Kimkim Trip Reviews for Costa Rica

Daniel, our guide for the hanging bridges tour was extremely knowledgeable, patient and had great communication skills. The whole group of assistants working on the 7 different Ziplines were professional, caring and reassuring those who were a little scared of the Ziplines.

The villa seriously surprised us, we didn't expect such an amazing accommodation, the hotel is in great location and all was great!

To be honest, when we got there the room wasn't ready and it wasn't what we expected, also the hotel doesn't have a beach, it has access to a public beach and that too isn't easy to go to (or come back from) but I have to say, the management listened to our feedback and insisted on fixing the experience right away, our room was changed, we were given opportunity to enjoy other services and it was absolutely amazing! They have a pool that cannot be beaten, great hotel, definitely coming back.

This is probably our least favorite hotel but nothing wrong with it, we just a little outdated comparing to other hotels and the facility on the mountain was a bit tough, limited pool and bar, but again, pretty decent

This was our favorite, amazing hotel and staff, need to go back soon!! 😂

This is a private glamping hotel off on a tiny island, which is leased from the government. It is quite top notch with lots of staff always available and doing their utmost to make sure your stay is perfect and wonderful, which it was. The glamping tent was beautiful, roomy, spotless, and very private surrounded by jungle--quite idyllic. There were plenty activities to keep us busy for four days. The hotel is immaculately maintained with gorgeous plantings and flowers everywhere.

The hotel is well situated with beautiful surroundings. Not a luxury hotel, but adequate. The staff was always available and very helpful. I was quite happy with the restaurant and menu choices.

Our guide, Andreas, was great and very interesting. He is extremely knowledgeable about all of the plants, vegetation, and wildlife in his region, as well as the history. He loves what he does and loves sharing information, which is obvious. It is great to have a guide to provide information about plants and their habitats and can spot birds and animals which are camouflaged in trees.

Totally enjoyable and a fun thing to do in the evening. We even saw a manta ray.

This was totally fun. I can't think of improvements other than the hanging bridges are kind of sketchy for overweight people.

This was great, entertaining, and educational. I will be ordering chocolates and coffee directly from Don Juan. I never knew anything about coffee making processes, the holy coffee, in particular. And their chocolates are fabulous.

Very quirky and interesting hotel. We only stayed one night and used them because we arrived late in San Jose and were transferring early the next morning. I only wish we could have stayed longer to enjoy it more.

Great location. Lovely pool area. The rooms were enormous! It was like having our own apartment. I think our room may have even had more square footage than our own house.

Simply beautiful. This is an elegant hotel. The hot spring fed pools were amazing. The restaurants were delicious. The views and location could not be beat.

The guides were amazing! We had a thrilling time. We did this river with our 10 year old daughter who'd never been before. They took us to an appropriate stretch of river for her age. The rapids were thrilling but age appropriate for her. This was an amazing way to travel from one destination to another.

This was maybe the highlight of our trip. It just so happened we had a massive rain storm during our hike which made the water fall all the more thrilling. We got to see a second water fall form. Our guide said he'd never been there at that exact moment and you could tell just how excited he was too!!

Far more than I expected! I thought zip lining in Costa Rica would be cliche (because everyone does it) but it was well worth it. Very high and long lines. Totally thrilling. We'd never done anything like it. I'm mildly scared of heights so had to conquer my fear a little, but doing so was invigorating.

It was POURING down rain when we woke up for this tour, but we pressed on and so glad we did. The lead crew member ensured us we'd have a great time and the conditions were safe and he was not wrong! They made a big effort to make sure we also saw humpback whales.

So much nature. Animals, reptiles, insects... I thought this was just a hike but it was more like living a real life national geographic expedition. My 10 year old daughter had her mind blown and literally came home and made her own documentary about how amazing this tour was. Special thanks to Andrey Obando who I think is the best guide there is. He made a special effort to connect to our daughter and she was just thrilled (as were we) with the whole experience. You also end up at one of the most beautiful beaches around.

The staff here are so lovely! The food served is amazing and the location is beautiful. This was such a great place to stay and I couldn't recommend it highly enough!

The rooms had a musty smell, a lot of humidity and that affected our stay quite a bit. The staff were really nice but management present a long list of rules that are a bit over the top. I'd probably recommend finding a different hotel.

Fantastic hotel, great facilities and lovely atmosphere. I'd recommend an ocean view room. It was spectacular watching the sun go down from our balcony. There's a private beach that's great to spend the day on (just take cash). I'd really recommend staying here.

The grounds of the hotel are just gorgeous. The staff are really friendly and breakfast was good. We had a gorgeous room with a volcano view, very comfortable bed and a jacuzzi bath.

Mau was a great guide. This was fun, informative and entertaining.

The hike itself was a bit disappointing. The views were spectacular but our guide didn't show us any wildlife and we were hoping for more of that, he did not know a lot about the volcano itself which was interesting. The hot springs are amazing! They were a highlight of the trip!

This was speculator. So beautiful and the guide was lovely!

Fantastic! I was a bit scared but the staff know what they're doing and it was an experience of a lifetime!

Fantastic experience, we saw so much wildlife and our guide Mau was great!

The park is so beautiful and there are so many sloths!! The beaches are stunning! Our guide Danny was great, such a lovely man.

Absolutely incredible!! Would go back in a heartbeat.

Very stylish and great rooftop garden to soak up some sunshine.

Friendly helpful staff. Great breakfast and excellent cocktails. Lovely local restaurants nearby to try more delicious food and cocktails

Fabulous hotel, great facilities and delicious food. All the staff were helpful and always around to assist

Wonderful staff with a Scandinavian ambiance!

Mario was excellent! Amazing experience with door-to-door service. Very professional and friendly staff.

Great vibe, great location, lovely little pool, just a really good fit for us. Monkeys, lizards and exotic birds on the grounds all the time. The restaurant doesn't have the deepest menu, but the food is _fantastic_. Would stay here again, no question. One small warning: in the restaurant, particularly at breakfast, avoid the corners of the sitting area furthest from the kitchen. The flies there are insufferable. Deeper into the seating area, things are fine.

It's perfect if it's what you are looking for. This isn't about creature comforts. The path up from the boats to the hotel is steep, slippery and long. You'll be staying in a stifling hot cabin or a noisy, simple platform tent. Everything gets damp and stays that way. Meals are picked for you - there's no menu. No TV, viable internet or cell coverage. But if you are here to be here, to see Osa and Corcovado park, you're in the right place. Everything is astonishingly, endlessly beautiful. Scarlet Macaws nest in trees right on the grounds. Troops of Howler and Capuchin monkeys wander through all day and night. The forest, the ocean, the flowers -- this is the place to sit and soak it all in. If you want to see Osa, and be a part of Osa, this is a great place.

We went here at the start of a trip, got in late, left early. Didn't really get to evaluate much about the hotel, but what we saw was good. Five stars because they were accommodating (despite our late arrival). Helpful (which we needed because we were sleep-deprived and exhausted, and patient (which we needed because we were grumpy from the delays and other complications that made us late.

We weren't here very long, arrived fairly late and left fairly early. We enjoyed our stay, but there are couple of things worth mentioning: * This is a slightly odd layout. Everything wraps around a smallish courtyard. The pool area covers most of the courtyard, and the restaurant seating spills out into the courtyard. The result is that everything feels kind of packed together, and you if your room opens to the inside area, you can hear pretty much everything in the building. It's cool and exciting for large groups, who get to be "together" even when they are in different places. I saw a couple of such groups here, and they were clearly having a great time. You might enjoy it less if your schedule depended on getting some sleep earlier than 10pm or later than 7am. * The restaurant was pretty great, with a deeper and more subtle dinner menu than your average hotel. * It's tough to find, even for San Jose. Parking is even trickier - it's across the street from the hotel, and you really have to plan in order to be able to get there without circling a few blocks.

We did nature hikes in Monteverde, Corcovado, and here. Much to our surprise, Manuel Antonio was the clear winner for variety of wildlife, educational content, and overall enjoyment. Coati, monkeys, huge spiders, snakes, a variety of birds, lizards, and an up-close encounter with a sloth. Don't miss this hike!

I have a life-long, irrational fear of horses. I agreed to do this only as a trade-off to get my kids to try some other things on our trip. Much to my utter surprise, I had a great time. Our guides were patient and very clear with their instructions. They kept a pace that we could manage. We went through terrain that we never could have navigated on foot, and it was just amazing. I got my horse all the way up to a trot a couple of times. I can't say I'm cured. Horses still seem crazy to me. But, if they could deliver 2 hours of exhilaration for me, I expect they can do that for just about anyone.

Some great wildlife! Can't complain about that, really. We saw big coati family, a couple of agouti, a tapir, lots and lots of monkeys. But, I suspect we could have seen a lot more, and would have on a normal tour, but something odd was going on when we were there. Our guide spent a lot of time just _waiting_. Not sure for what. We waiting 15 minutes before getting started, then walked back and forth over the same 100 feet of trail for another 30 minutes with no obvious explanation. We paused and talked to another guide for 15 minutes later. We hung around at Sirena Station for much, much longer than planned. We headed back to the boats 20 minutes early. The end result is that we only spent about 90 minutes actively looking and exploring. I think this was unusual, some mix-up. Maybe a guide didn't show up? In any case, I'd still strongly recommend this tour, but I think we caught them on an off day.

I wanted to give this one star, because I was terrified the whole time and never really got to the point where I enjoyed myself, but that's just me and my fear of heights. The rest of my group had an amazing time. The guides were fantastic. They were very visibly obsessed with safety, which helped keep my panic to a minimum. They joked around with the kids, were patient with me and my wife, and generally did everything conceivable to maximize our enjoyment. Not their fault that it didn't work for me. Also - they used our cameras to get phenomenal number of great videos. I suspect we'll be watching those for decades.

I tired out after the first set of dives, but the kids kept going for another hour or more. Lots of great fish (including pufferfish!), sharks, some folks saw turtles. For me, the highlight was floating peacefully while hearing whales sing somewhere out at sea.

Unique and comfortable hotel. The views from the 800’s building were gorgeous and the shuttle busses made traveling the mile (up and downhill) between the rooms and reception/restaurants very do-able. Our only issue was that the wifi, including the premium option, did not work in our rooms. Delicious breakfast and very friendly staff.

Fantastic hotel in beautiful surroundings. The bungalows felt very luxurious and the view of the volcano could not be beat. We enjoyed the swimming pool and hot tub and the breakfast was delicious.

Fantastic location right next to the National park. The hotel was comfortable, easy to navigate and only a few minutes walk to the beach and other restaurants. The hot tub did not appear to be working but the pool was lots of fun for the kids. The best part of the hotel was watching the monkeys and toucans in the trees next to the pool!

AWESOME experience! We were a little hesitant about zip lining in the pouring rain but it was such a great experience. There’s nothing quite like zip lining into the clouds. The guides at Sky Adventures took safety very seriously and their course and hanging bridges are well worth it.

Quite a unique experience to walk through the Costa Rican forest at night at Refugio de Vida Silvestre. We spotted a bunch of different animals during the two hour tour.

Great time rafting on the Peñas Blancas river with a snow Aventira. Our guides, Martin and Brian, were knowledgeable and enthusiastic. Didn’t see any sloths but saw many other animals. The trip down to the waterfall was fun but, in hindsight, this was something we could have done on our own. Lunch at Cava Pizza was the only downer of the day - the guide called our order in ahead of time, sensing that the kids were hungry after a long day, but we still had to wait almost 1.5 hours for our food.

Rafael at Don Juan was a kind and knowledgeable guide who taught us so much about cacao and coffee. The kids loved making their own chocolate bars and we thoroughly enjoyed tasting the coffee. Definitely one of the highlights of our trip!

Danny of Toucanes Tours was a wonderfully kind and knowledgeable guide. His English is phenomenal and he clearly enjoys what he does. We saw many animals during our two-hour walk and enjoyed a brief break at the park’s beach. 10/10!!

Very enjoyable, basically private tour at the Ecological park. Karina of Ecoterra Tours was very knowledgeable of the local fauna and flora. The butterfly enclosure had been damaged and all of the butterflies had to be released but we saw many other animals on the tour. The Maleku presentation was interesting.

We arrived at night while it was raining and hungry after our long trip. We were initially frustrated because we did not have great internet access and the front desk was unable to provide guidance on restaurants nearby or ones that could deliver. We eventually went walking to get dinner and found an excellent restaurant (Travesía) within 5 mins. We discovered many wonderful places to eat within a 10 min walk during our time there (Italianissimo, Snapper House). This hotel really has an excellent walkable location and the pool was great! I would 100% stay again.

We stayed on the beach access side of the property and it was excellent! The property is lush and beautiful. We could hear the waves from our room. We ate most of our meals at the restaurant and it was delicious— Marilin was especially helpful! The pool is a great size and was never overcrowded when we were there. We did not have hot water the first night for showers but the office had it fixed the next day. Liked seeing the monkeys on the property until they stole food directly off my plate. Overall, wonderful stay and would 100% recommend this gem.

A large hotel, with beautiful ground and great facilities - multiple pools, 3 restaurants including a sushi bar, it's own crazy golf course and monkey trail. Rooms were not the biggest but adequate and well equipped. Small balcony, looking onto the courtyard. A wonderful local beach, Playa Biesanz which is walking distance but quite a steep walk. We felt the hotel was very security conscious, all entries and exits were questioned and confirmed for vehicles and pedestrian. Great ocean views. We loved the Pedro, the resident iguana!

Not the biggest hotel. More basic than the previous two we'd stayed in. We ended up being allocated a room without air con although it did have a fan. The hotel room was quite small but adequate. Storage was a bit of a challenge in that the hanging space was limited, within a short cupboard where my husband was not able to hang his shirt up without being crumpled. We had an issue with our plumbing which was quickly rectified. The grounds were very well maintained with beautiful planting. The hotel had a covered pool area with a good bar, a large jacuzzi and a large fire pit with seating which were popular in the evenings. There was a short walking trail around the grounds and plenty of outdoor seating, which I made use of to compensate for the smaller rooms. It's the only hotel out of 5 that had a menu option for breakfast, which was lovely.

Lovely hotel set in a lot of grounds. I like the lodge arrangements that was separate to the pool and restaurants. Good choice of restaurants, we particularly liked the Italian, the Sushi bar and the snack menu which was offered during the day. There was plenty of choice for breakfast and the service time from 6:30 helped with several of our early morning excursions. We preferred the evening meals from the other restaurants on site. There was a mix up upon checking where my acceptance of an upgrade for one of the rooms turned out to be a change the hotel had made, reducing our 3 room requirement to a single room which was upgraded to the Master Suite. Whilst this did come with a double room, it would not have worked accommodating with 2 families, 7 people. The hotel did insisted that we had to settle for this arrangement as they were full, fortunately KimKim were already on the case and by the time we went back to reception after assessing the room. Arenal Springs did provide us with another double room which we made work. That was an unfortunate start to an otherwise wonderful stay at Arenal Springs. We all loved the daily towel displays and chocolates and the Master Suite was luxurious with two in-room jacuzzis powered by Hot Springs, an indoor and outdoor shower and a hammock with a view of Arenal Volcano.

Good hotel, room size and facilities as you'd expect of a large chain.

Cristal Ballena is one of our favourites on the trip. The hotel was fairly small therefore an intimate feel. It was tucked away off the main road and had amazing views, floral, fauna and wildlife. We got best close up view of a sloth of the whole holiday at Cristal Ballena. The staff were attentive, the food was good. We had dinner at the hotel on all 3 nights we were there. Rooms were of a good size, with air con. We had a balcony with a view into the the hotel grounds, swimming pool, the ocean in the distance for incredible sunsets.

A great adventure with a relatively small group. We were rewarded with sightings of plenty of dolphins and a turtle, even though the whales didn't make an appearance on that day. We liked the way the guide was in communication with all the other boats out with the same purpose so if one boat spotted wildlife, the others would rush to the same spot so others could also. It brought an additional element of excitement to the tour. We particularly loved the way the tour started and ended, where the passengers had to enter the boat from the beach rather than a jetty and surfing the waves to get back onto the beach! What fun. The fresh fruit was a nice touch.

Thanks Alain and the other guides for a wonderful experience. We saw lots of wildlife, had enough freedom to go at our own pace although there were some quite competitive kayaks :). We appreciated the food at the end of kayaking.

Thank you to our guide Phillipe, we thoroughly enjoyed the tour. We learnt a lot about Costa Rica's eco system and climate. The transfer was a little confusing, as it was a bus full and no communication about where we had to go at the beginning so we joined the main queue, along with the other bus loads. However, all was clear when we got to reception. We were assigned Phillipe as our guide. It was really busy at the time so Phillipe suggested that we did the bridges backwards, ie. from 8 to 1 to avoid the crowds. That worked really well.

Thank you to our wonderful guide, Carla for spotting all the wildlife (we don't know how you manage to see some of the well camouflaged insects and animals), flora and fauna and particularly for help us take some tremendous photographs through your binoculars with our smart phones.

We spotted 7 in all, two and three toed sloth. We also saw plenty poison dart frogs, a Jesus Christ Lizard, howler monkeys and a tiger heron. Thank you to our knowledgeable guide and the local spotter who'd spent hours before tracking down the animals.

3 star, not because we didn't see as much as we'd like but because our guide whilst informative was less conversational. Again, he tried to avoid the crowds and the searches felt a little desperate towards the end. That said, we did enjoy it and managed to capture great photos of a glass winged butterfly, pit viper, hummingbird amongst others. Thank you for providing torches.

Thank you Franklin, we believe he's one of the best. We were entertained. The teenagers even enjoyed the singing and the dad jokes ;). Hot and humid but we really enjoyed it. Franklin kept a good pace, although he did say at the beginning that we could ask him to slow down if we'd need him to. The heavens opened when we got to the thermal springs and for the most of our time in the springs but we enjoyed the experience nonetheless.

This was never going to be our favourite activity, as a group we're not experienced, therefore I don't review the horse riding part. The 3 star review is because of the mismatched in expectations around the La Fortuna Waterfall and optional opportunity to swim. We didn't expect this to be a hike (at least 30 mins) down steep steps (and back up for the return) to get to the waterfall. We were prepared for a short walk but not this level of difficulty. The walk also didn't bring us to the waterfall, whilst it was visible at the end of the walk. For those who had opted to swim, they can cross the water with a further short walk to get to the waterfall. For those who had opted not to swim, there was no way to get to the waterfall and there was nowhere to stand/sit and wait for the rest of the part. We collectively felt that this detail need to be reflected in the activity description.

What a finale activity for us. Once again, our guide was brilliant, knowledgeable, full of humour and chat thank you Martin. We had to do a little bit of work but not a lot given the flow of the river. Our activity was made some what more exciting by an unplanned rescue of a couple of stranded kayakers (both were rescued, unharmed and laughed about their experience).

This was the last leg of our trip and the lodge was very different from the first two places we stayed. This felt like the least crowded place we stayed and we had a lot of peaceful time to ourselves and we enjoyed two guided tours, on one of which we had the wonderful guide Faviola all to ourselves and on the another there were just two others. The staff in the restaurant were lovely and friendly and made us feel very welcome.

We had a wonderful and relaxing 6-night stay at Cariblue - this was the middle leg of our trip and we enjoyed the extra time and lazy days that a long stay afforded. The accommodation was lovely, the air-con was a luxury and we enjoyed the pool and the restaurant. We were also able to experience the beach and the immediate location outside the hotel on foot. It was quiet and never crowded out and about.

We enjoyed our stay at Mawamba Lodge and were glad to have stayed three nights to allow us to take our time on tours and enjoying the grounds. We never felt that the place was crowded nor did we ever have to wait for anything. The staff at the restaurant and bar were very friendly and professional and welcoming. You can tell that they are being trained properly by a well-managed company.

Though we stayed just one night, this was a lovely little hotel in central San Jose. If we ever return to SJ to explore the capital further, I would certainly stay here. The staff are very friendly and welcoming.

The boat tour of the national park was wonderful - we were in a small group in an open top boat and we pretty much saw everything that we expected to see and more. I had binoculars and was able to help the guide with spotting and we were busy viewing wildlife almost the whole journey.

There were four adults and 3 children on this tour and that was a perfect size - any more people and the trail would have been crowded and we would have had difficulty spotting wildlife and hearing the guide. It was a long, hot walk in the rainforest with a welcome dip in the sea halfway through and some fresh pineapple to refresh us. We also had a boat collect us at one point to help speed up our return trip.

This was the most crowded tour and place that we visited in our whole two weeks but it was worth it. The work they do here is incredible and the volunteers and staff are to be commended.

Our kayak trip was cut short because the river was high due to overnight rains - so we could only go a short distance upstream - and the seas was too rough for the second part of our paddle. we had a short hike around Punta Uva, but the guide seemed like he wanted to be somewhere else and he was much less engaging than any of the other guides we met on our holiday.

The hike in Selva Verde's primary forest was fascinating. Faviola is an excellent guide and her knowledge of, and enthusiasm, for the flora and fauna is impressive. They even provided wellies for us to walk through the mud!