Costa Rica has always been on my radar – not quite high enough to qualify for my Bucket List, but it was still extremely interesting to me based upon glowing reports from friends. I had received some fabulous looking ads from Marriott for their Marriott Vacation Club International (MVCI) resort, the Los Suenos Resort, and I decided to look into the possibilities.

Looking west over the Los Suenos grounds

I quickly found out this property was the most difficult location of Marriott’s entire MVCI portfolio to score with points or a trade. A simple case of supply and demand. Los Suenos resort has 24 units only, far fewer than most other MVCI resorts. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. I decided to request a waitlist for a 2-bedroom unit for both 1 week and 2 weeks. The only downside of this approach is that you must surrender the appropriate number of MVCI club points to cover your request. With two separate requests, this was an expensive waitlist. Of course, you will get those points back if you cancel or don’t get filled. (The mechanics of points, trading with Marriott and Interval, etc. may not be familiar to you, but it’s irrelevant to the purpose of this article. There are many other sources equipped to cover that in detail.)

After about 6 months on the waitlist I was beginning to lose hope, but they did warn me. I was considering a few other alternatives, but soon I was contacted by Marriott telling me they had a 1-bedroom unit for 1 week. Did I want it?

I took it. As retirees, my wife and I try to book travel for 10 days to 2 weeks, especially when traveling out of the country. So, I started looking for another Costa Rican location when I found out that the Los Suenos vacation club was colocated with a Marriott hotel. With a little luck I could add a few more days to our week. Using Bonvoy points a 4-night reservation gets you a bonus of a 5th night, so the vacation became a 12-night stay in the same resort location.

Planning

Costa Rica is very easy for US visitors regarding visas, immunizations, and other entrance hurdles. No visa was required for a relatively short tourist visit, and no special health requirements were needed. Their electrical system is 110 volts just like ours. No transformers or plug adapters are required, and everyone we met spoke English (I’m sure it’s different further away from resort areas.) WI-FI is available at many locations – hotels, restaurants, town centers, etc.

The people are very warm and friendly. We found that everywhere. I was tipped off by a hotel staffer before we left home not to change money into Costa Rica colones. (500 colones is roughly 1 US dollar, so mental conversions are easy.) Our experience was that of a “dual system” of currency. Dollars were accepted everywhere, and generally your bill would display both currency amounts. Of course, you could carry and pay in colones, but we found it much easier to use US dollars. A few dollars could handle tips for bellmen or waiters, and we wanted no part of coins and small bill colones. In fact, at the airport ATM I noticed the only denominations available were 1000 and 10,000 colones bills.

Itinerary

I booked a flight which left very early in the morning from our Florida airport and arrived late morning in San Jose, Costa Rica (SJO). The passport and customs process were quick and easy, but we did have to wait in line 30-45 minutes with a large crowd of visitors. We still had about 1 ½ hours driving from that airport to our resort on the west coast of Costa Rica on Herradura Bay, and check in time was late in the day. We decided to spend the night in San Jose at a nearby hotel. We chose the San Jose Crowne Plaza hotel which was very nice and a comfortable place to relax and recover from a very early wakeup.

In retrospect, the Crowne Plaza was not the best choice for us. An excellent hotel but expensive. There were two restaurants within the Crowne Plaza – one a Japanese-themed restaurant, and one a more conventional hotel restaurant. We needed a cab ride to get there, and as we left the airport I noticed numerous free shuttles to Hilton Inn, Fairfield Inn, Residence Inn, etc. For our purposes they would have worked just fine.

I arranged a vehicle and driver through the Marriott resort which cost roughly $200, but that compared well with cabs and rental cars. We decided that a rental car would only make sense for us on day trips away from the resort. For shorter trips to local sights and restaurants cabs were an easy option. In fact, the resort had a dedicated transportation desk where you could call a cab or rent a car.

Our ride to the resort was very comfortable, and we were pleasantly surprised that the roads themselves were good. After clearing the city congestion we had open road through some very scenic rainforest and hilly terrain.

We arrived at the Marriott Los Suenos Resort late afternoon on Day 2 of travel and were shown to our beautiful 1-bedroom villa. It was as we expected – fairly roomy with a separate bedroom and bath, a full kitchen area, a living room, and a small terrace. We had called the concierge in advance about grocery shopping, and she advised us to stop just outside the resort property to pick up some essentials on our ride in. The supermarket was well-stocked, and we were able to buy some items we wanted in the villa.

A comfortable bedroom with an adjoining full bathroom

The resort itself had at least four restaurants or cafes. In general (while in the well-equipped villa) we had coffee and breakfast in the villa. Lunch and dinner were usually taken in one of the on-site restaurants or out in town. We quickly learned that there were “resort prices” everywhere we went. Costa Rica was no less expensive than the USA at a resort. If you traveled further out, you could find friendlier prices.

The interconnected pools were amazing, and they seem to cover half of the entire property.

Our first several days were spent close to the resort. It had a beautiful location on the water, with well-manicured grounds, fabulous, interconnected pools, and plenty of quiet spots to read, sunbathe, or nap. We also enjoyed the swim-up bar where 2 for 1 deals lasted all day.

An adults-only pool in a quiet area of the Marriott grounds

The building in the background was the MVCI location, but the entire resort was open to all guests.

I was excited to see the on-site golf course which looked spectacular on our drive in. Initially I had planned to play there a few times. But the Pro Shop gave me sticker shock; each round of 18 holes was $185, and the “discount” they offered Marriott guests was slim. So, I was glad I decided not to bring my golf clubs along on the trip. My wife and I did take a complimentary nature tour on the grounds, however, where we did spot some of the local exotic birds. No other critters showed up for us, but other guests reported sloths and other native species.

We wanted to spend a day going to the famous Manuel Antonio National Park. This was touted as the premier national park in Costa Rica. Their brochures showed photos of toucans, exotic snakes, sloths, monkeys, and other local native creatures. We talked to another couple at the resort who had been there, and they gave us some great advice – rent a car to get there; hire a private guide before you go; plan to spend all day in the park. My wife got the name of their guide, and she emailed him to set up a tour.

Our rental car was delivered right to the hotel, and the GPS directions were good except for the specific park entrance location and meeting place. We were able to overcome this hurdle by texting our guide, and we met him within 10 minutes of our scheduled time. He knew the park inside and out, and he was equipped with a sizeable telephoto lens mounted on a light tripod. His iPhone 11 was fastened to the lens which allowed him to zoom in on interesting targets and film using snapshots or video.

The photos were remarkably stunning. I thought he must have had the latest iPhone model, but that was not the case. It was the high-quality lens he used that resulted in truly spectacular photographic results. We were able to see small insects and green tree frogs that we never could have spotted with the naked eye. He knew the spots in the rainforest where we were likely to see a certain kind of bird or a sloth. He also helped some other tour groups locate various animals and insects – the majority of the guides had similar gear, but some of the guides seemed less familiar with the terrain and its inhabitants. As part of our regular fee our guide transferred all the video and photos he had taken to our own iPhone. It was a benefit we never could have achieved without an experienced guide.

We never would have shots like these without the telephoto lens.

Look carefully and you can see the outline of a well-camouflaged green tree frog. Even with the telephoto lens, he is almost impossible to see.

After we left our guide there was still some walking left to reach the park entrance, and we passed a small but very enticing beach. Our friends had advised us to bring bathing suits, so we eagerly changed to take a refreshing swim. (The rainforest was warm and humid. After walking for a few hours, we were ready to cool off.) The park had nice changing areas, showers, and rest rooms just before the beach.

Our guide with his tripod, lens, and phone between us

We were quite surprised at the warm water temperature once we got in. It was April, but the water temperature had to be in the high 70’s, possibly even 80 degrees. Not exactly the cooling dip we expected, but it was nice to soak for awhile. We changed out of our wet bathing suits and got to our car for the drive back. By the time we returned the timing was perfect for drinks by the water and an early dinner. It seemed to us that every local restaurant or bar had a 2 for 1 drink special all day long. The menu emphasis was on fresh seafood, but they also offered steaks, salads, chicken, etc. Clearly this was an area hosting many tourists. We came back to these beachside restaurants frequently during our vacation; the food and atmosphere was just outstanding.

One of many great spots to watch the sunset

Another excursion we enjoyed was a day trip to Tortuga Island. We booked the event through the hotel concierge, and our early morning pickup was right at the hotel. We were taken to a local marina where we boarded a large catamaran serving coffee, juices, and a light breakfast. About 45 minutes later we disembarked at Tortuga Island. There were plenty of beach lounge chairs set up as well as a beverage station. The staff came well-provisioned with large coolers of iced tea, margaritas, rum punch, and water.

A perfect shady spot close to the beach, food, and drinks

Several organized activities were available including snorkeling, hiking, water games, and a speed boat pulling a raft through the water. We opted for the snorkeling which was just right for our tastes. It was well-organized and all phases of the activity were provided for you – snorkeling gear, light life jackets, guides, and a boat to the diving site. We saw a great number and variety of fish on our dive. It lasted about 2 ½ hours which was just right for us. After we returned to the beach area an excellent lunch was being prepared. It consisted of some local dishes as well as barbecued chicken right off the grill, numerous salads, fresh fruit, beans, and rice.

After lunch was an ideal time to chill on a beach lounger with a book or take a nap. It was very relaxing to say the least. Often we overbook ourselves on a trip, but on this Costa Rican vacation we took advantage of the time to unplug and relax. Late in the afternoon we were called back to our boat for the ride back to our resort. The marina itself had a number of upscale restaurants, and it was only a short walk from the hotel. We went there twice during our stay for Italian food and some excellent steak.

As I wrote earlier, we had our MVCI villa for 7 days, so at the end of that week we had to move to the hotel side of the resort. The staff moved our luggage over to the new location which had some pros and cons. On the positive side our reservations included the hotel’s breakfast buffet which was fabulous. It contained lots of fresh fruit and locally baked good as well as hot entrees. The local coffee and fruit were a special treat for us. On the negative side our new room had less floor space than the villa with only a small refrigerator. We had gotten used to keeping plenty of cold drinks and light food items in a full-sized refrigerator. Not a big problem – plus we gained a nice hammock to enjoy.

All good things come to an end, and it was time to head back to the real world. We booked a ride back to the airport using the hotel’s transportation desk, and the return trip was actually less expensive than the outbound trip. On the way back we stopped at a river to watch dozens of crocodiles gathered in shallow water. It must have been a good feeding area.

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time for our afternoon flight, and enough time to visit an airport lounge. It was in the Priority Pass network; a simple but adequate place to get some light refreshments and good wifi while we waited for boarding.

Thinking back on our Costa Rica trip what stands out is the quiet, peaceful, and relaxing environment we had. We did not go zip lining, and we did not visit a volcano, but we scratched the surface on many of the country’s major attractions. The “down time” was priceless. Instead of a packed travel itinerary we felt pampered and rested. We would recommend it to anyone looking to get away to recharge.

May 4 Marriott’s Costa Rica Los Suenos Resort

Sep 27 The Island of Fire & Ice

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