TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

The staff were truly the highlight! Every person we interacted with the entire week was so welcoming. Have to shout out to Anderson in activities!

I will never stay at a Secrets resort again, especially not this location. For the amount of money we spent it wasn’t worth it. The photos online were completely misleading, and the experience didn’t match what was advertised. Every restaurant closed by 9:30 PM despite posted hours saying 10 PM, and there was absolutely no entertainment beyond a fire-throwing demonstration and a short water aerobics session. Even the volleyball net was taken down before the pool closed, which made the resort feel dull and inactive. Our excursions were over an hour and a half away, so if you’re planning activities, make sure you book in Congo Beach instead. Also be prepared to request transportation to and from your room — the distance from the lobby to the rooms is so far that walking isn’t realistic.

My wife and I just returned from Secrets Papagayo in Costa Rica and I wanted to write this review while everything is still fresh in my mind. We had a great vacation and loved the resort. I can honestly say that this was the best time we've ever had at a resort. Every employee we encountered was very friendly and helpful. I'm sure it's their job, but they all genuinely seemed to care about making sure we had a good time. The resort offers games, outdoor movies, and live shows every night down by the main pool that were pretty good, and afterwards a live DJ plays music at the main bar that's open late. The resort also offers special dinner shows a couple of nights a week, but there's an extra charge for them. There are also all types of excursions that you can book there that pick you up and return you to the resort, and we did one every other day, but I'll review them separately. The resort is adult only and entirely all-inclusive, and it's well worth it. It includes unlimited food and drinks (both alcoholic and non) at all restaurants and bars on property. There are 5 main restaurants, but you can get things like wings, nachos, burgers & more from all the poolside bars, and room service is available most of the day & night. I highly recommend that you scan the QR code shown everywhere so you can see opening and closing times and menus for all the restaurants and bars to avoid surprises, Seaside Grill is open air and has a nice selection of seafood, steaks, ribs etc... We ate there twice and really liked the fresh seafood. Note that breakfast is only available for preferred members, but lunch & dinner is open to all. Himitsu is a Pan-Asian restaurant with lots of Asian dishes and sushi. We ate there twice, once for dinner and another time at the Hibachi/Teppanyaki table (think Benihana's where the cook puts on a show) that requires a reservation. Portifono is an Italian restaurant and the only one that required long pants for men. We didn't get the chance to try their food but they had a nice selection of dishes. Aqua is open air has light & fresh cuisine with a selection of healthy dishes available. We ate there our first day at the resort and liked it very much. It's over by the spa pool bar which is much quieter than the main pool restaurants if you like that. Market Cafe is buffet style and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We ate breakfast there every morning. They have bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, plus a selection of local dishes that changes every day, plus a person cooking omelets, pancakes, & huevos rancheros to order, and lots of fruits, veggies, yogurt, etc... We didn't try lunch or dinner there. There are transport vans to take you from your room to the restaurants and back again, and we never had to wait more than 4 or 5 minutes for one to pick us up. The concierge desk is open all day and they were very helpful. Someone mentioned on another review that they felt pressured to do the timeshare or preferred member upgrade, but no one approached us the whole week. At check-in someone said they had prizes for us and to come see them the next day, so that must have been meant as an enticement, but we didn't go back to ask about it. The souvenirs at the resort were pricey, but there's a town called Playa de Coco that's about 30 minutes away with lots of restaurants, bars and more reasonably priced souvenir shops, and if you didn't rent a car a taxi will take you there and back for $60 for your whole party. We spent about 4 hours there shopping, walking on the beach, and having beers and snacks. A word of warning for those who don't speak Spanish: Every person you talk to will speak it to you at first, but they quickly switch to English when they see you no habla Espanol! Watch out for the people selling things on the beach. Their prices are very high and I'm sure you can negotiate a better price, but they are persistent and when I told them I didn't bring any cash they tried to get me to take the item with me and come back to pay them for it. I saw the same things they were selling at Playa de Coco for much lower prices. Although tips aren't necessary, we usually gave a dollar or two to the van drivers that we saw often and got to know, and giving a five to the bartenders each night keeps them coming to you whenever your drink was empty. They can make many kinds of drinks, and they use top shelf liquor like Bicardi, Stoli's, Kettle One, Jack Daniels, and Tito's. We were told that they don't make them strong on purpose to keep people from getting too drunk, but they'll add an extra shot if you ask for it.

Great nature walk with Anderson! Learned a lot and he was such a blast!

There just weren't enough activities, and the entertainment offered wasn't very engaging. I also didn't like that our room was so far from both our friends' rooms and the Marketplace, which made it less convenient to meet up throughout the trip. I found the dress code a bit inconsistent. Men weren't allowed to wear tank tops, but women were—even though the stated reasoning behind the policy wasn't very clear. That rule didn't seem to make much sense to me. I wasn't able to experience the specialty restaurants during my trip. One reason was the dress code—I didn't pack long pants because I was on a tropical vacation and didn't expect them to be required. I also wanted to dine at the hibachi restaurant, but I found the reservation process confusing. Being told to go to the Sea Grill between 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to make a reservation and then return later to the hibachi restaurant for dinner, wasn't very intuitive. The process felt unnecessarily complicated and could be made much simpler for guests. A more straightforward reservation system, such as booking through the app or at the restaurant itself, would make the experience much more convenient.