Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort, Costa Rica, Review

We just spent a week at the Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort in Costa Rica. Here’s our review of our nice break from the extreme cold of Canada. This wasn’t my first time in Costa Rica. For my previous trip details check out the posts here: https://bowsingnomnoms.com/category/costa-rica/

Airport Transfer

The resort was 35-minute drive from the Liberia (LIR) Airport in Guanacaste. We booked our trip through Costco Travel and the transfer was included (through Tui Destination Services). Their instructions were clear and their staff greeted us right outside the airport. We emailed them a couple of days before our arrival to confirm that we had a carseat for our transfer. They were very quick with their correspondence, so we felt reassured. On arrival, the greeters at the airport also made sure with the driver that this was installed for us. We did not have to wait very long for our private shuttle (compared to our bad experience with Amstar on our last trip to Mexico).

Check-In

Check-in was smooth and lovely. Their lobby is absolutely beautiful and had a breathtaking view of the bay. We were greeted with fresh coconut juice (the most delicious coconut juice we’ve ever tasted) and a refreshing cool towel. They had our luggages set up in a golf cart/buggy already and we were driven to our hotel room immediately after check-in. We were even given a brief tour of our room. We appreciated how streamlined this was as we were able to enjoy the pool before dinner.

Room

We booked a partial bay view king room and it was very spacious with a separate shower over looking the bay and private water closet as well as a nice balcony. We added on an extra rollaway bed at no extra charge. The room looked very clean with plenty of towels as well as bath robes. Other amenities include: adult and child-sized hats and flip flops, as well as a mini bar with complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic drinks. Beer and spirits were also available in room (surcharge).

Dining

With our package through Costco, we had the buffet breakfast included. We did not, however, purchase the food packages for lunch/dinner and drinks. There were two level of food and drink packages: deluxe and premium. Note that there are restrictions to what is included, such as the types of alcohol. Room service will also not be included. We enjoyed the flexibility of being able to order a la carte. On average, we spent another $200 USD per day on food, drinks, and activities.

In terms of dining options: There are 3 restaurants on site: Chao Pescao, Gaio and Ostra. There is also Meso which is at their affiliated beach club, Casa de Playa. You can also choose to eat poolside/beach front as well as in your room. 

We dined at all 3 restaurants most of our meals being at Gaio, their main restaurant, where the breakfast buffet was served. It was a centrally located restaurant right next to the main pool, so it was convenient to go swimming right after breakfast. They had a bread/pastry station, hot food station (including rice and beans, scrambled eggs, bacon, various stews, fried plantains), a granola/oatmeal/chia/cereal station, cold cuts and deli section as well as a fruit/juices section. You could order basic tea/coffee, hash browns and eggs from the server as part of the buffet. Their options remained similar day to day, so it would have been nice to try their a la carte menu for variety. The servers offered basic coffee and tea but they also had a coffee station set up right outside their specialty coffee shop with pour over, espresso and cold brew options. If you wanted specialty espresso drinks such as a cappuccino, you can order that too (surcharge).

For lunch, they serve casual eats similar to the options you can get by the pool/beach/room service. At night, they transform into an Italian restaurant. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of their wood-oven pizza and ordered this several times throughout our stay. They had an extensive kid’s menu but our little one kept ordered their mini pizza as her default meal. Since she was under 5, she was able to order food off the kid’s menu for free. If she wasn’t able to finish her meal, we were able to pack this to-go for her to snack on later. 

We had our first dinner experience at Chao Pescao, since we saw that they had live music that evening. We loved the ambiance and the food was excellent. They specialized in Latin American and Caribbean cuisine. Their menu was fun with a picture of a map and the dishes corresponding to each of the areas. We had ordered the al ajillo prawns from Mexico, rice and beans with chicken from Costa Rica, roasted octopus from Chile and sugar cane brisket from Columbia. Our favourite was the brisket and chicken. We ordered some fun cocktails but what we were impressed by was their fresh mango juice. It tasted like the actual fruit and was very refreshing. We had ordered the tostadas off the kid’s menu and we couldn’t help but to snack on it as well. We appreciated that they had a colouring book and pencil crayons to keep our little one entertained. 

Lunch options were limited – with most of the menu options being similar, whether you enjoyed it at Gaio, by the pool/beach or in your room. Our usual order here was the pizza and steak tacos. We also tried their salads and bowls which were unremarkable. One of the days, we had lunch at Mesa at their beach club. Unfortunately, we were not able to fully enjoy the experience, since it was super windy that day with sand blowing into our food. Of note, all of their dining options are outdoors, with in-room dining as their only indoor option, unless you want to book a private dining experience in one of their event studios.

We had dinner twice at Ostra, their Asian-inspired specialty restaurant. We ordered off their main menu one evening then their sushi menu (AKA Perla – their counter/high top section) another evening. The service was extraordinary here and they were very attentive and remembered us and our preferences from our previous visit. Note if you can order off their main menu at their sushi section but cannot order off their sushi menu at their main seating area. From their main menu, we had their chicken satay, pork adobo bites, Indonesian fried rice and the blushing grouper. I’m always skeptical of over-priced Asian food but I was actually pleasantly surprised that all the dishes were very tasty. Even their amuse bouche, which was a concentrated pho broth was amazing. They had a different kid’s menu with their steak and mashed potatoes as one of our favourite eats here. On the other hand, their sushi menu was a little disappointing. I enjoyed their tuna tataki and hamachi sashimi but their nigiri and rolls were not very good. Their rice seems to have been over-seasoned with vinegar which tipped the balance of the flavour profile. 

We ordered in-room dining one evening and had their linguine agilo e olio, burger, and meatballs with rice and broccoli (kid’s menu). For dessert, we tried their peach tart with vanilla ice cream, as well as coconut sorbet. The food was standard with the ice cream’s texture being a bit off. The burger and coconut sorbet were excellent.

One perk of this resort is having access to a shuttle (aka private transfer for the most part) to other parts of the peninsula, so we did venture out to the Four Seasons and Ritz Carlton as well as Papagayo Park for meals some days to expand our dining options and for a change of scenery.

Service

The service was overall great. We appreciated the WhatsApp communication with reception for most requests and inquiries. I couldn’t help but to compare it to the extraordinary services of cruise lines and resorts such as Club Med, though. It would have been nice if the dining staff at the main restaurant remained consistent like at Club Med and cruises which helped with personalization of the experience. On the last day of the our stay, they were quite busy at breakfast time and service quality did drop. As a result, we were not able to order our usual items as the servers seemed too busy, which was disappointing. On the other hand, one nice service was having access to the buggies when we needed a ride or was too tired to club the hills back to our room. Our little one really enjoyed these rides and the drivers were always very friendly and willing to help. 

Ambiance

For a luxury resort, the ambiance was not too stuffy, which I appreciated. It was pretty laid back and the vibe was very Costa Rican (hence the local saying “pura vida”). There was a mix of young couples, retirees and young families. Dress code was casual through out our stay without any specific restrictions for dining at night (compared to hotels like the Four Seasons and Ritz which did have more strict dress codes). It was not too busy when we were there, except for our last morning. As a result, did not feel rushed to need to reserve spots by the pool or beach. There were never long lines anywhere. The only thing that requires a bit of planning ahead is dinner at the specialty restaurants but if you’re flexible with time of dinner, it was usually not an issue.

Activities

There were 2 small beaches on site. We briefly visited Sombrero Oscuro, which was a small beach close to the main pool. They had beach chairs to lounge on as well as complimentary equipment for water activities available, including snorkelling, stand up paddle boats and kayaks. As they did not have sand toys available, from here we took the speedboat over to their beach club, Casa de Playa. This was a larger beach with full beach-side service, various lawn games, a pool as well as a restaurant. The boats run every 15 minutes and took a break during lunch. Another option is to take the shuttle over. We did not end up visiting Sombrero Clara, as we assumed it was more appropriate for adults-only guests as it was close to the adults-only pool of the resort. According to the website, it is a natural beach with no resort services. Note both beaches on site are not wheelchair accessible as you will need to take many stairs to go down to the beach.

There were multiple pools on site with one being adult-only. There was a zero-entry pool but we found the water temperate a bit cooler, so we mostly stayed at a smaller pool close to Gaio, which was warmer. There were no life jackets or floaties available, so remember to bring your own if needed! We found out at the end of our stay that there was one floatie available to borrow from the kid’s club but it was only one, so again, it’s better to just bring your own. They did have water stations with plenty of clean towels, sunscreen, and insect repellent available throughout the pool and beach areas.

One fun part of our stay at this resort is the wildlife sightings. We saw various birds, monkeys, lizards throughout the stay, whether it’s walking back to our room or during our meals. Since we did not go on any wilderness excursions, these sightings were very much welcomed. Speaking of excursions, we were considering a coffee tour but it would’ve been a 2.5-hour drive which would have been not very enjoyable for our 4 year old. 

They had various wellness and cultural activities on site from 8am –  4pm. This includes yoga/sound healing classes, art classes, Spanish lessons as well as cooking/barista/mixology classes. Most were available for a fee. I took the sound healing class one day and was the only attendee and got a private class. Apparently January wasn’t a very busy time, with February having more guests staying. I did wish they had classes earlier in the day, as it would’ve been nice to do some classes before breakfast.

There is a spa on site with various treatment rooms, as well as a hot tub, cold plunge and sauna which are included with your stay. There was also an indoor and outdoor gym with various strength and cardio equipment. They also had an outdoor yoga space and dojo where classes would take place.

They had a kids club, Cambi, which was clean, spacious and well-equipped with both an indoor and outdoor space. The staff were very friendly. Unfortunately, it was not well attended, so our little one did not feel as comfortable staying behind. They had structured activities all day but the registration was lacking. We did drop her off for a short while one afternoon, then for the rest of our visits, one of us would stay there while she played/participated in activities. 

For one of our days, we took the shuttle over to Papagayo Park, which was a new addition to the peninsula with fitness equipment, tennis, basketball and pickleball courts, lap pool, water slides, a splash pad, playground, and pump track. They also had an art studio was classes each day. The facilities were just open one month ago and wasn’t very busy when we visited. Like the rest of our stay, there were towels, sunscreen available. They had a small change room showers, and multiple washrooms on site as well. They were also constructing what looked like a roller coaster.

Overall

Overall, we had a lovely stay at the Andaz Peninsula Papagayo. If we were to return, it would be nice to rent a car to explore other parts of Costa Rica when our little one is older. It would also be nice to travel with other friends/family with kids so they can enjoy the kid’s club together. 

Hope you liked this review. Happy travelling!