Then on the boat he was again giving loads of bits of info as well helping us spot wildlife on the journey in.

Mauricio, our boat captain, could spot the smallest of creatures from miles away.

The hotel is very simple and rustic inserted in the middle of nature with exclusive access by boat.

Trip by boat around rainforest canals, trip to tortuguero village and kayaking through rain forest canals.

Spent 2 nights at the lodge making in a number of boat rides to see local village and wildlife.

The only way of reaching the property is by boat, and when we were leaving, the boat ride took well over 2 hours in the heat.

We flew in and a staff member was waiting for us at the airstrip and took us by boat to the dock, just a minute away.

Getting to the lodge is great fun (by boat), as are the excursions.

The motor of the boats scare away the animals and you wont see as much as in kayak.

I like being on boats and on the water and it was kind of a cool thing,

We also went on a boat tour and a hike at the Cerro with Jainer and Chito.

You get to see a lot of wildlife and trips on the boat were quite enjoyable,we did one with Jason and another one with Luis, they were quite good at spotting wildlife!.We went for a night walk with Carlos to try and spot some baby turtles, and we got to see them, so cute!

Reachable by boat, the anticipation of where you will land is rewarded by a great lodge.

The boat trips are good and we saw lots of wildlife.

Boat trip to get here taking in the sights and scenery was really nice

Boat ride through the canals was brilliant.

All your meals are included because you literally can’t go anywhere else except by boat.

Peaceful getaway no noise was from passing boats and birds.

Basically the price was for the boat to and from.

The trip back on the boat was thrilling as the water was racing and logs blocking the way.

The meals were plentiful and tasty and the staff that worked there were very attentive and helpful, I was really impressed!

- Breakfast was good, dinner was OK

Cons:
- Everything gets wet.

Full Board is included, and its buffet style.

Food was okay, buffet with few alternatives.

Breakfast lunch and dinner there was plenty of choice and all very nice.

but we stopped for breakfast on the way and had lunch on return .

Food was okay, it was full board so breakfast, dinner and tea were included.

Excellent hotel and staff and food was plentiful and tasty with many options.

We got to see the turtles laying their eggs, cover the next up and return to the sea.

The next night was really special, turtles coming on the beach to lay eggs.

Amazing experience to see a Green Turtle nesting and laying eggs, close up.

In the evening you can elect to join groups who visit the nearby beaches of the Caribbean where turtles emerge to lumber up on the sand in order to lay their eggs.

although not safe to swim due to strong rip tides and waves.

Small baggage advisable due to the boats you travel on.

Altogether it took around 4 hours due to traffic, stop for breakfast, changeover to 1 hour boat ride and so on.

Our score would be closer to 3.5 due to the rooms.

but swimming it not permitted due to the currents.

but quite dark, and due to being an eco-lodge, without air-con which meant it was a slight shock to the system being our first stop off in a far warmer country than England!

but due to the volume of rain during our stay they were a little bit of a washout.

but a fan, due to being in a conservation area.

but you cannot swim there due to rip currents and huge waves.

It was so uncomfortable even in the night that I had difficulties turning in due to the high warm temperature.

but my real issue is once you are there what do you do Can't go anywhere, can't swim in the ocean too dangerous, can't swim in the river due to Crocs, I honestly felt like it was 3 days of travelling for 2 two hours boats trips (very nice ones) and two nights in a belowe average hotel.

but due to rain they told us we'd wait till 10.30am.

though due to dangerous currents) and Tortuguero National Park on the other.

Absolutely no swimming due to huge rip tides and cross currents.

Kids were a bit bored between tours due to schedule too.

We were only staying 2 days and 1 night due to school on Monday and the whole time we were there they singled us out and made us feel unwelcome.

There are apparently no ac in tortuguero due to ecological reasons.

When paying for the tours at the hotel, bear in mind, they do not have the technology to accept touch payments on phone or card and are unable to put in card details manually.

Having looked at other pictures of rooms, ours were wooden and considerably darker than those which are painted (to the extent where even in day time we were using phone torches), so those in painted rooms may have a different overall impression.

There are no A/C, phone, or TV in rooms of course don't expect to have any Wifi.

The electricity in our room wasn't very good and made charging phones and drying hair very difficult, having said that it really didn't spoil our time here.

but there are daily boat trips, (they call them canal trips) and many animals and birds are seen.

If I had a sheet of my own to put down I would have slept a million times better (minus the morning Howler wake up call of course!).

Many phones will not work here and the internet was patchy at best.

but walls are thin and visitors from other countries seem to think that 3 or 4 am is the best time to call home.

You will probably be woken by howler monkeys at 4am which was a pretty unique alarm call.

and lizards as well. The rooms are extremely primitive and Spartan - no phones, sparse furnishings and amenities and no hot water in the sink (only in the shower.)

Getting a wake-up call from howler monkeys was one of the high-points, even if it was 5 a.m. !

I'm not sure why they call it a "lodge," since the rooms are more like connected cabins in rows.

This is a rustic facility - no phone, TV or amenities (though they do have a pool,

Before my arrival at the Lodge I was a little hesitant about staying here because I was told that rooms had no air conditioner, television, or telephone.

So that you can go and walk on the beach, and search for turtles on your own, without having to go on a boat ride first.

It’s very unique in that it takes a van ride and then a one hour beautiful boat trip up the canals to get there.

You can only reach it by boat and the nearest village is about 5/10 minute boat ride away.

Access to the lodge was a 1 hour boat ride.

We didn’t do this as the early morning boat ride was enough.

Included in the room rate is a visit and tour of the village and a mid morning boat ride where your guide will point out lots of wildlife. There are also 3 other tours you can pay for, an early morning boat ride (highly recommended

We were picked up at our hotel by our guide,Sebastian.He was with us for the next 2 days.Sebastian was wonderful,entertaining, and very passionate about his job.Getting to the lodge was an adventure.It is a long boat ride

Whilst its a long journey, boat ride to get here it was well worth it.

We didn’t mind too much as the ride on the river was beautiful.

Nothing in the vicinity of the hotel, the village is a boat ride away.

It takes about 1 hour and ½ by boat to reach it (amazing and enjoyable ride)

Location:
Excellent away from everything, say hello to peace and quiet.

The pick-up schedule in San Jose was a little hectic and time consuming and the bus ride into the boat landing was quite long and bumpy.

After a 4-5 hour drive/boat ride, this needed to be good and it didn't let us down.

We had to ride on long boats and travel through the jungle where we saw alligators, lizards, birds, parrots, monkeys, sloths, turtles, and so much more.

The boat ride in had lots of wildlife and the boat captains were great at spotting things.

Day 2 began with a boat ride to Tortuguero National Park.

Boat ride to the river for bird / animal watching was very interesting.

On the first day we were taken to the nearby town to walk around for 1.5 hours.

walk on beach to town for great pizza at budah Cafe.

After the jungle the boat takes you to the tortuguero town so you can experience the culture and see how people from the area lives and you can even get a drink

The lodge does a wonderful job of arranging the tours to town and of the canal that were included in our stay package.

Just down the lagoon from the town of Tortuguero, Laguna Lodge offers understated comfort in private rooms built around a well cared for park-like area that includes a lovely swimming pool.

Now that we knew our guide the rest of the trip was great and he always made an effort to come and talk to us after that and make sure we were ok.

Town-
We paid the $45 to take a taxi into town, which was cool.

although the tourism keeps the town going, we felt uncomfortable being there with children.

We also enjoyed the visit to the Tortuguero town.

Go into town and the early trip into the National Park is worth getting up for.

One interesting feature of the town is something that we saw in most areas of Costa Rica:  loose dogs.

They took us into the local town one day for a bit of sounvenir shopping and we did some volunteering cleaning up the local school which was great.

Laguna Lodge offers a relaxed atmosphere where people and the environment are equally valued, where staff genuinely want to make your experience of their town positive and where you can feel as close to nature as any hotel-goer is going to get.

Also a trip to the main town, Tortuguero Village.

There are water bottle refilling stations in the restaurant 
-  There's a walkway to town that follows the power lines
-  If you need a hairdryer, ask at the front desk.

The activities included are a trip into the town on the first afternoon, an 8:30am boat tour and a nature walk.

We also took an impromptu tour of the town and had a chance to eat a few snacks, including fresh coconuts opened on the spot.

The original boat ride you take to get there, plus the visit to the town, plus the early morning (5am) ride to see the wildlife is more than enough I think.

The afternoon was spent in Tortuguero Town where there is not a single car.

We also took in the visit to Tortuguero town

Laguna Lodge Tortuguero

phone

boat

ride

town

The grounds are lovely, the staff are generally friendly, the breakfast is great!

-Staff: except for the breakfast and pool bar staff, that were kind and lovely, from the rest of the staff we got a vibe of indifference and flatness.

The breakfast at the hotel is excellent and the waiting staff are friendly and attentive.

The staff was really friendly and professional and the food has been simply delicious, with hummy and healthy options to suit all tastes.

I think this hotel has a very good organized package which includes the pickup by bus from San Jose, breakfast on the way, the boat trip to the hotel, full-board, a couple of excursions and the return trip.

The food was delicious and Daniel, our waiter, was friendly and informative (unlike any other waiters we had).

Pro tip: select your dinner table at lunchtime or breakfast and reserve your table then.

The lunch and breakfast and evening meal was good.

But we ended up watching a turtle laying eggs at the beach just right outside Mawamba Lodge.

At about 100 metres from our room a sea turtle came to lay eggs at night on the beach.

Generally it felt like especially people at breakfast weren’t really happy to serve us, with a few exceptions of course.

After an hour long boat ride we arrived at the lodge and were welcomed with a delicious refreshing drink.

At breakfast we saw 3 Scarlet Macaws, 4 Yellow-throat Toucans and lots of Montezuma Oropendolas.

Brunch (and lunch on return) was at the Rio Danta restaurant which served delicious buffet style food in a pretty garden terrace.

The breakfast selection was reasonable with freshly cooked omelettes and eggs.

We also participated in a night tour with the same guide, and was going to do a morning canal tour as well that unfortunately was cancelled due to thunderstorms.

Torture-guero

We had a less than average experience at the Mawamba Lodge–mainly due to our perceived ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude of the management towards its customers, which seemed to pervade the organization despite the no-doubt noble original idea of bringing tourists to this beautiful part of Costa Rica.

we explained to the manager that we were booked to stay with the hotel and due to flight delays we were late, she basically told us tough we will not do a transfer until 10am, no suggestions on what we could do, where we could stay or even maybe can I book you a water taxi myself

Just few additional hooks inside of the room are requested as due to moisture the clothes are always wet.

We are very experienced wildlife viewers and 1 trip was the worst experience we have EVER had due to this.

Expensive and poor service due neglecting staff.

Due to low water, this was about 3 hours by coach, through banana plantations.

He claimed he was a friend of the owner, who had asked him to help out due to a shortage of guides.

It was a pain the journey there was longer than planned due to the low water levels (although someone said it may be possible to do the original route if there are just 2 of you).

After a very early start from San Jose to miss the traffic (only partly successful due to roadworks over the mountains), we arrived at Parismina- the starting point for a 90 minute boat ride to the Mawamba Lodge within the Tortuguero national park.

we were unable to nap in our room during the day due to the excessive heat and humidity.

Our return journey was delayed by four hours due to protesters blocking the unmade road.

though - 6 hours from San Jose as the quicker route was impassable due to low water levels.

Unfortunately due to the rain, we barely got to enjoy it,

There was a limited choice for lunch and dinner which is to be expected due to our remote location

Did not sleep a minute due to that unpleasant experience.

The rooms are not that quiet due to the wooden-walls.

but swimming is not recommended, due to sharks and riptides.

but mainly due to Jacqueline, our knowledgeable guide.

The one quibble I had was the fact that I could not get hot water in my room.

although on the last day the hot water ran out and my husband had a cold shower.

but there was no hot water anyway despite my request to fix this at reception.

The shower is also not a place you’d want to linger - and I was lucky I had hot water, at least two couples in my travel group didn’t.

Hot water is there only for the first 5 seconds, so do not expect long showers there.

Mawamba are proud of their eco credentials, so don't expect A/C or constant hot water,

The shower wasn't great in that hot water came and went and there wasn't much water pressure

We were disappointed by the lack of hot water and tap in the bathroom sink.

Hot water in shower ran 2 minutes, then NO HOT WATER for 5 minutes, then ran again for 2 minutes, etc. etc.

The hot water is a little dicey -- either get up early or wait until late afternoon for your hot shower.

On our second day we had an issue with the shower - absolutely no hot water!

The shower was ridiculously rubbish, we had no hot water and then no water at all, which in the conditions was completely unacceptable.

The room is basic, the ceiling fan is of no help, it gets boiling hot in the room at the point of being uncomfortable.

The rooms had electricity, bathrooms, and hot water (no air conditioning

The problem was that the supply of hot water on both of the nights I was there was an best sporadic and at worst non-existent.

There is no air conditioning (ceiling fan), no fridge, no coffee making facility and no hot water in the wash basin

Downsides are that the hot water is negligible and you cannot swim in the ocean or the river,

Only reason for not giving full 5 rating is that we had constant problems with unpredictable hot water during our stay, which never really got resolved.

Dust and spider webs, one of the bedside lamps not working , holes in wooden panels that allowed cockroaches to come in, and paper thin walls that made it seem as if we were sharing a big room with our neighbours -- no privacy at all.

I did mention the broken path lighting at the reception

We could not understand why the superior rooms had very little natural light ----- only narrow windows high up just below the roof.

We arrived in Tortuguero by small light aircraft and with a boatman from Mawamba waiting for us.

The walls are paper thin and you can hear absolutely everything going on in your neighbour’s room including them switching the lights on and off.

There are night turtle walks this was a bucket list for me, we saw a green turtle returning to the sea after laying and later on right behind Mawamba lodge another turtle laying eggs, be aware access is strictly controlled to protect the turtles and the rangers have the final say, no torches, cameras etc, only the guide has a red light torch (flashlight for yanks).

Although we had an elderly person and a disable guest in our party of 4 they gave us  a room ver very very far way from the social area and no light on the pathway what made it impossible for them to go to the restaurant at night.

but travel light as you will need to carry your own bags to and from the boat.

The only things electric in the room are the lights and the overhead fan..  No radio, no television, no clock, no telephone.

I agree about the rooms, poor lighting and some of our electrical outlets didn’t work.

There is limited electric on site so expect poor lighting inside your cabin, no internet except in reception etc.

but rooms were dark and electrics a bit tired and even a bit dodgy (my bedside light was scary).

The rooms are basic and need a few more lights

Only slight criticism would be the dim lighting in the room.

but there are ways of improving the lighting - this would make a significant difference!

and a big mirror with better lighting to get dressed and ready.

Very little lighting in the room especially for people whose eyesight is not great so if you have a small portable light of flashlight, bring it!

Needless to say very hot and not optimal for photo lighting.

but clean it’s definitely a ‘lodge’ vibe.

The boat trip to the lodge is an adventure in itself - we saw a sloth, crocodile, caymans and monkeys before we had even arrived at the lodge.

Amazing lodge in the heart of the Tortuguero National Park, a dreamy place we already miss after just a few days away from Costa Rica.

This is one of the biggest properties in the area, the gardens are beautiful and well maintained, there is a hike entrance right at the lodge.

We took a lovely dinner cruise from the lodge which was fantastic!

Coming from New York, it was refreshing not to be surrounded by our country men, as much as we love them :-)
The lodge exudes authenticity and love of and respect for the natural surroundings.

The lodge is well managed and the staff are very engaging and helpful.

A pleasant lodge situated in grounds close to the forest park canals and the Caribbean.

The lodge itself was clean and beautifully laid out between the lagoon and the sea.

The lodges are very comfortable and the garden tour was wonderful with so much wildlife to discover without leaving the grounds.

The journey is fascinating and the lodge is in a wonderful setting.

The lodge arranged transportation from San Jose to Tortuguero and back to a pit stop Rio Danta.

but have access by foot, and this lodge fit the bill.

On the plot of the lodge we saw many big iguanas, a sloth, toucans, green maccaws and red-eyed tree frogs.

The staff of the lodge was generally very helpful and kind.

I did both the night walk (not to be missed) and the morning boat tour with the lodge and Steve, the resident biologist who leads the outings, is fun and knowledgeable to listen to.

We were in lodge #5 which is close to the Tortuguero Canal.

The lodge site is perfect: on the channel, at one minute from the ocean (you won’t have to pay an overpriced taxi every time you want to walk on the beach, like in some of the upscale lodges), not too far from the airport (if you don’t have too much luggage, it’s a nice 40 min walk) and not too far either from the village.

Great food, especially considering the lodge is in the middle of nowhere.

We preferred eating in the town & would recommend the Patio.

A big plus was also the fact that you can walk along the beach to the little town of Tortugero  and we also saw some turtles being released early morning.

Also possible to walk directly into town, which we enjoyed doing.

Due to COVID, the Tortuguero town tour was cancelled.

Town visit, park visit, garden tour, and all meals were organized with our group.

The result looked like something you might find spattered on a small town pavement the morning after the night before–but it was edible and great fun.

You can easily walk to the nearby town from here as well.

So glad we got to experience this lodge and town.

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