Tambor Tropical Resort, Tambor Bay, Puntarenas

This is another favorite place I was scheduled to return to when cancer surgery was scheduled and thus I canceled and haven’t been back since. I highly recommend it. It is owned & operated by an American couple from Oregon with Oregon-style wooden cabins that are beautiful both inside & outside, everything wood! A beautiful private beach (private because there are plenty of other public beaches on Tambor Bay. Plus they have a turtle rescue station on their beach and I got to release baby turtles on Christmas morning! 🙂 See their website: Tambor Tropical

Note that though on the bottom of the Nicoya Peninsula it is actually in the Puntarenas Province.

Would I Go There Again?

Yes! I tried for one repeat visit but cancer treatment interfered! 🙂

Likes

One of the more relaxing places I have visited but still with plenty of birds and other nature!
Scarlet Macaw nesting boxes meant plenty of macaws!
Tambor Bay Turtle Sanctuary operated by volunteers near the hotel.
Curu Wildlife Sanctuary nearby and the private “Raptor Ridge” Sanctuary on my guide’s property on a hill overlooking Tambor Bay.
Plus a River Trail on the river at one border of the hotel property. All three place plus the beach gave me 35 species of birds photographed!
Beautiful beach even though I don’t spend much time there.
One of the biggest, nicest rooms I’ve had anywhere plus excellent food at every meal and even a Christmas Dinner that included pecan pie, my favorite! 🙂

Dislikes

None that I can think of now.

BIRDS Slideshow from Tambor Bay . . .

King Vulture
Turquoise-browed Motmot
Common Black Hawk fishing
Great-tailed Grackle
White-winged Dove
Green-breasted Mango Hummingbird
Olive Sparrow
Boat-billed Herons
Black-headed Trogon
Cattle Egret
Double-striped Thick-Knee
Yellow-headed Caracara
Scarlet Macaw

Nature & Other Activities

See my LIKES above for why I got 35 species of bird photographed.
And I got to release some baby Olive Ridley Turtles into the Pacific Ocean!
The Scarlet Macaw nesting boxes provide plenty of macaws for all of the visitors there!
The other tropical forest & ocean activities are too many for me to list here but you can see them on their Tambor Tropical Tours & Activities list with everything from deep-sea fishing & kayaking to zip-lining and horseback riding plus many tours. No way to be bored! 🙂

Other NATURE Slideshow . . .

Great Southern White
Olive Ridley Turtle Baby
Bamboo Orchid
White-nosed Coati
American Crocodile
Striped Iguana
White-tailed Deer
Ecuadorian Hermit Crab
Crab-eating Racoon

Room & Food

Both the room and the food was first class or as good as I’ve had anywhere else in Costa Rica!

Christmas Dinner with new Tambor friends.

Getting There

If you want to drive there from Atenas, it is about 130 km or a 4 hour drive plus the time you may have to wait on the ferry from Puntarenas to the peninsula.
I Fly Sansa . Then it was to the airport near Tambor bay in about 30 minutes or less. Now they fly to Cóbano which is a little north of Tambor. Hotel can arrange your transfer from there.
Public Buses go to the town of Tambor and may let you off at the hotel which you will pass before the town of Tambor. The ones called non-stop will not stop, but “locals” will. Check with your chosen bus line and find the schedules on https://thebusschedule.com/cr/ If you have to go into the town of Tambor it is a very short taxi ride to the hotel.