Originally Posted by tasnam
Zarcero,
I will be at the Marriott Los Suenos in three days (Dec 7th).
What activites would you recommend (or avoid) that would be within...say 1-1/2 hours? (Meaning day drive activities only)
Tasnam
Spent this past Presidents Day long weekend at Marriott Los Suenos this year. The MUST DO is Manuel Antonio National Park. It's about 90 minutes drive from the hotel.
We had the hotel rent a driver for us for the day--I believe it was $250, but nothing is cheap in Costa Rica. When we got to the park, a guide offered his services--$50 for about 4 hours. Truly spectacular.
The guide was very knowledgeable, and had a telescope for focusing on wildlife close up. He spotted creatures we would never have noticed in a milion years. And the beaches in the park are gorgeous.
The LS hotel itself is about average or maybe slightly above for a Marriott (but its accessibility to the Manueal Antonio National Park a huge plus). Ditto for the Marriott San Jose where we stayed about three years ago in terms of hotel quality and overall experience. If I were only going to go to Costa Rica once in the next decade, and had Marriott points to burn, I might wait two or so years for construction of the new JW Marriott in Guanacaste to be completed. It's well north--but apparently in a gorgeous setting where a Four Seasons hotel is already getting raves, and Hyatt too is building.