Highlights
- Top beachside surfing destination
- Laid back atmosphere
- Surf school, yoga
- Mountain biking centre
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The Gilded Iguana is a chic, contemporary hotel located just a stone’s throw from Costa Rica’s Playa Guiones, a stunning seven-kilometre stretch of beach in the north west of the country. Due to the consistent surf break here, the hotel is known first and foremost as a top surfers’ retreat, but it will also appeal to anyone into mountain biking or yoga retreats. Originally opened back in 1988, the hotel has generated significant growth in Nosara but, despite its increasing popularity, the town still maintains a certain undeveloped charm and the Gilded Iguana provides the perfect spot to ‘escape the rat race’ and unwind.
All of the hotel’s rooms are modern, spacious and air conditioned with high ceilings that let in plenty of natural light. Each room has its own outdoor living space complete with seating area and shower, along with an indoor bathroom, tea and coffee making facilities, a hairdryer and a minibar. All guests are provided with a key to their own surf board locker. There are four categories of room ranging from the more economic Surf Rooms, to the impressive Surfer Suite, which is the hotel’s largest and most expensive option – all come with complimentary Wi-Fi. The hotel’s restaurant and bar are popular with visitors and locals alike; the food is a delicious fusion of Mediterranean and Costa Rican cuisine, and there are live music evenings. There’s also a lovely spa offering a good range of treatments.
Without a doubt one of the key features of the hotel is its surf school which is open to everyone regardless of experience or skill level. Lessons are available for advanced surfers as well as complete beginners, and the retail surf shop sells surfboards and other essentials. Handily enough, the beach is just a short 200 metre walk from the hotel. While it’s true that surfing naturally dominates the property, there are plenty of other activities on offer. For example, the hotel has its own mountain bike centre with bike rentals and a number of two-hour guided excursions to choose from, along with birdwatching, snorkelling, paddle boarding and boat excursions.
The hotel is child-friendly and there are plenty of flexible accommodation options – some of the suites have bunkbeds and some house more than one double bed. Youngsters will love the large swimming pool and the beach and there’s plenty for all age groups to do in the area.
Yes everything went incredibly smoothly , excellent guide and set up u have . I might need a new pair of calves though !!! Thanks for sorting ALL the changes out. Regards Charlie
charles b
reviewing 6 Day Toubkal Circuit
on 03 May 2023
Hi Lisa, We had a fabulous time thank you. The accommodation and other ideation were all terrific - that’s so much for your help. The apartment in Cape Town was particularly good - we would never have found that: Boschendal was great as well and game lodge was superb. Thanks again, Alistair
Alistair A
reviewing Cape Town, Garden Route and Kruger
on 28 April 2023
Dear Lisa
Well, we are back and still buzzing. We have had a marvellous time. The weather helped. We left Manchester in the snow and arrived in Marrakesh at 30 degrees. We were well looked after in the Riad. I'm glad we booked a meal for the first evening - ate it on the roof terrace. We can recommend that. It was delicious. We ate at the Foundouk, as per your recommendation and on the following night we ate at Le Jardin - got lost on the way to it!. We can really recommend Le Jardin.
The following day we went to Majorelle gardens. Fortunately we had looked it up before we travelled because you have to book in advance online only from Jan 2023. We found our own way to the Medera Ben Yousef and Latifa took us to Bahia Palace - both were stunning.
The following morning our lovely taxi driver Mohammond collected us to go to the EcoLodge. Yet another Mohammond made us very welcome. Again we ate well! You were right, the pool was freezing, but I can't sit next to water and not get in. Once you're in you forget how cold it is! I wasn't the only person to try the pool.
Rashid, our guide for our walk collected us. He was brilliant. It was hard work, but worth it. I was determined I would make it. Kevin is fitter than me! The Berber family were lovely. We stopped when we were nearly there to see how rag rugs were made. When we got back Rashid and Mohammond confessed that Mohammond had said to Rashid that he should get us to a road if we got too tired and they would send a taxi (or a mule!) to collect us - or me, but Rashid was sure that I'd be OK. He was right. I think they wondered about these 2 70+ year olds. We can't praise Rashid enough. He had walked over from Imlil in the morning and was going to walk back after he left us.
Thank you so much for putting our holiday together. We never thought it would be 3 years before we went. We are so glad we persevered. We did wonder what we had let ourselves in for as 2 oldies!
Fiona and Kevin
Fiona B
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
on 21 April 2023
Yes everything went incredibly smoothly , excellent guide and set up u have . I might need a new pair of calves though !!! Thanks for sorting ALL the changes out. Regards Charlie
charles b
reviewing 6 Day Toubkal Circuit
on 03 May 2023
Hi Lisa, We had a fabulous time thank you. The accommodation and other ideation were all terrific - that’s so much for your help. The apartment in Cape Town was particularly good - we would never have found that: Boschendal was great as well and game lodge was superb. Thanks again, Alistair
Alistair A
reviewing Cape Town, Garden Route and Kruger
on 28 April 2023
Dear Lisa
Well, we are back and still buzzing. We have had a marvellous time. The weather helped. We left Manchester in the snow and arrived in Marrakesh at 30 degrees. We were well looked after in the Riad. I'm glad we booked a meal for the first evening - ate it on the roof terrace. We can recommend that. It was delicious. We ate at the Foundouk, as per your recommendation and on the following night we ate at Le Jardin - got lost on the way to it!. We can really recommend Le Jardin.
The following day we went to Majorelle gardens. Fortunately we had looked it up before we travelled because you have to book in advance online only from Jan 2023. We found our own way to the Medera Ben Yousef and Latifa took us to Bahia Palace - both were stunning.
The following morning our lovely taxi driver Mohammond collected us to go to the EcoLodge. Yet another Mohammond made us very welcome. Again we ate well! You were right, the pool was freezing, but I can't sit next to water and not get in. Once you're in you forget how cold it is! I wasn't the only person to try the pool.
Rashid, our guide for our walk collected us. He was brilliant. It was hard work, but worth it. I was determined I would make it. Kevin is fitter than me! The Berber family were lovely. We stopped when we were nearly there to see how rag rugs were made. When we got back Rashid and Mohammond confessed that Mohammond had said to Rashid that he should get us to a road if we got too tired and they would send a taxi (or a mule!) to collect us - or me, but Rashid was sure that I'd be OK. He was right. I think they wondered about these 2 70+ year olds. We can't praise Rashid enough. He had walked over from Imlil in the morning and was going to walk back after he left us.
Thank you so much for putting our holiday together. We never thought it would be 3 years before we went. We are so glad we persevered. We did wonder what we had let ourselves in for as 2 oldies!
Fiona and Kevin
Fiona B
reviewing Boutique Marrakech & Atlas Mountains
on 21 April 2023
Dear Lisa,
We have just returned from South Africa and wanted to pass on our huge thanks for helping to organise such a fantastic holiday. The entire trip was amazing - accommodation was first class. The safari was incredible!
We'll be sure to get in touch when we're next planning an adventure!
Best wishes, Ed & Jane
Roy P
reviewing Cape Town & Kruger Safari
on 17 April 2023
Thank you, Lisa! Our trip was wonderful even with the weather disruption. We loved seeing so many different parts of the country, meeting people and experiencing the culture. The desert was surely a highlight for our boys and the creativity and artisanship of everything from food to crafts were a highlight for me. A special shout out to our guide and driver, they became a special part of our trip and we will forever be grateful for meeting them and learning from them. I cannot believe we had to wait three years for this adventure but it was certainly worth the wait! Thanks for all your help building the itinerary, modifying it and troubleshooting during our stay. Leslie B
Leslie B
reviewing Luxury Desert Holiday
on 01 March 2023
Hi Lisa and everyone at Tourdust,
We've had a wonderful time on our holiday and wanted to pass our appreciation to you. Everything has been expertly planned and executed, allowing us to enjoy the holiday to its fullest. Special appreciation to Muhammed, Ibrahim, and Omar, our Atlas guide, cook, and muleteer, who couldn't have done more for us and were just generally wonderful and hardworking. Riad Hanane is a perfect base in Marrakech to complement the trekking as it's ina less touristy area of the medina, which we appreciated. The staff and accomodation was superb.Thank you again for a trip to remember!
Bob, May, Grace, and Lucas
Robert B
reviewing Marrakech & Mountains Family Trek
on 20 February 2023
Hello Lisa. We came back from our trip two weeks ago now so I am sending this email much later than I wanted to. Nevertheless, what I wanted to say was thank you very much for helping us organise an amazing trip. Our days in Mafia Island to celebrate my 50th birthday were exactly what I wanted them to be: a fantastic time with the family doing activities that we all love and enjoy in a relaxing, unusual, beautiful place full of sun, surrounded by water, wildlife and friendly people. We swam with whale sharks, did a lot of snorkeling, had two picnics on a beautiful sand bank, watched the sunset over the sea, did a bird watching excursion and tried scuba diving.
All merit to you because Pole Pole in Mafia Island was your recommendation. I never heard of Mafia Island before and didn't consider Tanzania to start with. It was an amazing place to stay: friendly, relaxed, beautiful, comfortable, with great food and fantastic service. Thanks not only for finding the place but also for your patience as we prepared the trip and I explored options and decided what I wanted. All went incredibly well (places, transfers, flights) and we had a very memorable time together that we will all remember forever - as we still do the safari trip to South Africa you organised for us 5 years ago.
I cannot wait to plan another trip! I am already thinking about where and when. Hopefully no pandemic will get in the way this time. And I will come to you as my favourite travel agent.
I copy in this message the Tourdust office because I want them to know how good you are and how much I appreciated the different trips you organised for us (including the trip to India for my parents that was cancelled due to Covid). I cannot thank you enough :o)
Kind regards, Carol
Carolina O
reviewing Relaxed Bush & Beach Family Holiday in Tanzania
on 25 November 2022
Hi Lisa
It was a fantastic experience, thanks very much. All the arrangements were seamless and our guiding/support team were excellent, if there is a way for you to formally commend the team to your ground operators then I would be grateful if you could do that, they really were brilliant.
Many thanks for your help in arranging the trip, and for your patience during the multiple re-arrangements over the past couple of years.
Kind regards, John
John B
reviewing Mount Kenya Sirimon Naro Moru Trek
on 14 November 2022
Can't praise tour dust enough, they helped us to create a holiday of a lifetime that has given us family memories we will treasure forever. From start to finish the whole experience was exactly what we wanted and more. Due to covid we waited 2 and a half years for this trip but worth the wait.
Carly
Carly R
reviewing Value KwaZulu-Natal Safari and Mauritius
on 07 November 2022
Hi Ben
Just to enlarge on my earlier, our M'goun trip couldn't have gone better. A great itinerary, altho perhaps an extra gentle day around the plateau before the summit might have eased things but that couldn't be helped given the road change. Our team were all fantastic, couldn't have been more solicitous for our comfort. Hakim our guide a real star. Food delicious. Kit was great - tents held up in a biblical storm, mattresses most comfortable ever (good thing as ground often v stony), loo worked well. You have a good local agent. Riads excellent, esp Adore. Great value.
Many thanks. William
William M
reviewing Mgoun Summit Trek
on 26 October 2022
Hi
Well overall it was an amazing trip and we really appreciated the guidance on places to go. On the ground, Victor was very helpful and we liked the mix of places.
The two stand out places and accommodations were Arenal Observatory Lodge and El Remanso - the latter being perfect in so many ways. The day trip to Cocovardo National Park was outstanding.
We enjoyed Tortuguero too - basic accommodation but excellent location and the guide there was outstanding.
Monte Verde was ok - average food, average place to stay.
With hindsight we’d skip Uvita altogether and go to Drakes Bay where snorkelling seems more accessible.Overall an excellent holiday, which went very smoothly and a good mix of things to do.
Thank you.
Francesca
Francesca L
reviewing Costa Rica Wildlife Holiday
on 30 August 2022
