Mawamba Lodge

Beyond my expectations

I am referring to this as a glamping experience. The thing I didn't like was too many bugs at night inside our cabin and no bathroom door. Happily, I was prepared with a mosquito netting thing to put on our bed and we slept peacefully in that without worrying about mosquitoes biting me or other lizards and bugs on me while sleeping. So because we had that, it was good. The grounds and everything else was wonderful, the excursions too. We heard a howler monkey, followed the sound and located it behind the property. I loved the birds montezuma oropendola with their nests hanging from trees right in front of our cabin. Food was adequate but more options could make it even better. Love having fresh fruit everywhere we went.

Excellent given difficult location All guides and staff helpful

What a gorgeous place. I wish I had stayed longer!

Hotel was ok.

The hotel grounds are amazing. Upon arrival we received a tour of the garden and already saw three types of toucan…in one tree! An amazing place.

The hotel room was very rustic, even more rustic than what we expected. It was bare bones. The shower often did not work in terms of getting warm water, the fan in the bathroom was very noisy, the electrical outlets looked like they were added long after the rooms were built, and the handrail on the right side of the steps leading to our room was loose and unstable. We did not care for the room. The front desk staff was somewhat friendly, and the servers in the restaurant worked very hard. We noticed that some of them were on duty from morning until late at night. They were great and very attentive. I can't say the same for the front desk staff. They did not go out of their way to help. In addition, the hair dryer that they gave us did not work. In terms of the restaurant, the menu was fairly limited. It did not have many options for people like me who have a dairy allergy.

I loved Mawamba and would have liked to have stayed at least one more night

It was nice to be close to town so we could walk into town.

They deserve a higher rank than 10. This place was incredible.

Nice hotel with community areas very pleasant but rooms were very very basic

The hotel exceeded my expectations. The lodge room (especially the stone shower), grounds, common spaces and pool were exquisite. The food was excellent. I also really appreciated the kind staff. I had one difficulty with a Mawamba front desk worker who gave me the impression I was signed up for an early morning kayak excursion, but when I showed up at 5:45am I was not on the list. Another worker was able to troubleshoot and get me into the excursion by delaying it for others, but this was unnecessary stress. Another Mawamba guest told me she had the same issue. And at roll call for each excursion, we noticed people who said they signed up for an excursion were not on the list and needed last minute troubleshooting. At one point, we asked Humberto for help with this but again, he was not concerned. Overall, this did not dampen our excellent experience at Mawamba, especially with the exceptional guides Abel and Mauricio -- both so knowledgeable and talented in their jobs. Abel especially is a kind, generous tour guide who went above and beyond with last minute detours on our town tour and grounds walk to the beach. He never seemed to be "on the clock" and took time to get to know guests and help them learn what they wanted to know. When I think of wonderful Ticos, I will think of Abel and Mauricio! In addition to the wonderful early morning kayak tour with Mauricio, we also added the nightwalk excursion and I highly recommend it. Abel was also our guide for this and we felt both safe near a poisonous snake and lucky to see it!

The lodge is dated. But, you are asking for rustic when you go to Tortuguero. The staff was sort handed in the restaurant several days. The hotel grounds and the amenities were nice (hammocks, chairs etc)

Excellent location, rustic but reflective of the region/rugged conditions. Very nice experience overall, staff was lovely. Would recommend.

Beautiful setting!

Giving an 8 on two questions only because it was an eco lodge, which we had been made aware of. The rooms were clean, the food was amazing! The guides and staff were awesome. The fan in our room didn’t move a lot of air, but having the cross ventilation at night made it comfortable. We had pumpkin soup in different places, but that pumpkin soup was the BEST! I want the recipe!

I loved this place! Excellent experience.

The staff was great and the overall layout was awesome, but the beds were uncomfortable and there was no AC (it was very hot during our stay). The meals and staff were top notch, the pool and the tour guides were great as well. but the beds and no AC... ouch!

All of the staff at this lodge were fun, well versed in their area, and constantly went out of their way to make our visit amazing.

I may have missed it in our documentation, but I didn't realize the room did not have air conditioning. It was a great hotel otherwise, but if I had known this about the hotel, I probably would not have selected it.

Loved it! One front staff was not very helpful and kept punting us but then we just met another one and went to her instead as she was willing to help.

We had a nice stay at the hotel, and the experiences doing tours arranged by the hotel and also the meals at the hotel was great. Courteous staff, and we had nice guides for the tours we had there.