I’ve just returned from a 10 day journey focused on the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica. Nestled between tropical dry forest and too many unspoiled beaches to count, there are a number of small towns and hotels I wanted to explore and better understand for my clients. I partnered with my “go to” supplier for Central America, Rico Tours, to create a customized itinerary for my family.
After spending time at Hotel Punta Islita and then Cala Luna in Tamarindo, my family arrived at our final stop – the newly opened Dreams Las Mareas. Located within a pristine area of coastline just 20 minutes south of the Nicaraguan border, the setting is stunning. This newest addition to AMResorts’ portfolio exceeded all of my expectations and is a game changer in Costa Rica, as it’s the first luxury all-inclusive hotel to open in the country.
Upon arrival, we were whisked to the Preferred Club lounge for private check-in and a glass of champagne. Preferred Club is KEY at Dreams Las Mareas – not only is the lounge and bar area lovely, but guests booked in this VIP section of the hotel have the most advantageous location of rooms on property (i.e. closest to the pools and common areas). It’s a relatively spread out property, so the location of your room is important.
I booked connecting Preferred Club Oceanview rooms for my family, and the accommodations were lovely. Please note that connecting rooms cannot be guaranteed in advance, but the hotel does their best to honor these requests for young families. Our rooms overlooked the pool area and ocean, and if you want a ground floor room, there’s the option for a Swim Out room where the patio is attached to a small pool area.
We quickly unpacked and made our way to the pool complex. (I call it a complex because there are many pools – all of them gorgeous!). Whether you opt to lounge by the upper pool where many of the families hang out because of the water slide and basketball hoops, the more low-key adults only pool, or the “happening” pool near the swim-up bar, we always found a chair and a server ready to take our drink order.
The food at Dreams Las Mareas is EXCELLENT. My personal favorites were the Italian restaurant Portofino and Mexican restaurant El Patio, but truly everywhere we ate on property was delicious. I found the wait staff to be incredibly friendly and accommodating. It’s impressive to see the Dreams’ staff deliver that level of food quality and service on a large scale.
In addition to the facilities and service, what puts Dreams Las Mareas on the map of best of the best all-inclusives is their children’s program, Explorer’s Club. My children first experienced it this past summer at the Dreams Riviera Cancun property, and they couldn’t wait to spend time in the Explorer’s Club again once we arrived at Dreams Las Mareas! There are fun activities going on all day long (some inside, some outside – all of them engaging and entertaining). Meals are a treat for children in the Explorer’s Club too – counselors escort them daily to one of the restaurants where they get to pick their own lunch and/or dinner, and on one evening they even organized a beach barbecue just for the children.
Dreams Las Mareas offers a wide array of water sports both at the beach and the pool. The beach is really pretty with very calm water, so it’s great for stand-up paddle boarding and there’s some great hiking on either end of the beach. For guests wanting to venture off-property to see more of Costa Rica, Dreams Las Mareas offers a number of tours and excursions, but it’s important to understand that due to the hotel’s relatively remote location, most of the tours require some driving time.
