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

Food was the best we ate in the whole of Costa Rica, we had every meal in the hotel - breakfast, lunch on the beach and dinner during our 3 night stay. Enjoyed watching the monkeys, sloths and the Scarlet Macaws, as well as huge Iguanas and lots of crabs. Enjoyed sitting on the beach each afternoon after our morning excursions watching the waves. It was a bit rough for us to feel confident enough to go for a swim. It was extremely hot and humid during our visit so we got round the hotel using the readily available golf buggies. The hotel is very spread out and housed in different buildings so if mobility is an issue for you be sure to ask for a ground floor room, ours was up 6 flights of stairs. Also not easy to walk elsewhere, albeit we enjoyed a short walk along the gorgeous beach. Staff were very good and we thoroughly enjoyed our short stay.

We thoroughly enjoyed our 3 night stay at the hotel. The grounds are beautiful and you feel totally isolated. After long hot mornings out on tour it was wonderful to be able to relax at the beach and enjoy lunch on a chaise lounge. Prices for dinner are not cheap, but enjoyable. However after spending $38 on a main shrimp dish, to be charged $7 additionally for rice is something that seemed to be a little much. All of the staff are personable and kind and well trained. They know their guests by name and really aim to please. We enjoyed our ocean view premium suite with the wrap around balcony - to see the sunset there at night and sunrise in the morning soothed the soul!

My parents and I were blown away at how beautiful this hotel was and how impeccable the service was. Everyone we met was so kind (special shoutouts to Alexandra, Alexis, Mauricio, Farlen, Karen, Luz, Michael and Keylor). We loved the pools and Playitas beach and even got to see a sea turtle hatching right in front of us. We also highly recommend taking a tour of Manuel Antonio National Park with Mauricio!

Arenas has everything you’d want in a resort- jungle and ocean views, beach access, delicious food and drink and excellent friendly staff. Daily sloth and monkey sightings. Jungle trails on site. Walkable to Manuel Antonio. Morning yoga and other daily activities. The private shaded beach was a highlight. Cannot more highly recommend!!

My hubby & myself spent 4 days here. This was one of our best experience. Everyone right from the golf cart drivers, reception, housekeeing & especially the restaurant staff, were extremely cordial, pleasant & had a personal touch in their service. Some of them even addressed us by our name, which was very unusual but very pleasing Overall, one of the best hotel in Costa Rica. I would definitely want to come back. Love you guys

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