Very litle new to add to previous reviews except to say that our experience was consistent with others. The grounds of the place are amazing, staff friendly and courteous, villas huge and positioned beautifully overlooking the city. You won't believe you are 20 minutes from the airport. A stay here combined with some days at their sister resort on the Pacific will give you the best of Costa Rica and a longing to return as soon as possible.

Both resorts were so much more than we expected that we ended up cutting tours short so that we could return to the hotel to soak up the atmosphere and relax.

bravo Xandari

Gated, secure, well-planned, perfect for people with disabilities, great views of the central valley, clean, spacious, sense of privacy, good food, pleasant attentive staff, relaxing, exterior grounds that flow right into the interiors of the villas and right back out again. These are just a few of the reasons we liked Xandari. In the off-season, early June, we were able to walk in first thing in the morning (7:30am) and have a choice of Prima villas for later in the week. It’s one of several places in and around Alajuela that make for easy access to SJO at the start or the end of a trip to Costa Rica. It was also centrally situated for our jaunts to all the volcanoes, gardens, plantations and other sights in and around San José and the valley. Even Cartago and the Orosi valley loop was an easy drive away. Our large ceiling to floor windows opened onto a balcony that was bliss for morning coffee, for afternoon tropical downpours or for winding down and gazing at the glittering nighttime panorama of lights in the distance below. There were trails and waterfalls on the property, if we wanted to explore them; there were menus of spa treatments, if we wanted to indulge. We didn’t do either since we already had our list of things to do and see elsewhere. We still felt it was worth the stay. In the hills the days are warm and the nights cool—by the middle of the night I wanted to pull up a light blanket. Nice. We came to understand the meaning of the Costa Rican central valley ‘eternal spring.’

After a morning and early afternoon of touring our way up from Manuel Antonio, stopping for delicious ‘comidas tipicas’ in nearby La Garita, and getting settled into our villa, the skies absolutely opened up in late afternoon. The deluge went on for hours well into the night. The way the rain hit the roof of our villa, it produced a soft aural massage that made for one of the most relaxing evenings and best nights of sleeping in a long time. The entrance to the villa had the feel of entering our own home, like our own address. A locked gate opened into a patio area before the front door. Inside, the expansive room was before us and the shower/bathroom area to the left of the entry was sectioned off by a curving wall. The tall glass doors in the shower/bathroom opened wide (we chose to open them) right back into the patio area giving the feel of washing and showering outdoors. Since the patio walls were over ten feet high and the entry gate was angled away from any direct view in, complete privacy and discretion was still maintained. Pretty ingenious. Not bad for the lowest priced tier of accommodations they offered. We enjoyed our stay.

This resort exceeded all of our expectations. We couldn't turn down a cheap flight to Costa Rica, even if it meant we only had four days to spend there. Because of our time constraints, we decided to stay in the Central Valley. Xandari was the perfect choice for our needs.

William (we love you!) picked us up at the airport, so we didn't have to worry about getting a taxi or finding our way to the Xandari on our own. Upon arriving at the resort, we were upgraded to a beautiful Ultra Villa. The architecture is astounding! The room was open and airy. There were four of us in our villa, and we had more than enough room to relax and spread out. The complimentary water and sodas was perfect for our needs.

We booked two tours through the hotel, and it couldn't have been any easier to do so. We decided to go to Poas and do the zipline tour; both are well worth it.

My husband and I also hiked the trails on the resort property; this experience was probably the most memorable of our trip to Costa Rica. We felt like we were in the middle of the jungle; we saw more watefalls than people on the trails. We loved it so much that we hiked the trails twice. Remember to take a walking stick with you!

Food at Xandari is affordable and delicious. There is an herb garden on the property that, I assume, is used to help create the freshness in all the dishes we ate. Among the four of us, we pretty much covered the entire menu, and I can't think of anything that wasn't exceptional. A dinner will cost you about $10 per plate. Meals that stood out include: the tower of health (free for breakfast) and the sea bass.

Lastly, I want to thank the entire Xandari staff for being so accommodating when one our group members was injured. She actually broke her ankle, which can be a scary thing to happen to a person in a foreign country, but the Xandari staff was welcoming and helpful as can be.

Put simply, Xandari is a wonderful resort which is very individual and is tranquility itself.

We stayed here on two separate nights, and were simply blown away with the quality of the room in particular, which was beautifully designed with a high, sweeping ceiling, with panoramic views over San Jose. The hotel is also set in substantial gardens which are well landscaped and make for a lovely pre-breakfast stroll.

The one thing that we really liked about this resort is that there isn't the blatant profiteering that we encountered on some of our other resorts in Costa Rica. Bottled water came free of charge in our room, and the restaurant meals were reasonable in value and excellent in quality.

And by the way, the complimentary coffee in the room is not to be missed and was the best of all the hotels we stayed at. You can buy it bigger packs in the hotel lobby.