Pacuare Lodge by Böëna

We choose Costa Rica for our family vacation in search for adventure and a luxury wilderness lodge feel for my husband and I along with our 8 and 9 year old children. Pacuare Lodge more than deliverd and I cannot speak highly enough! Arrival- We arrived in SJO and stayed at Hotel Grano de Oro. The hotel arranged transportation for us from the airport and we were very pleased upon arrival. We were able to rest and prepare for the start of our adventure. Pepe met us on behalf of Pacuare in the lobby and was incredible! He was informative, funny and made us and our children so excited for the upcoming adventure. The ride to the lodge was great as he shared with us along the way and we stopped for breakfast at a great restaurant with beautiful views! The rafting in was amazing!! The children had not rafted before and this was a huge highlight for them. Pepe made it so special for the kids and us all. Danny was our safety kayaker and was nearby the whole ride. He took my phone to get some great action shots for us. The ride was adventurous, but we felt very comfortable with our children being there. Concierge- Upon arrival we were greeted with a delicious tropical smoothie. Eimy was the concierge and was so kind and welcoming to make sure we knew where everything was, explain what to expect and share with us all activities options and help us get our schedule arranged. Nia also assisted us during our stay and was so kind and helpful. We did two bags of laundry while on site and loved leaving with dry clean clothes. Having a dedicated person there all the time for absolutely anything we needed made us feel confident we were making the most of every minute of our stay. They went above and beyond! Room type- We were in Morpho which is a linda vista suite. It was high up and offered the most amazing views!! Waking to see sunrise was something I will never forget. The incredibly attentive staff delivered coffee and sweets to our room at 6:15am for us to enjoy while relaxing on the hanging swing. The room felt very spacious allowing my husband and I space while each of the children had their own beds. Soaking tub overlooking the views as well as an indoor and outdoor shower. Loved this room! The golf cart was so fast to take us anywhere we needed. I always prefer to stay as close to everything and did not know that I would enjoy taking a golf cart from my room, but highly suggested for the views and the golf cart system was extremely convenient and they came very fast. Dining- Meals were absolutely amazing! Each item we received was so beautifully presented and tasted incredible. Diana mainly took care of us for meals and made the dining experience perfect! She made us feel very welcome and attended to anything we may need. They offer so many delicious options and a nice wine list. Dining while overlooking the river with such amazing food was a highlight for us! Each member of the staff made us feel so welcomed and we could feel they wanted u

I had the privilege of staying at Pacuare Lodge for 4 nights with family. The remoteness of this lodge-arriving and departing via white water rafting - adds to the mystique of this place. I have never rafted before, but felt safe and comfortable while enjoying the thrilling rapids and amazing scenery. I wish the ride could have been longer! Thank you to Pepe, Luis, Marcello and Alex, our wonderful and entertaining river guides and safety kayakers. Rafting is not to be missed! From the moment you step off the raft, you find yourself in the middle of a sanctuary in the rainforest. You are surrounded by towering trees and lush greenery with the soothing sounds of the Pacuare river and bird song filling the air. Words cannot properly capture the beauty and serenity of this location. Coming here is an escape from the hectic, hustle and bustle of every day life. I felt very connected with nature in an intimate setting not overrun by tourists, which is hard to come by. We had two garden suites for our family of four. The rooms were comfortable and spacious and the bedding extremely plush. I have never slept so well in my life. Every night we feel asleep to the sounds of the river, rain on our bungalow roof, and creatures of the night, and woke to the sounds of birds and the occasional howler monkey. You will not get bored at Pacuare. We did bird watching, night walks, the looptrail, zip lining (twice), sustainability tour, Jaguar project, and hike to Bajos del Tigre. Zip lining and hike to Bajos del Tigre were my favorite. The hike is a 2 -hour trek through beautiful rainforest, traversing flowing streams and seeing wildlife along the way. Luis was our guide, who grew up there and has an extraordinary gift for explaining the natural world and sharing his amazing stories of his life at Pacuare. We had a delicious home cooked meal prepared by Luis’s mom and enjoyed the wonderful company of our two guides Luis and Alejandro. Thank you to Stefania, Kevin, and Amy for helping to arrange car service for our family who couldn’t do the actual hiking part. The beauty of Pacuare is out of this world, but what left the most lasting impression on me were the people we met. All of the staff at Pacuare are very special. Thank you to our zip lining guides, Alberto (Beto), Angelica, Dave, and Gio who made zip lining not so scary, but a lot of fun. Thank you to Adam, Wifredo and Diana for making our meals memorable. We spent the most time with our two guides, Luis and Alejandro. Both are professional and kind, but also fun and passionate about what they do. We were so lucky to have them. We also were pleasantly surprised to meet the owner of the lodge who was super friendly and down-to earth. This was our first visit to Pacuare, and I hope not our last. I felt rejuvenated and refreshed after our visit. Thank you for an unforgettable stay!

Suffering from withdrawals and want to hop on a plane and go back. Spend three days and two nights in the incredible Pacuare Lodge. Excellent food, excellent service. Pepe was a great guide to teach us the initial mechanics of rafting and to take us to a fun waterfall. Marcello was an amazing guide on the way out, taking us through precarious class 4 rapids and making us feel safe along the way. They also made an amazing lunch using the flipped rafts as picnic tables! Great excursions with Luis, Erik, David, Geo, Alexandro and Anthony. The meals were great and the staff was so acomodating. Amazing couples massage as well.

The trip was amazing! The setting is remote, yet relatively luxurious. The Lodge is oriented towards the activities: zip lining, rappelling across canyons, hiking, rafting.The water activities were so much fun. I highly recommend it, but must be in shape to handle activities.

A huge thank you to everyone at Pacuare Lodge. We rafted in on Sunday 26th Jan and rafted out on Tuesday. We stayed in a river view lodge which was amazing, so spacious with a super comfortable bed and the best pillows ever. Although the river sounds like it was in the lodge, we were quickly used to it and slept well. The food is out of this world and I wish I had more time to try more of the mouth watering menu. Breakfast was also a treat, just relaxing by the river, listening to the birds and watching the river. Then you have the many activities on offer. The canyoning was great fun, as was The Loop and night nature walks. We did not zip line as we are scheduled to do that elsewhere, but others said it was amazing. A big shout out to the activities team who were all so friendly, super competent, knowledgeable, and really made you feel welcome. Thank you all for making our stay super memorable. It will definitely be a talking point with friends and family for some time.

It’s taken me some time to gather my thoughts on this review. I started going to the Pacuare Lodge in 1997. I’ve been every couple of years with various friends and family and have seen every iteration of the lodge. For the most part the improvements to the infrastructure have been amazing. We now have hot water, electricity, and WiFi in all the rooms. Although I sort of miss the candle lit days, I completely understand the move to electricity. I have to say, though, that I am disappointed with my last visit. The booking process was a nightmare. We booked over 6 months out for 4 rooms and it was difficult at best to get this secured. I guess that’s attributed to the popularity of the hotel, but i really think it had to do with the dates that we picked and that y’all didn’t want empty days on either side of our stay. We usually have the biggest suites, but we ended up with the smallest. The service was appalling. I know that we used to have our river guides with us the entire time. They were the ones that served us and we go to know them and they got to know us. They knew what our drink preferences after the first meal. Knew what we asked for with each meal. Now you have waiters that are horrible. We had to ask multiple times at every meal for hot sauce, or sugar, or Salsa Lizano. We had to ask multiple times for more water to be brought. And we never received the special dessert that we asked to be provided for an anniversary celebration. We kept waiting for it to come out when we sat near the fire, but after 30 minutes with NO WAITERS coming around, we got frustrated and left. So completely disappointed. The food that used to be so good was sub par at best. What the heck happened? I’ve been to this lodge 20 times, at least, since 1998. This used to be my favorite place in Costa Rica to come to, and now I’m not sure I’ll ever come back.