Just arrived to Los Altos in CR this afternoon, from Andaz Papagayo. Both resorts are beautiful. I will say, first impressions, Andaz has the nicer grounds and the view from our balcony was perfect. At Los Altos the suite is very bougie, and quite huge and over the top, but we have a view of a roof top garden and can't see the ocean. It's still gorgeous but I don't think we will be sitting on the balcony as much. Plus it seems hotter at Los Altos (Manuel Antonio) than Andaz (Guancaste) so far. However, there are many restaurants nearby so we are not limited to the resort food which is the only real choice at Andaz.
It was almost exactly a 5 hour drive between the 2 resorts. We left at 8 am and arrived LA at 1:05 and we had 1 really quick bathroom stop. Our driver was very nice and no issues. The original guide I arranged everything with (Herson) pawned us off to two other guides. I think he double booked himself. Initially I was a bit ticked but it worked out fine. Juan Carlos picked us up from Liberia airport for transport to Andaz. He and his wife are the ones that drove us to LA today. Both were pleasant rides, no issues. Yesterday we had 'Adventure Day' Our guide was Mr E and he was excellent. Turns out Mr E is a former ornithologist and he did a great job pointing out flora and fauna both on the drive and during the hikes or downtime between adventures. We did ziplining, tubing, hike to a waterfall and a stop at hot springs. On the way back, he even took us to a local restaurant so we could grab some food to take back to the resort for dinner. We left the resort at 7:30 am and returned at 6:30 pm. A long and exhausting day but everyone had a great time. Mr E has his own guide service but also works with Herson and Juan Carlos. He's the guy who knows everybody, from the zip line guys to the restaurant employees. At some point I mentioned how in the US we get points for cc charges and that is how we paid and after that he made sure to let me know which places I could use a cc at. Great guy.