This is a fantastic beach resort on many acres. The grounds are beautifully landscaped
and include a butterfly garden. It is a great location to visit Carrara and Manuel
Antonio Parks. The front desk was helpful in arranging guided tours.

While this resort was recommended by friends, it exceeded expectation. While the property was large, it allows for hiking on many trails. The shuttle service was great. Meals always had a new feature and the fruit was exceptionally great. Service of waiters was spotty. They need some training.
The bar was located near the ocean and pools which were crowded with Ticos. The resort should locate a bar near the main restaurant so that one might have a civilized libation before dinner.
There were at least 7 mammals on the property and probably 150 species of birds.
Alex, the resident guide was fantastic and used a good spotting scope to assist seeing birds at a distance.
We shall return next year.

hated the room: small, depressing, outdated, windows are old, can hear conversations in other rooms, windows face the walks/paths..no privacy..have to keep curtains closed for privacy..and get no light, no balcony in the room...I have never seen such tiny rooms in a resort. thevroom feels like a barrack. not enough lounge chairs on the beach...ridiculous...the hotel cant buy enough plastic chairs? breakfast is late 7 pm..cant get coffee anywhere before ( a lot of tours start at 7:30 am...no time to eat). helpdesk was not helpful: asked about mailing out our purchases..no clue, asked about recommendations for stores selling pottery..no clue. The helpdesk is short-staffed. they need to get their act together on organozation if care and buy these plastic lounge chairs..so you do not feel like a scavenger after paying money for your rest.

We had a wonderful relaxing time at the resort. Yes, it is a very large place, but that was one of the reasons we chose to go there. Mainly for the wildlife that could be enjoyed throughout the resort. The lush tropical feel, and the beautiful beaches. We found the beaches to be calm and relaxing. However, when we first arrived it was during the weekend and we were unable to find a lounge chair until Monday. Usually we like to spread our time out between the beach and pools, however both pools by the beach were full of children. Never been to a resort where the adult pool allowed children, so we just avoided the pools. There is a pool up in the Selvamar section, but is is very small, and in the shade. We did not find the long walk from the rooms to the beach to be too bad. We actually enjoyed the exercise. However, it was not a walk I was wanting to take at night to get down to the only bar. Way out of the way for that. We only do all inclusive vacations and we found this resort seemed to avoid your table at meals if you were wearing a band. We always tipped, but I believe the staff must be asked to avoid the bands. We only like to have one drink before dinner, a coffee in the morning, but it was very difficult to get one. We always had to go get someone's attention to get service. Others had the same problem. This has never happened to us on an all inclusive vacation before. We never avoid resorts with children because we have never had a problem. Here the children's pool was located right in front of the only bar, so it was very loud, not a bar we liked to relax in.
The buffet was the smallest I have ever seen. The selection was very, very limited. We have stayed in over a dozen resorts, and I was very surprised to see the tiny buffet here. But since we are not big eaters, we did not go hungry.
Our meal at the Grill was very good, but make sure you book it for over at the Playa Blanca otherwise you will find yourself in the same restaurant for your grill dinner.
This is a non smoking resort, so if you smoke, you must book elsewhere. Costa Rica has changed their smoking bylaws, so there are limited places to smoke. Unfortunately for the smokers at this resort, they were not told that there were no designated smoking areas, and they were constantly told to butt out. Apparently you can only smoke on the street. One couple informed us that they were asked to butt out even on the beach, after being told they could smoke there. People we met at the airport said their resorts did have designated smoking areas, so go to a resort that allows smoking in designated areas with ashtrays. It was sad to see the cigarette buts on the street because the Punta Leona will not put out ashtrays.
Pros-weather, beach, tropical forest, wildlife, (monkey's at breakfast were my favorite), bird watching tour with Alex.
Cons-pools too busy, location of bar, service, buffet, balconies were not private, some were right on walkway, some faced right into other rooms within 3 foot distance. there were only a couple of balconies that had some privacy located in the cuba section.