Hotel Bosque del Mar — Hotel in Sardinal

So I normally don’t do this but let’s go through the positives and negatives:

Positives: the hotel is located directly on the beach with a cool jungle hybrid theme. The sunsets were amazing every day. The beach is a cool blackish sand. You can bring drinks from the bar out onto the beach. There are chairs you can use on the beach which is nice. You can get as many towels as you need. Monkeys come to the hotel trees and you can see them day and night which is cool. The mojitos were delicious.

The restaurant staff were amazing, especially the breakfast crew. They were excellent. We appreciated them.

The water was absolutely amazing. We spent our entire days reading on the beach and swimming in the ocean. This is by far the best part of this place.

Negatives: Upon check in, we were told that we could not flush anything down the toilet, including toilet paper. When i probed for further information, I was told to discard my feces covered paper into the trash can and house keeping would get in when they clean the room for the day. This seemed ludicrous, why not install a bidet toilet then? Maybe there was a problem because there was a lot zero hot water our first night. They fixed the hot water the next day which was good. Instead of crapping in my room and leaving smelly paper there all day, I went to the lobby every morning and left it in their trash can. (House keeping did not empty that can everyday, just saying). Was never told that there was a problem, or if it was fixed so this continued our entire trip….

The food was mediocre at best. It was rather bland and didn’t have much flavor. The restaurants menu was all American style dishes and there was no local foods what so ever which is just fine but I didn’t come to Costa Rica for overpriced American cheeseburgers.

They need to hire another bartender. You will wait minimum 20 minutes for a drink even if you’re the only person in the bar. Trust me. I came by one evening to get some chicken tenders and a drink, it was about 8 pm. Restaurant empty. Bar empty. Took 49 mins.

The sellers are relentless on the beach and you get approached on your beach lounger constantly. There really isn’t much in the area so if you don’t have a car and you want to rent one. there’s only 1 local cuisine spot on the entire length of the beach and no local coffee shop. We went 15 mins down the road to playa del coco two times for lunch.

Long story short:

If you’re looking purely for location.. come here as it’s a great location for the price. be aware the beach isn’t quiet as locals are playing music, constant jet ski and boat people asking if you want a tour and drunk Americans loud in the...

Family of 5 with 3 kids under 7 stayed here for a week. It's a very beautiful setting and the facility looks well cared for. Our room was sizeable with a large bedroom with two beds plus a small living room with pull out couch. Bathroom was also large and the walk in shower came in handy for showering after the beach. We are so glad we had a room on the ground level because it would have been a pain to haul three small kids/stroller up the stairs to the second level rooms.

Loved seeing the birds, howler monkeys and iguanas everywhere. Tons of little hermit crabs at night. A minute from the beach - one piece of feedback is they need to even out the planks on the walkway - I saw a few people trip including my daughter. My son and I snorkelled and there are actually a decent amount of fish near the rocks at the south end of the beach including some puffer fish. I think Playa Hermosa Playa Coco...Playa Ocetal and Playa Buena were fantastic too and short drives away.

Pool is amazing for young kids - they used it everyday. Lots of families with young kids / seniors during our stay.

Restaurant is overpriced imo but the staff were very nice. They were also kind enough to warm up leftovers from another restaurant for our kids which I really appreciated as there is no microwave in the room. FYI Coco Vequez is a nearby soda on the main road which was fantastic in quality and price. Also, you can walk all the way to the other end of the beach to eat at Robertos or the other beach front restaurants if you don't have a car (~15-20min). Nearby market Luperon on the main road too. Hermosa is a small town but where this hotel is located, we're so glad we had a car cause I don't think it's very walkable to nearby markets etc.

Cleaners were great the whole week except the last day when they seemed to have forgotten us and didn't clean till close to 3pm. Very inconvenient when you have kids that nap.

FYI This is a smaller hotel so there aren't really amenities/activities. There's no gym but they have a spa which we didn't use.

We rented a car and they have a large lot across the gravel road which is guarded. Worked great. We also got a van to take us to the airport at 430 am and this was reliable ($105 CAD)

We had a great experience overall....

Love love loved this place!! It's next to the beach and takes maybe 20 steps to the beautiful outdoor dining area and then another 10 steps to the beach. The rooms are super clean, bathroom was huge with a huge stand-in shower that could fit all the kids and an adult to wash them at the same time, the vegetation surrounding the hotel is beautifully maintained.. we didn't want to leave!!

excursions: booked one excursion through the hotel and didn't even realize all their excursions are private tours! excellent price for private transportation to visit parks, zip lining, Snorkeling, etc. I would've booked more through the hotel if I had known they were private. We booked a group excursion through expedia and had to sit in the van for an hour while the van picked up people all over the Guanacaste area.

food: the dining here was fairly expensive. meals range from $9 for kids for a bowl of spaghetti or a plate of fish sticks, etc to $15 for chicken and rice to as high as $28 for fish baked in a banana leaf with vegetables. for 4 of us for dinner, we typically spent $60/night for 4 meals, no drinks, no dessert. there is a grocery store about 1 mile away, some local places nearby too but we never had a chance to visit them

beach: water is clear, cool and not too rough or strong. kids can play in it without being swept away. sand is soft and black from the volcanic ash. Beach area at this hotel is like going to a private beach.. definitely NOT like visiting an all-inclusive crowded beach. you can easily find a hotel lounge chair. men walk by selling crafts like clay whistles, pottery, bowls, and bracelets.

staff: they were all very friendly and spoke English well. I also contacted them several times before the trip to organize excursions and they responded very promptly.. usually the same day. the cleaning lady was also very friendly and did a great job cleaning and making the beds.

This is not the place to be if you want a night life with music and parties. We loved it because it was peaceful, clean, night sky fill of stars, natural scenic...