I had a great experience at Cabinas Marielos. I booked the rooms through an outside booking site ----- - DO NOT USE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and when I arrived at the hotel found that the booking agency had not made the reservation. The people at Cabinas Marielos were awesome. We arrived on New Years Eve with a group of 9 people and they squeezed us in to the 2 rooms they had available by setting up spare mattresses on the floors to make room. They felt so bad that this had happened to us and are also planning on taking action against the website who claimed to be them. The lodging itself is nothing fancy, but it's in a great location and is clean. What more could you want!

My friend and I stayed at Cabinas Marielos for 5 nights in April. We stumbled on it by accident after our first choice was booked solid. Boy are we glad we didi! The rooms were small but clean and very cozy. Plus for the price it was worth it!

Marielo and the staff made our stay so pleasurable, they were friendly and very helpful.

The beach is across the street (literally) with a surf shop a 10 second walk away. We also met other wonderful people staying here and would highly recommend it!

When I go back to Tamarindo this is where I will be staying!

I have stayed at Cabinas Marielos each summer for over 5 years and this place is still wonderful. Marielos is one of the original cabinas in Tamarindo and the owner, Marielo, is a wonderful person and knows much about Tamarindo. Most of the employees are relatives of Marielo so you really dont have to worry about theft, which is not the case at other budget accomodations in Tamarindo.
The best rooms are the newest, towards the back of the grounds, number 19 and 20 in particular are wonderful, new ac units, nice bathrooms with hot water- well moderatly hot.
Be sure to try Noggis Grill and Sunrise Cafe, it is truly the best restaurant in Tamarindo and I am a food connoisseur.
Enjoy and Pura Vida!

I stayed at Cabinas Marielos for 10 days in December 2002 and it was fabulous. Having a kitchenette available was great as we cooked our own meals. Having ac was a plus as I found sleeping in the heat difficult. The folks that work there are super helpful and we enjoyed our conversations where we could practice our spanish and they could practice their english. The close proximity to the beach was great as well as to the bakery for fresh croissants and coffee in the morning. We really enjoyed the chairs outside our room, we spent a lot of time in them relaxing and reading. We definitely would like to go back.