! This is a very cool place, staff was great, some of us went ziplining while others had manicures on the tile deck in front of our room. The birds were amazing! The early morning boat tour is so worth the trip. The architecture of the main bldg is art nouveau and just great to look at.

We stayed at the Lodge several days and had both good and bad experiences.

On the good side,(1) the tours of the canals provided views of a fair amount of wildlife, (2) you can walk to the village of Tortuguero from the Lodge using a path and the 30 minute hike rewards you with nice beaches and a pleasant stroll around town and to the entrance of the park at the end of town, (3) the grounds were pleasant and the cottage rooms were sparse but utilitarian and served the purpose.

However, the service was poor, as one might expect with a "pack as many tourists in as possible regimented program".
(1) Our boat (usually stuffed) broke down on two occasions. (2)The room was very noisy with staff walking by making loud noises at all hours of the night and the room next door being used for luggage storage. (3) The safe never worked despite several requests to the management so we had to carry our valuables along with us everywhere. (4) The dining room with assigned seating was pleasant, but the food was very repetitious and not particularly good. Four of our group of about 20 became ill during their stay but the exact cause was unknown.(5) Soft drinks and extras were not marked in price and the price charged upon checkout was ridiculously high (nearly $3 each soda). (6) The guides tried hard and did a fair job but in no way matched the quality of some of the professional guides we heard talking along the way. It is a shame to come so far and miss so many things because the guides are not well trained. (7) Guests had to transfer their own luggage and the luggage of not so able fellow guests onto and off the boat to and from the Lodge while able bodied employees and possible porters watched, (8) One of the most irritating aspects came at the check out time when, instead of being charged in dollars as promised, the dollar rate was converted into Colones at an exhorbitant rate that was in the Lodge's favor and the guest ended up paying a lot more than was originally quoted plus had to pay a conversion fee of up to 3% depending on the credit card company used. Other hotels and attractions we visited during our stay charged and billed us in dollars with no conversion fees and explained that the billing process was entirely a choice of the establishment.
There are a good many other Lodges in the area and, from the reports we heard, guests were far better treated. When we brought some of these concerns up with the management we were brushed off with the comment "nobody else complained".

My husband and I, who almost always travel independently, booked the two night, three day tour through Laguna Lodge. As we had expected, the room was very simple, but clean and the food, served buffet style, was ample and edible. The dining room was at the edge of the river, affording very pleasant views. Laguna Lodge is situated on a narrow strip of land between the river (or is it a lagoon?) and the ocean, neither of which is swimmable. The pool, however, is delightful.

Our guide, Carlos Mora, was really super; a friendly, knowledgeable biologist, he clearly loved to teach. We saw fascinating wild life as we glided through the atmospheric waterways, surrounded by palms and other lush tropical plants.

Elsa from Long Island.