Gamboa Rainforest Resort

Really disappointed in this place. I had high hopes when booking. Booked online and don’t read the fine print. Please be careful if you decide to stay here. Do your research. Their cancelation fee is equal to the total booking price even if you get the higher rate for cancelation. A complete and total ripoff. I will be making a point to steer fellow people in the birding community away from this establishment. My wife was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and wanted to reschedule the four night stay for when she had time to recover from surgery. The $700.00 fee was a slap in the face. Unbelievable. Went through the formal appeal process and was denied without explanation. Worth the price in the end because any reasonable person would not want to stay here with these type of owners. What a scam.

Wonderful location. the hotel is surrounded by nature. you can see wild animals in the garden of the hotel. the hotel needs some renovation. the rooms are not always as clean as they should be. the hotel offers some excursions, but these are very expensive and not value the money they are asking. a simpel activity as aerial tram costs more than 45 USD, which is not worth for what you get to see.

We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at Gamboa Rainforest Reserve. The rooms were clean, our bed was quite comfortable and the view off our balcony was amazing. The staff were all friendly and knowledgeable. We enjoyed dinner & drinks in the Monkey Bar. Several days we were greeted by either Toucans, parrots or Titi monkeys as we walked down the breezeway.

The location and property are amazing! So peaceful, clean, friendly staff. It seems like a real missed opportunity though because the food is terrible! There is no coffee option before 8am and then you have to pay $25 for a very mediocre buffet. At 9am the monkey bar opens so you can get a coffee or espresso there. We ate one breakfast buffet and one dinner in the restaurant and both were enough to convince us not to eat there again. What you can eat: Caesar salad at the monkey bar was totally decent. Yuca fries were great! French fries were pretty good. We loved hanging around in our balcony in our hammock. The view was incredible. The pool is also very nice. Clean, great service at the pool bar. We did the complimentary night time safari and saw a lot of wildlife. Wild boars, caiman, sloth, turtles and some cool birds. We also did the aerial tram which I world not recommend. It was okay. Not worth the money at all though. Just go for a walk. Our visit to the local indigenous village was interesting, but strange. It felt contrived and awkward. Our guide didn’t speak very much English and was supposed to be our interpreter for the excursion. The fish they made us was though! Other animals we saw on property included monkeys, agouti, frogs, lizards and iguanas and so so many parrots and other birds.

Pros: the hotel is large, with a swimming pool, integrated into nature, spacious rooms with comfortable beds, balconies overlooking the mountains and hammocks, friendly staff, and pleasant meals. Cons: on one of the days we were informed that the water supply would be cut between 10 pm and 4 am. We adjusted our routines accordingly, but in the end, the lack of such an essential resource had a real impact on us. When we raised the issue, the manager dismissed our concerns, acted with disdain, and refused to make any adjustment to the final price. I filed a complaint with Booking, which eventually solved the problem. I would not return to this hotel due to the manager’s lack of consideration—she was rude and unfriendly.