Punta Leona Hotel Vacations

For many years we were customers of this beautiful place. Until we suffered a disappointment when my daughter suffered an accident when the cover of a manhole broke when she was passing through it and she suffered a spinal injury that left her incapacitated for 2 months. Despite the seriousness of the accident, the administration flatly refused to activate the risk policy so that my daughter could be treated at the Trauma Hospital, as expected.
Currently my daughter is recovering. Not having CCSS insurance, she, with family help, had to pay for orthopedic care and physical therapy, which exceeds one million colones.
A horrible experience. Punta Leona for us, never again!

Good place for vacation

Excellent

Very nice place, white beach, the best is crystal clear water and white sand, very clean and calm.

Excellent place to enjoy a good weekend

We liked it.

Very nice, nice experience

The rooms by the pools were very ugly, the plastic or canvas on the ceiling looks very bad, otherwise very good

In general it is a good place. We had a very bad experience at the Leon Marino a la carte restaurant. Well, the food and service was poor even with the restaurant almost empty. We also had to see a "discussion" between 2 bartenders at the change of shift. The overload and poor distribution of functions among collaborators is noticeable, of course this comes more from poor management of leaders in addition to seeing some unmotivated staff.

Very nice place to relax

Welcome to the compound. Where location sucks and staff are indifferent.

A ‘tired’ hotel/resort incorrectly rated as 3*.

Rooms (in subdivision away from reception, pools & beaches & alacarte restaurant) are
townhouse style rooms which are clean and have a a/c, a fan, fridge and safe. TV has Netflix if you add your own code apparently.

Rooms near the beach look like 3rd world one floor condos with tatted roofs - see pic. Although being close to the beach sounds appealing - not sure it’s worth the location.

Resort & Location
The word ‘resort’ is a bit of a stretch. Once you leave the highway, 30 km from Jaco, down a 7km rough road, you reach the reception. The rooms are in a subdivision, away from the ocean, reception and beach. Everything is by shuttle (should they show up in a timely matter) or hot walk. Tip: don’t bother ordering in advance - only when you are standing outside getting bitten by bugs.

Once you are settled, you realize you are captive audience, Costs and options at the pleasure of the resort. Should you be from the US then this more palatable than for Canadians (30 percent less dollar).

Check out the old empty water urns for the welcome drink. Well no drink.

Restaurants:
Main restaurant near reception has very good pizza at a decent price, other food not so good - limited options. They do have some vegan options.

For once, a glass of wine is affordable - $8 cdn for a nice size glass.

The point-of-sale system is modern but terribly inefficient. Every transaction, you have to go to the machine to pay, the server has to re-input passwords and the whole system is slow. This also takes the server off the floor - very slow.

The buffet breakfast (closer to the rooms than the reception) is very good - fabulous omelets and Costa Rican foods & coffee but limited vegan options.

Pools:
Lots of pools with chairs but limited shady options. The pool near the buffet restaurant is freezing cold and the deck surface is broken and old. There are many monkeys stealing food to entertain you though. Don’t forget to get your pool card at reception (especially if you go to Playa Blanco) or you will be sent back to get one.

Beaches:
Hotel beach is rough and unappealing.
Shuttle (again) to Playa Blanco. Wonderful warm beach with beautiful sandy bottom. Lots of monkeys around being fed by idiot tourists. This, they steel everything - particularly bags of chips.

Tour groups;
If your tour group uses this hotel as an option - upgrade to a nice hotel or resort closer to Jaco. Perhaps check out Crocs. I would not recommend Punta Leona for any tour option. There is no reason to have this on your tour itinerary. Basically, you are abandoned without access to choice restaurants and your reliance on controlled transportation. Consider Uber to get off the grounds to Jaco - about $15 - $20 each way.

Eco-tourism:
Don’t expect it here. Hotel guests feeding chips and other foods to the monkeys. Playa Blanco and hotel accept feeding and touching of wildlife (monkeys )

North American standards maximum 2*.

Shout-outs: Miguel at reception, Lizbeth (Liz)- server at every restaurant and Isaac- manager at the main restaurant. The shuttle drivers are very professional as well.

We went there as part of a VIP package to access the beach.

The resort had two beaches:
- A white sand beach
- A black sand beach
My biggest complaint and the reason I gave them 3 stars is that they didn't have their chairs pre-set up. We arrived just before 10 am and they were still setting up their chairs and umbrellas. We waited in the line for about 10 minutes before ditching the line and going to sit on the beach on our towels. The line was still formed at like 11:15 am before they final had all the chairs set-up. It was kind of ridiculous.

I did like that they had access to the beach for all people, but the chair situation put a sour taste in my mouth.

But the wildlife is beautiful. There were Macaws were amazing and flying around.

The pools were very nice.

The buffet was pretty good at Carabelas Restaurant, which was included in the VIP package.

They had a nice shuttling service since the resort is very large with different areas.

The drinks at the beach were ok.

Otherwise, there were nice bathroom and showering facilities for after leaving the beach.

AVOID A truly terrible experience more like a prison camp than a hotel. Terrible rude service from indifferent staff. If you read other reviews you'll see this is a theme. They gave me a wristband which they said I needed for breakfast. As we were only staying one night (thank god) I took it off after breakfast. I was waiting by the pool for my partner to finish diving so we could leave. I was confronted and then marched off by several security staff because I didn't have a wristband despite being told we could use the facilities until 5pm and it was only 12.30. I do not expect to be treated like a criminal when sitting by the pool at a hotel I've paid £150 to stay at for one night. Everything is miles apart and like a maze if you don't have a car you will have to walk 20 minutes at least to the pool/beach area. Our key didn't work and we got locked out of our room then they brought a replacement which didn't work either. There are numerous other security checkpoints everywhere it really is total overkill and not a relaxing vibe at all. So glad we were only staying one night while we transitted somewhere else. The food was not great and there was a massive queue at the restaurant and none of the staff bothered to tell us what was going on. I wanted a drink at the bar and was told I had to pay first and then ignored by staff whilst they talked amongst themselves. The check in guy responded to my questions by saying 'lady I told you to wait'. This was the guy who told me I only needed the wristband for breakfast. Don't expect a moonlit walk on the beach as that is closed and locked after 8pm. Everywhere else we've stayed in Costa Rica has been amazing with great service so do yourself a favour and find somewhere else to stay as you are sure to be disappointed here.

The hotel is a disaster! Not only the long distances (we drove to breakfast), the food was bad, the service was subpar, there was a loud party atmosphere all day long at the pool in front of our room, nagging and shouting, at 6.30 a.m. the gardener with the grass trimmer felt next to us on the way to my bed. Absolutely no recommendation!

I recently took a long weekend in Costa Rica. So far most of my experiences have been positive. However, I had an unfortunate experience of visiting Punta Leona in Costa Rica and it was nothing short of a disaster. The lack of customer service, preparation, and outright rudeness from the beach staff left me thoroughly disappointed. Upon arriving, I attempted to ask for directions from a staff member, but it quickly became evident that they did not speak English. While I can manage some Spanglish, the response I received was confusing and downright odd. It was as if they were deliberately trying to make things difficult for me.
To add insult to injury, a fellow guest explained to me that they were suspicious of my presence because I wasn't staying at the hotel. Instead of providing the requested directions, they unceremoniously directed me down a dangerous trail that led to another beach. This blatant disregard for my safety was both horrifying and unacceptable.
Overall, my experience at Punta Leona was marred by a complete lack of professionalism and a disturbing level of rudeness from the staff. I would strongly caution anyone considering a visit to think twice before subjecting themselves to such a disappointing and potentially dangerous situation. There are plenty of other beautiful destinations in Costa Rica that offer the hospitality and service that Punta Leona sorely lacks.

A picturesque place 😍

In the middle of the jungle surrounded by many plants and animals. Very nice staff, a bit remote without a car, there is a shuttle bus in the hotel complex that takes you to the beach (Playa Blanka). Playa Mantas beach, pool, rooms and reception are also within walking distance.

I was at the hotel last night for a 2-night stay with Breakfast Included. I love the hotel because it is surrounded by vegetation and fauna that drives children crazy. Being able to see raccoons, coatis and monkeys near them is an unforgettable experience. The attention of the place is super good, the pool and beach spaces are also very pleasant and with many amenities within reach, in addition to the cleanliness being always very good. The breakfasts are excellent in variety, and flavor, and they have very attentive and friendly staff (Joselyn Fabioña, Danis) always attentive to any need or help. The lunches and dinners at the Buffte Carabelas restaurant are very tasty and varied. We also have no complaints. On the contrary, they prepared food for my children that was not on the menu and very tasty. It is worth highlighting the skill and attention of the Captain of the restaurant (Heydi). he treated us super well. The Hotel is without a doubt a very good space to share with family or friends. I would return as many times as necessary.

The facilities are very large, the staff is very friendly, the room is quiet, the buffet for dinner and lunch is very basic, there are not many options, but the food was good, the only drawback I saw is that it is difficult to move around without car, but in our case it did not affect us, I hope to return more days to enjoy everything they have. Playa Blanca is really beautiful.

We love this Club!