Buddha Retreat Hotel

Costa Rica , Pacific North Coast / Guanacaste
Cuajiniquil, Playa San Juanillo Frente De La Plaza
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11 reviews shown

8/10

Excellent

24 Feb 2026

Shawn

Staff were lovely and inviting. Room was clean and comfortable. This hotel and restaurant combination is safe, friendly, comfortable, and relaxing. Beautiful beach is very close walk.

Self

10/10

Exceptional

23 Feb 2026

Robert

Nice place away from the crazys, rooms were clean and comfortable. The staff was friendly, English was a little difficult but doable.

10/10

Exceptional

12 Jan 2024

Angelina

Great Place to stay near the beach! Tasty food and good service! Definitely will be back!

Leisure Partner

4/10

Poor

10 Apr 2023

Jorge

Truly an experience not to repeat.

I consider that it was not a real hotel, because there was no real reception, only a person in charge of giving you the keys and from there, you never have contact with anyone responsible again. The condition of the room is far from what is seen in the photos.

- I booked a king bed room and got a regular double.
- The a/c didn't cool enough, it made a lot of noise, as did the ceiling fan.
- There were constant water and electricity cuts, even one of almost 3 hours that made us spend a terrible night.
- The pool had a regulation of use until 10:00 p.m., however at midnight there were people in it who even played music with a very high volume and you could not sleep.

In short, much to improve for this supposed hotel.

Leisure Family

6/10

Pleasant

21 Jul 2019

Verified traveler

Not quite there yet.

Pros: beautiful modern quiet room
JoseLyn is nice, smiling and helpful.
Great communication
Cons:
We were charged once we had book through Expedia. Turned out out that it came up double the price.
Says it’s on the beach, know that it is about a 5 minute walk. The hotel is in town.
Wiffs of dumpster or garbage near wall in pool area... No big deal.
I had to clean the pool twice, filter was off most of the time we were there.

We had an awkward experience checking in -like we were unexpected. We concluded that San Juanillo is a developing town. The Buddha is trying to bring it upwards, but is charging you as if it were already there.

Don’t get me wrong the room is great, but the whole experience is not worth the steep price. Included breakfast is a joke (1 or 2 toasts and 2 eggs) compared to what is offered everywhere in Costa Rica (fruits, eggs, rice beans, plantain...) You want a handful of beans? $4 extra!

We ended up eating at Soda Las Brisas del Mar. Great food, Tico owned and great prices.

Leisure Family_with_children

6/10

Pleasant

17 Apr 2019

Verified traveler

Pros: location, restaurant on site, staff support, A/c, wireless, pool
Cons: breakfast is included but is just one every day, rooms need more bed options for families

Leisure Family_with_children

8/10

Excellent

13 Jun 2018

Verified traveler

The hotel was nice , rooms clean , area very well manicured with a pool . Has an attached restaurant and the food was very good , even vegan selection. 1 block from the beach . Was a pleasent stay

8/10

Excellent

04 Jan 2018

Mike

A very pleasant surprise!

We booked our trip to Costa Rica at the last minute and this was the only hotel with rooms available on the entire west coast. With no previous reviews, we were a bit concerned, but very pleasantly surprised! Hotel Buddha has been open for less than two months and is located in the delightful village of San Juanillo. The staff are very friendly, the rooms clean and comfortable (with both overhead fans and air conditioning), the pool inviting, and the restaurant quite reasonable with superb food. A beautiful beach is just a short walk away and appears to be very popular with local Costa Ricans. You can hire horses for riding on the beach, go fishing, or swim and snorkel. It is clearly off the beaten path with few tourists around. We stayed two nights, including New Year's Eve, and were treated to hometown fireworks.

It is a dirt road most of the way down Route 160 with several streams to cross. A 4WD car is a must. The Ostional National Wildlife Refuge is 20 minutes south and well worth a nighttime visit! We saw 20-25 turtles laying eggs on the beach during a two hour walk. The guide's office in Ostional is clearly marked. Arrive around 6 PM to reserve a spot for the 8:30 PM walk ($10 per person).

If you want elegant hotels, shops, and restaurants, head to Nosara, 45 minutes down the coast on Route 160 (this is the closest gas station by the way). Hotel Buddha is perfect if you want a true Costa Rican experience. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay there.

10/10

Exceptional

15 Sep 2025

Mercedes

Staff muy amable.
Limpio.
Habitacion comoda.
Baño Amplio.
Parqueo Amplio.
Comida deliciosa.

Leisure Family

8/10

Excellent

28 Feb 2023

patricia

Hôtel très mignon où nous avons passés qu’une nuit. La chambre était confortable et la douche chaude.
Nous avions accès à la piscine et il y avait un parking sécurisé aussi.
La plage est à côté dans une petite baie où l’on peut admirer les petits poissons et se baigner tranquillement loin des surfeurs.

Leisure Partner

2/10

Poor

31 Dec 2019

Albert

Expert in hospitality tries to scam

We arrived to the hotel to find that the owner had received a booking just for two people. I politely clarified that if that was the case, we would happily honour extra beds, but I would first check with hotels.com.

The owner claimed he didn't work with hotels.com, showed very little empathy to figure out the issue while he clarified he was from California, and had traveled the world a lot, knew a lot about how the world works. I'm still trying to figure out why he thought this was relevant to me.

He first attempted to charge us for the extra beds (+15% cost). After I proved him that our booking included free extra beds and breakfast, he literally told us to leave the hotel and figure out how to get a refund. He reacted emotionally claiming we had been disrespectful to him.

While we were looking for a new hotel on 30/12 lunch time in the area, he decided to provide one extra bed (not two, as our booking made him). Again, claimed that he didn't work with Hotels.com, ONLY expedia, which is not true as I've seen his hotel in multiple platforms. This was a clear attempt to not honor his commitment.

After this, everything else was trouble. Thousands of mosquitoes in our room, we ask for help: and he clarifies we are in the jungle. Thanks for the info. 5 cars parked behind ours and we couldn't move the car on time: he asks us to pay the dinner bill before he moves the cars. A real crook.

Good luck building up a business, Californian expert.

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