Reviews of Pura Vida Hostel

The owner of the place he is amazing!

Beds should be ready when guests arrive, or even before!

I was happy with my stay. The rooms had a/c, large kitchen, it is not a party hostel, there’s rocking chairs in the patio area, it’s a 10 minute walk to the beach, I would stay here again.

I had a great stay here and met some wonderful people...including the owner: I remain thankful for his coffee that was always there for the share : ) ...The hostel is a short step from shops, an easy stroll to the beach, a place with a peaceful vibe, there's a large kitchen and plenty of chill space, I will definitely return.

Happy with all

The staff was friendly.

The water pressure, even in the shower was just a trickle.

great place, quiet and convenient location, owners Max and Stephanie are wonderful people

It was in a good location, very close to town. Was one of the cheapest hostels in Tamarindo. Rooms were decorated nicely.

The bathroom in the room obviously hadn’t been cleaned in a long time- there was piles of sand on the shower floor and dirt all around the sink. The water also dribbled very slowly out of the shower head which you had to hold up. The air con in the room was leaking water so the whole bedroom floor was a puddle. Had two guest sleeping in the same bunk bed right above me. There was nobody at reception most of the time.

Location

There was no water in the shower. We were told that the whole city experience the problem with the water preasure, but other rooms had enough water preasure to take show unlike ours. So we came to the conclusion that it's the room's problem. During all the stay we had to use other rooms to take a shower while we paid for the private room with the shower inside. It's very dirty. Most of the time there were dirty dished left in the kitchen. The stuff is zero helpful and not nice at all.

We loved our stay at the hostel - great location and met lots of cool people while we were there! The staff was accommodating our entire stay and we would definitely stay again!

Not much at all. This place is serious cause for concern. It shouldn’t be allowed on booking.com. The WiFi was good. That was about it.

Hands down the worst hostel I have ever stayed in. I’m a seasoned traveller aged 30. The first thing I noticed when I walked in to the room was the smell of mould. The mattresses had mould on them. The room was generally disgusting and so was the common areas. On top of that, there was no soap provided. No hand soap or shower gel. I was travelling extremely light so had no soap on me. I couldn’t even wash my hands! No lessons learnt from the pandemic? I don’t care how cheap your hostel is you need to provide soap. I had to borrow shower gel from another traveller just to shower! To top it off, I had to make my own bed up! I was provided a sheet to make my bed. I have never that before. Even in cheap hostels! The geezer who ran the place moved around with no urgency whatsoever. I had been waiting at reception 10 minutes when he shuffled himself over and asked how he could help me. Honestly, I expect to be greeted with a little more enthusiasm and possibly and possibly an apology as I had been waiting there patiently. I was extremely tired and not feeling well when I checked in. If it wasn’t for that, I would have asked for a full refund and gone elsewhere. It was that bad. This place needs a serious clean (inside and out!) , revamp and needs to provide basics like soap!

Location.

I made this reservation for my son. When he arrived he said it was cxled cuz the ac y door were broken in the rm. So they cxled it on us. Then made my son pay out of pocket for 2 beds in a dorm rm. I shld have 100% refund.

No response from the owner. No good communication.

Friendly staff, comfortable

Nothing

Very nice host, good location, friendly people, and access to the kitchen, Perfect place for serfing lovers

Location good.

slow check in and late to allow us in as the room wasn’t ready at 7pm. Beds were very hard/ unusable. All felt a bit unclean.

I paid for a 4 bed room and we were sent to a very dirty 8 bed room where the bathroom didnt work and it was disgusting. We stayed just 4 hours to catch some sleep and left immediately.

Great location, very nice and attentive owner (Matt, always ready to help and give tips about Tamarindo), spacious outside space for work chilling.

So, this place has pretty polarized reviews. After staying there for 2 weeks, I can see why. Tamarindo is the most expensive town in Costa Rica and this is the cheapest accomodation there. Even while it is the most basic place, the price for a single room is about 55 EUR... Some people have too high expectations for this price. I enjoyed staying here, but I came without expectations (room, ac, shower - I'm happy). One more thing I want to mention is that this place has a lot of untapped potential: the common area can be better maintained and expanded, maybe even a pool can be added. That'd make people much happier about staying here.

Old school hostel vibe, owner is a super cool guy! :D

Shower hose was loose