Hotel Casa Turire — Hotel in La Suiza

The hotel and grounds are fabulous looking, and although the building is in need of some updating/ decorating its actually the rest of the experience that lets it down.||We arrived slightly before 2pm and were asked to wait till our room was ready, but we could unload the luggage as the car park is a slight way off. We were eventually given the key and told how to find the room. I had to ask for a hand with all the luggage as it was up two floors.||We started to unpack but couldn't find lots of things - we found the head of housekeeping checking rooms on the floor below and she was able to answer a lot of our questions. Given we'd booked a suite it would have been very helpful for someone to show us to the room, offer to deliver our bags and show us the "hidden" wardrobe and safe, as well as the laundry basket - and to include a laundry price list. All of which we had to hunt out. ||Again the small things - we had a coffee machine in the room, but only 4 pods; I asked for a couple more as we were staying 3 nights and was told we could buy them at $5 for 4. ||The room itself was fine - classed as a suite I guess because it had a massive bathroom with jacuzzi bath, the room just had one comfy chair and a single bed made up as sofa, but by the window so not really where one would choose to sit. The soft furnishings were a little dated but overall it looked OK. The balcony had great views over the lake and unlike others we had no noise from the kitchens below. Oh, the included dressing gowns were rather tatty.||There's nothing close by, and the roads are too potholed to drive easily in the dark so it has to be the hotel restaurant for dinner. Every room is allocated a table although we managed to move ours for dinner so we didn't sit in the route from the kitchen. There are 2 tables outside for breakfast and lunch but you need to ask the day before to get them! It is much nicer to eat breakfast outside than in the dark restaurant. The menu is the same for both lunch and dinner all the time. The only "special" for the 3 days we stayed was salmon - which suggested it was a special until it was used up. One night we even had nearly cold food and had to send it back. Oh and this hotel had the most expensive drinks of our entire stay in Costa Rica, surprising.||There are a number of excursions the hotel offers, but there' s no hard sell - in fact you've got to ask to look at the brochure! Also such a shame being on the lake that there's no kayaks/ canoes or boat trips offered from the hotel. ||The grounds are lovely and the birdlife is amazing, we saw a couple having an early morning guided birding walk - it would have been interesting but we were trying to get away from early starts! We did explore a lot on our own. ||It cries out to offer a nightly package with dinner and some activities included - plus a staff makeover to ensure they are customer focused. ||I believe I read it was Swiss owned, but I assume that's no longer the case. Whilst I am ashamed my Spanish is very poor, many of the staff had poor English, yet the majority of the guests were English speakers...

Very surprised at the offerings, location, room, and so on. Very lovely place. It was not very crowded when we were there (and only 16 rooms I think) if totally booked. We were placed on the top floor (floor three 🤣) and had gorgeous suites: had a full mini fridge (ok ours was missing but our sons room had his- know we could have asked for it and gotten it), a little snack "bar" priced fairly for a resort/hotel, air conditioning (doors and windows were even open when we arrived so we could hear the birds and the room was still cool!!!), nice sized balcony with nice nice chairs and little side table, bug-repellent plug in if needed(never did), great view, small restaurant that served Three meals with complimentary made to order breakfast (and had table set ready specifically for us) right off the outdoor pool(yes and hot tub with bathrooms and changing rooms and fresh towels)! There were even tables to eat outside. They would serve poolside also. It appeared that dinners might even be set up outdoors but we did not get the pleasure of being there for dinners. All in all a wonderful place to unwind in the middle of tropical colonial Costa Rican rural area. Oh, and sits right off a beautiful lake that the property runs along. It has a nice there and back path which seems to end at a waterfall: however, the path was overgrown and we didn't have good pants or solid shoes to try to venture "into the wilds". Horse riding also along with a spa. Can't speak to either of those, but wish we had more time to know! Would absolutely 100% stay again. It was everything a large resort has packed into a smaller, more private, quaint, well-kept, serene stay. Remember your are not in the States and appreciate the beauty of the culture and the ambiance that comes with the age of this facility. If yo wantg a 5-star stay to be pampered and have every amenity and everything prestine and "perfect" find a place that is cookie cutter so you will know what you're getting. To us, we loved the character and feel; the aged feeling some list as a con we felt lent more the historic vibe. Not the Ritz or Waldor, but for sure not a one or two or budget motel. Appreciate the essence of the place and take it...

Elegant, unique hotel with so many lovely features, it’s hard to know where to start! The staff - Monica at the front desk was so warm and friendly, and gave us each a cool towel while we checked in, which was much needed after the drive on route 225 from San José.

Rafael the restaurant bartender and server taught us Spanish for each food item and also how to say Buen Provecho (Bon Apetite) and Listos (we’re done!). And - he knows how to make Sangria and a delicious gin&tonic to perfection.

They have happy hour 2/1. We brought our drinks out onto the veranda and listened to the rain and the birds.

The restaurant is gorgeous, and the food delicious. We had prime rib that was outstanding, and their veg are well prepared. The rice and beans are very good. The traditional Breakfast is also good. I didn’t care for the yogurt - standard strawberry and sweet - I would’ve preferred plain with my granola, but that’s me. The fruit and juices were fresh, as were the eggs.

The rooms are spacious and airy without feeling sterile, each with its own balcony. We sat out on ours with coffees and later with brandy and enjoyed watching the parade of birds and butterflies. The bathroom is lovely in appearance, and very clean. You have to let the water run for about 3 min to get hot water, and there’s low water pressure, but hey - this property isn’t in a metropolitan area - it’s rural by a lake/lagoon so that’s what you can expect.

We loved the pool area, and we also got massages from a woman who did an amazing job! We walked along the lagoon and saw hawks, tanengers and white heron. There is a farm down the road and I warn you - bring earplugs! Although this property is absolutely worth the visit, you might be awakened every hour by a rooster! Starting at 3am!

Hotel Casa Turire is a modern take on an historic, classic style with high ceilings, tiled floors and cozy outdoor spaces. Not...