Pachira Lodge

We booked onto a two night, three day package with Pachira Lodge, including transfers, hotel, all meals, and all tours. The organisation of the trip as a whole was excellent - transfers were on time, guides knew exactly who they should be picking up and when we should arrive, and timings for meals and tours were exactly right. Transfers to and from Tortuguero were on comfortable coaches. The boats to take you to and from Pachira Lodge and on your tours appeared safe and in good condition, with dedicated drivers. The Lodges are a little basic but very clean, they had nice bathrooms with eco friendly toiletries to use. We were a couple but were put in a room with two double beds, which gave us one bed to pack on which was nice! The grounds and gardens of the lodge itself are well kept but still allowed to be a bit wild, which encourages animals like howler and spider monkeys, sloths, toucans, tree frogs, and armadillos to visit the lodge. The pool area is beautiful and clean, and a particular highlight was sitting in the pool in the afternoon watching the monkeys, toucans and parrots feed in the trees around the pool area. There a self guided rainforest walk you can do in the lodge area in your free time, which was lovely to wander on our own without a big group. Food is served buffet style but is of a good quality, there was always plenty available and you could order freshly made meals such as pasta and omelettes. There was always a selection of fruit and vegetables, being vegetarian wasn't an issue. Our guide for our tours, Julio, was fantastic. He was friendly, knowledgeable, and informative. He has worked in Tortuguero for many years and clearly knew the area really well and cared for it deeply, which was lovely to see. I hope he continues to use his skills to guide tourists around this beautiful area for many years to come! Tortuguero itself is stunning and well worth a visit when you're in Costa Rica. Because it's one of the rainier areas of the country, the rainforest is particularly stunning and very different from the Pacific side of the country. Overall we had an amazing trip and would definitely return next time we're in Costa Rica.

We stayed in room 202. A sloth climbed up tree right outside our window (must have come down to poop, as they do once a week - we got lucky). Our guide Ray was the best. Henry our river boat guide was also great. No AC, but no windows and a fan help cool down. Windows have screens so no mosquitos. Heads up…toilet paper must be placed in trash can (has a lid). The drinks in fridge are free (we did not know until friends checked out and told us)!

We stayed at Pachira Lodge for two nights on a Viator tour. I'm glad we went as it was a bit of an adventure, but as with anything, as it turns out, it mightn't be everyone's cup of tea. Getting there and back takes a long time from San José as Tortuguero is extremely isolated. Traffic was very slow (the rain didn't help matters) at the San José end; a very long stretch of road is crudely maintained and extremely bumpy; and the boat ride from Caño Blanco to the Lodge takes an hour and 15 minutes. The grounds of Pachira Lodge are lush and beautiful. The cabins and common buildings are scattered through the woods. As others have mentioned, do not expect air conditioning or even glass in the windows. It was very humid for sleeping and the ceiling fan above the bed had one speed: super-jet-turbo, which we could not quite endure. The food in the dining room is served cafeteria style and was generally pretty good. You really have to be into looking for birds and animals (not always a fully successful mission) because otherwise the only other activity is to lounge at the pool, which we did for a while and was pleasant. But it's a very long way to go to lounge at a pool. We took a boat ride into Tortuguero National Park ($17 extra for a park permit, purchased at the Lodge). We saw some birds and small wildlife but then the pouring rain came down and we beelined back to the Lodge. To be honest, we didn't see any more wildlife there than we saw on the long boat journey to and from the Lodge. Adjoining the pool area is a long and interesting paved loop trail through the jungle, and birds and monkeys may be on view. We took a Lodge boat across the channel to stroll through the village of Tortuguero. Unfortunately, it's a grim, wet, impoverished little place, but it's on the beach which is its draw. We were surprised at how high and fierce the surf is along this section of the Caribbean. My impression is that most if not all visitors to Pachira Lodge are there on two-night tour packages. The place is, indeed, an unusual venue. I'm glad we were able to check it out, but for us, once was probably enough.