Occidental Tamarindo - All Inclusive

Customer Ratings & Reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

5780 reviews

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  Had A Great Pura Vida Experience

  Here is my honest middle class midwestern dad dude review: After reading quite a bit of oddly written negative reviews, we came into this with an open mind and ready for anything. I would overall agree with all of the positive reviews - noting the cleanliness, friendly staff, great location, and value being at the top of this property's list. Now let me touch on some of the bad reviews I read: Food: If you're not a 5 star foodie who shouldn't be staying at an all-inclusive offering buffet-style food meant for the masses, then I don't see a reason to hate this stuff. Is it roughly the same stuff every day? Sort of. Were there some bland options for me? Yes. Were there plenty of delicious hot, cold, and fresh options? Hell yes. You won't be disappointed if you know what you're paying for. Also there's self-tapping beer, soda, juice, and coffee available at every meal. As for the snack bar..... it is what it is and does need to be improved by the property. Every day there were hot and cold options, including taquitos, burgers, pizza, sausages, nachos, and fruit. At best, the chips and taquitos were good. Everything else they stick under way too hot warmers and everything dries out literally to the point of being inedible. This can be improved on... As for the private restaurants, you get 1 free reservation per 3 days stay. So we had 2, and chose to do the Italian restaurant for one night and the Japanese restaurant for our other night. The Italian restaurant was phenomenal - they serve pasta, brick fired pizza, and various meats. The pizza was pretty good, my son loved the pasta, and I probably had the best chicken parm I've ever had. As for the Japanese restaurant, we chose the habachi dinner, since my son is too young for sushi (rats...). It is up in a pretty small part of the property above the lobby, and was VERY warm. My son did NOT like the heat and fire of the grill, so that pretty much spoiled the night, and the food itself was nothing better than something you'd get at a Panda Express - not bad, just not the best I've had. The sushi looked great though! Bar Service: We had a great experience at both bars overall. I've been to other all-inclusives in other countries that are more familiar with this style of resort (Costa Rica doesn't have many), and yes, the bars have it down in those locations. If you are a heavy drinker who travels to drink and party, this may not be the place for you, as there is only 2 bars, and they have limited hours each. However, if you're here to have a few a day, you'll have no problem. Very nice staff. Location: The OT is located pretty much at the end of the road past Tamarindo and is in a very quiet part of town. That being said, it is NOT is Tamarindo, and located on Playa Langosta. The beach itself is very rocky, but beautiful nonetheless. There is a small (at times) river that can be crossed at low tide to the greater section of Playa Langosta with much better sand (do not get stuck on the other side when the tide comes in or you will be swimming against a strong current). The resort offers a very nice seating area under some palms that gives much needed shade. In the heat of the day, the sand gets VERY hot. There is a volleyball net and lifeguard stand nearby as well. The surfing over here is also VERY fun to watch and seemed like a more advanced section of the coast. One last note: grab a refreshment and get a good spot for a beautiful sunset - you won't be disappointed. As for getting to town, there is a bike lane and eventual sidewalk with part shaded areas to walk down to Tamarindo. There are various paths to take you to Playa Tamarindo or you can take the same road all the way to the main downtown section for restaurants/shopping. We chose to walk the beach to town as much as possible since it was more breezy and a better view. All-in-all, it's about a 30 minute walk one way and not too hilly. Lots of people were renting golf carts and bikes, but if you don't mind walking, it's quite nice (plus you can work off your hefty breakfast). Pool: Large and clean for the most part (there's sand that get in, but it's next to the beach, so go figure). Large enough for the whole resort, and my son loved the separate shallow pool that's meant for kids. The zero depth parts were nice as well. Room: I read some horror stories about rooms not being air conditioned, dirty, and loud with no wifi. We had the exact opposite experience. The A/C was working so well, we would just turn it off sometimes. The room service was great and they left the room very clean every day. As for the wifi, my guess is they had so many complaints they added new or more signal boosters, as we had one in our room and had FAST internet for the whole time. The last complaint I read was the noise - we were across from the spa and adjacent to the amphitheater and never heard anything. Great views, beautiful birds (was visited by a white bellied magpiejay each morning), and if you listened at sunrise, there were howler monkey screams, which was pretty cool. No complaints from this family - we stayed in room 4303. Overall experience: We had a terrific time and I would recommend this property to anyone looking to dip their feet into Costa Rica without diving in head first. Like I stated above, if you're a stingy foodie expecting Michelin star service and food, go somewhere else. Everyone else looking for an easy and relaxing adventure without the stress of cooking or finding restaurants everyday, this is the place for you. P.S. The Pura Vida stays with you :)

  Jan 29, 2026
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  Impressions

  Lovely grounds , staff generally very pleasant. Too noisy for our liking. Worst features were 1) the food which was disgusting 2) the continual boom boom type music

  Jan 28, 2026
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  We had a wonderful vacation

  We had a lovely vacation, lovely beach for long walks and swimming. Great location, 20 min walk to the town of Tamarindo. Food was good, many options at every meal. Alex at the omelette station was the best! Both Ala carte restaurants were very good Go and enjoy CR for Pura Vida

  Jan 27, 2026
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  Costa Rica vacation time

  From the airport to the resort, it’s about 2 Hour Bus drive. When we arrive at the resort, it was late. The check in was pretty fast. We were asking question the lady couldn’t really answer them. The buffet. It’s always the same food. There is only two bar and two restaurant à la carte that you can only have two in one week. If you are a person for the beach, it’s really not a place to go. The wave are really bad not a place to swim. For the cleaning service in the room honestly that was the best never missing anything

  Jan 25, 2026
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  Attended a family wedding

  Overall excellent service , the staff are all friendly and knowledgeable. The rooms were all clean and comfortable. I would recommend the hotel to family and friends. A special thank you to a young man at the service desk. I didn’t get his name, he helped me with printing a document that I needed.

  Jan 23, 2026