There’s a first for everything, huh? First all-inclusive, first time in Guanacaste, first time at the Secrets brand in Hyatt. But It’s not bad. The Secrets Papagayo is a beautiful beach resort, with great people, mostly good service, but not a tonne to do. If you want to have a good time, make sure you line up some excursions, if you don’t- try not to stay here too long.
Location
The resort is nestled in the rainforests about 20 miles (ca. 32 km) away from the Liberia airport. You can get here either by Taxi, or private transport. I chose the latter, through a company called Amstar. They seem to be deeply integrated with the resort, and you can also do plenty of activities with them including, tours, jet skiing and atv riding. Peaceful cannot begin to describe the serene landscape. I drifted off to bed listening to the ocean waves, every night. You are right on the beach, but there is nothing else for miles.
The Room
The room was as expected. It was clean, had a comfortable bed, and it had a view to die for. My only complaint was the copious amounts of ants. But I guess in this type of setting it cannot be helped.
The shower was great! Big, warm water, rainfall shower head with lots of pressure! I enjoyed showering every single time.
We stayed in a Bungalow suite with a direct view of the ocean, and although I didn’t spend a lot of time on the balcony, it was there.
Service
Service was hit or miss. You see, when you come to Costa Rica you have to get in your mind that although the people are friendly (and believe me they are), they are very relaxed about everything. Including getting your order right, which they never will. So just be prepared to eat whatever they give you because it most definitely will not be what you ordered. Besides that, they are very respectful, they hold the door open for you, they have room service, and they even have a little shuttle to take you to other parts of the resort.
Which brings me to food. They have 7 places to each, but only 2 of them are open for breakfast. The Italian place is okay, the seaside grill, and seafood place are a little better. The Japanese place is excellent. But pretty soon you will have eaten everywhere, and their menus aren’t that expansive.
The only meal I truly enjoyed every day was:
Breakfast
Breakfast was something else. It is served as a buffet style in one of the main restaurants. They changed it up a bit every day. Some mornings they had Fajita meat, other chimichangas, some they had nachos, or quesadillas. They always had some Gallo pinto ready to go! I enjoyed the many meats, the cereal, oatmeal and all the fruit they had available. Breakfast was my favorite meal by far.
SPA
The spa was a highlight of this trip. We spent all day in there going from a Hot Stone massage, to a facial, to manicures and pedicures. It was relaxing and it felt great. I have little complaints here. My wife didn’t like the manicure, though, she thinks they cheated out on the finger nail paint.
Overall Score
Thinking things over. I guess I really liked the idea of an all-inclusive resort. Not having to plan out what to do each day, not having to worry about what to get for food or how to pay for it. But I don’t know if it’s just me, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I imagined I would. Don’t get me wrong. The views and the drinks at the bar made for some fine moments. But you start to get a little bored after a while. If I didn’t do anything thing outside the resort, I'd be in a much worse state- but thankfully I did.
If I had to sum up this experience within 5 points, I would give this place a 4/5
It’s not bad for a first go, but there has got to be places with higher quality food, more things to do, and more attention to detail.
