Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula Papagayo

Four Seasons Costa Rica was outstanding. The view was beautiful, the room was excellent, and the staff was attentive from start to finish. Both beaches were great, and the service at the restaurants was exactly what you would expect from a Four Seasons, if not better. It delivered the kind of high-end, polished experience you hope for when you book a luxury resort.

We spent 8 nights here as a family of 3 during our "mid-winter break" and absolutely loved the resort. As a master-planned luxury enclave, the entire peninsula is very impressive and well-executed. If you need a ride anywhere on the peninsula, a shuttle is ready to take you within a few minutes. There are two beaches with full service, two family pools, and an adult pool. All beaches are public in Costa Rica, so vendors are allowed to sell products and services to you, but they don't hassle you that much. On a particularly calm day, I rented a 1-hour jet ski from a guy named Yuba, and it was pretty fun. If you go out at high tide, you can jet ski into a mangrove river. We went to another hotel for dinner one night, and after that, I'd say the Four Seasons has the best food options on the peninsula. Four Seasons service here is also top-notch. Everyone is smiling and seems generally invested in the guest's experience. The room we had was a standard king with a roll-out bed on the 4th floor of the building. It gives a nice ocean view through the trees, and if you're lucky, you can spot parrots and monkeys in the morning. The room was perfectly clean, and we had housekeeping/turndown service every day. I am sure the villas/suites up the hill are very nice, but we appreciated being so close to the pools/beach/dining. There are lots of free activities like paddle boarding, snorkeling, kyaking and tastings. Plus, they do many free pop-up stands like fruit, pipa (coconut), ice cream, and my daughter's favorite - churros. One day, for lunch at Virador Beach Club, they had a special gyro menu with a DJ spinning house music, and this definitely passed the vibe check. Our favorite dinner experience was at Nemare. Great steaks and excellent service, plus dining under the stars outside. Our server said he did some astronomy lessons from there and took a really cool family photo of us with all the stars lighting up the sky in the background. For some additional experiences on the peninsula: - I would ask the concierge to book you a sunset dinner at Prieta Beach Club. Great food with toes in the sand while watching the sun go down. - Concierge can also set you up with a charter through YachtingCR, which is a really great way to relax and see the waters around the peninsula. On this trip, I caught two tuna, which they prepared on the spot as a delicious ceviche. - Papagayo Park is a huge sports/water hub open to all hotel guests. There are two water slides, a large playground, a splash pad, tennis courts, etc. It is so new concierge didn't even know you can charge food/drinks directly to your room, which is possible. There is also an ice cream shop here. The only downside is the location if you want to venture out and see other areas. It is a 15-20 min drive just to the entrance of the peninsula from the Four Seasons. Traffic from Liberia to the resort can be slow-moving, taking us about 90 minutes on a Thursday evening. I would say it is still worth doing rainforest/waterfall excursions, but note that our longest tour day (rainforest and sloths through Nomad Tours) was 11 hours, including about 4.5 hours of driving!

Even though the Four Seasons Resort Papagayo belongs in the luxury segment, a re-laxed and comfortable vacation is absolutely possible here. Two beaches offer the choice between tranquility and activity. You can also enjoy peace and quiet in the spa-cious suites. The incredible views are almost distracting — you may find yourself look-ing up from your book more often than you planned. In the mornings, the day is some-times announced by the howler monkeys. You might think a few young lions were roaming nearby. When it comes to dining, we were especially taken with the Italian restaurant “Pesce.” True Italianità in excellent quality — just slightly oversized portions. I assume this is tailored to the American clientele. The Latin Grill “Bahía” also offers outstanding food. All in all, it’s a magnificent vacation destination. However, it has little connection to Costa Rica itself and could just as easily be located on many other beautiful beaches around the world.

This place was so beautiful it’s very remote and gorgeous property . There is so much to do here they have so many complimentary activities you can do like kayaking , snorkeling , chocolate tasting ,etc. The people are so kind and the food was the best I have ever had chef Khaled food is one of the best food I have ever tasted. Everything was fresh and home made his authentic cuisine speaks from his heart . We loved his food so much we will definitely come back for his food. The resort is beautiful they have yoga on top of the mountain in a serene space with sound healing which was very relaxing . I really enjoyed my time here in every way . The only thing that I wish I would have known is that we accidentally came during rain season and for that reason I was a little bummed it’s the opposite seasons of US which I wish I would have looked into before because it poured rain daily . This didn’t hinder my lovely experience and will hopefully come back again during their dry season from Oct- March is what they told me I believe .

Great first-class resort. The food selection and quality were excellent, and the rooms and amenities are top-notch. We loved how many activities are available within the property. While staying in Papagayo, we also booked a few activities with Nomad Tours Costa Rica, including a rainforest and wildlife tour where we saw sloths, as well as the La Leona waterfall hike, which was an amazing experience. We would definitely return and highly recommend this property