El Silencio Lodge & Spa

Here's your cleaned-up version with improved flow, clarity, and readability: --- I stayed for two nights as part of a Backroads trip and found this hotel to be a wonderfully quiet and serene retreat. The property features beautiful grounds, and all accommodations are free-standing casitas. Each casita has a private outdoor hot tub and offers a reasonable level of privacy from neighboring rooms. The service was the best we experienced in Costa Rica—genuine and warm, with staff who genuinely seemed to enjoy their work. Since we were part of a group with a prix fixe menu, our dining experience may not reflect the standard offerings (and we didn’t see food prices), but everything we had was very good, especially by Costa Rican standards. However, as others have mentioned, the wine prices were quite high. The property offers plenty of activities, with highlights for us being the waterfall hikes and ziplining—both made even better by the fantastic guides. My one suggestion would be to add screens to at least a few windows in each casita. While there is no air conditioning, this wouldn’t have been an issue if we could have left the windows open at night. However, the number of mosquitoes made that unwise.

Bajos del Toro is a less visited gem in a cloud forest just 2 hours north of San Jose. The area has multiple spectacular waterfalls rivers and hiking trails. The El Silencio Lodge is the perfect place to stay to experience this wonderful part of Costa Rica. On the property are hiking trails leading to four beautiful waterfalls. There are multiple guided activities offered by the hotel. The private "cabins" are incredibly luxurious, with great beds, wonderful furnishings and a perfect private outdoor jacuzzi. The food is terrific. And last, but not least, the staff is amazing. Special shout outs to: Luis, for his perfect restaurant service, always so friendly and efficient; Estevie who is a wonderfully knowledgeable and super-friendly nature and cultural guide and also to Bryam who drove us to and from places on the property when needed. He was aways prompt and helpful. In short, El Silencio is just an outstanding, first class resort.

Everything about this lodge is first rate: the setting, the service, the supremely delicious food, the available tours from the lodge, which often are private. We arrived late in the afternoon after lunch service had ended, but they prepared a delicious meal of ceviche and accompaniments. during our entire stay, the service was just as caring. When it rained, and when it didn't, a driver picked us up to take us from our bungalow to the dining room. Our room was huge. It had a living room with fireplace, a kitchen, a jacuzzi on the private deck, and more amenities. We felt well pampered in this lodge, which is well worth the drive over unpaved roads to reach it.

AMAZING property and experience! Incredibly beautiful! 5 STAR service on every level!! Great trails (and waterfalls), fun activities on site (we did ziplining & canyoning combo, oxcart painting, mystic hike, spa), and close to the beautiful Blue Falls (Las Gemeles and other falls). I highly recommend this for anyone visiting CR!!

A must stay resort! My family (myself, husband, and 21 year old son) stayed at El Silencio for 4 nights. We booked a two bedroom suite, suite 19. Both rooms were very clean, beds were comfortable and the views were beautiful. We traveled in December. The weather is unpredictable even in December. We had rainy days and beautiful sunny days. If you are renting a car, the climb to the resort is extremely steep and some of the roads are very narrow. We are from Florida so we don't have tons of experience mountain driving but we took our time and we made it. Most of the drivers are kind and patient. It was worth the drive; the beauty of being in the clouds and the resort were breathtaking. Once we arrived to the resort, we were greeted by Jimmy and he couldn't have been nicer. Everyone was so friendly and helpful from the time we arrived until the time we left. All of the staff at the restaurants and activity center were always friendly and went above and beyond to greet us or help with any questions we had. The staff are there for several days at a time so you will see them throughout most of your stay. Mike was our waiter most of the nights and he was wonderful with food and wine suggestions and a joy to talk to, especially about fishing. We did a coffee tasting with Estephanie and she was extremely knowledgeable about the history of coffee and brewing techniques and so friendly. Brian handled all of our activities and was very flexible and accommodating when we had to make changes due to the rainy weather. We packed a lot of activities into the 4 days. The horseback riding and zip lining are definitely worth doing! The staff including; Jose, Juan Carlo, and the other young man that helped on the zip lines were all so nice and seemed to truly care that we had a good time. There is as little or as much to do as you want. The resort is very serene and calm, perfect for relaxing but also has some nice trails for exploring. You can walk into the little town about 15 minutes from the resort. There is a great restaurant and a couple of local shops. We do not speak Spanish but it was not a problem. Everyone we encountered was more than patient and willing to figure out what we were asking. Google Translator also helped. Basically, don't hesitate to stay at El Silencio! Yes, it is a little pricy but worth the money because of the experience, staff and the beauty of the resort.