Marcia Scholl

Review of SEETEL Hotel Bahía del Sol ***...

The restaurant is top-shelf by any measure - speci...

The restaurant is top-shelf by any measure - special shout out to Jose, a server there that should be running the place someday - the best attitude and personality I've encountered in a long, long time!

We were booked into a deluxe remodeled room (the remodels are lovely - the soaking tub IN the room is a bit weird at first glance, but hey, no judgement! ), but we chose to move to a suite to take advantage of a full kitchen for an 11 day stay. There is a decent market less than a 5 minute walk from the resort. While we liked the more authentic vibe of the suite, the beds and the sitting furniture in the living room could both be upgraded about 10 comfort levels...a massage later and I'm still sore.

The area isn't what I expected when I heard people talk about how beautiful Costa Rica is...the beaches are not really clean (except for the beach at Flamingo, which was pristine and the water blue!) or interesting and the tiny towns around the resort are devoid of any shopping or good restaurants. This is a pretty depressed area. There is talk of a marina being built that will accommodate yachts up to 200', but honestly, unless a lot of businesses invest heavily there isn't much to draw that clientele.

We just returned so the rainy season was starting - wasn't really a problem for us, there was still a lot of sun to be had etc. One thing I would suggest is getting a car vs. a golf cart (we got a cart) - there are areas to visit that are "out of the area" for most carts and forget about most dirt road exploring AND if it rains (and when it rains it POURS) you're housebound. If you really, really want to ride on the beach rent a ATV for a day and have at it.

The people we met were really friendly and hard working. I got the sense though that most are living just one half step away from intense hardship.