La Cantera Resort

Due to the rain we had a ton of bugs in the room. It was kinda gross. Otherwise things were great! Also the road up to the resort was very brutal. Luckily our driver was a good sport.

The cabin was SUPER clean and of a great size, very comfortable but no hot water and no plates, silverware or cups. We had asked to have ice in our cabin upon our arrival and they forgot. The grounds need major renovations, run down and dirty. We went for breakfast at 8 am an the kitchen was closed, kitchen staff arrived at 9:05am and started preparing breakfast and we finally broke fast at 9:45am. The wait staff was extremely nice and pleasing and the breakfast was plentiful, tasty and the coffee was great. After breakfast we reconsidered staying at the hotel to enjoy the peace and serenity of the beautiful surrounding nature and views.
We originally paid for a two night getaway but we did not spend the day or stay the additional night as the "resort" is also a local weekend hangout for locals. By 11am the "resort" was packed with more than 100 people (WITHOUT MASKS) roaming all the common areas making it impossible to enjoy the natural scenery of the place. We witnessed young people all over the grounds smoking weed, underage kids drinking beer in bottles near the pool, a total disaster! If you want to relax DO NOT COME HERE. We felt very uncomfortable and immediately asked for a refund and the attendant without hesitation gave us a cash refund.
It is truly a shame that this happened as the staff was incredibly nice and accommodating. Sadly, they are allowing very large groups of locals use the ground as a party place and we had no place there.

Llegamos tarde al hotel. Nos esperaron con gran amabilidad y nos ayudaron a resolver cualquier contratiempo.
El lugar está alejado de la ciudad, pero eso lo hace atractivo para un descanso muy relajante, alejado de cualquier ruido.
Adicionalmente, el desayuno fue formidable, con personal muy atento.

We stayed a week, and we are so glad we did! We were the only overnight guests most nights, but the resort has a big local following for user of their facilities. The pools and grounds are pristine. The cabin was spotless. The grounds are well kept. There are birds every where in the morning. The free breakfast was hot, big, and delicious (they even accommodated my dietary restrictions and my picky kids). And the service? Fabulous! We were quite literally adopted into the family during our stay. We got to know the staff, owner, and management, and were invited to spend a day with them at their home. This is a truely tico experience - real Costa Rica, alongside Costa Ricans. If you want the true meaning of Pura Vida spend a few days at La Cantera. Its not the Hilton... For us, it was better!

The resort was really not open for business. Luckily, staff members were there when we checked in, but were not expecting us. Other than the night watchman, we never saw another employee. On our last night, the gates to the resort were locked and we had to climb through barbed wire and hike down to the main building and find the watchman. He gave us the key and we hiked back up the hill. The front desk was not open the hours advertised. The hot water did not work and we had no one to ask. We called the number listed for the hotel, which is the owner in the United States, because we were concerned about how to check out with no staff. There was no staff for the free breakfast. Although hotels.com says that wifi is in the room, it is not. We had to go to the main building to use it and the lights were usually off.

The resort is about 30 minutes away from the main road with some challenging roads. We think that if the hot water is fixed, the resort would be a nice secluded place to stay in season. The resort has only a few cabins, but it has beautiful landscaping, pools, river, and waterfall.