Occidental Papagayo reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

4.0 Very Good

  • Cleanliness 4.0
  • Location 4.0
  • Rooms 4.0
  • Service 4.0
  • Value 4.0

7760 TripAdvisor reviews

TripAdvisor users rated this property 2 out of 5

Pretty, but food options disappointing.

Mary J on Feb 02, 2025

Pros: The resort was beautiful. The pools and beach were great. The view from the room was amazing! The resort is very spread out so there is a lot of walking which we had no problem with. Disco was fun. Cons: Food. Restaurants were hard to get into. Buffet was just ok. No food available after 9:30. Not enough water provided in fridge. 2 bottles per day per couple, if you're lucky. Entertainment nonexistent. Whole group got sick (diarrhea) at end of stay.

TripAdvisor users rated this property 5 out of 5

Relaxing Vacation!

ttrhmr (Maine) on Feb 01, 2025

I was nervous after booking this resort with the amount of negative reviews I was seeing. My experience was so opposite that I felt obligated to write about my experience. This resort was absolutely fine. Put your worries away. If you’re looking to spend some time relaxing in a beautiful, and quiet, setting this is yet. Check-in was a breeze. Our room wasn’t ready, but we got a bracelet and were able to use the facilities while we waited. We ate lunch and it was ready by the time we were finished. We upgraded to premium and it was well worth it. The check-in area was in the private lounge separate from most other guests checking in. The lounge was also a nice place to spend the evenings chatting and playing cards. The drinks/liquor options were high quality. I recommend the espresso martini! This resort is built on a hill so there is a lot of walking or stairs, but never a problem for us. The gym was adequate. Small, but had weights, weight machines and cardio equipment. The spa treatments were more affordable than most places and I felt the service was just as good. We had a couples massage and I also had a Vichy massage. The buffet was limited, but the resort is small so it was expected. We never lacked in finding something we liked. Oriental was our favorite restaurant and we highly recommend. There is a grill and I didn’t even know this existed. Plenty of chairs by the pool and no need to reserve them. There is no diet soda for the fridge, but they did provide beer, water, coke and Fresca. The beverage refill is later in the day - not when they clean your room. There is nightly turn down service. Our room was cleaned every day except one and on that day when we asked for fresh towels they were brought to within 5 minutes. We didn’t spend much time at the beach, but the view was gorgeous and chairs plentiful. There is public beach access adjoining the property so we did see lots of locals set up there. We didn’t opt to go on any excursions, but play golf twice at a course 20 minutes from the resort that we would highly recommend - Tres Volcanes. It was a decent 18 hole course with a nice restaurants for food and drinks after the round. We used uber both times without issue and fairly inexpensive. Like I said, this is a small and quiet resort for relaxing. They had someone playing music three of the evenings. Out side of that it was just us entertaining ourselves, but that’s why we picked this place. It that’s what you’re going for too then don’t hesitate to pick this location.

TripAdvisor users rated this property 5 out of 5

Gorgeous & relaxing vacation!

Andrea S on Feb 01, 2025

We just returned and had a wonderful experience at Occidental Papagayo! Our room was always clean with an amazing view! While the buffet was small in size, we loved everything we ate and one of us is a fairly picky eater! We ate at all 3 a la carte restaurants and the food was absolutely delicious! We booked the premium room (which didn't cost much extra) and it was completely worth it! Our 5 night stay would've only let us eat at 1 a la carte, but with premium we were able to get all 3! The premium lounge had great drinks and was always quiet and relaxing. We love the smaller pool and never had a problem getting chairs - no matter what time of day we came. The bartenders were all fabulous. The beach was gorgeous and we had fun exploring the coral and snorkeling with our own gear. Our only caution would be for those with mobility issues. The resort is on a hillside so everything is climbing up or down. We have no health issues so it didn't bother us in the least and is totally worth it for the gorgeous views. We would highly recommend booking excursions through Frank the Tank (we found him in the "Occidental Papagayo Costa Rica Official Guests Group" Facebook group). He books the same excursions as the other tour groups but at a fraction of the cost with wonderful service. Overall we have no complaints and would return in a heartbeat! Great food, service, and views. We saw the howler monkeys on two separate days, which was just the icing on the cake! We highly recommend!

TripAdvisor users rated this property 5 out of 5

Cold Escape

Vicki J on Jan 30, 2025

We loved Occidental Papagayo. The resort was perfect for us. It had great service and perfect weather. We loved that it was adults only where we could relax. We had a room in building 1 overlooking pool and it was great! There were a lot of steps but we counted it as our exercise for the day!

TripAdvisor users rated this property 5 out of 5

Pura Vide in Costa Rica

2-4travl on Jan 29, 2025

We loved the Occidental Papagayo. We arrived and were took up to First Club to be checked in. The staff was so friendly and helpful. We were in room 135 in building #1. Our room was nice, it overlooked the main pool. We were close to main building which was very walkable. The pools were very well kept and refreshing. The food was good. The service was great. It was a wonderful time in Costa Rica! We will return.

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