Hotel Magic Mountain SPA & Conference center

This hotel has some positives – the volcano views are great, the pool area is nice, and the restaurant and restaurant staff were genuinely excellent (easily the best part of our stay). Breakfast itself was fairly basic but adequate.
Unfortunately, our stay was overshadowed by poor customer service and a concerning safety issue. I was trapped in the lift during our stay, which was extremely distressing.
On the same day, I was also disturbed at around 3:30pm and asked to move my car with no clear explanation. I had been asleep and had consumed alcohol earlier in the day, so was not in a suitable state to drive. When I later asked reception for an explanation, I was met with unhelpful staff and was simply laughed at, which I found very unprofessional.
As a result, we decided to check out a day early and had to arrange alternative accommodation at our own expense.
It’s a shame, as the hotel itself has potential, but the service and handling of issues significantly impacted our overall experience. I hope management take this feedback seriously and make improvements going forward.

Recently had to cancel 3 days vacation due to 92-year-old mother-in-law taking a turn for the worse . We gave 48 hr notice and Magic Mountain would not reimburse/ partially reimburse . Surely they could easily rebook especially since it's spring break and it's peak travel season. Where is the compassion? As if we're not hugely disappointed on cancelling a trip of a lifetime on top of dealing with family health issues? We will definitely not we book when we do reschedule.

This is a great hotel , all the staff are very helpful . Breakfast great
Rooms very nice . No wardrobe for clothes
We had a balcony and could look out at the mountains with an added bonus of viewing some lovely birds early in the morning
Nice swimming pool and jaccuzis

Registration: Polite, easy and very friendly. That was the highlight.

Breakfast: Ate once and never returned.

Pool: clean.

Bar: High prices but wonderful service.

Room: This is where it went horrible. I had zero hot water the entire trip. Reported it three times but nothing was done. On checkout the manager stated sorry the water was not to your liking. No there was no hot water… I manage and own apartments so I’m aware of what hot water should be. This was horrible after a long day.

My room had a hot tub. Joke as it has no stop and would take two hours to fill the spout on it. In fact I asked for a stop and was told none have it. I said so is the hot tub for decor only to which she replied yes. Again manager never addressed.

Overall good staff with horrible leadership and completely incompetent maintenance staff. There are so many better places to stay for the price. Talked to other people staying there that felt the same way.

Find another place!

The hotel is clean, food is decent but not fabulous, staff was ok, but they are VERY PICKY about accepting US cash with any kind of marks or rips etc here. We had ZERO trouble with that anywhere else.

My wife and I scheduled a stay at Magic Mountain on short notice. When we arrived, we discovered that we'd accidentally scheduled the stay for March instead of February, same dates We found other lodging but Magic Mtn refused to refund any part of our prepaid sray, evwn though it was a full month before the dates we'd paid for. I talked with their desk, sorry we can't (won't) do anything. We lost $550. They are about greed not customer service.

Excellent room. Very nice food in the dining room for all of our meals. Really enjoyed. Especially appreciated being at the edge of the town . Very convenient for all the adventures of into the volcano area. But also easy to walk down to a local coffee shop nearby or to the grocery store. Property is really beautiful with a swimming pool and much beautiful greenery. You don’t need a car, as allthe tours provide tour buses that come to pick you up at your hotel if you wish. About 2 1/2 hour drive from San Jose airport.

My husband and I stayed Magic Mountain hotel for six days in January of 2026. I am a manual wheelchair user with a power assist. I am able to stand and pivot transfer. This hotel had everything I needed, a roll in shower, grab bars by the toilet, and a wheelchair to ramp into the pool (they provided the wheelchair). The staff are incredibly friendly and the buffet breakfast was delicious. My only criticism is that to use the bathroom I had to go all the way back to my hotel room. The bathrooms in the lobby are large enough that if they just put some grab bars in there you would have two wheelchair friendly bathrooms that are close to the pool and restaurant. The bathrooms in the restaurant are not wheelchair accessible either. There is a bar on the second level that did not have an elevator, but that did no hinder me at all. Overall, a great hotel and I would highly recommend it.

The room was dated but clean. The restaurant offered a wide selection and the service was outstanding. Great location.

It was a great experience
Loved every minute of our stay here
Everyone is very polite and clean rooms hospitality was amazing.

Gorgeous views of the volcano, nice balconies with a view, beautiful pool area. The food here was very good with great service - they provided table service and we were able to get water, coffee and drinks which was different from other Barcelo hotels here where there was virtually no table service at all. I appreciated the smaller property - less of a cattle call at meals, less lines.

The hotel room was clean but very old, especially the bathroom. The room and bathroom smelled bad and when we mentioned this to staff they immediately changed the filter in the a/c and sprayed the bathroom. The hotel really needs to be upgraded. However, that being said the food at the restaurant was great and so was the service. And the location is good too, close to restaurants and the downtown and about 20 minutes from Arenal volcano.

This resort sort of reminded us of some of the great places we stayed on our South Africa trip.
Giving this accommodation a hinge rating of 4.4
The hotel is 22 years old and has 108 rooms.
The hotel overlooks a semi active (occasional gas puffer) volcano “Arenal”. The last physical eruption was a minor event back between 1968 and 2010 and a somewhat significant eruption in 1958.
We are on a OAT trip and will be staying here 3 nights

Incredible views of the mountain! The front office team is absolutely amazing and very accommodating! The two gentlemen are an asset to this hotel. The rooms are clean and comfortable. Their breakfast spread is the best in Costa Rica! Truly delicious and absolutely worth it!!

We stayed at Magic Mountain five nights early Dec. and had a great stay. Location is great with part of town walkable. Our room was front and center volcano view. Grounds are beautiful! We enjoyed the included breakfast buffet. Juan and front desk was helpful in steering us to EcoThermales for a wonderful soak and offered us great tips on the area. Greeters Frankie and Jason are friendly and helpful.

The images make this hotel look so much better than it actually is. The rooms are alright. Bathrooms are decent. My only gripe is that the lighting is all cold blue LED's. Even the lamps. I'm also not sure how to describe it, but the website images somehow make the rooms look so much better than they actually are - rarely do I encounter such a discrepancy.

We went to Hotel Magic Mountain Spa & Conference Center as members of a traveling group with CARAVAN. We only stayed for one day. The location is very convenient, the views are nice. The rooms were comfortable. This hotel has no fitness center. Nobody in our group was bothered by it except for me (I'm a gym rat, I admit :)

Amazing place.

Beautiful hotel with nice amenities

Comfortable but not super relaxing. White light everywhere and colorful flashing LED lights around the jacuzzi. Quite jarring. The entire hotel needs an urgent remodel. It looks very dated and old