Hotel Puerto Viejo — Hotel in Cahuita

A group of 4 friends attempted to stay here but there were multiple problems with the management. A private room was requested with 4 bunk beds. We were attempting to have a normal conversation within the privacy of our room at 10pm but had multiple complaints about noise. The walls are basically open with nothing but screens covering them so there is no sound barrier at all. Once we left the room we asked the bartender where we could get some ice and he told us there is some ice in the freezer. We took it out and used some for our drinks. A few minutes later another employee got angry with us claiming it was his ice and he didn’t want us to use it. We were so confused! But the worst thing that could happen is that one member of our group left the room to go out and somehow closed the latch and the rest of us were trapped inside the room unable to open the door. This is a major safety concern because the doors can be latched from the outside and if you are inside while it’s latched it’s impossible to get out. We had to call reception to ask them to let us out of the room. We decided it really wasn’t safe to stay in a place like that and we demanded our money back but the management refused to understand the issue. None of them spoke English clearly enough to understand. Thankfully a friend was able to translate and explained to them in Spanish the severity of the problem about being locked into the room. Despite being made aware of this issue the management didn’t seem to care they said it was our problem that someone locked us into the room but in fact the problem is in the way that the locks and door closures are designed it’s not possible for one person to close the door from the outside without locking the other people inside. Beware with this hotel the management doesn’t seem to care...

I'll definitely come back!

Hotel Puerto Viejo is actually a hostel / bar / Restaurant. It is a big place with many rooms (private and dorm) and always alive with young people from all over the world. Mostly backpackers and long term travellers.

The rooms are wooden cabins with (each one with a padlock even the dorms). Simple but clean with comfortable beds. One thing though - if you are a person who needs a good night of sleep, make sure you get one of the cabins upstairs or further in the back since it might get loud when peaple are hanging out playing guitar or just having a good time. There are no quiet hours here.

There is a bar and restaurant as well with a constantly changing menu of nice vegetarian / vegan dishes all cooked with fresh ingredients. The bar offers nice cocktails as well. The only drawback why it doesn't get 5 stars is that the shared kitchen is quite small and not so well equipped for being such a big hostel.

I've had a great time here, met a lot of cool people and will and will definitely stay here again whenever I come back to...

This is NOT a hotel. It’s a hostel. They don’t provide anything but sheets. I accidentally locked friends into their rooms and they accidentally locked us in as well because you lock doors from the outside when you leave with a deadbolt but can make the mistake of thinking you closed the door by sliding the bar over into the hole and anyone inside is locked in. We had to scream for someone to let us out. It was terrible. The rooms are minimal with just the beds and a sheet and pillow. I heard he owner talking about how he wants to update the common area which is the only good thing about the place. It feels like a frat house. They played a movie on a projector which was cool but the couches are pretty dirty. Apparently they have yoga classes but not when I was there which was about 5 days. I couldn’t tell who worked there either because there was always a ton of people at reception but no one paying attention. Then there’s night staff but they blare music ALL night so make sure your room isn’t near the front...