The place is full of birds and wildlife. The night tour was pretty good. The guide really knew his stuff. It's a great place to birdwatch and to get acquainted with the natural side of Costa Rica. I'm a birdwatcher and saw many new species (not easy for me, even in Costa Rica), maybe six species of frogs, a bird snake, peccaries, and an agouti. They have a resident ocelot on the property, but it wasn't around during my stay. The guide told me that they also occasionally get jaguars there. The place is apparently thick with fer-de-lances, but I didn't see any.

The rooms are rustic. They had bunk beds only and the beds on the top were constantly damp due to the rain. Our shower drain had no screen on it, leaving me to wonder if I was going to find a fer-de-lance in my room one day. I didn't. The food in the dining facility was a little worse than not good.

Professional staff could not be more helpful. Fully manned reception desk, good sense of security on site with a 24 hour guarded gate. Good map of the site, facility and trails. Rooms and facilities all close together. It is important to realise for the visitor that La Selva is firstly an academic research facility and as such is set up to accommodate the needs of researchers. As natural history or eco-tourists we are lucky to be be given access to the facility, mixing with the researchers and freedom of access to the trails.

A minor criticism was poor or zero internet in the accommodation, but that may have been limited to just my room. Some of the trails were missing sign posts making it difficult to know where you are in the jungle.

The wild life and birding is exceptional. The staff were very friendly and helpful and the accommodations were rustic which was expected since it’s a biological station.

nothing to dislike

Forest setting is superb

Room standards are very poor. No fridge in room. Poor sound proofing. Very basic room. Canteen facilities are only adequate.

The forest!!! The staff is friendly Réception work and help is outstanding The tours are great

That i couldn't stay longer....

The food was good (buffet style). Our morning guided nature trip was very good value. For naturalists it is an excellent place - many many birds and animals. The restaurant was a good place to hang out and watch the world go by.

Our room was a bit basic and one km distant (along a forest path) from the restaurant, so a car would have been handy (a road leads around to it). But we only slept in our room as we were out and about all day, so it wasnt really an issue.

Wonderful breakfast with a lovely view of the gardens. Nature walk in the morning with Kenneth was excellent

Location was awesome. We went on a night tour and a day tour. Saw lots of different animals on the two tours. The man in charge of reception was very nice and friendly. We were woken up by howler monkeys but never saw one.

The meals could have been a little better but it was an enjoyable visit.

Breakfast was basic. Guides were fantastic and made this really worthwhile for birding. Tea and coffee around the clock.

Room could have benefited from better lighting snd a couple of chairs.

research station, very quiet, dark at night, with forest trails

nothing

The location is fantastic, a true paradise for birdwatchers. In that sense, it is totally worth the price! The trails are beautiful too

The prices are quite steep compared to other properties, especially for the services provided. Of course paying a little more for this fantastic location is no problem at all, but the rooms are pricey for what you get (kind of like empty student rooms, bunk beds, the wifi in our room also did not work), prices of the food are quite high for the quality you get. If you take guided tours (night walk, birdwatching), the guided are excellent, but again the prices are kind of high compared to similar places in the area. Since this is a research station I guess it is non profit, so maybe paying more would be less or an issue if I knew where the money goes, maybe it is used to buy more land to conserve forest, in which case I wouldn't mind as much!

This acommodation is mainly meant for students, researchers and true nature enthousiasts, don't expect luxury, but lush nature in return. The rooms all consist of 3 bunk-beds, but when you book as a tourist you have the room and all it's facilities to yourself. The main dining area reminds of a classic school cafeteria as is the case with most research facilities. The meals are good and cater to everyones needs, but can be a bit expensive considering you can dine in a restaurant in nearby Sarapiqiuí for less. The trails an nature however are amazing, they have an extensive trail network which leads through various habitats and interesting sites for a high diversity of wildlife.

The rooms are a bit noisy, which can make it awkward if early risers and late turners have rooms next to eachother. When we turned in around 11.pm our neighbours were quick to complain about our discussion of sightings from the nightwalk.

Amazing location for nature observation! Highly recommended for scientists and nature enthusiasts. No noisy tourists here which is a huge bonus. We stayed in five different locations in the norther half of Costa Rica and this was the BEST for nature. Great bird watching.

Be cautious when asking for a cab. The main concierge man is AMAZING but a different guy who stood in for him on his day off tried to get the maximum price for the cab driver which was WAY higher than the actual rate. I had to insist on a lower price. I wish I remembered his name so that I could report him to his manager.

Top tier location in a wild and preserved reserve Highly skilled tour guides Very clean and quite confortable

Bed mastress could be of better quality

I love staying at OTS biological stations as they usually include a free 3 hour morning nature walk with a super experienced guide that works at the station for 30 years, can find all the birds and tell you lots of interesting things about the flora and fauna - all scientific, research based and first-hand knowledge. The walk itself is worth the money, the room is a bonus :) The station itself is wonderful, the hanging bridge over the river is just so beautiful - i took probably a 100 pictures and never wanted to leave from there. There are many many walking trails, you could stay for a few days and always do different ones. Excellent birds, you can see some really rare ones and so many different species. It's nice to imagine that you are a biologist doing research in the forest and what that kind of life would be like for a few days. The room is very simple, but functional. Excellent hot shower! If there was a double bed instead of bunk beds, I would call it a comfortable stay without any stretch.

The food is expensive and rather meh, but it wasn't a big deal for us. They do vegetarian no problem, though, which is great!