Manuel Antonio Hotel Advice
 

Hi all!

First of all, thank you all for your helpful advice - I have learned a great deal from everyone's posts.

I will be traveling to CR in late August (16-26) with 2 other girlfriends (mid-20s) and we plan to stay in Manuel Antonio for 3 nights before joining a guided adventure trip. We are trying to choose a mid-price hotel for that time.

We have narrowed it down to La Mariposa, Costa Verde, and possibly Villas Nicolas. Any experiences, suggestions or advice you might have on those lodgings would be immensely appreciated! As an aside, a kitchenette would be an attractive feature b/c we're poor law students!

Also, any suggestions re: getting from the SJO airport to MA? We had thought to rent a 4x4 but we've heard so many horror stories about the roads.

Thank you in advance!

I've been to MA twice and both times stayed at Costa Verde, so can't comment on the other 2, but I definitely enjoyed my stay at CV. Splurge the little extra for the studio plus rooms, totally worth the $$ for the view you get. They have kitchennettes, and 2 double beds. The bus stops right out front and there is the Anaconda restaurant on the grounds (fab views) and the La Cantina right across the street (good food & band).

If you don't want to drive you can fly to Quepos for about $50 each, takes about 25 minutes or take Interbus, takes about 3 hours or so and runs about $25. Have fun.

kari410, see my 3/23 "Month in Costa Rica" message for some comments on MA. We were somewhat dissapointed, since the hotels were not convenient to the beach (we stayed in Costa Verde), and we really like to go back and forth to the beach without the hassle of commuting to the hotel. We took a look at Nicholas, and thought Costa Verde was nicer, didn't think Mariposa was nearly as nice, but we also looked at Si Como No, and thought that was the nicest of all. Depends on what you want - the panaromic view from Costa Verde's pool is the best, but Costa Verde's nicest rooms at the pool (with the view) have no A/C. We had a room with a nice kitchenette + A/C, which claimed to have a small ocean view - problaby written a couple years ago before the vegetation took over.

AS I noted, La Catina had delicious barbeque, great music (Santana inspired), but it is the only place in a month's stay where we got food poisoning.

I assume you realize that you can't walk back and forth to the beach from these hotels (unless you are training for the olympics), so a car is necessary if you want the convenience of going back and forth to the beach.

The park entrance fee is $7, and you can go in and out all day - come out for lunch, to have a drink, etc., and go back in to the park beaches, which are much nicer than the public beach.

As far as roads go, to M.A., these are the better ones in the country, and our ride from San Jose and back (via van) was no problem - all paved roads, no major potholes that I saw. You certainly don't need a 4x4 for that trip, unless you are going to take side trips up into the mountains.

If you are going to cook your own food, drive or take the bus into Quepos, and hit the major grocery store right across from the bus terminal. Don't bother trying to buy groceries in Manual Antonio.

Good luck, it's a great country.

I have stayed at Villas Nicolas ,Villas del Parque , Costa Verde , Makanda By The Sea , and toured Si Como No . We loved Costa Verde , and found the buses and taxis convenient . There IS a way to walk to the beach from Costa Verde without having to walk on the busy road . Taxis last year for us were generally in the $2-3 range ..... Bus was .23cents . Would not hesitate to stay there again .

No personal experience with your hotel choices as we stayed at Hotel California. However, Costa Verde seems to get many good reviews.

As to getting to MA - Domestic flights, Interbus or Private Driver will get you there.

For our trip we chose a private van to get us there, as we were arriving at SJO in late afternoon, after a long day of travel and I wanted to awake to the stunning Pacific view the next morning. We did not have a vehicle during our stay here and did not miss it. Lots of traffic in MA, we opted to use the public buses and cabs and were pleased with our decision. The bus was very inexpensive and we never had a problem - except for the time we were talking, missed our stop and ended up in Quepos - which even that wasn't a problem, we just stopped in for an Imperial beer and then went shopping! We had our vehicle delivered on the last day and headed out to Arenal.

Oh! that kind of sounded like I wasn't pleased with Hotel California! Just the opposite, we really enjoyed our stay there.

Yeah, the bus is really convenient and is really cheap. The point of MA IMO is not being on the beach, no view! The views as I said are just awesome in MA and CV has a great spot, the couple of minutes it takes to get to the beach are worth it. Donna I did the same thing. I ended up chatting with this nice lady & missed my stop at Super Josette, ended up in Quepos at Pali (?) grocery store. Which worked out fine anyway!

Tully who would have thought that either of us could have missed a stop - Due to TALKING!! LOL!

Thank you all so much for your helpful advice! Based upon that and some other reviews, we have decided to book at Costa Verde II in one of the Studio-Plus rooms. I will be sure to report back after our trip (mid-August). Thanks again!

Just one more opinion: I've stayed at both Costa Verde (studio-plus room) and Villas Nicolas, and while both were fine, we liked Villas Nicolas a lot more. It has a more intimate, relaxed feel, in my opinion. We had a beautiful private patio there, complete with hammock, table & chairs, the room was gorgeously decorated, the pool and pool area was clean and quiet, etc. Having said that, I have no negatives about CV... we just thought VN was a bit smaller (and thus a little more relaxing), and when I go back I'd pick VN again. You'll be really happy with either, and you guys are sure to enjoy your trip! Manuel Antonio is great. And since you're "poor law students" there's a great place to eat called "Angels" (just ask for easy directions from where you stay)... really, really cheap and amazing local food and ((B)). We noticed a lot of younger people hung out there, and we loved it and ate there all the time. Have fun!