back from Peace Lodge/MalPais/Xandari
 

We are a family of four and had a great time on our first trip to Costa Rica.

First two nights we stayed in the Monarch Villa at Peace Lodge. This place is beautiful. I have been to disney many times and this place is nothing like disney. The villa was great. Lots of stone and wood and very comfortable bed. The living room and master bedroom have huge windows looking out over the rainforest and volcano. The loft has a single bed, double bed, full bath and was a great setup for our two boys. Balcony has a jacuzzi & hummingbird feeder. The birds will come very close. Service from check-in, housekeeping, restaurants was great. No heavy construction was going on when we were there. We arrived from the airport around 2:30, checked in and relaxed in the room and on the balcony for a little while. We explored the gorgeous property, gardens, hummingbirds. Beautiful trees, flowers, plants throughout the propery. Checked out the frogs and butterly observatory. The butterflies were active and we were the only people in there - so many beautiful creatures. The dart frogs were mostly hiding since it was late in the day and we saw many sleeping nocturnal frogs. Went to the pool/hot tub, and it is small, but was never crowded and had a beautiful view of the volcano. We had room service that night and relaxed at the villa and in the jacuzzi on the balcony. Woke up with the sun and had coffee on the balony. The breakfast buffet was nice and you could also order omelets or pancakes (all included with the room rate). We went back to see the frogs early and were the only people there again. The dart frogs are active in the a.m. and we saw so many! Checked out the snakes and the kids got to hold a few. Then we hiked half of the waterfall/rainforest trail - absolutely beautiful! Decided to have lunch at the Trout Bar since the buffet area was a little crowded with tour groups. Nice sandwiches and drinks with a beautiful view of the volcano. Hung out in the villa jacuzzi for a while and birdwatched. There are hundreds of birds on this property. Hiked the rest of the waterfall trail after the groups left (amazingly beautiful) and took the shuttle back to Peace Lodge. We took the early (6:30) dinner reservation and the restaurant is beautiful and food was pretty good. We didn't think it was expensive ($28.00 for soup, salad, entre, dessert, coffee) The waiter was great and they don't charge the full fixed price for the kids if they don't want the soup/salad, etc. They also offer half portions for the kids. After dinner we took the night guided tour to see the nocturnal frogs. It was alot of fun and we all held tree frogs. Relaxed back on the balcony of the villa packed up most of our stuff for our departure the next day.

Had breakfast at the buffet and were picked up at 7:30 for our trip to Mal Pais. This was a very long trip but we were in a comfortable air conditioned van so it was not too bad. We enjoyed seeing so much of the countryside and the ferry ride broke up the trip. There was alot of traffic/backup on both sides of the ferry so it took a little longer than we expected. Arrived at Mal Pais Surf Camp at about 3:30 unpacked the kids surfboards and went to the beach. We stayed in Mal Pais for a week since the boys are surf rats. The beach is beautiful and the ocean is warm and clean with many sandy bottom areas for surfing & playing in the waves. There is basically nothing on the beach south of the crossroads for miles. We had a great time here. Beautiful sunsets every day, good waves, rode quads and explored way north of Santa Theresa - so much beautiful scenery with huge rocks in the water and jungle at the edge of the sand. We also did the Mal Pais Canopy Tour which was alot of fun. Walked the beach for miles, explored tide pools, checked out "town". Surf camp was a fun place to stay, great service, fun people and atmosphere. We had a nice two bedroom unit. The food was good and they have a pool table and ping pong for a diversion between surf sessions. Nice pool and landscaping and monkeys everywhere.

After our week in Mal Pais, we stayed at Xandari for our last night. It only took 6 hours to get back since there was no traffic at the ferry. We arrived at Xandari about 2:30. We had a villa with an incredible view of the valley. The city lights at night were incredible. The pools and hot tub have a view of mountains behind the resort. This resort and the villa were beautiful. We had great service from all of the staff. Had time to do all of the waterfalls and the last strenuous trail must have hundreds of steps, but worth it. Watched the sunset from the hot tub and relaxed in our villa before dinner. The restaurant has a great view also and the food was pretty good. We enjoyed the relaxing vibe here and cooler temperatures!

Had to leave early the next morning and the hotel packed a continental breakfast for us to take to the airport (fruit, muffins, yogurt). It only took 15 minutes to get to the airport at 6 a.m.

We absolutely loved our trip and if anyone has questions, just ask. The country and the people are wonderful. Sorry this is so long!

It's not so long--and thanks for posting it! You were in some wonderful areas--Malpais is just great, isn't it? Glad your family had a wonderful time!

thanks for the great report. I hope to visit Map Pais surf camp this summer with teenage son. Any more comments on the break or area in general would be appreciated. Did you do all of your meals at the camp?

Jandk -
Thanks for your report. Part of our trip will be Montezuma, and MalPai/St Teresa but not sure how to divide up our time. My sons (20 & 18) are not surfers but all of us love body surfing and they will probably try surfing. Is the beach at the surfcamp good body surfing water?

Did you check out Tropico Latino? Do you think the surfcamp is perfect for boys my son's ages? Also, how do the various villas, poolside houses and the Ocean View Garden Ranchos compare? I would love a solid recommendation if one is more spacious, better equipped or better location?

I had also been debating whether it is worth dropping the kind of money to stay at Peace Lodge. Would you say it was a real higlight of your trip?

Here are some details on Mal Pais and the Surf Camp. The hotel is across the dirt road from the beach. You need to cross the road and walk a path through the "bush" to a beautiful uncrowded beach. There is nothing built on the beach in this part of Mal Pais. As you exit the path, directly to the left is rocky with some really cool tide pools that you can swim in during low tides. Slightly to the right are the main breaks. When we were there the beginner to intermediate surfers stayed in the area close to the surf camp and the experienced surfers surfed slightly north. There are breaks farther south and north that you can check out also. The whole area is fun for body boarding, playing in the waves and boogie boarding besides surfing (and taking long walks!)

We chose this area since it has a reputation for consistent surf and normally not too rough. Our boys are experienced surfers, but young (11 & 13) so we didn't want to go to Jaco or Hermosa where the waves are supposedly 12-15 feet quite often - the little one would not be able to get out. We also wanted to visit MP/ST while the area is still relatively undeveloped. The waves were pretty clean and varied from 4-9ft depending on the tides & winds. Beginners had fun surfing the white water also.

We brought boards since they need short boards (5'4" to 5'6") for maneuvers and turns. There are plenty of boards to rent at the surf camp as well as the surf shops in town but nothing smaller than 5'10". We rented long boards for the times during the day when the waves got smaller due to tides, winds, etc. The hotel has boogie boards for rent also. The boys and most of the surfers were out surfing by about 6-6:30, surfed for a few hours and then back to the hotel for breakfast and a break before the next session. I actually liked the beach at this time since it wasn't as hot. They wore long sleeved rash guards and #45 sunsreen on exposed areas since they were in the water for so long.

Surf Camp is a great place to stay for all age groups. It was a nice mix of singles, couples and families. Fun place for teens. The bar/restaurant is open air, covered by a thick thatch roof and surrounded by trees and plants to keep the sun out. There is a pool table, ping pong, indo boards and a tv with surf videos. It's a fun spot to hang out between surf sessions and in the evenings. Wednesday night they have a party with the mechanical bull! The pool is nice and well kept with beautiful landscaping including mango trees. Howler monkeys came by every day and hung out - they also wake you up about 5:30! There were non-surfers staying there also, hanging on the beach, at the pool and taking day excursions.

The property is pretty big and spread out compared to others that we checked out. The open air ranchos look good for singles or groups of friends (they are literally open air). We stayed in the first floor of the poolside house which was perfect for us. As you enter, the front room has a single bed, another bedroom has a double and a single bed and the third room has a double bed. The bathroom was really nice, tiled, big shower and a section with a clothes line and space for boards, etc. Lots of drawer and closet space in the bedrooms. The upstairs of the house is a separate unit that also sleeps 5-6 people, but is an open floor plan. It is also really nice, just more togetherness. The poolside villas are single story, two connected together (but porches are separate) and open floor plans inside. They looked nice also. There is one bungalow with an open floor plan, sleeps four and has a kitchen. That was booked for our stay, but the service at the restaurant was so convenient that we didn't miss the kitchen. There are ceiling fans and all of the windows are screened. The rooms were very clean and we always had fresh towels & sheets every other day or so. We would definitely stay here again.

We had alot of our meals at surf camp. The food was pretty good and a decent variety. For breakfast they had choices of banana pancakes, french toast, fruit, omelets, any type eggs, casado, fruit juices, banana shakes. Lunch choices included burgers, chicken sandwich, grilled cheese, salads, casado, etc. Alot of pasta choices for dinner (carbs for the surfers) besides the traditional chicken/fish & rice and beans as well as specials that included shrimp, steak, pork. The food detail should help those with traveling with kids! The hotel will run a tab for your entire stay, so all family members can just charge drinks, bottles of water, meals, to the room without having to carry money. They have a hotel safe for passports and any other valuables you want to lock up. We put our stuff in a small backpack in the safe. You can access your valuables during office/restaurant hours. They are there early (6:30). Other places we ate include Ritmo Tropical which was two properties up and had great pizza, Frank's at the crossroads which was pretty good and Flor Blanca for lunch - good food and beautiful atmosphere. We never made it to Mary's - next time! Our 11 year old was so tired at dinner due to all of the daytime activities!!

We did check out Tropico Latino and liked the property. There were bungalos tucked into garden settings and it was very pretty. We didn't see the inside of the units so I'm not sure if it is good for families. The bar/restaurant is right on the beach.

Regarding Peace Lodge, we are glad we stayed there. All of the rooms face the volcano and surrounding forest and the views are amazing. The grounds and the trails/waterfalls are lush and beautiful. We wanted a little luxury at the beginning and end of the trip since we were "roughing it" in MP. From the room & balcony, you see so many beautiful birds besides the hummigbirds that are feeding everywhere. Bring binoculars! We had a great experience there. The rooms are gorgeous and very comfortable. It is expensive, but most boutique hotels are. The rate includes the waterfall gardens and breakfast.

Also, Xandari includes one way airport transfer as well as breakfast. They had complimentary drinks and snacks in the fridge also. I totally forgot to mention that we saw a quetzal on the grounds at Xandari!! That was so cool!

Muchisimas gracias Jandk, your observations will really help my planning for our trip to Mal Pais in mid June.

Jandk - thank you so much for taking the time to write the extensive details of the surfcamp. I have a great picture of what it is about, which I didn't have before your post. I was thinking it was mostly all young 20 somethings - didn't expect families or people who weren't avid surfers to be there. I also thought it would be more run down and basic.

Now I have a wonderful decison to make which is if and how to divide our time in Nacoya Peninsula. Whether we should stay in a few different places which all sound great or settle in to one for 3-4 days. If I choose to stay in multiple places I am thinking of Surfcamp or Tropico Latino, Ylang Ylang in Montezuma and Tango Mar in Tambor. They all sound great to me.