The combo of CR surf adventures and the Hotel Diria made for a great experience and the town of Tamarindo had thing to offer to all in dinning and fun things to do. We spent 8 days and 7 nights there and didn't do ever thing to do. just a note the tour desk will spend the time need for you to make the best of your time in Costa Rica. The sun sets are some of the best I seen any where.

Perfect location on a fantastic beach. Even when the tide is in there's plenty of firm, flat sand to walk on.

The coffee house was great for spending an afternoon reading and picking at coffee and cake. As others have said the breakfast buffet is comprehensive and of high quality.

The rooms are 'ok'. I guess I would rate them as a US 3 star. Good AC, internet, bathroom. The beds we ok, not bad, but not great.

Plenty of other eateries nearby if you want to try some variety. The toor desk was very helpfull and informative. Organised a great zip-line trip for us.

Stayed here for 2 nites as part of an escorted tour of Costa Rica (by Collette Vacations-excellent). We had rooms across the street from the beach which were very nice, well air conditioned, free wifi, small balcony overlooking the large pool. Beds were "firm" and so were the pillows-something we found through out CR. Pool was fabulous altho I never tried out the swim up bar :( It was a nice swim at nite too. Beach across the street was gorgeous, soft sand, warm water. The hotel has chairs just inside the property for guests (beach is public, hotel grounds are gurarded). Bfast buffet was ok. Ate in the beachfront restaurant one nite (on our own)--beautiful under huge old trees with stained glass lamps hanging from the branches and the ocean on the other side of the low wall. Unfortunately, the food didn't live up to the surroundings. We all ordered seafood of some sort, and 3 of 4 dishes were so overcooked as to have ruined the dishes. On the other hand, the sauces that came with them were super tasty. Service was lackluster. We did a sunset catamaran tour (that was arranged by our tour guide with a local company) that was lots of fun-open bar, snacks (incl grilled chicken, could have made it a lite dinner), snorkling and swim out to a deserted beach that was swarming with hermit crabs--way cool! (It was about a 10 minute walk down the beach to get to the catamaran.)

The Diria is basically divided into two sections by the main drag in Tamarindo. The ocean side, or sunset rooms, gaze onto a beautiful setting - the manicured lawns and Pacific Ocean. (Except for the enormous pile of roofing tiles.) On the other side of the road are the Tropical poolside rooms which encircle a large pool with swim up bar.

The setting is beautiful, however, the noise is atrocious. In the sunset room we constantly heard traffic going by. The poolside room was even worse: a building is being constructed to the north, the Diria has been using buzz saws to do construction on their rooms and the pool plays club music non-stop - seemingly the same ten songs over and over. Apparently this is renovation season for the Diria. The building on the Ocean side is fairly run down - there are cracks and leaks everywhere - so I guess the renovation is warranted. If you want to rest and relax in quiet, definitely book some place else, maybe a little further away from the main drag.

The breakfast buffet was tasty and massive, the staff cordial. As for bugs - well, this is paradise. It's gonna happen. We booked several excursions through the hotel (using a Capitol One card to avoid foreign transaction fees.) they also exchange dollars for colones (when they have them) at the best rate - no fees.

The beds are hard as rocks, and the towels were super scratchy - but that's personal preference. I wouldn't stay here again. I'm surprised this is called a luxury resort - I think the standards for Tamarindo are on a different scale than back in the U.S.