Where the adventures are endless, and the animals roam freely! (Part 1)
Getting There:
Airlines: United
Departure Airport: DTW Detroit Metro at 8:46am
Travel Tip #1: The United app short-cut for baggage 🧳 check-in was quick, but you should go into the regular line if you need to printout your boarding passes. There is a nice new Margaritaville restaurant near gate D4 if you fly-out from that terminal!
Ease of Check-in: Good with TSA Pre-Check ✔ 👌
Arrival Airport: LIR Liberia at 2:25pm
Travel Tip #2: We coordinated a private airport transfer directly through The Westin Reserva Conchal hotel. I'd suggest planning for a 1 hr. to 1 hr. and 15-minute drive to and from the hotel.
Liberia (LIR) Airport
Hotel Check-in Process for The Westin Club Suite Guests:
Upon arrival, we had to take a shuttle from the main hotel lobby to the private Westin Club lobby to complete our check-in with Dyanne. A complimentary drink was served with passion fruit and mango 🥭. You could add an alcoholic drink spike of your choice as well...delicious! The staff was nice enough to schedule 📅 dinner reservations for the first 3 days of our stay since we had an evening arrival. Jairo and Pablo were our concierges for the stay and escorted us to our rooms with our luggage. They were very helpful and accommodating throughout our entire stay. The Westin Club Suite was very spacious (over 1,000 square feet to be exact!), clean, and had a private balcony. The mini-bar and snack bar was conveniently replenished daily! Travel Tip #3: Cheapcaribbean.com was where I found the best deal on the hotel accommodations. This was my first time booking with them and I was very satisfied!
The Westin Reserva Conchal - The Westin Club Suite (Adults Only) Accommodations:
The Westin Reserva Conchal - Visual Meal Gallery:
The Westin Reserva Conchal - Animal Life:
If you know me well, you know that I love animals...all kinds to be exact! I've always been so fascinated with their existence and most of them are just so darn cute! When planning this trip to Costa Rica, I wanted to stay in a hotel room where you couldn't hear or see animals on the balcony. Even though I love animals and was hoping to see all of the popular animals in Costa Rica, some I don't need to see that close-up in the wild! And as far as the noise is concerned, man do I love and appreciate good sleep.
After reading reviews about The Westin, I didn't come across any mentions of hearing noises coming from outside of the room and that helped narrow down the hotel selections. To my surprise however, a few days into the trip at about 5am or so there was a loud and continuous sound that I'd describe as a pig. And man, was that sound so annoying! I struggled to go back to sleep and refused to get out of bed...the exact thing I wanted to avoid was happening.
A few more days into the trip, I heard the same noise around 4am or so and this time it sounded like this "pig" was so close. I decided to check-out whatever it was from the balcony...and wow I'm so glad that I did and losing sleep was well worth it! There was a pack of what looked like 20 something monkeys in the trees. The male monkeys were howling every few seconds as if they were showing their authority. This was the most amazing and organic way of seeing the Mantled Howler monkey in its natural habitat...and right from the hotel room! I saw monkeys sleeping, mothers carrying their young, swinging through the trees, and even peeking back at me. This was one of the most memorable moments in Costa Rica and I'm glad to have seen one of God's creations in its truest forms. I hope you enjoy my Nikon experience...the Mantled Howler Monkeys, or the "Black Monkey" to me, deserved its own gallery!
The Mantled Howler Monkey - Early morning views from the suite balcony! - Slider Gallery:
More Animals Living at The Westin:
I would highly recommend staying at The Westin Reserva Conchal. The accommodations were best in class, the adults only area was a private oasis, the service staff was friendly and helpful, and overall, the food and drinks were good. The Cons you will want to consider: 1) the shuttle service around the hotel is pretty slow, so you will have to allow enough time to get around 2) reservations for the a la carte restaurants need to be scheduled 2 days in advance and the restaurants aren't always open 7 days a week 3) animals live on the property and roam around everywhere...I was surrounded by dozens of Coati at one moment on the grounds and was scared to death! I'm still alive, so it wasn't so bad! Sorry to leave you hanging, but there is a lot to share about this particular trip. Thank you for reading Guanacaste, Costa Rica Trip Review Part 1. Part 2 of this blog is coming soon...until next Friday!
Nina
To book your own stay at The Westin Reserva Conchal, click here.
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