Description: The Barcelo San Jose Palacio Hotel, San Jose, Costa Rica
We arrived at about 5pm local time and were taken to our hotel Barcelo San Jose Palacio just outside the main city centre of San Jose. The Reception area was large and airy and staff very pleasant, welcoming and efficient. There were a number of efficient lifts and there were also stairs to all floors.
Our room was very large with plenty of storage space 10 drawers, huge wardrobe, bathrobes, safe, coffee maker and fridge with mini bar. The bed was a large queen sized one and was VERY comfortable with 5 huge plumfy pillows and over the bed lights so that reading in bed was easy rather than struggling with fiddly dull lights. There was also a radio alarm clock, iron and ironing board plus a trouser press. Furniture in the room beside the enormous bed included a table and two comfortable chairs plus a settee that made into a double bed too for a third person or child.
The bathroom had a bath and shower over the bath, basin and large mirror behind plus a basket of such exciting toiletries – conditioner, body lotion and bath gel in little bottles, a shaver and cream, a toothbrush and tooth paste, shoe horn, comb, sewing kit, shoe cleaning sponge and shower cap all in small plastic packs. Also over the bath was bath/shower gel with a nice fresh smell, shampoo and conditioner in dispensers. This hotel certainly wins the prize for offering the most toiletries and bits to their guests. There was also a hairdryer attached to the wall in the bathroom and we had large fluffy and white towels and plenty of them too.
Our room air conditioning didn’t work at all but my sister and her husband were next to us and theirs worked perfectly, had we been staying longer than two nights we might have made more fuss but we opened the window and it wasn’t too bad.
Breakfasts were buffet style and there was a great choice. Fruit juices and champagne too so it was a shame that I thought a day of sightseeing was probably not best started with a champagne breakfast!, cereals, a huge choice of fruit both whole and cut up and a fruit salad, Breads and pastries, cold meats and cheeses, cooked sausages, burritos, rice and beans, eggs cooked in various ways and so much more. It was an excellent breakfast as we were all happy with what was offered and everything was really nicely presented and looked fresh. I have since looked on the internet as we wanted a hotel for our last night in Costa Rica and thought this was so nice that we could do worse than return here. The night’s stay was about $180 and then breakfast was a huge $68 on top. It was a good breakfast but you would have to eat a huge amount to justify that price and I certainly didn’t get my money’s worth!
The evening meal was also buffet style. The first night I had a huge plateful of about 20 different salads, cold meats, cheeses, and some fish and seafood. There was also cooked fish meat and vegetables but I was quite full after my salad splurge. The desserts were also numerous, nicely presented and varied from a choice of ice creams and sauces to fruit salads and cut fruit to beautiful looking chocolate, lemon and many other cake and mousse looking tasty looking treats. Both my husband and brother in law went for the cooked selection and went back for more saying how tasty it all was.
There was a beautiful tropical garden to wander though on the way to the pool and poolside bar area. The pool was quite large with a shallow part under a bridge leading to a very shallow beach like section for sitting in or for children. The prices in the bar were slightly less than in the UK a total of £8 for a beer, a coke and two Cuba Libras which we thought wasn’t a bad price. The pool was quite fresh and too cold to be pleasant for me and my sister but my husband and brother in law braved it. There were plenty of sun loungers and you had a pool card to get pool towels which you exchanged back ready to hand in when you checked out of the hotel.
There were several areas where you could sit and relax and enjoy a chat as well as at least one other restaurant and bar within the hotel. There were a number of conference rooms available for business meetings and an internet room where you had to pay $5US for an hour. If you wanted to use your own laptop wifi then it was $10 per day, $15 for 2 days or $20 for 3 days. It was free on the 5th and 6th floors but I didn’t test to see if anyone could get on if they went up to those floors or if you had to be checked in to a room/suite on one of those floors.
All in all this was a very comfortable hotel and the rooms had everything you could possibly want, Shame that our air conditioner did not work but it was not too hot with the window open. The selection of food offered in the restaurant was excellent and very tasty and well presented too. The hotel is a little way out of the city so if you wanted to be in the city then this may not suit you however I would certainly stay here again if we ever returned to San Jose as it offered everything you could possibly desire except perhaps free internet.
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