Aninga Lodge

How exciting is a two hour boat journey to get to your lodge hotel? Very, and so beautiful and peaceful. The lodge itself (and its sister lodges) are very low impact and can barely be seen from the water. This is the newest of three, apparently, and you skirt round one of the others when on the walking trail. So, luxurious it is not. The cabins are clean and spacious, but note there is no aircon, fridge, much in the way of toiletries or hairdryer (can be obtained from reception, but they only have 3!) Coffee and water is a collect-it-yourself effort from outside the dining room. You have to cart your own luggage to your cabin and there are 3 quite steep steps up to it. These are observations, not criticisms, but I do wish there had been an info leaflet in the room with meal times, how to operate the safe (with a key, not the buttons). The ceiling fan was effective, although as there were only two speeds - off and full on - it got quite cool in the middle of the night. The little verandah with rocking chairs outside each cabin was lovely. Meals were taken in set groups in a room rather like a school dining hall and food was served accordingly. Absolutely no pretence at presentation, but it did feel home cooked and was surprisingly tasty (although unless you got there at the beginning of the service it was always tepid, which I found to generally be the case in Costa Rica) and which bothered me slightly from a food hygiene aspect. But I suffered no harm! The pool area was beautiful, with an attractive large bar and other seating areas. As it was the end of the dry season, we were blessed with clear, hot sunshine in which to enjoy it. The activities laid on by the hotel were outstanding, and Jorge our guide, in addition to being an excellent organiser of luggage, people, embarcation into the boats etc was an absolute encyclopaedia of wildlife knowledge. This is the strength of this location - the surroundings and the wildlife. To be woken at 0500 with an almighty crash on your roof (spider monkey missing its branch!) and to have a family of them playing in the trees next to you is a privilege indeed. The early morning river trip and the nature walk were wonderful. The excursion to Tortuguero village was better than I anticipated (although it was very, very hot). I took plenty of bug spray and was not bitten once. A torch and some rudimentary Spanish also proved useful.

We stayed at Aninga boutique hotel as part of our tour. Some helpful notes:the rooms have screens only (you can close the curtains) but be prepared to hear the howler monkeys (and the guy coughing next door) lol. There is no shampoo, conditioner or body wash so please bring that with you. The rooms do not have AC but a ceiling fan above. Our stay here was wonderful-the grounds are well maintained and we enjoyed taking walks around. They have a nice pool as well which is next to the bar area. We swam as the monkeys were in the trees above us! The meals here were tasty. They have a buffet where they serve you. We enjoyed our stay! Thank you!

It was excellent! It was literally inside the rainforest! And now I know why it is called a ‘rain’ forest because it did rain a lot! ☔️ Manu different choices of breakfast and the rainforest trail was amazing because we got to see many animals like iguanas and sloths and lizards (sometimes) and there was also often lay MANY monkeys there too. I rate it very well because of the tours they sometimes take you on too. We got to see torteguero village, and the Caribbean ocean, and I thought the trips around the area were amazing!

Long trip to Tortuguero by coach and boat from San Jose. We wanted to visit the Rain Forest and were not disappointed! Spent two nights at Aninga lodge. We stayed in a wooden lodge which was very comfortable. No glass windows or air conditioning (thin mesh and ceiling fans only). Full board buffet style during our stay. Whilst there we had day time guided walking tours as well as very early morning boat trips in the rain forest. Remember to prefer for rain, obvious I know but clothing and footwear prep is necessary. Overall, a comfortable two night stay in Aninga with nice rooms and adequate meal arrangements.

A beautiful lodge, wildlife all around. Food was good if a little basic but given the location on the banks of a river in the middle of the rainforest, that isn’t surprising. All the staff were incredibly friendly and helpful, the guides were excellent and very knowledgeable, not to mention having superman eyesight to spot wildlife on the tours. The bar area lovely and the beer was actually the cheapest we had on or travels in this country. Would definitely book again.

The lodges here are so lovely (best ones along the river) - you have your own individual ones so no one next door which the other hotels along the river have. Flowers and wildlife wonderful. Room 132 which we stayed in is situated next to the where you eat so from 4:30am to 9pm all you can here is clanking of china from staff setting up and clearing away, with people speaking and laughing and chairs scraping across the floor - it totally ruined what would have been a beautiful stay. We could have changed rooms only on the 2nd night (our last) so didn’t bother. I was very jealous of those staying further away as all they would hear is the wildlife in the evening and relaxation during the day when we wanted to retreat from the heat for a few hours. The pool is beautiful. There’s not many seats around the bar and if you sit away from the bar (not on pool sunbeds) you get served in an awful plastic glass (have seen better days and look yellow). They only served Chardonnay wine so we went to the next hotel for the Sav Blanc but unless you had the exact money they wouldn’t serve you. A few more wine options would have been nice given there’s literally no where else you can go. The trips were wonderful and our guide knowledgable and friendly. Dinner (always tasty) we had to sit at certain tables which is fine except it would have been nice if we could have picked who we sat with instead of being made to sit with that same two couples each night (it wouldn’t have changed how many tables the group used so not sure why so strict on seating arrangements)

We had one of the lodges in the forest. It was very clean, comfortable and had a great shower. You are right in the heart of nature here and as part of our stay we were given a guided tour around the grounds. We were incredibly lucky to see 8 sloths which included a mother and baby. We did two boat trips with Orbi and John the boat driver. They made the trip as they were able to spot wildlife in the reserve we would never have seen. The meals were buffet style and enough choice to satisfy our appetite including veggie. There is no tea/coffee making facilities in the room but these are available to all next to the restaurant. There are no TVs in the room but we didn't go on this holiday to watch TV. You will see monkeys climbing in the trees and on the roofs of the lodges. There is also plenty of birdlife. The lodges do not have solid windows as such, but come with mesh screens to keep the bugs out. So whilst it is possible to hear your neighbours it wasn't an issue for us as most people were quite tired after a days activities. There is a pool but we didn't use it. We would definitely use this hotel again. The weather here can be variable even in the dry season. Be sure to pack wet weather clothing.Transport to and from the hotel was very well organised and coordinated with other travel companies. It was seamless and the coaches/minibuses were very comfortable with knowledgeable drivers/guides. You can only get to the lodges by boat but this gives you a chance to spot wildlife from the get go.