Villas Sol — Hotel in Sardinal

My family and I stayed at the Villa Sol resort in March 2025. The resort is a bit dated but has a tremendous amount of character. I'll do my best to categorize the review for anyone looking for something g specific:||Accomodations:||We had a basic 2 bed room. We had no issues with the accodations. AC worked great, staff were friendly always willing to help and on time for cleaning etc. Note that the bathroom contains only shampoo. We had to buy our own soap at a mini market. Also there is a ice bucket in your room but you will need to go to the restaurant or bar to get ice. Pending the location of your villa, you may need to get a shuttle to bring you there so be aware of that.||All water on the resort is potable and safe to drink. Just wanted to include that too.||Food:||We did not choose to have the all inclusive package. I cannot provide a review of the main dining buffet but when I did talk to guests they said it was okay.||The breakfast offered by the resort was good. 3.5 /5. The food here included costa rica items like pinto gallo ( rice and beans), fried plantains, fried or mashed yuca, potatoes hashbrowns, and sausage. There is an omlette station which made fantastic eggs and omlettes. There is also a great variety of fresh fruit, breads and cereal (yogurt too). The resort also made fresh juice from the various fruits for breakfast.||With the heat, we did fine that the bread could get a little stale but given it's 35-37 celcious it's kinda expected.||Beach 4/5||We found the beach great. Smooth sand and not crowded at all! Great place for a morning gnor evening swim. For families with little kids. There is no lifeguard or activities for children at the beach. My son kept himself busy building sandcastles and swimming but one thing to also note is that there is no beach umbrellas here. So your in the sun for quite a period of time. We brought a test with us that we got off amazon. Cheap pop up one. Kept the sun out at peak times but we did still find it hot. Would recommend to the resort to develop more shaded areas for guests.||Restaurants nearby||There are many resorts all sharing a strip of beach. Each resort has a restaurant on the beach. I do have to say that many guests were very impressed by the seafood here st the Villa sol beach restaurant. I cannot remember the name it's likely on Google. We heard that the restaurant was hands down none of the best on this strip. Pricing is about ranges from 25 to 50 USD pending on what meal and drinks you choose. There are cheaper options available but the main entrees here were within this range.||I do have to give a special review to a restaurant just outside the entery /exit of the Villa Sol resort. It is very new and it is literally across the road from the resort entry. It's called Coco Visquez. It's a small restaurant that makes homemade costa rican food. As of March 2025. The buffet (not all you can eat) was $11 USD and you choose what you want on your plate. The amount of food you receive for the price point is an amazing value! I ordere alot of entrees from the menu too. All were amazing! As a family from Canada, We had 1 meal at Villa Sol when we first checked in. We tried this place on the evening of day 1, we ate here every meal since. The food was crazy good. I met a young man Sebastian and his Parents who run the place. They treated us like family and the food omg amazing. Check it out on Instagram. I dont want to deter from our Villa Sol experience.||Grocery Store / Mini Markets nearby:||We did find a mini market close to the Villa Sol. It's about a 15 to 20 walk down the main street. Literally just straight down. Good price on beer, sunscreen etc. Would recommend buy there and stock up the mini fridge. ||Shuttle||We arranged a shuttle to and from the airport using a vendor at the airport. The Villa sol also provides this service but I cannot provide a review of this.||Tours / Excursions||As mentioned above, the resort shares a strip of beach with other hotels. It seems that each resort has a different vendor that you can book tour packages through. We booked 2 tours for a family of 3 and it was approx $1000 CDN. We chose to book with a company called Costa Rica Unique. They wore blue shirts. Ask for Inaki! He was very friendly, helped us with picking the tours right for us and didn't rip us off on the price. I would recommend him 100% every time all the time!||I hope this helps anyone going to Costca Rica and the Villa Sol. We will definitely be...

Let me start by saying I was already prepared for the worst after reading the reviews on this place and boy were they right. My husband and I purchased a travel membership through an agency in Daytona Florida called Suite Journeys for $5000.00. They are now facing litigation through the state's Attorney General for being a scam and have had their assets frozen. Apparently Suite Journeys uses HSI to make their money. Part of Suite Journeys' promotion was that we would receive a free stay at an all inclusive resort in Costa Rica. We redeemed the promotion through Suite Journeys and they set up our stay at Villas Sol. Upon our arrival at Villas Sol we were told that we needed to attend another presentation in order to receive the promotional stay. We informed the woman in charge at that time that we had already attended a presentation and purchased a travel membership and that's why we were staying there. She said she had no record of this and that we had to attend the presentation. We assumed it was for a time share and moved forward with our vacation. The presentation was actually for HSI, a scam package almost identical to the one we purchased from Suite Journeys. I'm assuming they operate in Costa Rica for that reason since the contract we signed said the promotion is not valid in states where it is illegal, to include Florida. Our room at Villas Sol was small and very warm. Even with the setting for the AC on 10 degrees Celsius, the room was unbearably hot and humid making it difficult to shower, get dressed and sleep. Our towels never dried. The bed was old and simply a mattress on a platform frame. The bedding was stained and the pillows were quite flat. The remote for the tv never worked. The resort itself is old and run down. The food was often recycled from previous meals and nothing to write home about. We opted to eat elsewhere on more than one occasion. Birds, feral cats and bugs joined us often for our meals at the buffet. We booked a trip through the resort to Guacipaline and found out later that the same package costs much less at the travel stand down the road. At the presentation we were required to attend, we realized very quickly that what they were offering was something almost identical to what we already had with Suite Journeys, not a time share. In an effort to be forthcoming, I told the woman trying to sell us the package that we already had something similar with a different agency. She immediately asked for the name of the agency and got her supervisor. His name was Matt and after speaking with him we were told that we did not need to move forward with the presentation. We asked three separate times if we would then incur any costs and he insisted we would not. He lied. Upon check out we were told we owed Villas Sol an additional $600.00 because we were never "eligible buyers" of their scam. Not only were we completely eligible, the documentation my husband signed said NOTHING about not being allowed to already be members of another travel service to qualify. They tried to use the signed documentation against us but anyone who can read can see that we agreed to no such terms. Apparently their inability to communicate effectively with our travel agency and vice versa meant we were expected to pay the price. My husband was forced to pay with a credit card or we would miss our flight. They insured we could not leave without a specific leave receipt for our driver. So if you make arrangements for a ride to the airport with Villas Sol, the driver will not take you without that receipt. Very slimy, but very smart.In the shuttle on the way to the airport I cried thinking about all the money we wasted at the expense of the people at Villas Sol. My husband is a US veteran and we have been married for only a year. We're a new family just starting out and we really could have used that $600.00. I am so disappointed in myself for not knowing better and I hope anyone who reads this learns from my...

Each guest is treated very differently (a colored band on your arm and it designates your status, as well as the service you can expect). Pros: You’ll meet a lot of interesting people from many different places and all of the staff speak English and Spanish fluently. Alcohol is provided frequently (during the specficied times) and there are some fun drinks, as well as a beer on tap. The wine wasn’t horrible and although the alcohol was not top notch, it didn’t make us sick. Room service to clean was available each day for free, although we didn’t use it. Wide variety of foods at the buffet, although it remained similar each day. Again, nothing made us sick and we ate many items and most of our meals at the resort. Even the water is perfectly safe! It’s smoke free! Loved that. The A-La-Carte dinner was very good and we enjoyed the fancier dining experience one night for free. The front desk is suppose to automatically schedule your reservation, but some people did not get told and had to ask. We met an AMAZING guy down at the beach at Playa Hermosa (ride the free tram down for free). His name is Gilbert and he’s a very nice young man, huge smile and currently has braces. He used to work at the resort, but now he helps arrange for vacation presentations at other locations. He typically hangs out at the entrance to the beach. You can trust him!! He will arrange for you to hear the sales pitch (ours was located in Coco Beach and included round trip transportation and lunch at a real restaurant in town). We already own a timeshare and did not purchase what they were offering and it wasn’t a big deal. The BEST part was the new connection with Gilbert. He negotiated excursions for us for free and for reduced prices. He has some amazing connections. He always ensured we had transportation and the arranged excursions at the agreed upon prices. Villas Sol may try to warn you or threaten you about not talking to him or going to another presentation, but that violates your rights. This guy even took us to the airport, like a friend would, when Villa Sol was insisting we pay $40 for their shuttle that was free for everyone else and already going to the airport with empty seats. Gilbert made our trip so much better because we actually left the resort and had experiences that didn’t cost hundreds of dollars (zip lining, sunset catamaran with scuba diving, etc). Trust him, he will help you!! I communicated via email with him the entire time. He’s responsive and so knowledgeable. Cons: Bugs and bees. I used bug spray (three types and a pesticide bracelet) and still suffered numerous bites every day. These bites look like mosquito bites, but I never saw a mosquito. Red sores just appeared. Usually you see/feel a bug biting you, but I never did. I did see and feel the bee sting me at the pool bar, while sitting in the water. There are also sugar ants. I had to spray Deet in the shower to stop the dozens entering through the cracks. There are also beetles, dragon flies, wild cats, raccoons, skunks, iguanas, birds, etc. Most want your food. If you don’t like critters, try a different place. Steep hills and lots of stairs. If you have mobility issues, this is not the place for you. The deluxe king bed in the hotel is atrocious. Plan on a very very very hard mattress. The nightly music entertainment is pretty sad. Mostly kids singing songs in Spanish for karaoke night and a “DJ” taking requests on other nights. The prices in Costa Rica were much higher than we anticipated. I think the rich are taking in the money and the working class are in complete poverty, having to work multiple jobs to barely survive. This is clear when you consider the average income is less than $8,000 USD per YEAR! We tried to tip the staff that put forth the effort and tried to make our day special. I think the general moral of the workers is low because they are working really hard for next to nothing and they...