Greetings...

My boyfriend and I are travling to CR May 6. We are thinking to stay in Montezuma. Has anyone stayed at the Hotel Aurora or El Jardin. If so please send me your ratings... Perhaps someone can suggest a beautiful moderate price hotel.

Thanks~

Great town! We were only there a day, so I can't comment on hotel. We drove over from Santa Teresa for the day. There are a couple of different beaches, and seemed to be some action in town (only a couple of blocks big). Be sure to walk all the way back up to the falls and go swimming..so beautiful. Waterproof shoes a big plus. We will definitely spend a couple of days there next time.

I haven't stayed at Aurora or El Jardin, but I met a young couple in 2002 who had stayed at El Jardin and they really liked it. We stayed at Amor de Mar, which we loved. It's a 10-15 minute walk just south of town, which means it's very quiet compared to some of the hotels in town. I'll top my response to a previous post ("Montezuma&quot FYI. If you're interested, the website is www.amordemar.com.

Terri

We stayed at the Amor de Mar just a month ago and cannot recommend it too highly. For an ex-Berkeleyite, this is my version of Nirvana in Costa Rica.

Nowhere in town, can you get closer to the sea and the tidepool out front is wonderful and secluded enough to go skinny dipping in.

You are a couple of minutes to town but there are two excellent restaurants right next door. And, the trail for the waterfall starts right outside the front door. I don't think there is a better location in Montezuma.

Our ocean front room was $70 (high season rates) but there were rooms in the back for much less. You are not going to spend much time in the room anyway when you have the porch area with its awesome views and the huge lawn with hammocks and chairs.

The folks who run the place are all wonderful and speak German so the guests are mostly European. The breakfasts are incredible and very reasonable (not included in nightly rate).

If you want to be right in town, the Aurora and El Jardin would be worth considering. I believe the El Jardin has a new swimming pool but a better choice might be the Hotel Los Mangos which is on the road towards Amor de Mar and has beautiful grounds and a large pool. Los Mangos was very busy when we were in Montezuma and seemed the hotel of choice for those with cars.

If you want to be on a beach, the only alernative is the El Sano Banano which also looks like a wonderful place. We hope to stay a few nights there on our next trip as well as a few at Amor de Mar.

Otis: It's so nice to see someone else sing the praises of Amor de Mar. As a fellow Bay Area resident (Santa Rosa), I can relate to your Nirvana comparison.

Terri