JW Marriott Guanacaste Beach Resort

Customer ratings & reviews

TripAdvisor Traveler Rating

3554 reviews

• 

  Great remote resort but SO expensive to stay

  We stayed for a week at The JW Marriott in Feb. Location- SO remote, you are stuck on property. It takes 30-ish min just to hit a main road. They have bike trails/hiking trails around the property which we used. Beach- Big but rocky. They have a small swim area that is less rocky. The sand is course and there were lots of rip tide warnings/signs bc of the location. The loungers on the beach have bar service, but are next to the pool, which is kind of far from the water. You cannot move the umbrellas, so we couldn’t move closer to the water. Sunsets are AMAZING! Pool- huge, something for everyone, it overlooks the beach. Room- Old but not dated, it was clean and we loved our porch, which we could pull a screen down and keep the bugs out. Food- SO EXPENSIVE, because they know you can’t leave the resort. The quality was fine- nothing great and hit or miss, my $55 lunch salad left me still hungry. ;(. The mixed drinks are way watered down- and $$. Total rip off, but again, you are stuck there, so I guess they can charge what they want. I will not return to this resort because of it. Gym- Basic, but big enough and had the most important equipment you’d want. Property- well maintained and landscaped. Very clean. Lots of outdoor common space to relax in under the stars. It is a very serene resort. Not a lot “to do” at night. They usually had someone playing music In the main upstairs area, but no shows, dance club, casino, etc… we came home well rested, lol! Service- no complaints and nothing stood out.

  Feb 14, 2026
• 

  Outstanding and Beautiful Oceanside Resort in Costa Rica.

  5 night 6 day stay recently. Overall excellent stay and we recommend and would come again. We are world travelers and mix it up with 4 and 5 star hotels and both large resorts and boutique hotels. This would fit in the 4.5 star medium size resort category. The property is approximately 15 years old and that and the design gives it some character and charm and it fits in well with the area and is extremely well maintained. Very clean and well kept for a property on the ocean. The staff is outstanding across the board from checkin staff to housekeeping to waitstaff. Kind, friendly, professional and always available to help and assist. And unlike many U.S. resorts these days, this resort is well staffed with plenty of kind and helpful staff. We were here at peak season and the hotel was full and with a mix of couples and families. The property is well designed with a lot of open space, plenty of restaurants/dining options, and a massive pool and it never felt over crowded. No need to get up at 7 am to claim your beach or pool chairs. There are more than enough to go around. The resort has a full calendar of activities throughout the day if you are so inclined, they have a fleet of very nice bikes with helmets, and nice trails for walking and biking but also no need to do any of those activities as the pool area is a lovely area to relax and spend the day. And the beach is fabulous but this requires an important note. The immediate beach in front of the hotel is nice but small. One third of a mile with a small area cordoned off for swimming. BUT if you head south there is another 1.5 mile beautiful beach. At first it might look daunting to get there due to what appears to be a huge area of rocky beach. However, if you hug the coast line tightly it is literally only about 50-100 easily traversed feet and you are back on the beach. And then a beautiful sparsely populated beach so there is essentially nearly a 2 mile long stretch of beautiful beach. And if you want to leave the property for alternate dining options there are several along this beach. We walked 1.5 miles to Lola’s which is a very nice toes in the sand beach bar and restaurant. Great vibe, good food and a very friendly pet pig!! And right next to that is a new and absolutely fabulous more upscale but still very beachy and toes in the sand option called Mantas. A bit more pricey but very well worth it. Seafood centric 5 star food that we highly recommend. There are other nice options along the beach as well. We ate at all of the on property restaurants while we were there. They were all solid/good to excellent. And prices were very reasonable for an upscale ocean front resort. Prices at all restaurants were lower than what you would pay at a similar resort in the US or Europe, for example, and again they were all very nice: nice ambience, great service and good food with an extensive variety of food and cuisine options. The resort is a bit remote but for us that was a huge plus. For transportation to and from the Liberia airport (and if you wanted to do a tour off property), we used Anthony (owner) from ontheroadcostarica.com and would very highly recommend him and his company. Overall we highly recommend this property for a beautiful and relaxing Oceanside vacation in Costa Rica. We hope to go back.

  Feb 13, 2026
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  Beautiful, somewhat isolated hotel, service a highlight.

  We stayed for a week in January and had an overall positive experience. The resort is located on a spectacular beach where you can swim in the surf and enjoy incredible sunsets. The grounds are beautifully landscaped. The room was large, very well appointed and had everything we needed. The included breakfast was delicious and plentiful - a great start to our days. Our experience with the lunch and dinner options was that the food was fine, but a bit expensive for what you get. Captive audience. The town of Tamarindo is 30 minutes away. We went there one day for a catamaran excursion and had a great time. The only place you can really walk from the hotel is south along the beach to Lola’s restaurant (20 to 30 min gorgeous walk, best not to do it at high tide). We loved Lola’s so much, we went there for lunch three times! A true highlight of our stay at the hotel was the service. On our first night, exhausted from a long and delayed day of travel, Andrea at the Sandbar restaurant was so kind and patient with us. The next night we had dinner at Pimento restaurant. The food was fine, but the service we had from Erick and Valeria elevated the dinner. The pool bar, which was a big part of our, and I think many people’s stay, delivered over the top service. Johnny, Yassion, and Henry worked so hard to serve with rapid fire service and kindness. They made our beach and pool time there so wonderful.

  Feb 09, 2026
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  Beautiful resort with potential

  We stayed here 2 nights in August 2025. The hotel was practically deserted & it was as if we had the entire property to ourselves which was nice. The resort is located within a guard gated community and is very secure as they verify your reservation before they allow you to enter the community. The resort is situated on a beautiful private beach & has a huge infinity pool that overlooks the ocean. We loved the complimentary bike tour offered by the hotel. During the ride, we came across a large family of monkeys living in the trees which was a very cool experience. However, we felt that the $500/night we paid was a bit much considering the lack of dining options. There were only American dining options & an Asian option which felt odd as there were no Costa Rican inspired dishes at any of the on-site restaurants. Leaving the resort to eat was not an option as it is extremely far from anything. While this is a beautiful resort, It definitely needs more dining options given how secluded it is.

  Jan 31, 2026
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  Loved the experience...hated the journey!

  I was at this resort for a business meeting. It was expensive to get there and expensive to get back. The roads were not the greatest so seeing the resort at the end of a 2 hour long bumpy sojourn felt amazing! I was nauseous and tired from the drive so to see the road open up to a resort this beautiful made me smile. It is in a very serene location and aesthetically pleasing to look at. My check in: I am not always a huge fan of resorts because they are programmed to do things a certain way and don't necessarily assess a situation before approaching a guest. I was not in a great mood because of the drive and wanted a second to catch my bearing before exiting the van. Instead, my things were yanked off of the van and I had to wrangle them away from the bell man. Since I needed my documents to check in and I needed my computer for a meeting, trying to convey that I was going to keep my things, rather than hand them over and wait 3 hours to get them, became a battle that set us off on the wrong foot. Eventually, I was led to a room where I was supposed to check in...this was a HUGE departure from the typical check in counters I have always seen in hotels. It was a nice sized room set up with desks like an office. It was air conditioned with huge sofas and comfy seats. Each check in person sits at a large desk and interacts with one group, person, family at a time. While there, they offer you a specialty beverage and then you wait. That was the second most frustrating thing the check in area is woefully understaffed most of the time. When I got there, only one person was checking in people. I had to sit for over 20 minutes waiting for one family to check in when all I wanted to do was get into my room, take a shower and unwind after 10 hours of travel. Eventually, I got into my room and the ocean front view made all of the aggravation worth it. There are many options for meals...the resort has about 5 restaurants, but they are all VERY expensive. I'm talking $30 for a hamburger. In addition, the reviews about the food and my colleagues assessments of the food were not great either. I read about the offerings and the cost before getting there so I made sure to enjoy my free breakfast (as a Titanium Elite member) fully! And then I made sure to have a reasonable lunch ($29 for a grilled chicken sandwich and fries) and skip dinner. Knowing how bad the roads were, I was loathe to travel to any of the surrounding towns so I stayed on property. I have never travelled and not partaken of the local food, but after crunchy rice at two different meals, I gave up. The beach was clean and inviting, the pools were the same. I spent most of my time enjoying the surroundings. Nature was everywhere in abundance and I made sure to indulge in every bit of it. Birds often settled on your breakfast table. There were lizards and other reptiles sunning themselves on the pool patios, I saw little monkey paws in the sand...it was glorious! Overall, I had a really nice stay at this resort. The location is gorgeous. I had an ocean front room and the view was spectacular. The customer service was also great for the most part. Some hiccups along the way, but nothing worth truly complaining about. I will say that there is some difficulty communicating in English and that's to be expected, but when there were miscommunications I felt that the Marriott employees went overboard to convince me that I was the one with the misunderstanding when it was actually a language barrier on their part. I am not convinced that I would return...the expense and hassle are not high enough for me to consider a return.

  Jan 30, 2026