Hotel and Club Punta Leona, Puntarenas

This all inclusive resort is beautiful and has so much to do! The rooms are comfortable and have AC, as well as good showers. The food is good and varied, and there are a lot of choices on the buffet. There are two beaches, and Playa Blanca was our favorite. Beautiful! The staff is friendly, the disco/mini golf course/volleyball courts/tennis courts/3 swimming pools/etc... All were great! Only problem revolved around bar tender at disco one night. Minors wear different wrist bands than adults legal to drink, but teens were served anyway. Otherwise, the place was great!

Rooms are gross..no matter what they say, alot of mold and dirty beds..very stinky. We love animals but we had mice in our room. Snakes following mice in is not uncommon..didn't get a good night's sleep that night. Service is not great, a different story from everybody. They charge you for everything, even clicking on the internet for 3 minutes in the lobby. Breakfast was mediocre. Dinner at El Grill was actually very good..not worth the stay but one of the better aspects. Beach Playa Blanca was beautiful but Costa Rica is loaded with beautiful beaches. Avoid Jaco area completely..much better locations in Costa Rica. The story with this place is that the 2 owners want to sell and refuse to put any more money into maintaining..it is very obvious. I lived in Costa Rica for a while and can tell you that this place is one to definetely avoid.

It is convenient from San Jose and the sea is great for swimming. the beach can be very crowded but it is pretty. The main reason we wouldnt go back was the service or lack thereof. Read in the Lonely Planet guide where they say they were interrogated by the security guard - us too and we had reservations. This is the start of the appalling service. When we arrived, we were kept waiting for 30 minutes to complete the checkin. 2 people behind the desk and 20 guests. One vital piece of check in info they forgot to impart was that this is the only place to get vouchers for a pool towel. So 10 minute drive to our room, and a 10 minute walk to the pool later and we were told we couldnt take any of the towels at the poolside because we didnt have the vouchers. The room was also disappointing (although friends had warned us 4 star price, 2 star rooms). Old furniture and not much of it - well lets call it "no frills." The sound on the TV wasn't working properly and so we resolved to get that sorted out before nighttime when we planned that the children would relax in front of TV while parents took cocktails onto the balcony. They sent a technician but he couldnt fix the problem. The following day we asked for a different TV. Nothing happened. On check out, we asked to speak to a manager and told him the entire saga of the TV - that during our two night stay we had not been able to use the TV at all. We had reported it within one hour of arrival but nothing had been done to our satisfaction and we wanted some 'compensation.' The manager said we could have a $10 credit (wow!) on our credit card. Would be applied on the next business day. I got the name of manager on duty who approved this and we left. I won't bore anyone - after 4 months, emails, phone calls and a letter, I never got any $10 refund and really $10 was an insult but to later refuse to honour it - I knew then, we will never go back and I will try and discourage anyone else from the experience.

Going back next year! We stayed at the Arenas Apartments which are condos. 2 bedrooms, kitchen, living/dining room & 2 full bathrooms. Excellent view of the white sand beach. We left the resort and had dinner several nights in Jaco, just a short trip south. Excellent beachside restaurants there. Nice pools & tennis courts. Staff were nice. The buffet wasn't very good, however the other 2 restaurants on the resort premises were fine.

I give them credit for great beaches, pools and the beautiful grounds. That is the good. The bad could go on and on but to name a few: reception desk attitude at check out, different information with every person you talk to, food is below standards for paying that much per meal, ROOM WAS SO MOLDY we couldnt hardly stay in it. There is many choices in the pacific Costa Rica - dont choose this one.

They have everything and were great. I was on a school trip to Costa Rica and Punta Leona made me not want to go home. Keep up the good work Punta Leona.

We really liked the site. I went twice and will go again. What we liked the most? Walking around in the few trails and at the beach, looking at the birds, the butterflies and the monkeys. We also liked the guided tour in the jungle. We learned a lot. It is a really nice place.

Let me start off w/ the positives: -great location, right on the beach and the rainforest hangs right over the water -two huge pools w/ a very nice drink bar -lots of wildlife on the hotel ground -entrance into hotel is breath taking -they have a disco (that's a dance club) Now the negatives: -while I was staying there I noticed they had a serious ant problem (like much of costa rica) -you need to spray your bed sheets with some kind of bug repellent to keep the ants off -the resort is huge! So be prepared to walk a while to get to your hotel room -the power does go out often.(I stayed for three nights, it went out twice) -the disco was pretty loud -pool was kind of dirty -and finally the hotel rooms were pretty dirty. (shower and floors weren't cleaned, the ants and, the bedsheets had hair in them from the last people.)

I was at the hotel with my college on a field trip. None of the other hotels we stayed in can compare to this hotel. It had everything we needed and more. We regreted leaving to go to San Jose. This was by far the best hotel I've stayed in outside the UK and the USA.

If you want the Waldorf go to NY. If you want the "Jungle" this is the place! We stayed in the Leonamar Suites (US Beach Style Condos) they were great for the price. I've stayed in very similar accomdations on many US beaches. The US beaches are no comparison to the amazing views and wildlife at Punta Leona. Iguanas and Acuta Mundes by the pool in Costa Rica and screaming kids in the US not much comparison. I've seen people knocking service, they could not be more wrong, maybe they are poor tippers or just give off bad vibes. You get back what you give! I CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK!!!