Type-A personalities will not be happy at Hotel Villas Playa Samara. The cheery, beachfront resort takes laid-back to another level, and that's a tough task in a country already heralded for its easygoing nature. Unlike the bustling Tamarindo and the surfer-focused Nosara located to the north, Samara is a beach town content with its reputation for being off the radar, free of five-star resorts, and unpretentious.

The mellow Hotel Villas Playa Samara falls perfectly into Samara's rhythm. The hotel is located at the southernmost part of Samara Beach, away from other hotels and the small town. The crescent-shaped stretch of soft sand with calm waves and a shallow entry is not dramatic, but makes for a pretty, uncrowded backdrop.

The hotel's airy modern lobby is finished in ivory marble tiles and decorated with just the right amount of colorful artwork, fresh flowers, and pottery. A sectional sofa tucked in a corner allows guests a place to rest while awaiting check in, while a concierge sits behind a desk fashioned out of a surfboard and can assist guests with local activities as well as day-long trips to Arenal or Monte Verde National Parks.

Behind a privacy screen of bamboo and Guanacaste trees  is the hotel's restaurant, a modern space with lime-green and orange accents and three tiers of seating -- under a covered roof, along a teak deck, or on the open terrace beneath stings of white paper lanterns. Steps away is the resort's pool. At one end, a gentle slope is ideal for small children while adults prefer to congregate along the submerged stools at the swim-up bar or rally with other family members at the volleyball net. While the pool technically closes around 6:00 p.m., guests tend to ignore the rule in favor of grasping last moments of daylight and family time.

Disregard for time seems to be customary at Hotel Villas Playa Samara. The pace of service is politely unhurried, and sometimes painfully slow. Waiters take their time placing orders and forget to deliver drinks and checks. Those who maintain the rooms seem similarly unconcerned with detail. During our visit, villas were missing furniture from patios, gaping spaces marked missing televisions, and the walls above some of the beds were stark white, begging for a painting of a colorful toucan.

The paving of Route 150, which connects Samara to Nicoya, has made travel easier, but it is still a long-haul for most tourists, requiring a two-hour drive to the airport in Liberia or four-plus hours to get to the airport in San Jose. Guests also have the option to take a short flight from San Jose to the Nosara Airport, about a 50-minute drive from Samara.

• 10-minute drive to Samara
• 10-minute drive to Carrillo
• 50-minute drive to Nosara Airport
• Two-hour drive to the Daniel Oduber Quirós International Airport, Liberia
• Two-hour drive to Tamarindo
• Four-hour drive to Arenal Volcano National Park
• Four-hour, 30-minute drive to the Juan Santamaria International Airport, San Jose

The hotel has a variety of traditional hotel rooms as well as One-, Two-, and Three-Bedroom Villas with views of the ocean or the surrounding gardens set in white buildings with red, barrel-tiled roofs. All the hotel rooms are Garden-View Deluxe Rooms, located in the two-story buildings and offering private terraces with two lime-green Adirondack chairs and small glass tables; those on the ground floor also come equipped with rope hammocks.

The Deluxe Rooms are neat and not overly furnished, with beige ceramic tile floors, simple platform beds (one king or two doubles) with small floating bedside tables, desks or small sofas, wall-mounted flat-screen TVs, and wet bars with coffeemakers and mini-fridges, some with microwaves. The bathrooms feature single vanities with white, raised vessel sinks, wall-mounted soap dispensers, and large stall showers with glass walls.

The one-story villas are spread throughout the property, some offering direct views of the ocean, and range from the 600-square-foot Garden View Junior Suite Villa to the 1,500-square-foot Beachfront Three-Bedroom Luxury Villa. The villas are furnished in similar style to the hotel rooms. Beds are covered with basic white linens and duvets topped with decorative tangerine-color throws and flanked by bedside tables with substantial terra-cotta lamps. The vaulted ceilings in the villas showcase exposed wood beams, the walls are decorated with colorful Costa Rican themed art, and thick beautifully carved wooden doors grace the entry. The closets in both the villas and hotel rooms come equipped with safes large enough to hold laptop computers.

The living areas of the villas are open rooms with small, somewhat outdated kitchens with dark wood cabinets and unsightly beige tiles that look like broken pieces of rock. Dining nooks with round glass tables surrounded by rattan chairs are cozy spots for family dinners. The L-shaped built-in sofas are finished in floral fabrics (faded by the sun) and are somewhat uncomfortable due to their lack of back support.

Large glass doors open from the living area to terraces outfitted with rope hammocks and two small plastic chairs, arguably not adequate seating for a family. Furniture was also missing from the small terraces off the master bedrooms, and the villas lack televisions. Bathrooms in the villas feature single vanities and walk-in stall showers with glass-block walls.

Hotel Villas Playa Samara helps guests take advantage of the calm waters protected by an offshore reef by offering a multitude of water sports. Guests can paddle kayaks to Isla Chora, a small island offshore that's teeming with several species of birds. Stand-up paddle boarding, boogie boarding, or simply floating along in a plastic donut rafts are also possibilities. Beneath the shade of coconut palms, guests can book a massage or simply relax with a good read. Those who need their fitness fix can hit the resort's small gym but a run or walk along the flat, soft sands of the three-mile-long Playa Samara is a much more scenic option. Guests can also explore nearby beaches such as Playa Carrillo or take a more adventurous drive to Playa Barrigona, where celebrity Mel Gibson owns a home.