Plenty of Pura Vida: A Milestone Birthday Celebration at the W Costa Rica

I recently had the privilege of staying at the W Costa Rica, Reserva Conchal. My experience there was top-notch, and I wanted to tell you about it so that you can consider this Marriott-owned resort for your Costa Rican vacation.

I went to Costa Rica for a girls’ trip with my sister and my only-3-years-older-than-I-am aunt. We were celebrating a milestone birthday for my aunt, who lives in Los Angeles, and her request was a luxury tropical resort with an amazing beach. The destination had to have decent summer weather in a location outside of the hurricane-prone zone and be accessible by non-stop flights from LA and NYC. Costa Rica fit the bill! I’ve planned numerous trips to Costa Rica for clients but had never been there myself, so I was really looking forward to this trip.

The Resort: Booking and Location

I chose to book our stay under the Marriott Luminous rate, which I can access through my agency’s partnership with Marriott Luxury Brands. This is a program which gives my clients VIP status as well as valuable perks and amenities such as a dedicated concierge/ambassador, complimentary room upgrade, breakfast inclusion, and early check-in/late check-out at many of Marriott’s 4- and 5-star properties around the world. For our stay, we had all of the aforementioned amenities as well as a $300 resort credit. Our upgrade put us in a full-ocean view room on the top floor of one of the 6-story Tower buildings. The panorama and sunset views from this room were amazing!

The W Costa Rica is located in Reserva Conchal, a 2,400-acre property that comprises two resorts (the W and the Westin), a championship golf course, numerous residential developments, a gorgeous white sand beach, and a private nature reserve. The closest major airport is Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport, a.k.a. Liberia International Airport (LIR). It’s over an hour’s drive to the entrance of Reserva Conchal and then another 10-ish minutes to get to the W Hotel, so the location is best for people who want to arrive at the resort and stay put, enjoying the on-site amenities rather than venturing out for lots of excursions and exploring. We did go out to dinner a couple of times, to Las Catalinas and Tamarindo, and each time the drive was 30-40 minutes each way. There are a couple of restaurants and excursion locations in towns closer to the resort such as Brasilito and Flamingo, but even these take about 20 minutes to drive to.

Rooms and Resort Set-Up

We stayed in Tower 3, the building that is the highest up on the hill and the farthest away from the main lobby and bar area (a.k.a The Living Room). This gave us an amazing view but was a bit inconvenient. The walk was about 4-5 minutes and was no big deal during the day, but walking up and down the hill in the dark and/or while wearing high-heeled shoes (not me!) could be be a bit tricky. There were staff available to pick up and drop off guests with golf carts at any time, and we used this service often. I actually enjoyed the walk along the beautifully-landscaped pathways during the day, where I could observe some incredible plants and some wildlife.

Pro Tip: If you want the best ocean view from your room and don’t mind a bit of walking (or waiting for a golf cart pick-up), Tower 3 is the place for you. If you want to be closer to the action, request a high-floor ocean view room in Tower 1. If you want to be very close to the main lobby, restaurant, and adults-only pool and bar and enjoy a garden or filtered beach view, stay in one of the “Tree House” buildings.

Our room in Tower 3 was very large, easily accommodating the king-size bed, a rollaway bed and a large leather sofa. And the bathroom was incredible! It had a huge double vanity with additional counter space, a toilet cubicle separated by a frosted-glass door, and a gigantic walk-in shower with two rainfall shower heads and a sliding door out to the balcony with a full ocean view. The decor was typical of the W brand – colorful and a bit “funky.” Not to my particular taste, but it was comfortable, with high-end finishes. I did love the minibar top made out of a surfboard.

The resort also has some 3-, 4- and 5-bedroom villas available for larger groups and families. The sales director took me on a tour of one of them and it was just stunning, with a private infinity pool, full kitchen and large living room, and a huge bathroom for each bedroom. These villas are in a development a few minutes’ drive away from the main resort, so you’d need to have a car or get picked up/dropped off by the resort transportation service to go back and forth to the beach club and restaurants. The W Hotel offers optional arrangements for in-house chef services and grocery shopping for villa guests.

Besides the accommodation buildings, the rest of the resort also is pretty spread-out. Once you get to the main lobby area you can easily hang out at the main restaurant and bar, gift shop, and adults-only pool and bar area (WET Deck). Beyond that it’s another 5-minute walk to the spa and fitness center and then 5 additional minutes down a paved walkway through the jungle to get to the Zona Azul Beach club with it’s pool, restaurant, gift shop, bar, and beach chairs and services. Golf cart rides are available to go back and forth, but the walk is lovely. We were lucky to spot a group of howler monkeys on our first walk to the beach, and I saw a pair of large parrots on my way back from the spa.

Pro Tip: Make sure you bring most of your beach and lounging items with you when you head to Zona Azul, since it’s not that convenient to go back to your room if you forget something.

Beach & Pools

The W Costa Rica is located on what is considered one of the nicest beaches, if not THE nicest beach, on the Guanacaste coast. The soft, white sand allows the clarity and color of the water to shine, and the waves are calm. The water was warm and easy to swim in. The resort has chairs and umbrellas on the beach and servers to take and deliver food and drink orders. Because all the beaches in Costa Rica are public, there also are merchants set up next to and walking along the beach offering trinkets, cocktails, snacks, massages and excursions. My aunt got a massage on the beach, which was a lot less expensive than our massages at the spa (but she said it wasn’t as good).

The pool at Zona Azul is family-friendly and is right next to the kids’ club, so that’s where the children and teens were hanging out. There is a full-service restaurant and bar with a lounging area at Zona Azul, and there’s an activities desk where you can take out kayaks, paddleboards, and snorkeling equipment on a complimentary basis or reserve motorized activities such as ATV tours.

For more quiet relaxation, we spent some time at WET Deck, the adults-only pool and swim-up bar. It’s a beautiful area, and we enjoyed the serenity. The only thing that would have made it better would be a direct view of and access to the beach from this location, without having to walk or get a ride down to Zona Azul.

Dining

The main restaurant at the W Costa Rica is Cocina de Mercado, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. We had breakfast included with our Luminous room rate, and I’m so glad we did. Breakfast is served buffet style, and the buffet spread is incredible! Tropical fruits of every kind, hot dishes both American and Costa Rican style, a made-to-order omelet station, and a huge table devoted to pastries, cereals, yogurts, and the most amazing pressed juices you can imagine. I took a video of our server giving me a tutorial on how to eat the Costa Rican “mamon chino” (similar to a lychee).

For lunch, we mostly had snacks and small plates from the restaurant or bar where we were hanging out – WET Deck or Zona Azul. The food was good in both places, especially the tuna and avocado “tartare” with tortilla chips.

We ate dinner twice at Cocina de Mercado, and one of those meals was particularly good. My aunt has Celiac disease, and by the second day of our trip the wait staff and restaurant managers were very aware of this and were prepared with suggestions and modifications that put my aunt at ease and allowed her to enjoy the meals without hesitation. The real stand-out for dinner, however, was our experience at the upscale Latitud 10° Norte, so-named because of the latitude line shared by Costa Rica and Thailand, which also informs and inspires the fusion cuisine of the menu. Latitud 10° Norte offers both a tasting menu and items a la carte.

Spa, Activities, and Other Services

We treated ourselves to massages at the AWAY Spa, and what a treat it was. We also enjoyed the warm pool and lounge area in the spa after our treatments, although none of us dared to try the cold plunge! A few of us used the fitness center attached to the spa, which has a good number of cardio and weight machines as well as free weights and mats and other supplies for yoga and floor exercises.

We did not take advantage of any of the organized activities at the resort such as yoga and mixology classes, but it looked like there were some good options for all ages and interests. We did take the advice of our Luminous Ambassador and went for a hike on one of the trails through the nature reserve. Bikes and available to go on these trails as well.

All of the service providers at W Costa Rica – wait staff, front desk, housekeeping, bellhops/cart drivers, bartenders – went above and beyond to make our stay easy and enjoyable. The housekeepers left us notes and goodies each day and organized our room instead of just doing a cursory cleaning. The drivers made easy conversation and told us interesting facts about the resort and Costa Rica while giving us rides around the resort. In fact, I would say that the staff was the biggest highlight of an overall very enjoyable stay at the W Costa Rica. It’s clear that the resort staff is highly and effectively trained in hospitality, but our exchanges never felt solicitous or “fake.” As a matter of fact, it stood out to us that the people we encountered everywhere during our trip were noticeably and genuinely friendly and helpful. We noticed that same thing with the staff of Costa Rican Trails, our DMC partner that arranged airport transportation and a catamaran excursion for us. And I would be remiss if I didn’t give a specific shout-out to our Luminous Ambassador Ayeisha. She spent so much time with us, giving us tips and making arrangements and reservations for us. The W Costa Rica is lucky to have her!

My overall takeaways and recommendations for W Costa Rica, Reserva Conchal:

• Upscale resort with good options for various types of guests – friends, couples, singles, or families
• The food is good but expensive; get a breakfast inclusion if possible and try to stretch the breakfast into two meals!
• The location is best for a relaxing beach vacation where you mostly stay on the resort. It would be perfect for the second half of a typical split stay vacation in Costa Rica, with the other days spent exploring and adventuring in the jungle/volcano areas.
• The staff is uniformly helpful and friendly, especially to the guests but also to each other.
• People with mobility issues may want to stay in one of the Tower buildings closer to the beach and main lobby area.
• If you enjoy an upscale beach resort that also has lots of surrounding flora and fauna to observe (and sometimes interact with!), the W Costa Rica, Reserva Conchal is a great choice.

Contact me through this website or at tracy@legacytraveldesigns.com to start planning your Costa Rican getaway. Pura Vida!