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Has anyone stayed at the Occidental Grand Papagayo in Costa Rica?
12:01:46 am on November 21, 2009 | by bianca |
I leave for my honeymoon in the tiny over 3 weeks. you was originally starting to Cancun, yet given of the sow flu, my fiance got unequivocally nervous. We quiescent to revisit Costa Rica, yet have never been there. Just wondering if a little 1 has a little tips, or a little comments! Thanks!
Pretty Thing 12:01 am on November 21, 2009 |
We went to the Occidental for a 5 day stay as part of a convention from the States. We didn’t make some of the arrangements ourselves, so were a little worried about our stay-no worries necessary, we had a wonderful time. But not everyone in our group enjoyed the resort as much as we did, unfortunately.
and spent some kind romantic time down there, watching the moon and listening to the waves. There’s a sweet open air Spa, which we didn’t get a chance to try; and there’s live music every night on the beautiful hotel veranda- we loved that, but it is a relaxed scene, not ‘exciting or trendy’- you’ll need to leave the resort for that! There’s a tiny disco, ofen taken over by groups of tipsy bridal parties- which is entertaining in it is own way! 
Our entire stay was wonderful- our room was lovely & spotlessly clean. The hotel is situated in a hilly location and there is quite a bit of walking, (we called the HILL up to our room ‘El Oso’- the Bear!) but nothing the average, fit person can’t handle- and if you have problems, there are many little ‘buses’ scampering about the grounds that may bring you wherever you want to go. We had a lovely balcony, which looked out over the grounds- the best place to have coffee, or a cocktail and watch for wildlife (which abounds some over the resort). We fell in love with the clever Bluejays who have learned to steal sugar from the open air restaurant!
The pool is large enough, and we always found a spot to relax around it; the hotel has activities that happen around the pool and resort everyday- we took a free sunset walk 1 night and our young guide was sweet and informative. The beach is not large, but was never crowded, and there’s plenty of equipment to rent (for a small fee) to snorkel, kayak, etc. We discovered the beach was quite deserted a night (except for the crabs
his restaurant system is a little different- they have 3 main restaurants, and since it is some-inclusive, you may eat wherever you like BUT you have to get up early to make supper reservations, and I think there are restrictions as to how many times you may visit each 1, but we had no problems there. The Japanese & Italian restaurants were wonderful- ask for the balcony at the Italian restaurant- beautiful. Breakfast & lunch are buffet style and quite delicious. The food is mostly locally based, lots of fish, bean & rice dishes & unbelievable fresh fruit, but well prepared and plentiful. They also have some standard ‘American’ cost- cheeseburgers, hot dogs, etc - I saw people eating these tho couldn’t understand why, with some the tasty local choices.
The thing we enjoyed most at the Resort? The Staff! We LOVED the Costa Rican people (easily the warmest local people we’ve met in our travels) and with 1 exception, every staff member we came catycorner was polite and friendly. I am trying to learn Spanish, and they seemed delighted with my poor efforts to speak his language. They would help me learn new words, and I felt no sense ‘tolerate the tourist’ but rather a true delight that we were interested in his culture. Now, except for the girl who worked the night desk in the lobby, everyone spoke English very well, so speaking his language isn’t necessary. But IS fun!
I always leave a small $ for the maid every day because I know they make hardly some money ( once upon a time I WAS a hotel maid) and our small tips brought good rewards- every day our room had a new little ‘delight’ in it- little vase of flowers, our towels made into swans, flowers around the tub! Made us feel special & pampered.
We met an independent trip guide on the beach, Jaime (say ‘Hi-Mae’), who was good & tons of fun. He arranged a whole day trip for us, traveling down the shore to Surf! I’ve always wanted to try but there’s not a lot of surfing opportunities in the Midwest. He arranged a surf lesson (we fell off the board- a lot!), took us to an unbelievable restaurant on the beach (delicious lobster!) and to several other beach towns, and a hidden beach market where we bought some good (and cheap) souvenirs. There is a lot of petty crime in some of the towns, and Jaime made us feel safe, and watched our things while we swam and shopped.We went thru the mountains, several small towns, and Jaime told us some about the local culture, people, government, etc. He is quite the character and talks and laughs non-stop, but we had the most unbelievable day, and felt like we had really experienced the area in depth. Ended the day at a hidden beach, at a people bar, enjoying cocktails & the sunset- some for about 2/3 the price of a ‘regular’ Day trip. Jaime’s ‘office’is the second tree from the resort beach steps, and he can arrange some kind of Costa Rican tour you like!
I should mention others in our group did not enjoy his stay as much- they reported mold problems, water problems, and did not care as much for the food. However those people travel quite a bit, and had high expectations. his problems were NOT our experience, tho, we really enjo
william a 12:01 am on November 21, 2009 |
have not stayed there
but I have seen some videos about papagayo here
http://www.costaricapuravida.info/