Tambor Tropical Beach Resort — Hotel in Cóbano

If you are on a budget and you do not want to go to the beach and look around for something to eat or amenities this is nice hotel to stay at, but there are a couple of things you need to know. The hotel infrastructure, which is dated because this is an old hotel, is very well maintained. The gardens are beautiful and most important of all the rooms are clean with no humidity odors as you could expect from an old hotel right next to the ocean. The food is decent, do not expect a great selection or high quality, but you will find something to eat. I had the pleasure of visiting this hotel since I was a kid and I can tell you every time I go food lowers in quality and selection but at least is not a bad experience. Again not the best not the worst but OK. Snack Bar: When it comes to the snack bar, please have very low expectations, snacks are basic and low quality. Beverages: Here is where the hotel becomes nightmare. All drinks are all served by hotel staff, yes including sodas, making this the worst thing of all, because if you just want a soda there is no self-serving fountain, you will have to get in line and wait until people in front of you that are ordering smoothies and alcoholic beverages get served. Also an important detail is that drinks are served in very small plastic cups so people usually order a very large amount of drinks to avoid making the queue often. To me this was one of the worst experiences specially because the first day when I arrived every time I wanted something to drink it will take me between 5 to 15 minutes to get a soda. The Pool: HOT and DISCUSTING. Yes the water of the pool is so so so so so hot that when you get into the water you get overwhelmed with heat, it was actually cooler to get out of pool than staying inside the pool. I have never experience such a feeling it was like jumping into a bowl of humans soup. During my 4 days at the hotel I got in the pool for less than 1 minute. The Beach: The hotel has plenty of chairs at the beach with tons of palm trees for shadows making it a very nice and relaxing experience. It is important that there are no beach waiters so if you want something to drink the nearest place will be the pool bar and if you want something to eat you will have to walk to the snack bar. The ocean produces a good amount and size of waves so it fun to play in the water, but the beach has too many stones so the sand is not really friendly to play with. Something else I notice is that the hotel provides a good amount of trashcans at the beach for proper waste disposal, the beach did had a fair amount of plastic trash here and there but that is not hotel issue is a human issue.

Overall overview: If you are on a budget this hotel is good option but if you can pay more or expect more from an all inclusive resort you will be disappointed. As I mentioned before the hotel is old but very well maintained, the staff is nice and friendly, the amenities are basic and pool a disaster but if you want to rest and not worry about anything go for it.

Recommendations: Bring your own tumbler, the larger the better. If you forget it, you can buy one at the hotel store but you will pay a premium price for a generic tumbler. If you do not want to over pay drive 10 minutes to Paquera, in the town center there is a Chinese market that sells the exact same tumblers for a fraction of the hotel price. I bought 3 larger tumblers, a pack of 12 reusable straws, an UNO game and soap and sponge to was the tumblers for less than the price of one tumbler at the hotel store. Also something that I will do if I ever return to this hotel, I will bring a cooler, because the hotel provides bottle drinks at no extra cost, so you can fill your cooler with ice, there are ice machines near the room buildings, and take those drinks to the beach and that will save you going to...

We travel to CR every year and we always pick a new spot to explore . So far we have been really lucky in picking Great places and Tambor Tropical was no different. We always rent a car and when we drove in from a 3.5 hour drive having left the Alajuela region I was a bit apprehensive , where were all the people? This place was still unspoiled and What we soon learned was the cute, relaxing unique cabins were cozy and comfortable and I was glad we had the resort to ourselves It was if you had stepped into a movie set on a vast beach in a protected Bay and totally un commercialized .....yet. The Pool/Bar Hut was frequented by locals and tour guides and the kitchen served some of the best food anywhere and at a more than reasonable price. We could leisurely walk down to Breakfast , lunch and dinner and we did just that most of the 7 nights we were there. We walked the Beach everyday and there were never more than a dozen people . I am a sheller from NC in the USA and couldn't wait to go out and see what treasures I might find each morning. The staff were always attentive and helpful although they mostly spoke Spanish and french but that was never too much a problem for us mostly english speaking Americans. There were a couple of restaurants within a short walk and Market with anything you might need from toiletries to food to alcohol. We drove to Montezuma a quaint beach town with lots of shops and eating places only 30 minutes away a couple of times . The ferry to Puntarenas is also only 30 mins away and there's lots of things to do , waterfalls, Bioluminescence, 4 wheeling, Island of Tortuga is just a 40 min boat ride. We enjoyed just relaxing so much we have to come back to experience more. I can't wait to plan my next adventure and include...

Firstly I would like to say our room was lovely, with the exception that the wooden slats windows blinds had a tendency to fall apart when you tried to use them. The pool area and gardens were nicely maintained and provided a pleasant place to catch the sun.|Unfortunately that’s were the good points stopped during our visit they decided to re-roof the bar (Appreciate that maintenance has to be carried out) but to be woken before 07:00 to the noise of electric saws, hammers, drills etc and between 5 and 7 workers was definitely not what we expected.|It would have been appreciated if we had been informed before hand and given the opportunity to cancel our booking or some form of compensation offered.|The work on the roof totally ruined our stay as it started very early and continued throughout the day. As the bar is located next to the pool the work also prevented any enjoyment of that facility.|Work started on our first full day and was probably 50% finished when we left 3 days later.|Service was absolutely non existent we had to constantly hunt for the waitress, the chance of a smile from the staff was less than a chance of getting served.|The same problem was evident for breakfast (hunt the waitress) fruit toast and cereals were included in the room rate, but an omelette or any thing else you had to pay for.|Some things not connected to the hotel but relevant, the bar up the road is extremely loud on the weekend with music blaring until around 03:00 (good luck trying to get any sleep) The beach itself is not vey pleasant and again very noisy at certain times.|It was also quite alarming to see family’s wandering in from the public beach to use the rest rooms...