Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin & Adventure Center — Hotel in Curubandé

We flew into Liberia airport so Rincon de la Vieja looked like a nice place to start our Costa Rica trip and found Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin. ||I hired a private transfer online through costaricaprivatetransfer.com from Liberia was appx $70 and took just over an hour, on a side note I highly recommend this company we used them for four transfers whilst in Costa Rica ||We arrived approximately 6.30pm and were given a nice refreshing drink. Checkin was quick and efficient and we were taken by golf buggy to our room 51. This was the a superior room, with a beautiful view over the greenery. The outside area although a walkway to all of the rooms, each had two wooden seats with table and a hammock. ||Inside were two comfortable double beds, a wardrobe, coffee machine, fridge, and safe. Bathroom compromised of a toilet, sink and large shower area. ||The following morning we awoke at 5.30am to what sounded like a squeaky sliding door - turns out this is the mating call from the magnificent Montezuma oropendolla bird, which performs this stunning sound and somersault as part of its mating call. Waking to the sounds of nature was definitely my favourite part of our stay, birds, frogs, insects, monkeys and who knows what else - it really was special. ||The grounds of the hotel are beautiful, The size and colours of the trees, plants and flowers, the sounds and sights of the nature are truly magnificent. We also loved that many of the trees and plants have name plaques. As we didn't have a car, we had to eat at the hotel every day. Breakfast was buffet style and there was plenty of selection. Lunchtime we visited the bar and on one of the days my husband and daughter had a lunchtime buffet included in the full day Adventure Pass which they said was good. Evenings was ok, we were always able to find something but more A la Carte choices would have been nicer. There is an evening buffet but we are not big eaters so $35 per person was not worth it for us. ||There is a nice pool area, with hot tub, although my husband said the bubbles didn't appear to work.||Sadly we only had four nights here so bearly scratched the surface, especially as I became sick in the early hours of our second night which meant i spent 36 hours in bed. I believe this was due to a chicken sandwhich I had in the bar, however the hotel claim that no one else was ill so it must have been something which 'disagreed' with me, despite the fact it only takes one piece of chicken not cooked thoroughly. I've not been sick for ten years and have travelled extensively, and must say, I've never been as sick as I was here. I called the reception to ask for some water (as my husband and daughter were on the one day Adventure Pass experience), they put me through to the restaurant. I explained I was poorly and asked for some water to be bought to my room they asked if I wanted it charged to the room - I'd been made poorly by food I'd eaten at the hotel and was charged $6 49 for water. Front desk then offered to call a DR, however I had deoralyte, and ORS hydration tablets, and plain crisps and so I declined their offer as I was concerned about the cost of having a DR visit me, but said I'd see a Dr the following day if I was still being poorly. ||Upon checkout the hotel still provided me with a bill for the 'suspected' meal which made me poorly, with no offer to refund it, or the activities I missed on the adventure day pass due to being poorly, however I was so weak on our departure day we just paid and left. ||For me, this was the start of our once in a lifetime trip to Costa Rica which I'd been planning for over a year as a surprise for my Husbands 50th birthday. However becoming extremely sick ruined two of our family's four days which was extremely...

This place is amazing! I researched a lot of adventure passes because I was only in Guncaste area for 2 days. This adventure place was basically the highlight of my life! No kidding. I can't think of a single part of the day that I can say they need improvement in. Let me layout the day for us.

1. You arrive at 8:30 am and get ready for the Horse Ride. You wear your swimming gear or bring an extra pair of clothes for this portion. They don't encourage you bringing a backup but I was able to bring one with a extra change of clothes

2. You complete a beautiful horse ride going up and down the valley towards the water rafting section. We had an amazing English speaking guide with us that helped us all move along nicely. I never rode a horse in my life and I was fine.

3. You reach the Rafting area where you are fitted with a helmet and given a tube. All of the safety items are explained thoroughly which gave us a sense of safety as we had never done this before. We started the tubing down a water canyon which was considered Class 3 rafting. Fast rapids, which were super fun but never too dangerous that we felt unsafe. There are guides stationed along the way that help you if you get stuck or fall the tube, which will happen. This is was probably the highlight of the entire tour as we did for almost 1.5 hours!

4. After this you are met the end with another team that provide you towels and water that help relax and catch your breath. Once you are ready to move on, you are packed in a bus and taken back to the reception area that has a restaurant on the top floor with an amazing outdoor video. Around 11:30 or 12pm you will have lunch for an 1 hour and are asked to meet back at reception for the zip lining portion of the tour. Before I speak about the zip line, let me tell you the lunch was simply amazing! I was expecting a simple buffet but this was epic! About 20 different varieties of foods, with fruits, juice, and desert as well! The lunch buffet alone would cost 20-25usd anywhere else in Costa Rica.

5. After lunch it's zip-lining time! So I thought tubing was the best part, no this took the cake. We did about 7 zip-lines over water, between trees and over steep rocks. It was a super thrill to say the least. Part of the zip line part had you do a tarzan swing which was followed by rock climbing (optional) to get to the next platform for the next zip line. My wife opted not to do this which was probably a good idea because in the rain it was challenging and slippery to climb up. Most people will do it, but if you are having second thoughts you can skip this portion and just wait people to finish.

6. Last but not least we arrived back to reception where we were given the direction to the thermal hot springs which is a 6km drive. Once you arrive you show your wrist band you receive your towel and are allowed to go to change room. With your bathing suit on, you follow the signs to the hot springs (6 in total). Each pool had it's varying temperature which was a perfect end to an amazing action-packed day. Depending how long you spend at the hot-springs you should be wrapped up by 4:30-5:30pm. You should want to leave around then anyways as once it gets dark it's a dangerous ride back to where are you headed.

All in all, this was probably the best day of my life! I am cheap and I thought this tour was overpriced, but after the experience, I think they can easily charge double and it still would be the best bargain in Costa Rice. My hat's off to the staff at this resort for really taking care of your customers and always taking safety seriously. I will literally fly back to Costa Rica from Canada just to do this tour again! That's how strongly I...

We flew into Liberia airport so Rincon de la Vieja looked like a nice place to start our Costa Rica trip and found Hotel Hacienda Guachipelin.

I hired a private transfer online through costaricaprivatetransfer.com from Liberia was appx $70 and took just over an hour, on a side note I highly recommend this company we used them for four transfers whilst in Costa Rica

We arrived approximately 6.30pm and were given a nice refreshing drink. Checkin was quick and efficient and we were taken by golf buggy to our room 51. This was the a superior room, with a beautiful view over the greenery. The outside area although a walkway to all of the rooms, each had two wooden seats with table and a hammock.

Inside were two comfortable double beds, a wardrobe, coffee machine, fridge, and safe. Bathroom compromised of a toilet, sink and large shower area.

The following morning we awoke at 5.30am to what sounded like a squeaky sliding door - turns out this is the msying call from the magnificent Montezuma oropendolla bird, which performs this stunning sound and somersault as part of its making call. Waking to the sounds of nature was definitely my favourite part of our stay, birds, frogs, insects, monkeys and who knows what else - it really was special.

The grounds of the hotel are beautiful, The size and colours of the trees, plants and flowers, the sounds and sights of the nature are truly magnificent. We also loved that many of the trees and plants have name plaques. As we didn't have a car, we had to eat at the hotel every day. Breakfast was buffet style and there was plenty of selection. Lunchtime we visited the bar and on one of the days my husband and daughter had a lunchtime buffet included in the full day Adventure Pass which they said was good. Evenings was ok, we were always able to find something but more A la Carte choices would have been nicer. There is an evening buffet but we are not big eaters so $35 per person was not worth it for us.

Sadly we only had four nights here so bearly scratched the surface, especially as I became sick in the early hours of our second night which meant i spent 36 hours in bed. I believe this was due to a chicken sandwhich I had in the bar, however the hotel claim that no one else was ill so it must have been something which 'disagreed' with me, despite the fact it only takes one piece of chicken not cooked thoroughly. I've not been sick for ten years and have travelled extensively, and must say, I've never been as sick as I was here. I called the reception to ask for some water (as my husband and daughter were on the one day Adventure Pass experience), they put me through to the restaurant. I explained I was poorly and asked for some water to be bought to my room they asked if I wanted it charged to the room - I'd been made poorly by food I'd eaten at the hotel and was charged $6 49 for water. Front desk then offered to call a DR, however I had deoralyte, hydration tablets, and plain crisps and so I declined their offer as I was concerned about the cost of having a DR visit me, but said I'd see a Dr the following day if I was still being poorly.

Upon checkout the hotel still provided me with a bill for the 'suspected' meal which made me poorly, with no offer to refund it, or the activities I missed on the adventure day pass due to being poorly, however I was so weak on our departure day we just paid and left.

For me, this was the start of our once in a lifetime trip to Costa Rica which I'd been planning for over a year as a surprise for my Husbands 50th birthday. However becoming extremely sick ruined two of our family's four days which was extremely...