Mawamba Lodge Tortuguero

Rooms were both comfortable and rustic; no TV, phone, or internet service in the room, but the caribbean ocean waves can be heard in the background. ||Lodge staff was knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful. The food was good, but the coffee was great. From the deck of our bungalow we saw sloths, tucans, maccaws, spider and howler monkeys. ||The Lodge offered several organized tours to view local wildlife. One tour included a guided walk through the nearby hamlet of Tortuguero where hand crafted souvenirs and local dishes can be purchased. ||The Lodge can only be accessed by a 40 minute boat ride.

This lodge is in the middle of the waters and so the lodge provides transport from land to lodge via boat ride. We booked a transport service from the lodge who would pick us up at our hotel and drop at the lodge. So we had a bus ride from the hotel to the boat decks, however we had to load our own luggage from bus to the boat, which would have been fine if it wasn't a difficult terrain. The lake shore was very muddy and had a slope, and due to previous day rain there were puddles and mud became slippery. There was no free service to take the luggage from bus to boat. Erik, our guide told us there were bell boys who take couple of dollars to load the luggage. However many of us didn't have change $ and had to load our own stuff. I saw people slipping on that mud and getting hurt. What a great start of the vacation! With bruises and sticky mud on clothes. The lodge should provide this luggage loading free service because of such complexity and location. Now about the guide, Erik, who took us from boat to lodge. He had his girlfriend and her kids on the same boat. Some people say in the first row, but he asked them to go behind, and called her girlfriend and teenager kids to sit in front . This happened both times, while coming and going back from lodge. There were very old people on the boat, however he made them sit at the back so his family can sit in front. The "city tour" that lodge provides, was the most boring 20 min tour ever. There was nothing to see, other than dirty lanes and souvenir shops. The lodge had wifi but we did not get Internet access for both days we stayed there. The restaurant at the lodge serves the same menu daily, with limited options. No hot pool. Regarding the rooms, I could hear people laughing in their rooms at night, and had a rough time trying to sleep. The "night walk" we booked with them, again Erik, the same guide takes on the walk. Mostly we saw spiders, frogs and crickets. They just gave us light to point and see if we see anything. I earlier thought they might give us night vision binoculars and we could see something on the trees far away from us. If I knew we are going to see only the smaller animals that will appear in our pathway, I'd have skipped the tour. During day time we went on canal ride, and saw few iguanas, birds and monkeys.

This place is great, 110% value for money and an amazing hotel, the pictures don’t do justice|The room rate actually includes all 3 meals in the day, which is amazing and the pool is heated and gets great sun. |The lodge is a 5 min walk from the town and backs onto the beach, so it n a perfect location. Toucans and Sloths sit in the trees in the grounds and the bar/ pool area and rooms are really high end. Amazing hotel, and turtles were hatching on the beach right behind the hotel.

Our travel agent described Mawamba Lodge (about 45 minutes by boat from La Pavona dock) as 'simple' so we were delighted to find it exceeded our expectations in many respects. The accommodation itself is fairly basic with no air conditioning, just ceiling fans but, other than for no hot water in the sink, everything was clean, comfortable and functional, and with a King Jaguar room we probably had more space than we needed. Soundproofing between the rooms is poor, though.||Reception staff were all friendly and very helpful, likewise the hotel guides for our various included excursions who were also very knowledgeable. The grounds are beautifully kept and contain an abundance of wildlife. Little things are well thought out, such as the hand-washing stations dotted around so you could easily clean up after getting off a boat or whatever and before having lunch.||Meals are included at Mawamba Lodge and we were very pleasantly surprised at the standard of the cuisine we sampled. The menus are varied but with an emphasis on local dishes, and all our meals were extremely tasty and well cooked using good quality ingredients. Service in the restaurant was mixed, though, and it did seem like some of the staff there were pretty disengaged.||Overall, though, I'd be very happy to return.

You need to get to this hotel via boat. There is no other way, but you are taken through a lush rainforest which could be a scene from jurassic Park.|The hotel has loads of wildlife. Toucan, monkeys, sloths, humming birds are but a few.|The rooms (or lodges) are basic but comfortable, however, do not have windows and only grills. This lends itself to the calming and soon irrating sound of the carribean and also the extremely noisy local bird population who wake up around sunrise.|There is no air conditioning in the rooms, but a fan, which served a purpose, but had it been hotter, I doubt that it would have had any effect.|The menu was limited but tasty, and the staff friendly and knowledgeable.|The local town of tortegera is lovely. A proper costa rican town, with lots of friendly locals and small businesses.||If you love nature, this is a great location

Staying in tortuguero is a unique experience. Two ways to get there - fly in or boat the canal. We chose the later and hired a private boat. The difference with private is that the driver spots birds and animals along the way and drives up close for photos. Our transportation and hotel was arranged by Tayra Travel. Mawamba Lodge sits on the canal. We thought it a lovely and tropical rustic lodge. There are several types of lodging and I recommend due diligence in choosing the right accommodation for your needs. The restaurant is nice and food is good, however the menu doesn't change. Breakfast is included. We ate dinner once at lodge and the other two nights took a Water taxi downtown for dinner. The beach is a short distance and town is walkable by beach or trail through the forest. Unfortunately it began raining an hour after we arrived and didn't stop until an hour before we left. We saw few animals and birds due to the rain which was unusually frequent and heavy for January. Be sure to bring a rain jacket!

Amazing place. Got to see so much wildlife. The poor reviews are mind blowing, of course it's not a luxury resort, it's in the middle of the rainforest. But the wildlife you can see here is incredible. We seen more here in 3 days than 2 weeks in the rest of Costa Rica

In the middle of the jungle. In between the ocean and the river. Walking distance to the turtle 🐢 conservatory. Wild animals on the compound. I've seen Iguanas,red eyed tree frog, sloths and countless birds. Food is good though no variety. 3 days the same menu. With 4 dishes to choose from. As vegetarian one option. Everybody speaks English. Everyone friendly. Prices are in US dollars which is a pain for non US Citizens. I'd recommend to do the tours.