Barcelo Tambor Beach Resort Puntarenas Costa Rica. Best Hotel Deals & Reviews

Date of Stay: February, 2009

Thank goodness we were able to stay 2 weeks.We found the staff friendly and helpful,not forgetting the groundcrew who were hard at work keeping areas clean.Food was excellent and there was something for everyone.If you intend to walk to Tambor,ask Maikol about low tide,so you can cross the river,not swim.You can find some good prices in the village,don't hesitate to bargain. There is plenty to do and see so one will not get bored for a minute.You'll find Maikol in the activity center to help you.If we have to find something to improve,the water pressure is not very high and there could be more pub- lic washrooms,since the area is quite large.We find it astounding that some folks have had such rotten time there, we would not hesitate to go back one day.

	Date of Stay: June, 2009
great hotel, great food, excellent service, should have been closer to airport (it's a car ride, ferry, & another car ride to get to the resort) ... great town, plenty of stuff to do ...

	Date of Stay: February, 2008
An absolutely beautiful location! The mattresses need to be replaced.

Date of Stay: July, 2008

We had planned this trip months in advance. There was 11 of us altogether and we all had the same review and experience. I had searched online to get directions from San Jose airport and found very little to give me an idea. It had taken us all day to fly from Tampa,fl to get to the actual hotel. We landed and they tried to scam us at the car rental place. If we had taken a bus it would have taken even longer. We made it to the ferry in about 2 hours but had to wait another 2 to get on it. Once at the hotel it looked great, once in our rooms and it ended there. The rooms were clean but smelled like mold and mildue. We tried to change rooms and they pretended to not speak english. The beds were lumpy and uncomfortable. The food was horrible, it was made in mass quantities so there is no taste and everyone in our group would get sick after each meal. The pool was the worst. After we all came home ,half the group had ear and eye infections from the dirty pool water. My son and myself both came down with strep. I wouldn't stay in that hotel again. I will say evrything looked great and they had some good nightly shows but it's all in spanish so it made it hard to follow. The country itself was the best part. We ziplined and went to tortuga island, road 4 wheelers and horses down the beach. The best meals and events were outside of the hotel. I warn you to try a different place than this we had a great price and barely got what we paid for.

	Date of Stay: June, 2009
Our experience at the hotel was very pleaseant one. we have no complaints about the staff and their service, The food was excellent.We enjoyed our vacation.

	Date of Stay: June, 2007
Great pool and live shows. Raccoons begging for food. Great family stay on the beach with huge pool and nature preserve next door.A little hard to get to, must take ferry across and it only runs every 2.5 hrs.

Date of Stay: July, 2008

I feel it is my duty to inform other travelers of my experience with this resort. In order to do this I had to rate the room quality and cleanliness, although I never quite made it to the resort-so please disregard those negative ratings for room information as it was the only way I could write my review. I had attempted to contact this hotel weeks prior to my travel to arrange transportation from the airport to the resort and was unable. It took much effort to keep calling until I reached a person and when I finally did ? I was repeatedly hung up on. I thought it was because I requested to speak to someone in English. I then had a Spanish speaking friend contact the resort and several times they were also hung up on. We both tried to contact the reservation line as well with same result. I then had to contact Travelocity and they also had trouble reaching the resort. After nine hours of speaking to 4 agents and finally a supervisor we were able to reach resort ? at that time, I learned that it is located over 4 ? hours via road travel and ferry from the airport. You have to arrive in San Jose prior to 2:00pm to catch a small aircraft that is an additional fee in order to get to the resort in 25 minutes. My flight arrived too late for this small plane and therefore I would have had to travel via taxi 2 hours to a ferry, wait 3 hours for a later ferry because my flight wouldn?t allow me to make earlier ferry, travel via ferry for an hour and a half and then catch another taxi for 30 minutes. I would have spent over 13 hours traveling for a relaxing vacation that was now cut short due to all the traveling. Travelocity was ultimately able to get my money back and the resort kindly offered a full refund but I will warn others, arrange travel in advance from the airport and I wish you better luck in contacting the resort. I was no longer comfortable with this trip due to no contact and means offered for travel which included travel with a ?taxi driver? in his ?personal?

Date of Stay: March, 2009

This was our first inclusive trip abroad and it was very delightful. Even though our plane was late getting in and we had a four hour trek to the resort, when we got there the night clerk was fast effiecent and made sure we weren't too long before getting to our room. The resort offered a variety of things to do, whether you wanted to walk around and check out their sancuatary, the small reserve attached to the resort, or walk to the stables to see the horses and the butterflies. The pool was the perfect temperature and never overcrowed because of the size. The adults from young to old used it along with the kids. If that didn't satisfy you and nice stroll on the beach walking out to meet the tide and enjoy the warm water of the ocean was just right. The waves were the perfect size to either body surf or use a boogie board provided by the resort. They also offered tour agents through out the day to help book the right tour for you. We booked the zip lining, horseback and a tortuga Island/Curu National Park tour. The staff was very pleasant and made sure we were completely satisfied with our tour bookings. There were other tours available through them. No hidden fees, no agent fees etc just the cost of any tour. We also did some ATVing on a 2hr tour. This was booked privately through the local community. As mentioned early we had a four hr trek to the resort, we rented a car. The drive would have been great if it was day light, we missed out on a lot of fantastic sights. We did some touring around on our own to check out the area and small towns, it was beautiful and I recommend a rental if you want to check the sights on your own. We stopped off at different place and met people from all over the place, and if the locals couldn't speek english they still found a way to communicate so you would understand. We booked it a little early so we missed out on their local festival/bull riding by a couple of days as we had to leave, which of course neither of us wanted to go

Date of Stay: February, 2007

Outdoor areas and beach were clean and pleasant Music for evening (10PM-2AM) shows way too loud. Also, a lot of people were suffering from an intensinal ailent while I was there. Music for evening (10PM-2AM) shows way too loud. In order to sleep, I needed to close up my room, wear earplugs and turn on the air conditioning. Also, a lot of people were suffering from an intensinal ailent while I was there. It must have been something in the food or water.

Date of Stay: April, 2008

My family has traveled extensively with our children and this was one of the best trips we've ever taken. I traveled to the Barcelo Tambor Hotel with my 3 teenage children (oldest daughter and husband couldn't travel), and was concerned that there wouldn't be enough to entertain them for 2 weeks. WOW was I wrong, not only does this hotel have plenty to do right on site from the pools, nature trails, horse riding, sea kayaking, exercising room, game area, miniature golf, and so much more but all the adventures that are a short distance away kept us all entertained during the entire trip. There is so much available that there is no way one could be bored, and if you wanted to do absolutely nothing you can stay by the pool or go down to the beach and lay around. There are two people we hired that were both fantastic; Octvio Montero of Tavo Tours ph# 011-506-2845-3180 or crtabo@yahoo.com he took us snorkeling on his boat to Tortuga Island and cooked us a private bar-b-q at the beach - AWESOME time and Gerrardo Zuniga at mzm162000@yahoo.com he drove us for an entire day to Montezuma, Mal Peis, St. Teresa very patient and showed us lots of areas of interest. Both of these guys speak wonderful english and are a joy to be around. The hotel staff, the food, the facility was terrific. I wouldn't ask for anything different. I have read other reviews and for those that did not have a good time, I believe that these people went there with an attitude that resulted in a poor trip. If you travel here or anywhere with a positive, helpful, respectful attitude you will have a terrific time. The staff at Barcelo wants your trip to me FANTASTIC

Date of Stay: August, 2008

As a single Mom with two teenagers I wanted a place that was safe, fun, and provided everything for a wonderful relaxing vacation. This property was all of that and more. We used all the amenities we went horseback riding on the beach, used the sea kayak's, boogie boards, volleyballs, tennis rackets and balls, basketballs, ate and ate and ate, and thoroughly enjoyed the nighttime entertainment, and daily tropical dance lessons, we used the internet cafe, and had a massage in a beach front cabana, we also used the services to book a zip lining excursion. The staff went above and beyond to help. Our luggage had not made our flight and they called to locate it, we spoke limited Spanish and yet the staff bent over backwards to try and understand our request. The room was adequate with clean towels and good air conditioning, the beds were very uncomfortable though, that was the only negative of this hotel.

Date of Stay: March, 2008

Part of going to a new place is the expectation. I believe with the right information in advanced you will LOVE this hotel. The rooms are normal hotel rooms, the grounds are absolutely beautiful. The pool is huge and they have a massive pool for children which never got old on our 5 day stay. The food was very good, breakfast was exceptional. The other meals were good, but nothing spectacular. For every three nights you stay you get 1 night at the steak or seafood restaurant which is amazing. They have LOTS of activities during the day ad a beautiful nature park with horses, birds, alligators, a butterfly farm and sometimes people see monkey's o the property, however we did not. Their are activities for kids which are wonderful, but here is what you need to know. If you just want something fun for your children to do for a change of pace so you can take a swim or go to lunch on the property this would be okay. This is not the kind of program I would be comfortable leavin if your children are older, possibly, but their kids program is more of an activities program. Meet at mini golf at 1pm or pool party at 3pm. Lots of fun, but not for babies or long periods of time. they do have a room for young kids to color, paint watch tv, but again you wouldn't want to do this for long period of time. THE BEACH... the view is beautiful, however the beach is a bit rocky at high tide. During low tide your kids can run and play on the soft dark sand beach. when it is high tide, your feet are fine in the water, but you couldn't play on the beach. Fun!! Fun!!

	Date of Stay: June, 2008
Unless you enjoy thumping club music and some idiot counting 8 in spanish all day long at top of his lungs over a loud speaker I would avoid this place. Food and staff were good though.

	Date of Stay: September, 2007
The staff was so mean...not helpful at all.. they all had ATTITUDE problems...the bathrooms were dirty and the food was HORRIBLE..... The best thing about our vacation were the excursions we took and a small italian restaurant outside of the resort called the TRATTORIA... (must go) nicest people ever....

	Date of Stay: March, 2008
Room was very comfortable and clean. Only problem was that the magnetic keys failed very often. Food was great as was obvious considering our weight gain. Loved the pools. A major negative was getting to the hotel. It took us 3 1/2 hours to drive from Libera Airport to the hotel. Some of the roads traveled were dirt. Other then that, the vacation was excellent.

Date of Stay: July, 2007

i was very satisfied with my recent vacation to barcelo tambor beach in costa rica. we arrived late but is because of the location of the hotel. i think the hotel should provide direct transportation from san jose airport, that would give the tourist better chances to visit the hotel. the hotel is amazing, the pool is hard to discribe, the kids spend hours and never wanted to come out. the natural park is very impressive, all those iguanas and monkeys as well as the cocrodiles that are loose in the lagoon, i don't know how they don't come out at night.the two things that i didn't like are the fitness center wich is rusty because is next to the beach, maybe they should build a fitness room with air conditioning and the raccon population, they are like rats... every where. and of course we as tourist find the fascinating and feed them, but they have rabies. on the way back i had to take the cesna airplaine wich cost me $300 but it was worth it. the food was excellent, the two a la carte restaurants had an incredible variety of foods which my family enjoy a lot. over all the vacation was a lot of fun

Date of Stay: April, 2007

The hotel's rooms were adequate, comfortable. Next time I would stay in the rooms closer to the pool, we had a little walk which because I wasn't feeling well, seemed long. I liked the separate toilet from the rest of the bathroom. The beds were very comfortable. The staff couldn't have been any more helpful. I had forgotten my blood pressure meds and the nurse was able to duplicate the meds. I also saw the nurse because I had bronchitis and she was able to give me cough medicine that helped. I think the buffet was wonderful and selections were appealing. We didn't have a good experience in the steak/fish house. When we went for steak they were out of T-Bone and our selections were not cooked according to our requests. The night we went for fish, the reservations were not recorded properly and we weren't able to see the fish menu, instead they offered us a limited selection and we had to choose our appetizers from the steak menu, seemed very confusing, we didn't stay for dessert, we left and went back to the buffet for dessert. The pool was nice and the staff very friendly. The beach was not inviting, it was not the white sand but pebbles/rocks and the water was dark and very sandy. People looked like they bathed in mud when they came out. There was always a nice breeze at the beach and they had hammocks strung up for your comfort. We went in April and the weather was perfect. The down side to this resort is when you land in San Jose airport you need to take a taxi to another airport and take a small plane to the resort. If you attempt to take a taxi or a car it could take you 5 hrs to get there. Coming back our plane had another stop and it took us almost 2 hrs to get back to San Jose airport, you just have to make sure your plane doesn't have any stops but I don't know how many departures that little airport has. Our group took a day trip to Montezuma and Tortuga, it was a nice day trip and thoroughly enjoyed by all. The entertainment in the evening was most enjoy

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See 22 Photos	User Rating 4.0 out of 5 See 17 reviews Barcelo Tambor Beach Resort Puntarenas [] Tambor Paquera Puntarenas Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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Barcelo Tambor Beach Resort Puntarenas

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