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I stayed at Secrets Papagayo in October when the resort was at 60% capacity, so it was pleasantly relaxed and never felt overcrowded. I’d read complaints about the shuttles, and it’s true that the steep layout makes walking around difficult. However, I never waited more than 10 minutes for a ride, even at 1 a.m. The facilities were clean and well maintained, and my room’s AC worked great. As a former military guy, I’m pretty easy to please: give me a clean room and cold air, and I’m happy! Pool chairs were limited, but we always found somewhere to leave our belongings. It wasn’t always within sight, though cameras covered the main pool area. I could see seating being a bigger issue during peak season. The food was good across the buffet, sushi restaurant, Seaside Grill, and Italian restaurant. Seaside Grill offers different lunch and dinner menus. My only minor gripe was having to wear long pants at the Italian restaurant in Costa Rica’s heat and humidity. As a single 36-year-old guy, I noticed most guests were couples celebrating honeymoons, anniversaries, or simply relaxing. Despite reviews mentioning a party atmosphere, I found it laid-back, although the off-season may explain that. The staff were attentive and even remembered my name. Special recognition goes to Dalay from the entertainment team! She led daily activities with infectious energy and personality and was genuinely one of the highlights of my stay. Overall, a great experience. I’d happily return!

The resort property was beautiful and pretty well maintained, especially the pools. AND, the staff was very friendly. BUT, if you're going there for the "all inclusive" part of it, it's basically almost non existant. There are 2 bars, one swim up and one in the restaurant area and between the two, you might find 5 bottles of booze (and that's mostly really cheap stuff). The so called "nice" restaurant, Calibri, was not even open the whole time we were there (7 days). And, the food was not that great. We did, however eat breakfast there on most days, which was OK but most days they didn't have this or that, so you pretty much asked, "What don't they have today". There are, however, some great restaurants around the resort that we frequented. The "tram" as they called it, ran for the 1st three days, pretty regularly, BUT after that it must have broken down because it sat by the office and we were picked up by a white pickup truck that was pretty regular but .... I think for a family with kids, this might be a better option BUT, keep in mind, there is A LOT of walking up and down hills to get anywhere!!!