Hard Rock Papagayo

A nice hotel as long as you understand that it is a 3 star. Features are dated, bathroom shows signs of wear, but the pool and beach are great. Staff are friendly and majority speak great English so communication is not difficult.

Avoid the Palo Verde boat tour during (Canadian) Summer as many of the animals are not there during that time of year- making it a waste of money, especially since there are monkeys on the beach at the resort and by the main lobby.

If you manage your expectations and expect 3 star quality it's a great hotel, but don't expect to be getting 4/5 staff quality at a 3 star price. It is an older hotel, the rooms and communal spaces show their age but things are still clean and well maintained.

It is outside of Liberia (20 Minutes) and between 2-3 hours away from most major attractions (rainforests/volcanoes) so if you are hoping to do a lot of sight-seeing be prepared for a long, bumpy bus ride. [Details]

The hotel is tropical, clean and has atmosphere. It is not new, but is well maintained, and it's location surely cannot be beat. The staff are helpful and cheerful and do an excellent job. The view from the lobby is wonderful. It is not a five star hotel by it doesn't ned to be. We will go back. [Details]

Very nice resort and location.
Costa Rica is amazing and worth the trip for anyone who can make it.

The resort was fair and did fit its 4 star rating. No problems whatsoever.
The food was good and people were really nice. Also the monkeys! they are a sight to see! [Details]

REALLY GOOD EXPERIENCE- NICE BEACHES, OCEAN, WILD LIFE, FRIENDLY STAFF. GOOD FOOD IN THE BUFFET AND RESTAURANTS.
THANK YOU. [Details]

I loved our stay here. The walking did suck but they had a shuttle around the resort which was awesome [Details]

This is my second time there and it was fantastic. The staff are fantastic, always friendly and helpful, the resort is starting to show its age a little bit, a waterline in the bathroom burst and flooded the room before I could shut it off but the staff quickly cleaned it up and repaired the pipe. Even with that it is still a great place to stay. You get lots of exercise if your room is higher up on the hill. Food was good and very tasty. The black sand beach is ok but the white sand beach club beach is nice, it feels a little more like the caribbean. I will be back! [Details]

Hotel was a little rough around the edges, a little housekeeping and maintenance would go along way. Food was spectacular, scenery and beach were awesome. [Details]

We stayed at this hotel in January 3 years ago and liked it so much we wanted to stay longer. This time was a different story. There were over 250 high school students that showed up with a certain company that organizes school trips.
They were disrespectful and rude. Their main goal was to get drunk and act stupid. The chaperones are a joke.

There was a quiet area at one end of the pool and they couldn't even stay out of there. Instead you had to worry about getting hit in the head with a Frisbee and listen to the F word every 2 seconds. This was an embarrassment to Canada.

The hotel was overrun and the staff over worked. It looked like extra security was called in to try to deal with the nonsense that was going on.

The food was pretty good but many people were sick including myself. At times it tasted like tap water was being served instead of bottled water.

It is very dry this time of year and there were fires burning up in the hills. The smoke would blow towards the resort and ash was floating down out of the air.

The hotel is getting a bit run down. Our toilet wobbled and the air conditioner made an awful racket. The bed would make this cracking sound when you got off it like the box spring was ready to break. I thought we may end up on the floor.

There was talk that the hotel is going to be renovated this summer.

Internet was terrible. When we were there before we had to pay for it and it worked well. Now it is free and only works sometimes.

Lots of monkeys on the beach that are fun to watch.

Not a good place for someone with mobility issues. Hills to the rooms are steep. There is a shuttle you can take if you don't want to walk but there are still 3 flights of stairs up from the pool to where the shuttle stops.

We would never return to this hotel in March. [Details]

I was happy with the whole package they say they will be closing the Resort for renovation soon in the Spring 2014. The location and food with service from staff all up to the standard we were expecting, we would return any time. [Details]

My husband and I had a wonderful time at this resort. The food was fantastic and the staff were friendly. The rooms were clean and no bugs. The bed was comfortable. They have shampoo and body wash dispensers but the soap dispenser was empty and the bar soap is OK. I'd bring my own. The hotel itself could definately could use some updating, which I believe is in the works.
We made coffee from the tap water and had no issues. That being said if you did not want to drink the tap water there are ice and distilled water dispensers throughout the resort. The housekeeping was OK. You had to ask for coffee and bottled water to be replenished. The only issue we had is that you had to pay for the use of the safe. There was lots of wildlife to see around the resort, including Kaput Chen Monkeys (the best!!), Racoons,Coaties and Iguana's. We did a day trip that included horseback riding, zip lining, a giant luge water slide, a mud bath and hot springs. We had a blast. And a 1/2 day boat ride to Coco Beach for food and shopping. I would recommend both. We had a very memorable trip and I would definately return to this resort. [Details]

4 star?? more like a 1 or 2 star. dirty, in need of a face lift, same food at buffet every day. Our third time in Costa Rica and the first time unsatisfied. We were sick from food every day. Bar was a disappointment as well. Trapped at resort, could get cab out, but they only allowed it in 4 hour intervals. We are not hard to please, complaining type of people, but this place sucked!! Would never recommend this to a friend I wanted to keep!!! [Details]

We had a good time the food was really good, did not try the Italian as others said it was not the greatest. The beds were comfy and we lucked out and got put in building 11 so we didn't have to go up the hill that much. The room we only used for sleeping and we are not that picky, yes it could have been cleaned a little better as the tile in the bathroom was not the cleanest, with mildew. Our phone did not work when we got there, but the front desk had that fixed by the time we made it back to the room. The beach was nice but nothing to see when snorkeling. I would not say that this is a 4 star more like a 3 star, but we did have a nice time, you do need to book excursions as it does get a little boring. It was great to see all of the wildlife at the resort there were monkeys on the beach and lizards and iguanas wondering around the property. If you are going for a week away to get away from the cold, and are not too picky and don't mind the hills ( there is a shuttle that you can use that was not too busy most of the time) I would suggest to stay here. [Details]

Room was clean..bathroom so so..no handle on balcony screen door..somedays no coffee in room..coffee pot not so good. Overall the staff were accomodating..activities during day were okay. beautiful pool..beach was a not a beach with white sand & too far to walk into water. Overall we enjoyed our stay..weather was really beautiful [Details]

It was just a hotel. The beds although not amazing we slept good every night. Food was very very good and the staff evry pleasant as well. [Details]

Setting is beautiful, food was great, staff is friendly, rooms are awful - our room had no hot water and needed a really good clean and updating. [Details]

was a fun stay good location food was good could use more bartenders sometimes long line ups overall had a good time [Details]

A/C was very loud, shut off at night for a good sleep. Food was ok. Pool area was nice. Couldn't connect to WIFI. Read all reviews, the resort was better than expected. [Details]

The bathroom in our room was leaking at the bottom of the bowl into the bedroom.

The food was not to our expectations. [Details]

Had a great time, food was good, Beds and linen service was under par and a lot to be desired but still comfortable. check in was fast and weather was perfect.don't read too much into the online reviews. go with real expectations. and Please do NOT feed the animals. While the tours are expensive for some they are located quite a distance. staff friendly and dont worry much about tips. no change for tips at this location as well. internet free in lobby and buffet but does not work most of the time. my only pet peeve was the amount of people on their cell phones while on vacation. this hotel is built on HILL but there is a bus every 10 minutes however there are steps to access pool, buffet and beach. lots of excercise [Details]

we had a good time, people were very nice we did a couple of tours,must do.resort is a 3 star. but for the price we paid it was ok. our friends had problems with the AC and toilet. beds were not that good,but then again istill got sleep. [Details]

This is a 2.5 star at best. Not working in our room, fan, phone, lamp. Worms crawling on floor daily. Had to ask to have room swept, floor and corners very dirty. To secluded from other areas, having to relay on a shuttle to get to room became annoying, to hilly for walking. Beach had BLACK SAND. [Details]

Allegro Papayago [Details]

The hotel was ok. Location is very secluded and far from anything and everything. Service was fantastic, extremely friendly and accomodating. Had two issues (no towels left in the room one day...called twice...took 2.5 hours to have them delivered and our first visit to the a la carte resulted in us not receiving ANY food - they completely forgot to serve us...we left after 40 minutes...when we brought it to the manager's attention, they definitely made up for it and apologized sincerely). Overall, great people and excellent service. [Details]

Great location, staff was helpful,food not as good as when we were there 6 yrs ago. Pool was awesome,room was clean. We were there during Xmas, and there were line ups for everything. 20 min wait at the pool bar when it opened, line ups to get into the buffet. [Details]

We were not surprised too much, thanks to reading many reviews by previous travellers. It was a nice week of relaxation in a beautiful part of the world. The staff was very friendly although at times when we needed quick service it was not provided. ie: arrived to room with broken toilet and took until late eve to fix. We enjoyed the warm clear water at the beach and looked past some of the grooming that was lacking (lots of fallen leaves, branches). The shuttle service was very helpful and never longer than a 5min wait. I needed to see the doctor, he was extremely thorough and caring. Staff was very pleasant. The pool was beautiful and clean. The resort was full and never felt overcrowded. Loved the smaller resort. [Details]

The resort was not at all what we had expected, but it was a good location to rent a car and leave the hotel. A central location to see lots of different flora and fauna on your wish list.
Don't expect great rooms, cleanliness and bring your own booze. They don't even have typical local rum. The food however was good, better at the buffet than the a la carte. [Details]

Our over all experience was favourable. We enjoyed our vacation once we got settled in.
That said .. We experienced problems before and immediately following check-in. The check in was very late, and poorly organized. Our room was missing bathroom linens, iron/ board, coffee, and our air conditioner and bar fridge were not cold. The front desk staff did not respond satisfactorily to rectify these issues, however, our Nolitour rep (Jacques) got involved and everything was resolved very quickly. (Thank you Jacques!)
The food was very good. There was good variety at the buffet. The service and food were excellent in the a-la-carte restaurants.
The staff in the bars and restaurants were friendly and helpful.
The pool, pool deck, and pool bar/lounge were great. The pool was very large and had plenty of deck area, chairs, and tables. We were given beach towels and a bottle of rum in our room at check-in. (we needed the towels as we initially had no bathroom towels). We were able to exchange our beach towels at the pool area whenever we wished. The room balcony was nice, as was the view. We sat out several times.
The site was very steep. The resort provided regular minivan service to move folks back and forth from Rooms, Restaurant & Pool areas, and main lobby.
We would not recommend this resort for elderly or handicapped individuals because of the steep topography.
The beach area was nice, and the water was warm and clear. There were plenty of tours/adventures available on site, but it was very expensive to travel into Liberia ...80 bucks by taxi.. and no shuttle or buses availble.
The rooms were large, comfortable, and clean. The Bathroom was very nice. The showers were large, water pressure great...a pleasure to use.
As usual in Costa Rica, there was plenty of wild life to observe. We had white faced monkeys in the grove at the beach,and howlers on site. There were iguanas and even racoons to be seen regularly.
Lots of activities provided for Kids, and they have a large safe kids pool. [Details]

This hotel needs more staff and better management. Housekeeping does not replace towels regularly, we had to wait in our room hours for towels, sometimes soap or shampoo before we can shower. Check in process needs much improvement, long lines, long wait, once for wrist band then after 3pm for hotel keys, basically first day was lost. Check out, we were not informed that the beach towels needed to be returned to front desk another discomfort rushing back to room to get those. Hotel lobby bar not open during check out whilst tourists flooded the lobby, no water or juice available. Boarding bus for hotel, that system needs major improvement, was quite chaotic. Food was OK. Staff friendly and helpful. Pool bar, long lines for drinks most of the day. [Details]

Worst all inclusive I have ever been to. [Details]

Hotel was quite secluded and very private. Has everything you need - pool, beach, bars, etc. Food was actually very good for what I usually expect from an all-inclusive. The staff was so friendly and helpful. Rooms could use a little fixing up (bathroom)but did the job, we were rarely in the room. Close enough to other areas of costa rica worth visiting if you are the adventure type like us. [Details]