Discovered Sanctuary Condos at Playa Azul on a friend recommendation and enjoyed the undeveloped and unspoiled region. A rental car is needed to get around with some dirt roads from the Liberia airport, a 2 hr drive. With the car close enough to great beaches, food, and farmer markets. A 30 minute drive gets you to large grocery stores and developed resort towns. Carl was our host and was able to arrange fishing trips, massages, and informed us of the nearby Playa Azul Friday night bonfire on the beach with music and bar service. For a nominal fee enjoy the amenities of Playa Azul Beach Hotel including pool, with bar, restaurants, game room and lounge areas to fall asleep listening to the waves. Nice beach to walk on but not for swimming due to waves crashing. Will return for sure.

If you want to get away, this is the place. Beautiful setting outside a remote village on the Pacific coast. Well-furnished and equipped condomium with 2 king ensuite rooms (#20) offering amazing sunset views. The resort next door has a sunset bonfire every Friday, which is open to the public. Our favortie beach was a short ride south to San Juanillo with a beautiful cove for swimming and plenty of trees for shade.

In order to properly review the sanctuary it is important first to understand the location. Playa azul is between two small villages, Marbella to the north and and San Juan I’ll to the south. Both are about a 5 min drive and you’d need your own car, there’s no other way to get there. These two villages are tiny - a dozen or two houses, a market and a couple restaurants. It is very secluded. However, Nosara is about 30 minutes south and is a vibrant tourist destination and tamarindo is an hour north. Along the well maintained dirt road that connects these villages are many beaches. Some are volcanic rock and others are sandy. The sanctuary is an enclave of 20 privately owned 2-br condos with two small pools. Next door is azul beach resort, a small hotel with a nice restaurant. There is nothing else in the immediate vicinity. Because the units are individually owned, they are all different inside so no review can tell you about the furnishings, beds, etc. All have WiFi in the unit. I must mention that many years ago the developer started another 20 units and never finished them, so there are two concrete structures on the property that look like a soviet barracks. Although the buildings look strange, they won’t impact your vacation. There are howler monkeys, lots of birds, and other wild animals you may see while you are here. There is a beach a few hundred meters away that is nice for walking or watching the sunset but not good for swimming. Initially I thought this would be a problem but you can drive to the other beaches so easily it’s not a big deal. Also, the sanctuary has a friendly management team who will help you reserve any activities you would like to do - zip lines, snorkeling, massages, whatever. (Their massage person, loheidy, is terrific!) Both of the nearby towns have bar/restaurants right on the beach and are quiet beaches. The other restaurants in these towns are inexpensive and have good local food. These are tiny “sodas” that have outdoor seating and tiny kitchens, all staffed by locals. We stayed for a week and never ran out of places to try. All the locals are friendly and helpful and most speak English. So the bottom line is that if you want a bustling city with shoppes and fine dining, you’ll have to drive a half hour. However, a nice hotel room in nosara or tamarindo could be $300+ per night if while the sanctuary condos are half of that for 2 bedrooms and a kitchen. Two very different accommodations for very different prices. In my opinion, i loved the sanctuary because it doesn’t have the negatives of the big towns - high prices, crowded beaches, annoying street vendors, parking problems, traffic, and noise. The sanctuary was a pleasant surprise for me and I enjoyed staying there.

We loved our experience at the Sanctuary Condominiums! Our condo was comfortable and clean. It’s in a great location surrounded by beautiful beaches that are unlike any we’ve ever been to. Carl was extremely friendly and helpful. He was an outstanding host and went out of his way to best accommodate not just our stay, but our experience in Costa Rica as a whole. We are looking forward to visiting again!

I spent a lovely time with my family here. The rooms are big with a nice balcony with a ocean view. The swimming pool is really clean surrounded palm tree. The owner is really friendly and very helpful with recommendations. I really recommend this place.