My wife and I stayed here for a week over New Years with four children. We had two rooms right by the pool. The hotelier is German, speaks fair English, and was distant but helpful.

Arriving at the Belvedere is a little intimidating as you go up a short dirt road, making you think "uh oh". But the place itself is nice, especially the second building by the pool. As always in CR, we met a lot of people from all over. The kids enjoyed the troop of monkeys that were hanging around near the pool.

The rooms were clean and adequate, and were serviced everyday. Beer and soda are in an outside unlocked refrigerator, and you bought them on the honor system. Breakfast, included, is very pleasant on a porch with a view of the ocean.

The beach is a five or six minute walk, and is just awesome, a really excellent family beach. There are plenty of restaurants of all price ranges nearby. There is one ATM machine in Samara, at the bank, and beware that sometimes it runs out of money at night. There is a nice little grocery store near the beach. There is a terrific American educated doctor in town, as we discovered after one of the girls stepped on a sting ray in Nosara.

Samara is a great town, and it will take you about 2 minutes to see the entire commercial district. I will say that on a holiday night (New Years Eve) I was a little nervous about walking our four teen age daughters from the beach back to the hotel, as there were more than a few drunken young guys on the streets, but that is common anywhere.

I found Samara by using Google Earth. I was using it to fly up the Pacific coast of CR, and I saw these two beautiful half moon bays next to each other, and I decided that it would be a great place to vacation. Turned out to be true.

after 3 hours of driving we were warmly welcomed by the owners, we wer quickly taken to our room which had AC, a fridge, a coffee maker, and 2 beds. the room was very clean and cozy. we were able to relax and cool off. We went to the beach wich was only about a 2 minute walk from the hotel. and about 30 seconds from it, there is a corner store where we were abl to buy some drinks and snacks. after omign back from the beach wich was beutifull, we cooled of in the pool. To me, this hotel was perfect, its location is perfect, its not in the middle of the town, its slightly out but still really close making it quiet but not too isolated. the town is just a 1 minut walk from there, so we could just walk right over to any restaurant, internet cafe, store etc without having to get into a car. The breakfast was served from 7 to 10 and had about 6 choices and was very quick, it only took about 5 minutes to get our breakfasts. i absolutely loved this hotel! if i ever come back to Samara i will without a doubt stay here. i recomend it to any spanish speaking, english speaking, german speaking person, as the owners speak these 3 languages and everything is in these languages. i recomend it to elder families, honeymooners, families with young kids, families with teenagers, just about anyone. this is perfect to take your kids to because you dont always have to be with them, its really safe. my daughter and her friend could just walk into the town and do anything by themselfs.
if you are going to Samara, belvedere is the place to stay!!!

We stayed at the Belvedere the last week of April 2006. It was a nice looking hotel but by far one of the worst experiences I have had traveling. We arrived back to our room at about 11PM one night to find little red ants invested throughout the room. They were everywhere, all over the walls, through the bed, on the selves and all through our bags.

We went to the front desk where the owner insisted he had to come see this for himself. After walking around the room he informed us there was nothing he could do other than giving us a can of RAID.

The next morning he proceeded to try and charge us full price for the room, as if nothing was wrong with it.

Overall, it was an aweful experience and I would not recommend this hotel to anyone.

Overall, this is not a bad hotel, and I might consider staying here again, but I did find a few problems. First let me give you an overview.

This hotel is located next to the forest, and does a great job of landscaping and presenting an attractive appearance. It has two pools and a lukewarm hot tub (not that you need it though). On site they have a number of animals (cats, rabbit, birds) and monkeys from the forest stop by from time to time. It is only 5-8 minute walk to the beach, too.

However, I did find some negative items. These are as follows:

1. There were two beds in the room. My friend had one and I the other. His bed was too hard and mine too soft.
2. My bed only had a sheet and no bed spread.
3. The doors to the bathroom were not solid doors. Move like the doors you would find on bifold door with wood slats. I guess this is for ventilation.
4. I found 3 roaches in the room. These might have been from outside and not from an infestation in the building. We were right next to the forest.
5. There appeared to be no P traps in the showers, which prevent sewer gasses from escaping. Each morning I woke up to a fowl odor from the bathroom, and with the door not being solid it drifted into the room. I spoke to other guests who found the same problem.
6. The managers are German and speak limited English, and therefore do not speak much to you. However, they were polite.

While the negatives might scare you away from this hotel, I would say that it was not a bad hotel. I would probably look around first, but not exclude this hotel from your search. Just be aware that there were some negative items, too. I hope that this review helps you. The information has been honestly presented.

Please help all of us travelers by taking the time to write reviews. Thanks.