Can somebody tell me,if 7 people can sleep at Casa Blanca? I love the deck at Casa Blanca and would not like to walk that far to Casa Miramar.Also if we would like to have only dinners,how much is daily dinner at the restaurant?Thanks for any advice.

Casa Blanca only has 2 queen beds in one bedroom and 1 king bed in the other bedroom so max sleeping in beds is 6. There is a couch in the living area but it looks like it is made of something like lodge-pole pine and would not be comfortable. They can bring in a cot for a 7th person and they will charge you $50 more per night. That is what we are doing next summer when some friends are returning with us. We absolutely LOVE Casa Blanca and have stayed in it twice now!

Meals are now $60/day. Breakfast and lunch are $15 each and dinner is $30. Our last trip we just took lunch and dinner at Bosque and picked up some items in town for breakfast. Since dinner is so much food no one was every that hungry in the mornings so we would have a cereal bar and juice and coffee or bowl of cereal and then go out hiking. Then at lunch we were really hungry and enjoyed it more.

just an update - Casa Miramar will now have a plunge pool (it will be finished in a few weeks). Might make that extra walk a little worth it! But then again I've only been up there during the day, not sure if I could do the walk at night, but with a group maybe not so bad.

Thank you for your answers.I just can not decide if casadosrios.com is better than Casa Blanca.Can somebody convince me which one to rent?

I think you will have it better all around at BDC. Delicious food prepared for when you don't want to do your own cooking, fantastic trail system you can wander for days, on-site naturalists and biologist and on-site guided walks. Wonderful hang out spot at bar and pool area. Amazing wildlife. Great staff.

Thank you hipvirgochick!

I second what hip said; you really can't go wrong with BdC. Read the reviews at tripadvisor.com; it gets 5 stars pretty consistently. I think you'd really enjoy it.

OK, I'll play the devil's advocate here. Guess you have to decide if all that Bosque has is worth $200 more per night (isn't that right?) than Casadelrios.

Actually this would be a good spreadsheet for the obsessive compulsive planner/comparer. BDC - Casa Blanca: $350/night CDR - $150 per night. BDC - long walk to beach CDR - on the beach. BDC - cooler because of elevation CDR - hotter because of lack of elevation
BDC - communal meals/socialiability
CDR - no body else but your group.
BDC - hiking on orivate grounds and elsewhere CDR - hiking all around there BDC - activities can be arranged by staff (pay extra). CDR - activities can be arranged by staff (or on your own) pay extra.
BDC - great food for $60/day/person.
CDR - buy it in PJ and bring it to CDR - cook it yourself (or perhaps staff will if arranged?).

The comparison interests me because we stayed at Casa Linda (part of the group of houses near Casa dos rios) owned by folks from Texas who also own Casa Bambu and two others. These houses are all VERY similar in construction, amenities and price. We loved being at Casa Linda. We've been to CR 3 times and I've been reading the boards forever. I was thinking - before this last trip - NEXT time I go to
CR I'm going to BDC!!! Such wonderful reviews here - based on which I sent my bro and his fam - and they had a great time. But then I got Casa Linda stuck in my mind and I just kinda liked the idea of being down there a bit more "on our own" this time. Meant we ate at couple different restaurants. Perhaps explored a bit more on our own. Spoke more Spanish (our property mgrs spoke little English). I loved standing at the kitchen sink peeling a mango from our tree out front and tossing the peel (as advised by mgrs) out the window to the crabs in the rainforest. I loved using the radio to call and make restaurant reservations. .. .

On the other hand - I'm sure we'd have enjoyed sharing stories/meals with other folks, walks with BDC naturalists etc. etc. etc.

We love great food and I thought we'd eat out more from Casa Linda, but at the end of our big active days, we were just SO happy sitting on our great porch, that we often ending up just cooking up the simplest of meals - hotdogs on the grill, sliced fresh fruit, some sauteed veggies, a glass of wine. ..
sigh . . .

I'm not really recommending one over the other, just pointing out some of the similarities/differences. One thing is for sure: WHICHEVER you choose, you'll have a wonderful time!

Now I am torn.

glover - I'm still determined to get to Casa Linda soon! I'm sold on that place (in part thanks to you)!

Both of them look like great options; are you wanting things to be really easy and convenient? If so, I'd go BdC. If you're looking for a little more privacy and independence, then I'd go with casadosrios. We loved the communal dinners at BdC; that turned out to be one of the highlights of our trip since it's so great to compare notes on what you did and saw during the day, and we also met people that loved to travel the world like we do; other people prefer to just do their own thing, so that may be another consideration. Let us know what you decide - this is a good problem to have!

Ok,I sent my credit card number to BDC and we will stay at Casa Blanca at June 6-13.We will be driving down to Osa.I would like to see beatifull mountains around San Isidro,maybe we will spend 1 night at mountains.
We will drop the car at Puerto Jimenez and fly back to San Jose where we will fly from back home to Fl.My question is.Should I drop the car on the day we are flying back home.Is Sansa airport close to car rentals?And where I can find more pictures of Casa Blanca ?

You might try tripadvisor.com; people post a lot of pics there.

Regarding the area where Casa Bambu is, which restaurants are there? We have been to BDC twcie and once considered renting Casa Bambu but really do not want to cook dinner on vacation. Which restaurants did you go to? Also, did you feel safe there at night? Seems like it would get really dark and spooky.

Re restaurants near Casa Linda/Bambu From the Casa Linda info packet:

LOCAL RESTAURANTS
Encanta la Vida Lodge (radio channel 71) is a short walk toward Matapalo beach and serves a multi-course, gourmet dinner in a beautiful setting.
Lapa Rios (radio channel 72) is a 15-minute walk up the hill on the main road. It has a nice restaurant with a deck up in the trees and a great view. We recommend breakfast or lunch there, as they are cheaper than dinner and you can enjoy the view.
Bosque del Cabo (channel 09) also serves excellent meals by reservation. (It is past Lapa Rios on the main road, about a 60-minute walk or short drive).
Buena Esperanza or Martina’s (channel 08) is a pleasant, open-air restaurant/bar. It’s a 15-minute walk on the main road, towards town, across from the school. They usually serve lunch and dinner.
Reservations are required except at Buena Esperanza (reservations preferred) and must be made the day before or early that day.

Also I understood that one of the staff members (Flor if she's still there) would prepare dinner for you at home for a small fee. Some of the house notes mentioned enjoying doing this. We didn't do that.

We ended up having only two meals out though we intended to do more.
We had a nice lunch at Lapa Rios (hot afternoon walk up the hill) and a fun time at Buena Esperanza (like something out of the 60s). Good food at low prices - outdoors. we walked over by day light and back along the main road in pitch black with a flash light.

Spooky at night - well a bit. The first time a mango or other fruit hit the roof in the middle of the night I nearly had a heart attack. But, really, it's not so isolated (property mgr lives across a big yard, another local man lives on large lot next door).