Shawandha is in a great spot about halfway between Puerto Viejo and Manzanilla, along the main (but quiet) road with loads of nice little cafes, restaurants and boutiques. The rooms are all individual designs and are situated in separate little cabins in the forest. Nice pool, good breakfasts, and easy access to the beach. Taxis into PV are easy to get and cheap, or hire a scooter like we did and roam up and down the road at your leisure!

The staff here are particularly friendly and helpful, and went out of their way to help us when we needed it.

It was Tuesday night and the restaurant we wanted to try was closed. Although we hadn't seen any reviews of the restaurant at the Shawandha lodge several sources cited this hotel as having a good restaurant, so we thought we'd give it a try. Big mistake. On the plus side, the ambience is superb. This is a beautiful place. This raised our hopes. But these hopes were dashed when dinner arrived. I had the tenderloin with herbs of Provence. It wasn't tender, but then I don't think I'd have ordered it if they called it a tough loin. It was also an unappealing grayish brown color, was undercooked(I ordered it medium rare; it was really quite rare) and didn't have much flavor. Our grown son had the sea bass and said the flavors were out of balance. Much too strong for the delicacy of the fish. My wife had the shrimp with apples which was bland and uninteresting. Back on the positive side our waiter Caleb (who we had met before because he also works part time at the hotel we did stay at) was excellent, attentive and friendly--but he also grossly overworked acting as both waiter and bartender for several tables. If the restaurant had gotten any more crowded, he would not have been able to handle the load. Speaking of the bar, I should note that the Caipirhinos with which we started our dinner, while excellent, we're remarkably undersized--about half the size of the same drink served at other restaurants in the area. This an expensive place with the cost being comparable to our two favorite restaurants in the area (El Refugio and Malbec) . Guess you can't win them all.

My husband and I stayed at Hotel Shawandha for 4 nights on our honeymoon. I'll start with the positives. BEAUTFUL grounds. We saw so much wildlife just on the paths throughout the hotels grounds (the "con" with this is that we had a few bugs and lizards in our bungalow - but what do you expect when you are staying in the jungle). The breakfasts were also great - fresh fruit, delicious coffee, and eggs.

Now for the drawbacks.... The service left much to be desired. When checking in, the girl only said a few words to us, we felt like we were really inconveniencing her to be checking in. We had dinner there one night. The food was okay, but the service was very slow and the prices are outrageous. The bungalows never really felt clean. The bed linens were always damp because of the humidity, the bathroom area was always flooded due to poor drainage from the shower and no shower curtain, and there were cobwebs everywhere. There was a miscommunication on our last day - we thought we had the room for 1 more night than they had us scheduled for. So, after being out and about all day, we came back to find that the maids had packed up our room for us (weird feeling knowing someone has packed up your dirty undies!) and our luggage was waiting for us at the front desk. Now, this could have been our error, so I won't knock them for this miscommunication, but the did not handle it well. We had no where else to go - not a good feeling when you are in the middle of the jungle. I asked if they knew if any other hotels close by. They reluctantly gave us the name of another place down the street (see review for Namuwaki - much better resort!).

I'll end on another positive note - excellent area! We loved Puerto Viejo. Definitely stay in this part of Costa Rica, but choose another hotel.

This without doubt was the best breakfast fruit plate we have ever had. The property is set in a very spacious area with only about 15 lodges. Very quiet until you venture outside of the resort, then you have died and gone to hell. That is if you are over 35 or do not want to surf or party. The whole area is crowded with young people ( as an old fart myself ) it is all too fast and crowded. The Shawanda Lodge is very basic, clean, well run and very obliging, but bare bones. The rooms have no air conditioning, phone or fridge and a very basic selection of furniture, The beds are very firm and unforgiving not to everyones taste. The pool area is a joy, small but very good you can swim or relax and watch the wildlife, we spent about 1 hour watching a sloth coming down one tree and then selecting its next tree to climb, monkeys, lizards and a huge bug sitting on a rock taking the sun, it must have been 3 inches lrong we understand it is a Rhino bug.The owner is a charming and very interesting lady French born and having lived in many places including Spain. She will spare no amount of effort to make your request happen. If you are looking for a getaway without the lavish pomp of the 5 star hotels this could be for you