Villa Lapas Jungle Village — Hotel in Tárcoles

This has got to be one of the worst places I have ever stayed. I was with a photography group so had no choice over the accommodation. I would have left straight away if I was with my husband.||I was originally assigned room 143 and it was so grotty I complained to the group leader. The bed base was sat on visible serrated plasterboard, filthy and the furniture just fit for a bonfire. This was apparently one of the non -refurbished rooms.||After complaining I then got 147 which was apparently refurbished. It was very marginally better but no electric sockets - just one behind the bed and when you moved the bed to plug in to the socket a huge screw came out of the wall. It was still filthy!||There were huge gaps all around the door and I blocked off the bottom as best I could with towels but a multitude of creatures could have got in! I was very nervous.||However, I didn't expect to be sharing the room with a bat that unknown to me, when it had finished defecating on my bedsheets whilst I was sleeping, took refuge in my rucksack to sleep which was open but off the floor on the other bed.||I had no idea and put my hand in the next morning and was bitten by an angry bat. ||Since then I have had three days of extreme stress and anxiety because of the rabies risk. Was swiftly taken to a private hospital by my tour guide at my expense but they and 6 other hospitals in San Jose didn't have any rabies boosters!!||Now flying back to the UK i have to visit a Tropical Disease clinic in London asap missing my connecting flight home to make sure I am rabies free... Quite frankly I am terrified.||I know I didn't bring the bat in as I am meticulous about closing my rucksack as I am insect phobic. It must have already been in the room.||If you value your health don't...

This Villa was exactly the relaxing mellow vibe we were looking for. It is literally 3 minutes away from Carrera National Park which has over 5,000 acres- definitely recommend having a tour guide- we saw a 2 toed sloth, all kinds of beautiful birds, white tailed dear and white faced monkeys! It's 25 minutes away from Jaco beach and 5 minutes from the famous Crocodile bridge. The Villa offers some tours for purchase, we did the night tour with Yustin and we had such a great time. We did the Sky way tour as well but for those in tip top shape you can actually walk up the trail from the property but you also have to come down (think about 45 flight of stairs both ways) The only reason we are giving 4 stars is because language barrier was a bit tough. There were many large groups from UK birdwatching so there were 90% guests who spoke english. It was most difficult during meal time, being vegetarian I would ask if there was meat and many times I was told no and then I sat to eat and there was bacon or meat etc. By day 2 they knew us and our question! I just feel with food its very important to know key words and to know what's in the food because lets be honest there are so many different diet restrictions nowadays its good to know. With that being said the Chef is amazing! He spoke english very well and he really has a way with his seasoning- this might sound silly but the pasta that was plain was like the best seasoned pasta I ever had! The rice and beans- best I ever had! He was even so nice to make us a special delicious meal on our last night, which was very appreciated. We also saw so many birds, iguanas, lizards, fruit trees, hummingbirds, frogs and I forget the furry guy....

I had a recent stay here on a Titan/Saga holiday and we had a fabulous time. One of tn4 things which made the stay special were the staff and the fact that a lot of Costa Ricans visit the hotel at weekends to get away from the towns and cities and just have fun. It was lovely to see children and families in th4 pool having fun. |Our group were all over 50 and we were well cared for from the welcome drink onwards. |The grounds are beautiful and the pool areas lovely, at the weekends there is a karaoke evening across the bridge which many of us went to to the amusement of the local visitors. The staff game;y put on Dancing Queen by ABBA (the universal language of music) and I was so -.eased that we and the Costa Rican visitors danced together and enjoyed each others company. It was a very special evening of the stay for me and I can honestly say that in the whole two weeks we were welcomed everywhere by people. |On our final day we were sad to hear that the hotel has been bought by a big hotel chain who are going to pull the old hotel down and build a new one. Having found all the staff very lovely we asked our tour guide about what would happen for them. Turns out there are many other hotels around and they will all have contracts with the new hotel once built. The new hotel doesn’t know how fortunate they will be with such lovely people. |Thank you Villa Lapas, you will always have a special place in my heart as will Costa Rica...