Aninga Lodge

Worth the 2 hour bumpy track to get the boat to arrive. Paradise indeed. Beautiful accommodation, charming staff, everything one needs with board walks, wildlife, cocktails and the experience of a lifetime

We're here now. Its wonderful. I had made the mistake of booking through ***********, not realizing that didn't include transportation from San Jose which is only arranged directly with the lodge. Marriono with the lodge still arranged to have us picked up long after the regular shuttle had left, driven the 3 hours to boat launch, then an hour by boat. Our guides, Johnny and Carlos, took us on a jungle river excursion this morning and pointed out all the hidden wildlife. Great food and accomodations, very lovely people.

Fabulous setting in the heart of the secondary tropical forest. Lovely individual cabins on stilts with comfy bed, rocking chairs on the veranda and Howler Monkey alarm call! Catering was plentiful, tasty but basic and cafeteria style. Guides very knowledgeable and spoke fluent English for trips out on the water, to Tortuguero village, treks through the grounds and also up Tortuguero hill and it’s primary forest for a spectacular view. Lovely swimming pool to refresh and excellent cocktails!

This was my favourite hotel on my recent trip to Costa Rica. It takes over three hours to arrive at the Aninga Lodge from San Jose via a long bus journey and boat ride after negotiating a frenetic embarkation, but once you arrive it’s very enjoyable. The arrival and departure are the low points of staying at the Lodge, the transfer guides were not very friendly, in fact the return guide who came from a sister property, the Evergreen Lodge, was really rude and bossy. You also spend the first hour of transfer just driving around San Jose hotels picking people up, the embarkation point where you transfer from the bus to boat is chaotic, has limited facilities and you have to do all your own portering. I loved how you could only get around the local area by river boat so whenever you left the property that was a treat in itself. We had a very nice welcome at the Aninga Lodge from Barbie with a welcome drink. Our chalet was comfortable, we knew there was no air conditioning or TV, but the Wi-Fi was very good, and the fan was sufficient to keep the room relatively cool. There was no wardrobe but lots of shelves and rails. The bathroom was large, and I think recently renovated, with a new shower but the pressure was low at times. There is no internal ceiling in the bathroom so you need to be comfortable with whoever you are rooming with because you can hear everything in the bedroom. Housekeeping was superb despite the tricky conditions (only netting for window covers, surrounded by forest so lots of leaves, seeds etc floating about), the room was always spotless, and nothing was too much trouble for the chambermaids, every day when we returned to the rooms there was a new towel sculpture! The staff are all very pleasant and keen to help, most only speak Spanish but they always have a smile, from the bartender to the kitchen staff. Meals are buffet style at the three mealtimes, the choices are sufficient and the food fresh, well cooked and everyone I could see staying was more than happy with what they were served. As we stayed three nights rather than the usual two, we were cooked steak on our last day as a thank you which was a very nice surprise. A fellow guest seemed to have food allergies and the kitchen staff went out of their way to prepare a separate meal to his satisfaction. There was a small amount of maintenance work going on at the hotel, but this did not affect us in any way, and it seemed to be mainly retiling the bar area. The Aninga Lodge is not a place for light sleepers. On a regular basis fruit or nuts would drop out of the tree above our chalet and with a loud crack hit our roof as they fell to the ground. The jungle makes a constant noise, the howler monkeys howl pre-dawn and the rain when it happens is thunderous. I would take ear plugs if you are worried about noise. I would also think long and hard about going if you don’t like bugs. They get everywhere, inside and outside of your room. The hotel is surrounded by flora and fau

We loved Aninga Lodge, albeit staying for only two nights. Yes, the last bit of the journey from San Jose was bumpy and dusty, but the boat ride to the lodge is terrific. The whole lodge is surrounded by tropical flora and fauna, with raised walkways around the property - it is so green! Bungalows are spacious, although quite hot during the day, even with the ceiling fan on - but you just go down to the pool to cool down and have a swim. (It was very hot and humid when we were there). Food in the restaurant (buffet style) was local cuisine and I thought it was very good indeed. Delicious fresh fruit for breakfast! The various tours were excellent. Brando led the walking tour around the gardens and local area, and also the early morning boat tour which was terrific for seeing all sorts of birds, monkeys, crocodiles, terrapins etc. Valentine took us over to Tortuguero Village and told us all about the sea turtles, leaving us time to explore the vibrant little village with its gift shops, bars and restaurants. Yes, it is quite busy and touristy, but great fun. Highlights were seeing toucans from the hotel swimming pool, the howler monkey “dawn chorus” (something which will live with me forever!) and the Basilisk Lizard (plus loads of other birds) It was our 30th Wedding Anniversary and the staff really pulled out the stops to make it a special occasion - thank you to all involved :-)

It's a long way by coach and then boat to this hotel but it's definitely worth it. We stayed for two nights as part of a tour. Our accommodation was very nice and clean. The meals were included and all very tasty and wellpresented. The staff are so helpful and friendly. We really enjoyed our stay.

A lovely place to stay! Our guide Johnny was our best guide whilst on our second Costa Rica trip, a fount of knowlege on everything natural. Bungalows are on raised walkways and very comfortable and spacious. Communal meals where you are expected to sit at the same table for meals (not sure why) but you do meet loads of different people. Lovely open air bar where Rafael and Steven produce great cocktail (try a Kapitan!). Two German couples having a nightcap saw an armadillo and my wife saw a river otter briefly near the landing stage.Guided walk around this and neighbouring resort Paquira lodge yielded good views of red-eyed tree frog and sloth with a baby attached. Boat trip on the river allowed us to get close to myriads of birds and sharp eyes of Jo the boatman and Johnny spotted many we would have missed. All in all a great stay which at 2 nights was nowhere near long enough, a week would be great.

The location of the Lodge is ideal for exploring Totuguero National Park using the services of the hotels registered tourist guides, who know where and how to spot the animals that you would otherwise miss. I would recommend taking all of the available guided excursions. Hotel cabin style rooms were excellent in terms of maintenance and cleanliness. Bar service and poolside amenities were of Caribbean resort standard. We had a full-board meal package which fully met our needs, but would perhaps have liked the opportunity to cross to Tortuguero village on a "water-taxi" basis to inject a little more money into the hands of the Tortuguero residents, but clearly the employees arelocals who are well paid and as such support the local economy.

Staying at the lodge is a great experience. The rooms are open air so you can hear all the noises of the rainforest. The food at the buffet was delicious and the pool area was clean (and the water not too cold!). The guided tours were great. It’s not as abundant with animals as other places we have visited but still, the guides are very informative and even just the boat ride to and from the hotel is interesting. The reason I gave 4 stars rather than 5 is mainly due to the restaurant area. It’s very basic and ‘canteen’ like and doesn’t fit the vibe of the rest of the lodge. Also the rooms didn’t have shampoo (or if the body wash was meant to be shampoo it was terrible!) or hairdryer which are usually basic room amenities.