El Santuario Resort & Spa

Wow! What a View! An awesome girls weekend getaway! The staff were very attentive! The Bedding in this hotel were an absolute dream! Food was excellent & the Sunday Brunch was spectacular! Can’t wait to return with my husband for a romantic getaway!

We came here to relax after a really long, busy, and cold winter and to celebrate my 40th birthday. The website says it’s a “sanctuary that allows guests to disconnect from the outside world.” It really surprised us that on the day we arrived there was a wedding there that was blaring club music throughout the open air resort from 4:00pm-1:00am. We got about 5 hours of sleep and didn’t do much relaxing.The second night there were ringtail raccoon creatures coming into our room at night waking us up (they were cute but made sleeping difficult, and it’s an easy enough fix to add Velcro stickers so guests can secure the screens at night). The following morning someone was loudly sweeping above us at 8:00am which woke us up. Our room, while beautiful, was leaking water from the pool above. They did offer to switch our room immediately and told us they’d be back to get us in ten minutes but then left us in the room with the leak for nearly an hour without communication until we called down to figure out what was happening. Overall, the resort just seemed poorly managed. There was only one server getting everyone at the pool their drinks on Saturday and it took like 30 minutes to get a drink when you finally got the man’s attention (not his fault it was too busy for one server), there was confetti in the pools all day Sunday from the wedding that nobody strained, they didn’t have our reservation on file when we arrived even though we had a confirmation code, three drunk wedding guests were being escorted through the restaurant during dinner on Saturday night and one puked right next to our table and no one said anything. There were a dozen other things that were off, but it’s too many to name. We told them we felt duped, and they gave us a free breakfast which was nice but didn’t make up for not being able to sleep for two nights. On top of that, they still gave us the bill at the end of that breakfast and there was confusion about it and it just felt awkward. Most of this would be less disappointing at a different price point and without the expectation of this being a relaxing getaway. Shoutout to Maru who was great and helped us navigate the confusion of the weekend in the capacity she could. I don’t want to write a bad review but it’s hard to spend $450/night and have such a weird experience. We did enjoy our stay, the incredible view, and grounds, but it took effort on our part to ignore the obvious missteps. If you go in expecting less, you'll have a better time. If you’re splurging for a romantic, relaxing weekend, you might feel misled like we did. It’s a shame because this place has so much potential. Pros: Beautiful room and grounds Cons: Poorly managed and dishonest advertising

Gorgeous setting, but the food and false advertising ruined it I traveled from Florida with my best friend, excited to experience this sanctuary. The setting is stunning, the spa team is excellent, and the property is spotless. But unfortunately, I wouldn’t return, and I don’t recommend it. I was especially looking forward to Chef Sócrates’ cuisine, heavily promoted by the hotel. He wasn’t there, and no one told us. Every single meal we had, breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner, it was awful. At these sky-high prices, it was honestly insulting. Canned mushrooms instead of “wild setas,” a rock-hard choriqueso, and a dessert (“la macetita”) that literally tasted like dirt. We were so disgusted, we left the hotel and drove an hour round-trip just to eat somewhere else. On top of that, many things advertised weren’t even available: several spa treatments were “not offered,” and the “heated” pools were cold. It felt like false advertising across the board. This place has enormous potential, but the experience did not live up to the promise—and definitely not to the price.