If we ever wanted to stay in Tamarindo, we would definitely return to this property!
This place is an 1 1/2 from LIR airport. The surrounding streets are full of shops and restaurants and places to book tours. Tamarindo Diria offers hotels rooms and condos. We stayed in the hotel so we would have full access to all the facilities and breakfast included. The condos only permit entry to one pool and required extra fee to include breakfast but no entry to workout room.
The elevator to our floor was fast, and we never had to wait. The queen beds on room 305 and 304 were super comfy and overlooked the ocean with a beautiful shaded balcony you could use to dry your wet suits. Showers worked well with good water pressure and didn't overflow. Towels were ample and fluffy. Bed sheets were soft. Other than hearing the beautiful birds singing and the roar of the ocean, we had a restful sleep in this section, away from the traffic noises. Floors in the rooms could have used a better cleaning - they made my feet dirty whenever I walked on them. Toilet paper was a bit rough.
Swimming pool choices were convenient and excellent. To get to the biggest pool you have to cross the street but there is always a crossing guard. That pool has a swim up bar, bridges with water coming down as you pass under them, a spouting stream which provides a nice massage, and a hot tub. There are also clean modern bathrooms next to the pool. We also swam in the smaller but still very adequate pool by the lobby. There is an outdoor shower by the entry to the beach.
The beach was beautiful, but unless you swim on the side where the surfers are, there are too many rocks and churned up red seaweed to enjoy. High tide swimming was better than low tide. The ocean is better suited for surfing than swimming but swimming is possible. You will not see much fish because the waves churn up the sand. The beach itself is easy to walk on with its packed down sand and sparse sprinkling of beautiful shells.
Mariachis frequent the property and you can hear them early evening serenading the property. You also see lots of horses passing along the beach. The workout room was adequate and cool.
The customer service was outstanding when I needed help to get to a hospital for in injury I received in town on the broken sidewalks. They delivered a wheelchair, called several medical facilities to find the best one to meet my medical needs, and set up a cab service. This took a lot of stress off this emergency situation.
The kitchen staff was very quick to clear off tables from unwanted dishes. The cooks at the various buffet stations for breakfast were very efficient and friendly and made the food exactly as I wished. We ate many delicious meals at several of their conveniently located next to the property restaurants - Pelican for seafood, NARI for coal fired pizza and delicious salads, Venezia Gelati for gelato, and Brisa Mar on the hotel premises itself where they also served the all inclusive breakfasts. Every meal was exceptional and reasonably priced. The buffet breakfast changes some of the entries daily so you can explore more cuisine. Every day they served multiple types of fruit, including pineapple, apple, papaya, banana, watermelon and others. They even have a gluten free section. There were multiple dry cereal choices. At one station they made crepe-like pancakes and crispy waffles with choice of maple syrup, vanilla, chocolate, honey. Another station served made to order eggs, with all the fillings you wanted. The pastry station included fruit filled Danishes, cinnamon buns, chocolate nut cookies, biscotti, pudding cake, coconut balls, red velvet muffins, Linzer tarts, and probably a dozen more options. They had platters of local cheeses and ham. Some of the changing dishes included eggy French toast, potato croquettes, sausage, bacon, rice, beans, cooked plantains, tomato egg casserole, mixed vegetables, plus several other choices, all of which were always well stocked. The juice machines included freshly squeezed green energy juice, pineapple, orange, passion fruit, watermelon, and water. They also had lots of coffee and tea options. there were several choices of breads and a toaster. I'm sure even with what I've just listed, I've left out some other meal options! They allowed us to order breakfast meals to go for our early tours (we sometimes left 6 AM) and the buffet was stocked with much of the food, except for the hot entries, as early as 6 AM. The hot food began around 7 AM.
The property is gorgeous and you will see lots of foliage, flowers, trees, iguanas, birds, squirrels, monkeys if you look carefully. The sunsets can be very nice if the clouds permit. Just wait for the afterglow. Every morning we watched from our balcony as the staff worked hard to dry the floors from daily rainfall and replace the outdoor cushions.
