Parador Resort & Spa Manuel Antonio — Hotel in Quepos

Parador was the perfect place to stay for our first time in Costa Rica. I was impressed with everything they had. This was the perfect destination for a relaxing and stress-free stay. All the staff were friendly and welcoming. They seemed organized. We did a pre-check-in process before we arrived at the resort, which saved quite a bit of time. Once we arrived, the check-in process was quick. We dropped our bags off at the front, and parked our car. Once we entered the resort, we were offered cupcakes because of Valentine's Day and ice cold lychee fruit drinks. I really appreciated the ice cold drinks because it was so hot and humid when we arrived in the late afternoon/early evening. After the check-in process, the staff member drove us with our bags on a golf cart to our hotel room.

We decided to rent a car and drive from the San Jose airport to the resort so that was a bit of a long drive. But it was nice to see the local towns and to get to know more of Costa Rica. It was convenient the hotel was able to set up the Covid rapid tests for us by having an agent from hospital metropolitano come to the resort to take our tests ($70 each person).

I loved that the resort is in the middle of the jungle. That does make the resort located on the very top of the mountain so it is a steep drive on a narrow road to get there. It was very cool to see monkeys, iguanas, crabs, and sloths in the resort. The sloths were two-toed, so they are not active during the day. I was pleasantly surprised that it was not very buggy at all at the resort. The only times I got bit by bugs was at a separate location during the chocolate tour. Then again, half the time I wore bug spray at the resort.

There really was no reason to leave the resort because they have everything you need from a gift shop, fitness center, swimming pools, short hiking trail, mini golf, and spa. Our room was very spacious with its own bathtub, a Jacuzzi on the balcony, and a L shaped sofa. We had a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean and it was right by the adult pool. We were not that super close to the main entrance but it only takes about 2 minutes to walk there.

We only did two tours set up by the hotel: the Damas boat tour with Iguana Tours and Mysteries of the Night Jungle tour right at the resort. They both are a bit pricey. I liked the Damas boat tour the best. It was very cool to see the mangrove trees and see some White faced monkeys, birds, flying white frog, and lizard along the way. A van picked us up at the resort and we drove to the nearby Rios Cotos to do the boat tour. It wasn't listed in the description of the boat tour but we had fresh pineapple, packaged sweet biscuits, and concentrated fruit juice before the tour and after the tour a chicken fajitas meal with beans, the usual spicy pickled peppers and carrots, rice, and vegetables. My husband enjoyed the Mysteries of the Night Jungle tour more than I did. We mostly saw different varieties of frogs. We also saw some sleeping dragonflies, a snake, tadpoles. We walked part of the monkey trail on the resort, so it is a bit of an incline when you walk back up on the trail. Some of the rocks are slippery so you have to be careful walking. Flashlights were provided by our tour guide.

The only things that were a bit of a hassle where having to make reservations to use adult pole, gym, and the La galeria restaurant. I understand and appreciate the reasons for that, but it didn't allow for a go with the flow schedule. Unfortunately, the restaurant La Fragata that was in the same building as our room was closed. That would have been nice to dine there since it is just a few steps away from my room.

The gym is a bit outdated, but it does the job. They have free weights too. I liked that it had its own bathroom (with a shower stall), had AC, water, towels and full open windows so you can see the nature while working out. I would definitely recommend anyone...

This was the best hotel I've ever stayed at in all my years of traveling. Everything was amazing beyond belief---the animals on the property, the decor in and around the hotel, the staff, the food, our room, the accommodations. Every staff member was so kind, including Jose who greeted us upon arrival and took us to our room, and the girl who checked us in (I'm so sorry I don't remember her name) but we had a great conversation about writing and books (I was on this trip celebration graduating college!) The servers at the pool were also so nice and we loved talking with them. Housekeeping gave us fresh towels and chocolates in the evening without us even asking. And everyone seemed to love their job and that made everything all the more memorable.

And I just want to give a specific shout out to our tour guide, Elias. We did the night tour with him, and his passion for nature and the animals was just so amazing. It was really cool to see all the nocturnal animals around the property, including frogs and bats. He was well knowledgeable and so nice, and when our tour was about to end, he heard the call of a black and white owl, and the entire group ended up staying about an hour late with him trying to find it. He ended up grabbing extra equipment, and we were all so excited when he found it! His tour was so amazing that we decided to sign up for his tour in Manuel Antonio the next day, and that was also wonderful! His eye for finding wildlife is unmatched, and he is also so skilled in photography. What a great experience.

Oh and a huge shoutout to the cooks! At the pool we got the most delicious pizzas and onion rings, and one day we asked if it was possible to have tacos but made vegetarian. They accomodated us, and the tacos were absolutely amazing. The little vegetarian creation they came up with was wonderful and I still look at pictures of it wishing I could have one at any given moment. Also if anyone sees this can someone please tell me what was in the drink called the Bajo El Mar from the pool bar...... it was like a blue margarita and it was so good. That drink was what vacation should taste like. Also need to give a shout out to the sloth that was at the pool during our stay. We spent so much time watching her and crying over how cute she was. Hope she's doing well!

BY THE WAY: Before coming here I was nervous about seeing animals, because I don't tend to be lucky with those encounters. As an animal lover I wanted to see everything, but I knew going to Manuel Antonio and seeing things wasn't guaranteed, especially on our first day there where we didn't do a tour but instead just went at our own pace. (We did see animals there!) But also, we saw EVERYTHING at the hotel! Toucans, scarlet macaws, sloths, howler monkeys, capuchins, squirrel monkeys, reptiles, hummingbirds, etc. No snakes or big cats, but that is a good thing I suppose because would YOU want to unknowingly walk up to an eyelash viper? Well, I still probably would like to see one up close. But it wouldn't be good if they were slithering around the restaurants and pools. But anyways, you will see so many animals up close at the hotel, and beware of the capuchins because they did come to our room and make us run for our lives. It was awesome.

We're dreaming about the day we can come back to Costa Rica. We will for sure come back to this hotel. Thank you for all you do for the wildlife, and thank you so much for an amazing, life...

If I was to do it all over again I would definitely come back to this place. But, maybe do things a little different...here’s what you need to know.

Pros: -When people say you get to see more here than at the actual park (Manuel Antonio) they aren’t lying. Just on Day/night one we got to see a sloth and a bunch of monkeys! -The vibe here is AMAZING! everyone is so nice and welcoming! Everyone who works here is extremely polite and treat all guest with outmost respect. (We literally opened our door one night to chocolates being brought to our room ! 🤤) I honestly would go back just for the people !

-Clean, clean, clean! Traveling and staying away from home now days is so hard but let me reassure you this hotel takes all precautions from the moment you step in they have disinfecting products for your bags and and area for you to wash your hands. They also have no problem making sure guest follow covid precautions such as wearing their mask properly or washing their hands before entering the restaurant. Cleaning starts even before the sun goes up!

-The views !!! 😍 the views make this hotel worth every penny! The location of the hotel is magnificent ! Our ocean view room gave us the best views ! But even the garden rooms get some awesome monkey action throughout the day.

-pools ! With 3 big pools to keep everyone separate this hotel is able to keep people at a distance while providing this commodity for us to enjoy.

no Spanish ? No problemo ! Everyone here is bilingual! The staff is truly amazing! They are smart and super knowledgeable!

Cons: -Sadly, food takes one star away from a five star review. Don’t get me wrong those breakfasts are delicious ! Fresh fruit, fresh omelet (they will make it in front of you) and lots of pastries to chose from. Gallo Pinto was my favorite ! Yet, lunches and dinners are meh. Lunch menu basically consisted of nachos, chicken wings, pizza, burgers, sandwich, and pasta. Honestly, I was expecting something more “local” we had a personal pizza, a burger and chicken rice with 2 cokes total $70 USD.

Now this is the part where I will get brutally honest about the food (besides breakfast because breakfasts like I mentioned are amazing) anyways here it is...Although fresh, the food lacks taste. There was nothing memorable or special about it. For example The vegetarian/vegan Burger was absolutely disgusting. The “bread” is extremely hard. Meanwhile the actual patty which is a mix of chickpeas and something else was so soft it was coming apart. The menu says it’s served with avocado and vegan cheese. Well there was no vegan cheese and maybe they don’t make it enough that they forgot to add the avocado. I get it perhaps they don’t get many vegan/vegetarians (doubtful) requests and they haven’t really figure this vegan/vegetarian thing out. But I think it’s better if they just remove it and not offer it than offered like this.

-laundry services offered but not free ? For us staying here 6 days we had to do some laundry on day 3 and to our surprise we had to go buy “special coins” for the washer and dryer in order to be able to do our laundry. 👎🏼 For 4 “coins” two for two loads and another two for dryers we ended up with a $30 bill for 4 coins! So go two small loads of clothes we paid $30 USD.

Overall we LOVED our time at the hotel. Like I said we will definitely chose this place again in a heart beat. Can’t wait to be...