Manuel Antonio - Private Villa or Tulemar?
 

We are traveling to Costa Rica next month – somewhat last minute and we will be first timers there. Family of four with two daughters age 18 and 20. Spring Break for the girls! I need some advice from the always helpful Fodors community.

We'll be spending 4 days in the Manuel Antonio area and are trying to finalize accommodations there. We will have a car and are pretty independent travelers - we like to explore, often going to a different area every day.

We are not really hotel people, especially for beach areas, and are looking at villas near MA - we've rented private villas many times in St. John and like the idea of that.

Here's where I need some advice: We are considering a villa connected with the Tulemar property, or a private villa in the area. I know many people on this forum highly recommend Tulemar, but there are several private villas available that are about half the price of the one connected with Tulemar. It's a big price difference!

The primary advantages I see to the Tulemar one are: 1. access to the private beach and 2. possibly greater safety (?). For this part of the trip we don't really care about the resort amenities like the pool and restaurant.

Two questions to help us choose:

1. Should we be concerned about safety with the private villa? One of the ones we are looking at on vrbo had a break in last fall while the renters were there sleeping. The renter posted extensively about it in the comments. The owner responded very appropriately and convincingly, but, combined with all the warnings in guidebooks about never leaving anything in your car, and not leaving stuff on the beach (how do you do this? Take turns swimming?) it has us a little spooked. Is this a real concern? I know that traveling anywhere has inherent risks, and I understand about taking basic precautions and being smart. I am asking whether, as a general matter, it is considered inadvisable to rent private homes in this area, or whether it is generally considered safe. Does it matter where exactly the villa is located? We are not familiar with particular neighborhoods, having never been before.

2. If we choose the private villa, how easy or difficult is it to drive to public beaches in the MA area and park? How is the Tulemar beach similar to or different from the public beaches? We will probably get up and out early every day and go hiking/exploring/visiting MA park and other areas and beaches up and down the coast, and then want to come back and relax on a beach close to home in the afternoon. I imagine it would be convenient to have the private beach at Tulemar, and the shuttle to take us to and from, and use of the kayaks, but I'm trying to assess whether this is worth the significant extra cost, especially since we generally don't plan to spend all day there.

Any other things I should be considering in making the choice? I have read that there is good wildlife viewing at Tulemar. That seems to be true of some of the private villas we are looking at as well.

Thanks for any help!

Based on what I learned after my visit, I would not stay in a private villa that does not have full-time on-site caretaker, security personnel or the owner present.

Driving to the beach can be a pain as far as parking, but you can take a taxi (one way or just the uphill return). There are other hotels up hill from the beach (one is Villas Nicolas, which is really a hotel consisting of individual units). I stayed there as well as Arenas del Mar which is great, but probably more expensive than Tulemar.

Anytime you take your eyes off of your belongings in Costa Rica there is a risk of theft. That includes leaving luggage etc in your car (never) and on the beach. I think most would advise that when you go to the beach bring a towel, flipflops and a bottle of water. Not in a back pack, either. If you take turns in the water with one of you watching the stuff, that should be ok.

Be sure to leave electronics, passports, money in room safe or at the hotel desk.

I would not rely on Tripadvisor for input on this issue, btw.

Thanks mlgb. The villa I mentioned where the robbery occurred apparently has a caretaker, yet still had the robbery! It's described as being an "adjacent property." Not sure how "on-site" that is.

Do any others have thoughts on or experiences with staying in a private villa?

I sent friends to Costa Rica with all my rave reviews and reports. They stayed in a private villa, and it was broken into while they were sleeping. They woke up, and all their nice camera equipment, phones, and everything else was gone. They were so freaked out that they flew back immediately. I would be wary, probably not that common, but it can definitely happen. I wouldn't stay anywhere without security after she told me that. Tulemar Upper Mot Mot and Upper Casa Panorama are both great choices. We loved staying at Tulemar, lots of wildlife on the property too.

Not onsite enough, apparently!! Or he was in on it.

I personally would not travel to Costa Rica with nice camera equipment, iphones, etc unless they are fully insured.

And do be sure there is a safe in the room or at the desk.

We bring our stuff, but try not to flash it around in public, and we do use the in room safe.

Thanks all. It turns out the units at Tulemar are all booked - frustrating, because there are several of them listed as available on vrbo (and the calendars say they have been recently updated), but they are not available. It seems there are several property managers who are doing this with the listing, and then try to sell you a different property. One was pretty pushy. Felt like a bait-and-switch. Disappointing, because we thought, with several of them available, we'd be able to find one that worked for us.

Most of the resorts are booked for all or part of our dates also - last minute travel is tough! Fortunately we found a beautiful villa just north of Tulemar that seems to have reasonably good security, including a perimeter alarm system, full time housekeeper and bars on windows and doors (nice bars, as bars go - curvy and sort of architectural looking). The owner told me they have these features because of the risk of break-ins. We do like being in a private house - hopefully it will work out! Thanks for the help!

Ah, I thought you would be pretty lucky to get one for Spring Break. People book those really early. I found that out when we booked. We had to stay in three different villas just to stay the length of time that we wanted. We just kept moving around! That is disappointing and a little shady the way that's set up. Can you provide the link of where you're staying? I'd love to see. Glad you found one you like.

We dropped off a family after a tour once, and they had a gorgeous private home with beach access. I wish I had written down the name of it; it looked amazing.