Need air conditioning in Manuel Antonio area?
 

We are interested in staying at Costa Verde in March and are trying to choose between a studio (has A/C but is smaller) and a studio-plus (larger but does not have A/C; advertised as "open-air"). Any comments on whether you need A/C in this area in March? If you have stayed at Costa Verde, any comments on which building is nicer and whether there is much difference between a studio and a studio-plus? If anyone had a bad experience at Costa Verde, I would appreciate hearing that too. Thanks for any feedback!!

I stayed at Costa Verde once and I think it was in March..but not positive. (I've been to CR 8 times and can't remember what all the months were.)<BR>When I stayed there, we had one of the 'open air' studios. As the unit was high on the hill we had a nice little breeze, plus, there was a fan over each bed (two Queens!), a fan in the 'kitchen' area and another fan over the dining table. Needless to say, we were quite comfortable. I guess it would depend on your tolerance for the heat. Did not have any BAD experiences per se, but I thought the food was overpriced at their restaurant. Plenty of other places to eat in the area though.

We stayed at Manuel Antonio (Si Como No) in August and did not feel like we needed A/C. There actually was an A/C unit in our room but we did not use it.

it all depends on your tolerance of heat..it will be hot but breezy..prices in all hotel restaurants are rather high..but, most importantly, if you do stay there please advise them that you do not like their policy of feeding the monkeys since they are endangered and this is bad for the health of the monkeys

We really like hot temperatures, but YES to the AC. When we were booking our trip for last March, my husband really wanted AC and I felt that it seemed crazy to do that in on a C.R holiday, but when we arrived in Manuel Antonio, we were thankful we had it. It was so hot that we'd actually go to our room for a bit during the day just to cool off. We stayed at Makanda By The Sea (incredible) and there pool unheated felt like a hot bath, from the sun.

Just returned from Makanda by the Sea and stayed two nights in the 'open air' villa w no a/c. We switched to an air conditioned villa for the last two nights, the nights were quite hot.

Hi Jennifer,<BR><BR>I was at the Costa Verde about a month ago... and actually we had a studio-plus WITH air conditioning. These are in the so-called &quot;family building.&quot; I strongly recommend you go for this option. I wasn't traveling with children, and we never saw any kids around the building (it was very quiet). Even the pool area was quiet the whole time. <BR><BR>I'm from the Miami area (I'm used to the heat) but we kept saying to each other how glad we were that we had AC. I strongly suggest it! Another really good thing about the family building (Building B) is that it's much closer to the restaurants and to the main road (the other building is a much longer walk). We were really happy with our room! Request an ocean view, not a &quot;jungle view&quot; (which means no view since the hotel is surrounded by jungle). <BR><BR>We really liked the hotel and would stay there again. As a previous poster wrote, yes the hotel restaurant is more expensive (than a small local place), but we thought that it was way cheap compared to the U.S. (although drinks were comparable). We thought the Anaconda restaurant (on the hotel premises) was really good and had a beautiful view.<BR><BR>We thought the staff at the hotel was really helpful and friendly, too. We booked all our tours through the front desk (be sure you book the guided tour of Manuel Antonio National Park through them... they use a guide named Leo who was exceptional!!) <BR><BR>Every day around 4:30pm or so, an entire troop of squirrel monkeys moves through the hotel grounds... it was a fantastic experience to see them all scampering through the trees up close (be sure to have your video camera ready).<BR><BR> I agree with the above poster who wrote about not feeding these monkeys. Costa Verde has a sign posted with information about this endangered species and the reasons for not feeding them... so I assume their policy now is to NOT feed them. (However, some tourists don't need this warning...). <BR><BR>Anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy Costa Verde (with AC!)

(whoops... I meant some tourists don't heed this warning.)