we are booked at la colina in manuel antonio for 4 nights. in reading this forum i don't see much about that hotel. has anyone stayed there and care to give a review? thanks!

Gee, you aren't getting much response! I think it is because this is a very small hotel and most people don't have experience with it. Neither do I, but I looked it up in my Moon Handbook of Costa Rica. You'll find this paragraph interesting: about 2km south of Quepos, has six simple rooms in a two story ranchito style house with black and white checkered floors. Rooms are dark but pleasant enough. Six newer rooms are more upscale, with lots of light, plus nice views from balconies. There's a small two-tiered pool with cascade and a nice rancho restaurant. Rates $29 day including breakfast. Newer rooms are a bargain at $39 day.

SOUNDS LIKE THE NEWER ROOMS WOULD BE QUITE ACCEPTABLE. THE PRICE IS CERTAINLY GREAT. THE BREAKFAST INCLUDED PART IS NICE, AND IT SOUNDS LIKE THE RESTAURANT IS OKAY. THESE KINDS OF PLACES ARE SOMETIMES AMONG THE BEST IF YOU ARE WANTING A GOOD DEAL AND NOT INTERESTED IN LUXURY. ONE OF OUR FAVORITE PLACES IS THE HOTEL BRASILITO WHERE OUR FAVORITE ROOM IS LARGE, HAS A HAMMOCK WITH A MAGNIFICENT VIEW AND IS ABOUT 3 STEPS FROM THE BEACH. . .ALL FOR $30 A NIGHT!

Unfortunately, the Moon Handbook that shillmac speaks of must be out of date, b/c the Ocean View rooms during high season are $80 plus tax, $70 plus tax during green season. The standard rooms are likely the older ones, but a steal at $49 plus tax during high season. If you search "La Colina" within this forum you'll find that I've posted a reply (I think around 2/20/04) discussing why we chose La Colina over other budget hotels in MA. My husband and I are leaving in a week. I'll let you know what we think when we get back!

I'm sorry. . my Moon is a little out of date I suppose. .2002. . .not REALLY old, but many properties are more expensive in Costa Rica now than they were then. At any rate, I hope you have a great time! Fay, I'm anxious to hear about your trip. . .hope you have safe travels and a very relaxing vacation!

Just got back from our first trip to CR and loved it. We've already decided to go back next year!

Finally, here is a decent review of Hotel La Colina in Manuel Antonio. First off, I want to reiterate that no matter where you stay in the Manuel Antonio area, if you're not right on the public beach, you will be taking a public bus, taxi or walking the hills (that are seriously steep).

Hotel La Colina is a wonderful place to stay. It absolutely has to be one of the best values in the area. Considering how much research I did, I can't believe how low the prices are for high season compared to other hotels in the area. We were originally booked for one night in the Ocean View (OV) room and 3 in a standard room. Keep in mind that walking around this hotel (or any hotel in the area, I would think) will feel like a stairmaster workout, b/c of all the stairs that you have to climb to get to your room. Also, all the rooms we stayed in had great AC and fan with cable TV (I was disappointed to be able to watch HBO and CNN, but I remembered that we were in the Manuel Antonio area) and private bathroom. AC is pretty essential in MA, since all the hotels are on the mountain (Outside of MA we didn't need an AC.)

The OV suites are the nicest and are the only ones (besides the OV house) that have views, which by the way are spectacular. The night after the OV suite, we were supposed to move to a standard, but they had the OV house available, so we took it. Again, great view and this time, it had a hammock and kitchen, not that we cooked. The house is more like a cabin, has two rooms and a double bed out in the living room, so it sleeps 6 -- great value if you bring people. The OV house is part of the property next door that they must have purchased recently, b/c it's away from the main compound (steep walk that put me out of breath, and I actually work out). It used to be a hotel next door and they bought two out of the 8 cabins. The others that don't belong to La Colina belong to a recently opened hostel (Side note: Manuel Antonio is in desperate need of a hostel. This has to be one of the only places in town that will charge $17/bed/night. Expensive for a hostel, but nothing of a price compared to lodging in MA.) The standard room was perfectly fine, even though it faced the road. The noise wasn't that big of a deal to us, but to be sure, ask for one away from the traffic. Sure, a standard's not as nice, but it was clean and still had all the amenities. In the end, we would have been fine staying in the standard the whole time (especially for $49/night during high season!). We actually said it would have been fine with us, but the Ocean View is still unforgettable. You can always go to a nearby restaurant for dinner to check out the sunset.

We didn't eat at the restaurant very often, but we had appetizers at the pool bar. The tomato and mozarella, was surprisingly good. The pool is pretty small, only good for hanging out and drinking. Still one of the nicer pools in the area. Carlos makes awesome margaritas and cairiphirinas (sp?). We went to Bali a few years ago and had horrible horrible drinks (they don't have mixers over there!) at our honeymoon hotel, which was $150 a night (and we don't usually travel like that). So no worries about the drinks in Costa, it's done right over there.
Breakfast is pretty good, except for the French Toast.

If you have any questions, let me know! I'll try to find the business card of the hostel next door and post the name here. Also, there is an internet cafe, that I think has the best connection in the area -- AND it has AC!!! We tried to buy concert tickets while we were over there, but b/c of the time difference, we didn't want to wait to go to the beach. We went to an internet cafe at the public beach (Playa Espadilla), and it took 6 minutes just to get to my page (which was blocked anyways b/c of the high traffic volume). I couldn't stay in the stuffy cafe waiting to get into the site, so I came back 2 hours later, only to find out that the show was sold out. Anyways, the internet cafe next door to La Colina is the best. Will find the name and post it too if interested.

Hope this helps!



Th

Hey Fay, thanks for the review of La Colina. You weren't trying to order tickets for Phish in Vegas by any chance? Those went on sale about two weeks ago and the web site was a nightmare! I hate dealing with that stuff.

Yes, I was trying to get Phish tickets. We moved from back east where there are always shows to Denver, where the venues suck and Phish only comes around once a year, if we're lucky.

Anyways, I totally forgot about pre-ordering; I was prepared all week to get them, and then on Wednesday night, my husband reminded me that we forgot to buy them.

I wonder if I should've spent the money on an international calling card and tried our luck at waiting that way, but who knows how long it would've taken to get through...

Jealous that you get to go!

Wow, I knew it must have been Phish! What other band would someone try to order from CR?! The phone and preorder were a nightmare too. We only got Friday through the mail order and Thursday on-line. We never got through on the phone and Saturday was sold out before we were able to get through on-line. I'm hoping we can score those in Vegas, otherwise I guess we just do the Vegas thing that night

I am so glad I found this post. We are spending 3 nights at La Colina the end of April. It's our first trip to CR. Thanks for the info....and we opted for the ocean view.