Kura Boutique Hotel — Hotel in Bahía Ballena

When we read the reviews of Kura prior to booking our stay we both said there is no way it’s THAT nice. We were wrong. We were pleasantly surprised with the little details that Kura has thought of. Like someone waiting with warm towels and a drink every time you pull up to the entrance after a day of exploring. Twice a day housekeeping with an awesome turn down service. A concierge team that makes you feel like you’re the ONLY guest in the hotel. Calling us both by our first names with every interaction made us feel like family/friends with the staff. ||The staff was the friendliest we’ve encountered at any hotel anywhere. They provided an iPad upon check in that was our method of communicating with everyone, looking at menus, making dinner reservations or anything else you need. The star of the show is the view. Words cannot describe the sight, sounds and smells you experience staying on top of a mountain in a rainforest overlooking the ocean. ||Privacy is obviously a priority and most rooms only have 3 walls with the ocean facing wall open or has a sliding glass door. It was great taking showers in the open air! The architecture was amazing and the food is 5 star. You won’t want to do or eat anything off the property because it’s all so good. But if you do they will take care of setting up anything you want with great care. One of our tour guides that works regularly with Kura said they really look after “their people”. When we left for our morning excursions our room was made up and cleaned to perfection. We both had the same thing every morning for breakfast because what we chose was so good and we looked forward to it every morning. My girlfriend is a vegetarian so they happily removed the bacon from her breakfast burrito. The only negative was the limited vegetarian selections for dinner. One of which (Spinach Ravioli) wasn't available every night we were there. ||When we went for dinner, housekeeping would come in again and make up the room, put on some mood lighting, light candles, leave little gifts, draw the curtains, etc. It seems like we were constantly saying “wow” during our 4 night stay. The pool area seems to be made for Instagram photos. There isn’t a better place to spend time. We ate at the restaurant, in a pool lounger, room service, it was all perfect and handled with great attention to detail. Everyone mentions the drive up the mountain. And it’s no joke. ||You can NOT get there with a normal car. Only a 4x4 will do and it’s not for the feint of heart. But that part is only about 10 minutes of the drive. But honestly that almost adds to the coolness of the property. Like when you get there it wasn’t easy and you felt like you just climbed Mount Everest and now you get to enjoy the spoils of your effort. We know that anyplace we stay after this is going to have to be pretty extreme to impress us more...

I’m really not sure how this place has 5 stars. I wanted to love this place but I just can’t. The views itself deserve 10 stars but I think people are starstruck by the views because the service and food is very subpar. Maybe it was an off week but I would never visit again as the service to far mismatched with price.

The good: the views and rooms are incredible. The grounds are beautiful. our driver was so friendly. Our massages are great although the language barrier was rough, which is okay. They do a complimentary transfer to the beach which was nice although I felt they did not want to tell us about this as I had to explicitly ask how it works. Not sure if it was because the hotel wasn’t full but I noticed our last day the hotel was packed and they had high and low tide on the board by the front desk. They did give a survey at the end which I thought was good but who knows if it ever went anywhere, no one contacted me about it!

The bad: food, service and amenities. The place seemed a little unorganized. the food is subpar and very inconsistent. The menu has some good items but what was good one day was inedible the next. A lot of items lacked flavor. This occurred with many dishes at breakfast lunch and dinner. For the high food prices in addition to the steep nightly cost I find this unacceptable. One day I loved the pancakes, the next they brought them missing the bananas (they ran out and the pancakes literally only had a few items) and they were disgusting. This also happened with many other items that one day tasted great and the next they were inedible. Given such a small menu and no restaurants unless you pay for a transfer to town, they seemed to be out of a lot of ingredients all the time. They never even had the ingredients for the ravioli. I asked every day and they kept telling me they would have it the next day - never happened. Water was never filled and often times they forgot requests for items, we had to go to the bar to get service quite often unless seated for a meal because employees were talking and never paying attention. I get things happen but literally no one was at the hotel except us and another couple. I honestly receive better service on a cruise ship. Several turn downs were missed and one day they forgot towels, which is fine but it took forever to get them delivered (there was only one other set of guests there?). I felt like they didn’t do any activities or open parts of the hotel (the top deck or turn on the fire pit at night) maybe because the hotel was almost empty but I paid the same price as everyone else. Our last day they had a sign up with beach transfer times and daily activities. The other couple felt similar to us and while the location is amazing, it isn’t worth the price for...

Kura Boutique Hotel is hands down one of the most special places we’ve ever stayed. While it’s a little bit of an adventure to get to - puddle jumper from San Jose to Quepos and then an hour ride in a Kura 4x4 (which you absolutely need for the last 15 minutes of the journey) - it all makes sense when you see how unique it is upon arrival. It is completely immersed in nature but surrounded by comfort and thoughtful design and with only 8 rooms the attention to detail and service are unmatched by any place in our 25+ years of extensive travel.||We stayed in the Master Suite and it’s absolutely stunning. The architecture is modern and open, with views that stretch out over the jungle and ocean. The shower is huge—technically for two, but honestly big enough for six—and has different light themes that change the vibe depending on your mood. It is very private, which comes in handy since you will want to shower with the sliding doors to the outside wide open and not feel like you are putting on a show 😏.||The grounds are beautifully kept but still feel wild and alive. The view of the Whale Tail is unreal—it looks like something out of a movie. The rains come and go and sun (even with cloud cover) will bite you if not careful (we are both lobsters after first day of thinking the UV rays were too low to do damage). There’s wildlife everywhere in the best way. We saw basilisks running around, toucans calling out in the mornings, coati mundi looking for food in the trees, and bright green dart frogs hopping along walkways and even on our patio. It felt like we were in a nature show - almost scripted at times.||The food blew us away. Every meal was honestly 11 out of 10. We especially loved the mahi mahi, the ribeye, the ribs, and the sweet potato with cashews. For breakfast, the croissant sandwich and the typical Costa Rican dish were our favorites. All of the fruits and juices were so fresh and the cocktails were mixology level.||Service was top notch from start to finish. Concierge’s Mauren and Emanuel at the front desk were so helpful and made everything smooth and easy. The bartenders and servers—Chino, Alonso, and Noel—were some of the best we’ve ever met. Super knowledgeable, kind, professional, and they just really get what hospitality is all about. We did a couples massage, which we timed perfectly with 2 hours of heavy rainfall, and our therapists Lady and Rocio were wonderful. ||Kura isn’t just a beautiful place to stay—it’s an experience that sticks with you. We’re already trying to figure out when we...