April 9, 2007--Just returned from an 8-day stay with this resort as a base. I am not sure Bruce from Canada and I stayed at the same hotel, because not only are there ground floor rooms, ground floor rooms on one side of the hotel are actually BELOW ground level. Instead of a "pool view" my room was more of a "pool view into our room." The manger promised to move us to a different room, but it never happened. I guess we were lucky. One family from Las Vegas showed up having prepaid for a suite with kitchenette only to be told that the hotel had no suites. It took them a call to their travel agency in the U.S. to get action. They did get their suite but only after spending two days, seven people in a regular two-bed hotel room. Another couple, from Michigan, arrived to find there were no rooms available and that the hotel regularly overbooks. The wife spent a hour screaming at the night manager before management booked a nearby condo unit.

Overall the staff was helpful and did speak very good English. There was an exception in one of the night managers named Paul who was openly hostile and surly to everyone.

The hotel was below average in cleanliness, especially the pool. Staff did not hose down the deck area around the pool and the recessed drainage throughs actually had dirt piled up in them. Pool water had a chalky appearance, telling me the filter system was either not working properly or had not been backflushed on a long, long time. Inside the wing where I stayed, the odors of raw sewage and urine wafted up and down the hallways.

We had a very bad experience renting a car from Adobe, the local rental company with an office right outside the Flamingo's front door on hotel grounds. A tire went down after driving it 2 kilometers, and the company's solution was for me to have the tire fixed myself. When I refused, the agent attempted to change the tire and couldn't get it done. A local independent tour guide had the tools and changed the tire instead. We paid him $35. We finally got the car at 1 p.m. Although the agent told us he would be on had at 8 p.m. for us to return the car, he was not there. I had to leave the keys at the front desk and hope I do not get billed for returning the car late. I would never rent a car there again. Rent in Liberia from Budget, Avis or Economy.

Breakfast buffet at the hotel was excellent but expensive. Dinner at the even higher-price restaurant was below average. This was obvious as nobody ate there. Most guests tried it once and then looked elsewhere. There are a couple of unbelieveably good restaurants within easy taxi drive though. One, the Golden Shrimp, provides free shuttle service to and from the restaurant and hotel. Right on the water, ten feet from the surf, strolling musicians, finger bowls with rose water, excellent sea food, top service. This is a five star restaurant where dinner only cost $25 for lobster, $8 for fresh grouper and snapper, beautifully displayed with pleasantly seasoned, steamed veggies. Oh, the dinning room is on the sand with a tent/awning for a roof.

The beach is a public beach and was heavily used by locals, some of whom used the hotel's sand wash-off showers for a public urinal. There is a sharply breaking surf that you can hear at all times, Nice but not a good swimming beach. The small tourist shops inside the hotel have better prices than othere shops in the area. The art shop is outstanding with prices at least 50 percent under what you will have to pay other places.

My wife and I (50+) have just returned from a 2 week (Jan 5-19. 2005) stay in Costa Rica, the first week of which was spent at the Flamingo Beach Resort along the Guanacaste Pacific coast, a one hour distance from the Liberia Airport to which we flew non-stop on Skyservice from Calgary (6 1/2 hrs). Our second week was spent at the Best Western Jaco Beach and interested readers can also find a review of that portion of the trip on this website.

Flamingo Beach (as the guidebooks indicate) ia an upscale (for Costa Rica) area of small hotels, privately (foreign) owned homes, and a small village consisting of a few shops, grocery store, restaurants (about 6) a drug store, a bank, and several tour operators. Everything was within a 2-5 minute walk from the Flamingo Beach Resort, the largest hotel in the area.. The hotel has about 100 rooms and is perhaps 20 years old. The rooms are in 2 two story wings which enclose the pool. All rooms have balconies. There are no rooms on the ground floor. We had a second floor room overlooking the pool (no extra charge). The room was average in size, clean, in good repair and well furnished with a comfortable chair and ottoman. The air conditioner was noisy and not overly cool. The weather was sunny and 30 degrees C. every day with very low humidity (for the tropics). Maid service was adequate and tended to be after lunch. Hot water was plentiful and we drank water right from the taps.

Bottled water is available for sale. The hotel was quiet at all times of the day and night, tv reception was good (30 channels) and there were no power or satellite interruptions.

The front desk staff spoke English quite well and were always helpful. I should add that our Interbus transfer from Liberia Airport to the hotel was graciously arranged for us by a manager at the hotel through internet communications--very smooth and troublefree. Many thanks!

The hotel grounds were lush with large palms, flowering hedges, night lighting, fountains and sculptures. The grounds offer a most unique auditory experience when every evening between 5:45 and 6:45, hundreds of birds come back to roost on the palms around the pool for the night. The bird chirping is Loud and I wished I could have recorded it as it is unforgettable.

Our room included a free daily buffet breakfast served in the beachfront restaurant. There are also tables outside under the trees. The breakfast included juices, fresh fruit(Costa Rican pineapple is to die for), scrambled eggs(other types made to order), pinto gallo(rice and beans), plantain, potatoes, pancakes, cereal, sausages, and various bread and pastry selections. It wasn't fancy and changed very little from day to day.

Lunch was served in the same location with a la carte selections such as hamburgers, pizza, salad, fries and chicken.

Dinner was available at the second floor restaurant. Here are a few items with prices (keep in mind that 4500 colones is $10 US): ceasar salad(2300), Mahi Mahi (3600), filet mignon(5300), chicken parmesan(3200) and seafood crepes(4500). Prices weren't too bad. Can you do better? Oh yes! We only ate in the hotel restaurant twice. All other lunches and dinners were eaten in the village of Flamingo or the nearby (4km) village of Brasilito. Typical lunch at Maries in Flamingo: 1/4 roast chicken, scalloped potatoes, vegetables, and tossed salad= 2200 colones. Exellent value/exellent food! A seafood dinner on the sand (with bonfires and tiki torches) at the "high-end" Camaron Dorado in Brasilito (free roundtrip transportation provided) might include 9 extra large grilled shrimp, rice, vegetables, dessert, finger bowls, flowers for the ladies, cigars for the gentlemen for 7000 colones. So don't be worried about eating out in Flamingo--there are lots of choices.

The pool at the FBR is adequately sized for the number of guests but the number of chairs, umbrellas and loungers is small. Improvement is needed here and the problem is worse at the beach where there are only 16 loungers(no pads). There is a swim-up bar, a child's pool, and free float toys. Water temperature was 28 degrees C.

The "white sand" beach(actually rather brown if compared to the Mayan Riviera sand) is about 1 km long enclosed by rocky headlands at each end. By the way, if you are a diehard beach walker don't forget that Potrero Beach begins at the end of town and is considerably longer. Flamingo Beach is perfect for swimming with very few rocks(visible at low tide only). There is a single wave break about 25 feet from shore and average wave height was 2 feet with the occasional 3 footer. Waves were lowest in the morning when the tide was out. Water depth behind the wave break was only 4-5 feet because the wave break is so close to shore. Undertow in the surf zone was moderate so most small children stayed close to shore. Adults were behind the wave break where there is no undertow. Water temperature was 26 degrees C. and seemed cool getting wet. The beach is open to the public and many Costa Rican families and guests at other nearby hotels were in evidence at all times. A few beach vendors selling jewellery were present but they were not aggressive.