Cala Luna is just wonderful. It was our second time staying there. The grounds are well taken care of and cleaned everyday. Rooms are wonderful with a private entrance and porch area. Pool was always refreshing. Yes, it is outside of town, but that is what makes it so nice. You are away from everything to enjoy. You always feel safe and secure at Cala Luna, it is a walled resort with security 24 hrs a day. I highly recommend staying here.

While staying there, I recommend doing the 4x4 tour and the sunset cruise, both can be booked right at the hotel. Staff is very helpful and friendly and will go out of their way to do anything for the guests.

We loved the Cala Luna. It truly is beautiful. It's not resorty like the Diria (which I personally hate. The Diria looked like a Cancun hotel)

Air conditioning works, but is not as robust as the Diria and Captain Suzio. Also, in the villas, only the bedrooms were air conditioned. The Villas were amazing however, and the private pool is definitely worth it.

The tuna at the sushi bar was fantastic. I'd stay away from the Salmon.

Since the hotel is green (as in environmentally friendly, not the color), I felt like I got bit more when I was on the Cala Luna grounds than either the Diria or Suzio. Bring effective bug spray. I did not.

We spent four nights at this hotel in early April, while having spent a week visiting our brother, who lives outside of Liberia. This country has so much to offer, but please remember when visiting, that it is a third world country and the reason you are visiting is hopefully to enjoy nature at its' peak. The country has so much to offer - you can entertain yourselves for days with deep sea fishing, volcano tours, trips up the river to catch crocodiles, zip-lining through the canopy, waking up to monkeys in the trees outside your window, horseback riding on the beach or just relaxing by the pool. Cala Luna is an upscale hotel for the Guanacaste area. It has all the amenities of a 4 star resort in the States. Our 3 bedroom suite, was the farthest from the lobby, but had a private pool, which was cleaned daily, grounds that were manicured while we slept, and yes, it had ants, but were they a distraction to our stay - absolutely not. Having stayed at several other hotels in two other trips to Costa Rica, this one most closely resembled luxury, with beautiful, huge bathrooms - in our suite there were three; an abundance of towels, a stocked mini-bar; televisions that carried every cable channel you could imagine (which was key during the NCAA finals); prompt response from the front desk when there was a problem (and there were not many).
The breakfast was average and not included, which may be my only complaint. The food at the restaurants and the sushi were excellent. We took walks/runs each morning either into town or just the road surrounding our complex and felt completely safe. My 17 year old son walked the beach to Tamarindo, surfed and again, felt safe. Certainly, speaking Spanish would be an asset when visting Costa Rica, but I never found a Tico that wasn't friendly and willing to help. Be sure to do the zip-lines while in Costa Rica. It's a once in a lifetime experience and although I was terrified the first time, I did it again this trip on a much more difficult tour and it was exhilirating (not for the faint of heart). It was the Papagayo Canopy Tour and the guides were excellent. While in Tamarindo, eat at the Taco Stop - good casual fare for mid-day. And don't forget the sunsets - the Pacific holds a great scene at sundown that you shouldn't miss, I'd return here for a stay or to Cala Luna's neighbor - Hotel Capital Suizo in a heartbeat. The country is developing rapidly, too rapidly - visit before it's a tourist trap.

Although Cala Luna is a pretty property, I had a terrible experience booking through Orbitz. When I called the hotel to confirm, I discovered the hotel did not have my reservation and could not accommodate us for our full stay in Tamarindo. We thought we resolved the issue before we left (after scrambling to find another hotel for the latter part of our stay) but upon arrival found that the hotel had cancelled our reservation. They claimed that we had not prepaid when in fact we had given all of our credit card information beforehand on the Orbitz website. The front desk was not helpful until we pushed for them to find us alternatives. They did finally find us a room but only after we insisted. To be fair, the hotel layout and rooms are very pleasant.