Hotel Makanda by the Sea

My stay was amazing from start to finish. The staff is very attentive and always one step ahead. They really treat you like royalty and are super nice and welcoming. Always greeting you with a smile and helping wherever they can. The property is amazing, too. 10/10 everything.

My son and DIL booked this honeymoon at Makanda for the presidential suite 6 months ago. They are both active duty military and do not have flexibility with their schedules. Makanda emailed them 2 weeks before the honeymoon telling them that they overbooked and cannot accommodate them on these dates! What?!? He was just speaking with the concierge about special honeymoon plans the week before! We find out that Makanda lied to us. They didn’t overbook! A production company wanted to use the resort for a commercial- and only gave them 2 weeks notice?!? That doesn’t seem right! They did NOTHING to help my son. They didn’t help to find alternate accommodations elsewhere and he asked for reimbursement of his airfare and they didn’t respond. When asked to talk to a manager they acted like they didn’t understand English. My husband and I stayed there 10 years ago and I just CANNOT believe they would do this. It sounds like they sent the same email to everyone booked at Makanda and cleared the whole resort. Shame on them for not making it right for these people. The money they made booking this commercial should go back to these people and either reimburse their airfare or give them a voucher to stay for free at an alternate date! This is disappointing!

We visited with another couple to celebrate my husband and his friends 50th birthday. This place is out of this world! Beautiful room with a phenomenal view. Stunning pools. Luxury in the jungle. Plenty of wildlife. We saw a sloth, monkeys, capybura. Food and drinks were delicious! Staff was phenomenal. Alfredo and Josh are the best! Chiliguaro!!!!!

Makanda is a wonderful place overall. The service is friendly and the accommodations are very comfortable with great beds and spacious bathrooms. While the variety of dishes offered for dinner could possibly be increased and the prices are fairly steep, we found the food at Makanda to be of excellent quality and very tasty! Try the banana cake and the linguini with shrimp, both are terrific! The included breakfast is wonderful with coffee, juice, fruits, and a main dish of your choice. It is filling and nutritious with the extra bonus of it being served on a terrace with a lovely ocean view. The location with its jungle setting and private beach is scenic and spotting monkeys is a regular occurrence. They seem to like to hang out around the pool, so even if you just relax for the day, you have a good chance of seeing them in the trees! On the topic of the pools, we only used the upper pool by the restaurant. It was a great pool, not crowded at all and plenty big enough for those who want to get in some swimming. So why not five stars? There was one main concern, which is the fact that after it rains, the footing everywhere becomes extremely slippery. Even if your shoes have good thread, you are still at risk of slipping and falling. This is concerning, especially for people who are midlife and up. In addition, I found the music at the pool to be rather loud and intrusive. It is possible having music is most people’s preference, but I would have preferred to just hear the sounds of the jungle. Overall, I would return to Makanda, but I do hope they will address the footing concerns.

Where do I even begin? From the moment we booked our trip, concierge was so accommodating- from transportation, to restaurant recommendations, spa scheduling, they were so communicative from the start. Through Makanda we booked the private charter from SJO to the local Quepos airport and it was such a flawless experience. Landing at Quepos, the pre-arranged transportation was waiting for us.. never skipped a beat in transportation! We arrived to Makanda and were greeted with coconut water and a thorough rundown of the resort. We got there a little early so our room wasn't ready yet which was perfectly fine by us because we got to enjoy a great lunch, margaritas, and watch the monkeys run and play. And the room was well worth the wait! We booked the Sky Penthouse and OH MY GOSH- what a BEAUTIFUL room. It was a top hotel room for us for sure- private pool, INCREDIBLE view, comfy bed, spa like bathroom. Just a dream while still preserving the raw beauty of the region. I could seriously write a novel about our trip but the most important piece to the puzzle is the people working there. I will fall short in naming everyone who made our trip so special but a few individuals we couldn't have adored more were: -Nilson- our golf cart chauffeur upon arrival and throughout, and wildlife educator. He just had the BEST energy and such a good eye for the sloths we never would've spotted on our own! -Andres and Elias- two bartenders who both made a fantastic margarita, and kept the vibes high. -Roger and Jordan- two fantastic waiters -Irina and Candy- concierge who were truly always a text away I wish I could remember everyone's name but truly, every single person made the trip so perfectly relaxing. We will absolutely be back!