Barcelo Tambor Beach - All Inclusive

Great stay, fantastic prices. We have stayed there before and it is still a great Family Vacation. Don't Miss the Sushi.

Hotel is a 3 star, although not much to complain about, not much to rave about either. The food is average at best, staff was friendly and some were great:) I have to say, the evening shows go on way too long!!! The lobby bar is attached to the theatre so, even if you don't want to watch the show you are forced to when wanting to go to lobby for a drink. The music is Spanish and very loud.....It drove me crazy, I know I shouldn't complain but it was obnoxious..I was with 8 other 40ish people who love to party but we couldn't push past music and went to bed a few nights before 11 out of boredom

everthing room pool food staff all great what more do you want

I had my entire family meet in Costa Rica at Barcelo in Tambor for the week of Thanksgiving. I told everyone that Barcelo was going to be the best place they would ever want to be to spend Thanksgiving at. I knew it would be a memorable vacation for my entire family. Instead, we saw upon arrival that the swim up bar pool was closed (which is a major portion of the swimming areas). It was being retiled which meant that all day there was hammering and drilling. Even swimming in the connecting pool was loud and dusty due to the work being done. Barcelo let "day" people come in every day we were there which meant it was so crowded there were no chairs to sit in by the pool and the wait for food was more that an hour and a half (standing in line in the sun all that time). I feel terrible that my entire family paid for plane tickets from the US to fly to Costa Rica to pay to go to Barcelo for Thanksgiving to stay at an all inclusive resort that I told them was going to be the best vacation ever and it was a horrible experience. Someone should have told us that the renovations were happening and also that the month of November is a discount month for Costa Rican residents who want to visit Barcelo for 'Day Passes". I've never felt so awful as my family doesn't have alot of money but wanted to have a vacation to remember. What a waste of time and money!

The wife and I went to Barcelo Playa Tambor in October 2011 and it was a nightmare from the start. Our first and last time at Barcelo Playa Tambor. Issues were abound, starting with no internet, restaurants closed, pools busted and being repaired, beaches dirty and unkept, less than 3 of the employees we met spoken good English and ZERO entertainment unless you spoke...thats right....SPANISH. Workers working on the pool oggled guests like meat, had to eat buffet every day, and although you were supposed to have a "dressed dinner"...the restaurants were closed and you could have that meal...thats right, IN THE BUFFET AREA with guests in shorts, t shirts and flip flops. It took us 4 attempts and finally getting a staff member to come over who spoke English for us to get a simple drink straw! We left 2 days early because we were not having any excursions. They canceled them or just wouldnt book because it rained. Casino closed till 3pm daily, although they advertised 24 hrs. They couldnt cash our travelers checks because they didnt recognize the American Express ones. We have requested NOT to be billed for the 2 days we left and they wont respond to e mails or the complaint. Unless you speak Spanish, dont care for excursions or trips and want to hang with the locals all the time, stay away from Barcelo Playa Tambor. oH,....and $27 sunscreen in the shop! WOW!!!! They saw us coming! PS- We attempted BINGO and the MC spoke 3 languages, but when he made some joke in Spanish, and used the word "AMERICAN" and everyone laughed, but didnt repeat it in ENGLISH....WE WALKED OUT.

This was about the 6th time we've stayed at Barcelo Playa Tambor. We always enjoy our stay there. It's beautiful, has well-kept grounds, a nice beach for swimming or walking,has great swimming pools, lots of activities, the staff is friendly and helpful. Each room has a patio to enjoy the gardens. The buffet meals are always excellent with plenty of choices. Don't miss the walk through the macaw aviary and butterfly garden. If you walk early in the morning, you'll get to see and hear howler monkeys. Overall, it's a wonderful all-inclusive resort, definitely worth the money, and we can't wait to go back. Hint: stay at least 2 nights to really enjoy the place.

The Hotel Staff and the Hotel itself are really nice. Now with that being said...The location not so great...it took us 3.5hours to get there from Liberia and the only way to get there was by ground transportation, bus shuttle, or taxi which is usually $240USD each way. Talked to some people who flew from San Jose and it was 2hours by taxi to the ferry(with car) then 35min boat ride to cross over, once you cross over its 45 minutes.You could get a small airline to take you to the hotel but they are very specific about luggage weight the name of the company is Sensa and they land right by the hotel. Not an easy place to get to but if you are looking for a secluded place this is it...except Saturday and Sunday when all the locals start to arrive, at that point its pure MAYHEM in the pool, buffet lines, bar and activities. They go to drink a lot, swim and dance in the pool with a few kids and no one ever gets out-wonder where they are going to the bathroom... Apparently Costa Ricans get 50%off to stay there...now i don't know why the Resort would do this ON A WEEKEND, weekdays I understand but not the weekends. Food and drinks were always very good, dishes were repeated many times though...And their exclusive restaurants aren't even open all the time during the rainy season they only open one-the ranch steak house and its only open Friday and Saturday goodluck getting a reservation with all the locals and families of 8. Getting around to visit nearby towns is pretty expensive you can get a cab but they pretty much charge about a $1.00 USD per KM. Went to visit Mal Pais and Sta Teresa(adjacent) 45km $45USD each way, $90bucks later...it was okay but not for the price! +if you want to eat there and want to do some souvenir shopping, you are looking at a pretty expensive day. You can also take the bus to get around but get a schedule from the excursions people because they only go by about 4x a day and last bus is always 4:30pm and if you miss it you'll have to cab it back to the hotel. Did the tortuga island snorkeling excursion and it was nice but unfortunately we went during the rainy season so visibility was zero and there were little jelly fish in the water so a few of us got stung and they forgot to tell us to take money to use the restroom-yes they charge! Also did the combined ATV/ZIP line excursion and that was a lot of fun but its $180USD I thought it was worth it since we visited a few towns, went to the waterfalls in Montezuma and the zip lines. Our tour guide was very nice and let us stay longer since no one was using the ATV's after us. Wanted to go see the volcano but apparently its really far from Tambor. The trip the hotel offers is a two day one night event for $320 a person (food not included). Sometimes clouds are so low you barely see anything. Check out on Saturday morning was awful, all the locals were pouring in to enjoy the day in the pool drinking, then there were the panicked tourist dreading the long cab ride to the airport affraid they will miss the flight. There was only one guy working the front desk Saturday morning at 8am. One line full of locals who cut infront while other go park the car they pretty much do what they want. I waited and watched while the guy at the front counter checked in 14 people put little wristbands on everyone, cut the ends off and explained the rules...Awful!!!! We travelled in late August

Everything was great, except for the front desk was very unorganized, and the fact that the horseback riding was free for 30 mins, but when I asked for it the second day, they changed to it requiring a $10 fee and stated they are no longer running the free 30min horseback rides this month, when the prior day they were. So I feel that management is very unorganized at the operations.

Great hotel for the money, it includes all everything, even some activities. The food is buffet style but they do have some variety. The location was great. If you love to fish as much as I do, defineately try the 5hr fishing trip, we caught 3 35lb rooster fish and 3 mahi mahi. Book your fishing trip through the local fisherman, and not the hotel. They are usually a few hundred dollars cheaper, and they know the hot fishing locations. Their boats are safe, and they even speak enough English. I liked the location and will defineately go back. During the weekend there are alot more people, during the week its preety mellow and not as crowded.

great hotel, great food, excellent service, should have been closer to airport (it's a car ride, ferry, & another car ride to get to the resort) ... great town, plenty of stuff to do ...