Tortuga Lodge

Excellent service and food, the staff is second to none

We stay only 1 night but we really appreciated the staff and the environment

Stayed there with our kids for two days: amazon location, friendly staff, tons of activities around!

Best place for à family vacation.

We stayed two days at Tortuga Lodge. This is a wonderful hotel, comfortable with pleasant friendly staff. We did not purchase a package, however, and the staff were not at all helpful arranging transfers and Tortuguero is only available by plane or boat. The directions took us to the public boat transfer which required wading through water with our luggage to get on a boat that was filled to capacity. It took 3 1/2 hours to reach the hotel as the water was low and the boat had to be pushed several times. When planning for the return I asked several staff about arranging for a private boat back and no one was helpful so we went to the village and with another couple were able to arrange a private boat that took us back in 1 1/2 hrs. The guide books say not to do this as these boats are usually not insured but we didn't feel we had a choice. We loved our room except that it was closest to the pool and not very private (we were not able to change rooms). The morning boat tour through the creeks was wonderful and our guide, Norton, was amazing at pointing out monkeys, lizards, birds, cayman, iguana and more that are so easy to miss. The food at the hotel was good but to get to town you have to arrange taxis or use the hotel boat which does not have convenient times and is not always reliable on the return trips.

Spent 2 nights at Tortuga lodge. Facilities are excellent . Staff are friendly and helpful

This is the first time all hotel's available staff greeted me upon arrival and departure - they gather all staff on the peer and waive smiling. So touched. They are trying to accommodate your needs beyond their job responsibilities.

fiendly and efficent people, location is great and all is in harmony with the area, good design and style. My family and I loved to be there, great experince.

We ended up staying at the lodge for an entire week vs the 2-3 days most people stay, but it met our needs--to relax and enjoy the rain forest. The isolated lodge is located along a river about 2 miles to the village of Tortuguero. There were several lodges along the river, but each isolated from the other. To get to the town, the staff will provide a free boat ride to the other side of the river and then you can walk either along the beach or air strip and path the village or you can also hitch a ride with the staff when they are transporting the workers to the village. The gardens around the lodge were beautiful and there are paths behind the lodge to check out the rain forest by foot...but you have to douse yourself with bug spray. The mosquitoes around the lodge were only bad around early evening. The best time to see and hear the birds and moneys are in the early morning (when the howler monkeys do their thing--howl!) Staff were incredibly friendly and accommodating, we got to know them all. Meals were good, we only took the breakfast and dinner plan, which held us fine. Don't fill up on their awesome granola because they also will make you all the other regular breakfast fare. They had a bar so you can enjoy the local beers or tropical drinks any time. Because it is an eco-lodge, don't expect caribbean music playing, you're their to hear the sounds of the rain forest. We took a great kayak ride, boat ride, did the turtle nesting tour and saw baby turtles.

It was a magical place, I can't wait to go back! I love to that there's the forest in the back of the rooms and the sounds of the jungle (exotic birds, monkeys, etc) made it even better. You wont hear any cars, TV's or any city sounds, very relaxing!