Las Catalinas Collection

We had the most AMAZING time at Las Catalinas! We went the first week in April, 2024 and the temperatures were between 97-102F each day. The staff was phenomenal! They all greeted us by name at the restaurants and were VERY polite! They have many delicious restaurants to eat at and the beach and grounds could not be more beautiful! We were also there for a wedding and worked with Mariela. She was the reason that everything went seamless! She was incredibly attentive and knew every single detail before we had to say anything. 10000/10 would come back again!

A beautiful small village with a few restaurants and hotels. You can also rent out a house that is a bit higher up on the hill. It is under a bit of construction, but it is still amazing. The water is cooler, not warm, but once you get in, it is very refreshing and a great temperature. The waves are big and super fun to boogie board on.

The most disappointing stay we’ve had in a long time. We are a family of four (two teens), who rented Casa Piper via Marriott Bonvoy homes and villas. We arrived on Easter, and spent the day at the “beach club” until the villa was ready. The beach club is actually not on the beach, but there is a view of the beach. It’s about a ten minute walk down a steep dirt path to get to the beach. The club itself had two pools and one hot tub. Each pool had eight lounge chairs. Eight!! And anyone can use the beach club, not just owners or guests. Suffice it to say, it was difficult to find four lounge chairs for our family most days. When we finally got checked into the villa is when we realized that even though the property was advertised as having a pool as a “house amenity”, there WAS NO POOL!! All four of us had tears over this one. This is a huge miss! I immediately contacted the concierge services who told me I misread the property description. I copied and pasted the link that still shows the house as having a pool. They still argued it was my mistake. So I walked to concierge to see them face to face, and one person there agreed with me and finally got the manager to understand this is false advertising. Having said that, Marriott was closed on Easter, and the concierge couldn’t do anything since I booked through Marriott. The whole thing was a total cluster. And it didn’t get any better in the 3 nights we were there. When we checked out, I got a bill for $325 for 2 days of homemade breakfast by the “house mom”. $325!? Are you kidding me???? She purchased items that we never asked for, nor ate, and yet we still had to pay for them. I argued with Daniella, a manager about this, and she said she would look into it for me, and subsequently sent me an email saying all items bought were necessary and were used. I told her they weren’t, but she insisted, so now I will dispute the charges with my credit card company. I could go on and on about other issues, theft, etc., but I think you get the drift. Super disappointing for a “luxury” and costly property. It is a beautiful area. The architecture and scenery is gorgeous, we were very sad the service was so poor. It’s also very isolating, unless you have a car, there is really no where else to go.

Las Catalinas is a very interesting area with European style architecture and a car-free experience adjacent to Playa Danta in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Everything you need in Las Catalinas is "right there", including several restaurants, shops and a boutique (pricey) mini-market. There is a bike rental shop and surf shop right at the edge of the beach. The surf shop serves coffee, empanadas and gelato too. The horseshoe shaped beach (Playa Danta) is large and didn't feel crowded to us even though we visited during US "spring break". We enjoyed the variety of restaurants (including a nice breakfast at Pots & Bowls and a great Spanish tapas dinner at Pascual) that are very close together. We also enjoyed walking the winding cobblestone streets with interesting stairways and fountains in very cute courtyards. Relaxing at the beach front bar/restaurant Celeste and listening to the surf over a great margarita was a highlight too. Some may feel a little confined in Las Catalinas since it's away from the hustle and bustle of other nearby beach towns but I thought it was great for a relaxing getaway for a couple of days. In general, everything in Las Catalinas could be considered a bit expensive but I think it's a good value considering the overall experience.

Overall, we had an "ok" stay. My husband and I rented a nice, but small, 1 bedroom apartment for 4 nights/3 days. The highlight of Las Catalinas was the friendliness of the staff, who aim to please and then some. In fact, this might have been the friendliest service I've ever experienced. I don't think they cater too well for the vacation rental market. First, the contract for renting an apartment is pretty intense. Not only were there severe penalties for canceling within 30 days (we would have been out a lot of money if one of us got Covid...thank goodness we didn't, but I was stressing!)) they also wanted a $1000 security deposit. Also, unlike a typical AirBnB, this apartment did not supply any coffee or kitchen towels. Buying whole containers of coffee, sugar and cream for only 3 days was sort of ridiculous. I used 4 paper towels even though I had to buy a whole roll. Booking a rental through AirBnB would have been the way to go here...and NOT thru Las Catalinas/Beach Town. Also, during one rainy day, I asked where I could find 2 umbrellas and then said they would have to charge me $30 each for them. We left the umbrellas there of course cuz we weren't going to take them on the plane. We used the umbrella's for ONE day. I would also recommend that if you are a person who wears make-up to bring your own towels. They charged me $60 for "staining" two bath towels. I did not see these stains, but ok. I have been wearing make-up and staying in hotels for years and never had this problem. Again, take your own towels. Oh, they quoted me $200 for car service each way to/from the airport. Every other company quoted me HALF the price. The apartment was expensive so all these little extra things turned me off. What did I like? Other than the staff which I mentioned earlier, the town was very pretty and we did not experience construction noise like other reviewers. We hiked at least one of the trails everyday. We were also happy with the food, especially at "Pots and Bowls". Another major highlight was going to Casa Chameleon (a 5 star hotel up the road a bit from Las Catalinas) for "golden hour"... the view was breathtaking, the staff was amazing and the cocktails and nibbles were divine.

Died and went to heaven, Spent a week at this beautiful 3 bedroom oceanfront home at las catalinas. Gorgeous patio overlooking the ocean with plunge pool plus amazing views. Destination and loccation not to be missed, steps to beach, jungle gym, restaraunts. Home beautifully decorated and spacious, Amazing vacation, plan to return annually.

Las Catalinas is a beautiful ocean front town with amazing plaza spaces and restaurants. The beach is black sand and the bay is great for swimming. It is a family friendly place. It is on the higher price end. $50-$75 USD Lunch $100-$150 USD Dinner.

The specific unit we stayed in was really nice and spacious with a great view of the ocean. So was the overall complex. However, the owner can pay more attention to details such as the condition of the appliances (dishwasher wasn’t operational) and basic amenities such as a roll of paper towel or a box of Kleenex that rental apartments typically have.

Las Catalinas could be lovely. But there is so much construction going on at all hours that it is far from peaceful and almost impossible to sleep. The presence of the construction and the car free requirements (you must valet your car) make it very hard to get in and out of the community (30 minutes at a time to pickup the car unless you tip lavishly), making you hostage to eating at only their very expensive restaurants during your stay. The accommodations themselves are otherwise quite nice, and the beach is lovely too. But they need to deal with the gridlock and the construction noise.