Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort Member of the Cayuga Collection

Had an amazing family vacation with two teens at Arenas Del Mar for eight nights – our goal was to relax and enjoy the beach, rainforest, and city without spending all our time driving around and this resort delivered. Before our trip I corresponded with Lucretia at the concierge desk about the types of things we wanted to do during our stay and she booked our transportation to and from the airport as well as surfing lessons, an adventure tour, fishing trip, and transportation to Manuel Antonio national park. Communication was great and this took any stress out of planning on my end. Transportation from the airport to hotel was a 3hr comfortable ride. We showed up at the hotel in the midst of a big storm but were escorted to our room safe and dry by Christian, one of many of the staff who were the highlight of our stay. Everything at the resort was outstanding but standouts were the hotel staff, Amigos del Rio Adventure Park, and surfing lessons steps from the resort. At Playitas beach Diango and the rest of the crew helped us safely navigate the surf and hosted activities like painting and boogie boarding lessons. Food by chef David was spectacular, including cooking the fresh catch from our fishing excursion to perfection. The grounds were beautiful and we saw more animals at the hotel than at the national park. Thank you to all of the staff who made our vacation so memorable!

Arenas del Mar was everything our family hoped for and then some. Food was excellent, wildlife everywhere, amazing staff and service, close to many activities that the coordinated for us. We will definitely be back. If a 6 star rating was offered I would choose it.

Amazing Service

Our stay here was fabulous. The views of the ocean were amazing. They had beach chairs and bar service on the beach. We saw lots of animals: iguana, crabs, agouti, monkeys, and even a boa constrictor! From our room window, an iguana came everyday to see us and sunbathe. The staff was top notch. They were always very helpful and kind. I booked all our tours through the hotel. Julian was our guide for two of the tours and he was very good and nice. The Nauyaca waterfall tour was the best! The breakfast was delicious. They had a lot of variety on their menu. Their transport service to local restaurants was way better than calling a taxi. Loved the golf cart service to get you around the property. We will definitely come back! Thank you so much for a lovely vacation.

We were here for 4 nights. The property was spotless and the location was beautiful. We had one of the bigger rooms and it fit our family of 4 very comfortably. The staff were all so kind and said they were treated really well by the owners. They explained the changes they had made to avoid issues with carbon monoxide and we felt very safe. We would absolute recommend this hotel.

Ever spend 5 days when the weather, the accommodations and the people were all perfect? My sister and I planned a “vacation”—and instead we got the time of our lives. Arenas Del Mar gave us 5 days of fun, great food, mind blowing views, extremely comfortable accommodations within sight and sound of the waves from our suite, perfect tours and adventures and the staff is just as wonderful as prior reviewers have exclaimed. As one of the restaurant managers responded to us when we complimented the staff on our first evening, “Yes, they’re all wonderful, but they each bring their own personality to the job.” The staff was unstoppable in their care of us--from the fun golf cart rides from place to place within the hotel compound, to inquiries as to how our tours went, what our families were like and what they could do to help us in any way. Christian even made sure our van ride back to SJO for an early morning flight had blankets and pillows. I want to put Minor, the kind and sociable bartender, on my Christmas card list! Giavanni, of the concierge team, helped us choose an offsite restaurant by explaining El Lagarto was the place she picked for her birthday dinner each year, and of course she made sure we got the perfect table. Alex, a server, was so kind and caring that we’d look to wave to him from across the dining room. Every single staff member went out of their way to make our stay a perfect vacation and they made it seem effortless and sincere. A few specifics: I research the heck out of hotels before I go anywhere and Arenas Del Mar kept coming up as the best place for us. When they say the hotel is on the beach, they mean it. No other hotel near Manuel Antonio has such a prime location—on the beach but still close to town. We were in Suite 302B in Unit 3, a spacious Ocean View Premium suite. Great view, incredibly comfortable beds, two seating areas on the balcony which we used a lot and easy proximity to the beach and the lower restaurant and bar, Playitas. We were no more than a 2 minute walk from the suite to the beach. When I read about the hotel’s golf cars in previous TripAdvisor reviews, I just assumed my sister and I would walk instead, but the golf parts were part of the fun! The golf cart drivers would appear at our unit within moments of our call to the front desk and they were always available at the lobby area to shuttle us back. Frankly, all our transportation needs were met effortlessly—from the drivers to and from the airport arranged by the hotel, to the golf cart shuttle out to the parking area to meet the guide and daily transportation for our tours, to the hotel van that took us to offsite restaurants. (Thank you Wally!) The hotel van was always timely, inexpensive and billed to our room. So easy! The tour book from the hotel was exciting and wide-ranging. It took time to narrow down all the choices and before we arrived the concierge team patiently responded to multiple emails to help us chose our 4 adventures—a p