Hotels in Playa Hermosa

This family-friendly resort is a sister to the Occidental Grand Papagayo. It is a large, all-inclusive that offers great value—but that value comes with some downsides. The food is passable, housekeeping can be a little lax, and the rooms and facilities show their wear and tear. The…

Sharing the Papagayo Peninsula with the Four Seasons, this Hyatt resort offers similar luxury and service at a significantly better  price. Rooms are a blend of modern design and Costa Rican aesthetics, with woven textiles, bamboo, and carved artifacts. Balconies (and showers!) look…

Sharing the Papagayo Peninsula with the Four Seasons, this Hyatt resort offers similar luxury and service at a nicer price. Rooms are a blend of modern design and Costa Rican aesthetics, with woven textiles, bamboo, and carved artifacts. Balconies (and showers!) look out on the…

One of the prettiest hotels in the area, which makes it a favorite for destination weddings, Bosque del Mar is distinguished by beautiful wooden latticework throughout the rooms and their exteriors, and by tall, V-shaped roofs. Suites are spread around a free-form pool amid the shade…

This all-inclusive resort (which allows children, unlike Secrets and the Occidental, see below), is located on a large property abounding in handsome palm, ceiba and guanacaste trees, right on Playa Panamá. Beyond the beach, the resorts’ major selling point are its two large and…

In your room at El Mangroove, you may forget you’re in Costa Rica and feel like a Wall Street executive in a penthouse suite in Manhattan—except for the hammock in the living room. The king-size bed is plush, the TV is huge, the minibar is stocked, the furniture is modern, the art is…

This longstanding hotel is a solid option just steps from the sand on Playa Hermosa. The motif here is Mediterranean, with whitewashed walls, tile floors, and interior archways. Artwork of tropical animals on the walls looks like silk-screen prints, but are actually women’s beach…

Ideally located on the neck of a stunning peninsula with pristine white-sand beaches on either side, the Four Seasons is hands-down the premier luxury resort hotel in Costa Rica, if not in all of Central America. Its unique look, designed by industrious Ronald Zurcher, features roof…

This large all-inclusive is a solid bet. I find the rooms and food offerings far better than those at the Occidental Grand Papagayo or Allegro Papagayo resorts. The rooms feature marble floors, contemporary furnishings and minimalist decor, a host of amenities and either a private…

Sitting on the quiet southern end of Playa Hermosa, this is my favorite beachfront boutique hotel in the area. Rooms are large and modern and spread around the free-form pool amid the shade of tall, old-growth trees. The owners took great care to preserve these trees (which are…

This sprawling, adults-only all-inclusive is located on a hilly point of land overlooking the beautiful Papagayo Gulf. Rooms feature red or white tile floors, bright white linens, a private balcony or porch, large flatscreen TVs, air-conditioning, cappuccino makers, and minibars.…

Tall trees and mature gardens give this sprawling complex of hotel rooms and condo units a cool and refreshing feel, even on the hottest of Guanacaste’s summer days. A thatched-roof tiki bar just off the main pool also helps beat the heat. The eye-pleasing Mediterranean architecture…