What's the difference between Costa Verde and Costa Verde II?
 

Easter week is giving me trouble already. I had my heart set on La Posada Bungalows and it's full (small place). I would really like to keep my budget around $100 night here, but a pool would be nice so that eliminates places like Didi's B & B (probably full as well).

Help!

Hey there! If I'm not mistaken, one is adults only and the other allows children. You should be able to tell by their web site. I'm looking for a place with a pool as well, so were looking there too!

Thanks Shell! You're right, it appears Costa Verde II is aimed at couples. It doesn't look like the price at CV includes breakfast either.

Please post back if you run across other potential nice places too. :)

hvc - CV II is a little more secluded, down a small hill from the reception rain. They don't have tv's or ac in CV II, they do in the rest of the bldgs. Plus, as mentioned, they have a age cut-off, not sure what age, but may be like 16 or 18 and higher allowed. The studio plus rooms are really lovely.

That said, I may (or may not, it depends) have to stay in MA one night next May and have been strongly considering Villas Nicolas. Decent pricing, nice views, I know the area so know plenty of food options around, have you checked them out?

We met a couple of women while we were sailing in MA that were staying at Villas Nicolas, and they really liked it.

I will check out Villa Nicolas right now. You two have the advantage of having been to MA. I have a hard time figuring out the logistics (i.e., are all the hotels fairly close together, and mostly up on the bluff, rather than the beach)?

Hi, hip - yep, most of the hotels are clustered along the one main road on the hill that runs through town. We stayed at Mango Moon which is on a little side street that runs off that main street. Seems like most of the restaurants are clustered on that main road as well. Salsipuedes, Barba Roja, El Avion, Cafe Agua Azul, etc. It's really easy to get around there.

vgirl - Thanks for the clarification.

tully - Villa Nicolas looks nice, but still more than I really wanted to pay...will be $150+ not including breakfast. However, I'm finding most of the decent hotels (location and review wise) seem to be in that price range.

What do you know about Hotel California?

Call me crazy, but I'm considering Hotel Plinio. Yep, best descrip is "funky". Do you know where it's situated? Sounds like it's very close to street, and looks like some friends got together and built it (ha-ha), but the restaurant gets great reviews. ;)

Hi HVC,

We stayed at Hotel California last December. We liked it! We had a deluxe room on the second floor and had a nice ocean view from our balcony. Even if you opt for a regular room (i.e. no ocean view) to keep the cost a bit cheaper, the hotel serves breakfast by the pool area and there's a very nice ocean view from there! You can't see the definitive MA tombolo from the hotel, so the view is not as spectacular as you would get from Costa Verde, but it is quite nice nonetheless.

As VG mentioned, MA has the one main drag that starts as the southern edge of Quepos and heads up the hillside and then back down, dead-ending at the national park. Most of the hotels you read about here line that road or sit on little side-drives. California is closer to the Quepos end of the road, but within an easy, short bus/cab ride of the park. It sits up high on the hillside at the end of a quiet driveway. We never heard any traffic noise from the bustly road below.

Plinio is near Californio at the Quepos end of the main road. I believe it did sit closer to the street, but the buildings did extend up the hillside a bit...

Hope this helps. I am currently organizing my CR photos online. I'll post a link when I have them ready (hopefully over the weekend). I have a few of the Hotel California grounds and balcony views.

cm - Thanks! That helps a lot. As you know there are mixed reviews on TA, but aren't there always! So, is Hotel Cal within walking distance of anything or do you pretty much have to take a bus? Thing is, I doubt we're hardly going to be in our room, except to sleep. Probably be at the pool in the eves. So if there's a nice pool and the room is ok and convienient to things, that's the most important. Was there any wildlife on the property? I've been reading hotel reviews in MA where there seems to be a lot of monkeys traipsing through. That would be nice. :) Definitely would like to see your pics!

hip, a lot of the hotels in MA have monkeys; we saw them every morning at breakfast and were comparing notes with everyone on our sailing tour, and they all had them at their hotels too - plus we saw tons in the park; I think you'll get to see a lot. Hotel California looks pretty nice I think. I can't wait for you to go, so I can read your trip report!

vgirl - Too funny, I think my next trip report should be a 1-liner per day, don't you? ;)

Well, I'm looking in to Hotel Cal and will let you know.

Hey, are you doing someting fun for your b-day? Aren't you going to Boston sometime soon? That will be such fun! I bought myself a feather bed topper today for my birthday :) and I'm sinking into it right now. Ahhhhhh.

Don't forget the bus runs by constantly and is really cheap and easy to use. There's another place around there may be cheap as well - La Colina. I think the reviews run the gamut. Being very visual I can be sold on pics (well, balanced against advice/reviews), have you checked out vacationcity.com and also 1-costaricalink.com ? They both have tons of pics of hotels/rooms/grounds, especially the latter, so maybe seeing more pics may swing you one way or another.

Hey HVC,

Hotel California has a fairly steep, narrow drive down to the main road. It's right across the street from the Mono Azul Hotel which looked fun and is supposed to have a decent restaurant. We ate a couple of meals at California and thought they were the best 'hotel restaurant' meals we had on the trip.

There isn't tons to do right within walking distance of the hotel. I remember a little strip mall type of building close to the driveway turn-off that had a few shops and a pizza place, but we never checked it out. We had a rental car, so I didn't pay real close attention to the relative distances of things, but I know Ronnie's Place (which VG recommends) is fairly close by; not sure if it's within reasonable walking distance...

A few miscellaneous notes to consider:

-The main MA drag is a busy road. It winds up and down the hill and is quite narrow with little shoulder or curb along some stretches, so you'd want to be very careful walking along it.

-Two small drawbacks to California:

1. No hair dryer in the room (by this time, we were WAY past trying to get 'gussied up', so no big deal to us :-d ).

2. The poolside restaurant is, well... poolside! Which means that if you want to take an evening swim with your daughter, you will be in close proximity to the dinner guests. This might not bother some, but I would feel sort of self-conscious cavorting about the pool while a whole group of diners were able to watch from the deck. Most of the diners could probably care less, but I'm just a wuss about putting myself on display! There were a few intrepid pool-goers the night we ate dinner there.

-We never actually saw monkeys on the hotel grounds, but I did hear one of the restaurant waiters telling another guest that some squirrel monkeys had been through one of the mornings we were there. We did see some howlers across the street on the Mono Azul grounds, so monkeys do move all through the area.

-I thought the room itself was quite nice. Nothing fancy but had tile floors, AC, safety box, cable tv, small refrigerator, and french doors opening onto a small, private balcony. The maid service was efficient and the front desk staff friendly. Really no noteworthy complaints at all.

Let me know if I can provide any additional details. I'll let you know as soon as my photos are available.

Happy B-day to all the Virgo Chicks this month! :-)

Hi Hip,
Plinios is a sweet little spot, it used to be one of "the" great places to hang out in early MA days....
With our children we take an efficiency room at CV, it works perfectly for us, we are usually on somewhat of a budget.

You've already been to the Osa haven't you? as long as you do not try to compare the Osa to MA you will enjoy it for what it is. It does has it's charms but its not off the beaten track.

Hi, hip! Happy almost b-day to my fellow virgo! Yep, we are going to Boston for my b-day. We decided it was time to see some of our own country. We're also going to Nantucket for a night.

You know me, I already have us booked everywhere and doing loads of activities. We're going to go sailing, go to a Red Sox game, go whale watching, and go see Shear Madness. I also plan to hit the North End for yummy Italian food and pizza and some fresh seafood. No casados, but I think we'll still have fun!

Hey hipvirgochick,

In Manuel Antonio I've stayed in both Costa Verde and Villas Nicolas. I loved them both... different experiences. Costa Verde is where we saw TONS of squirrel monkeys (the little ones). They were running around in the trees, across utility lines, and seemed especially present around sunset. So even if you don't stay at Costa Verde, go have a drink at the Anaconda restaurant there before dinner and you're bound to see them. We did not stay at CV II -- I wanted A/C and only the other buildings have A/C (if you get a studio plus). The rooms were beautiful, spacious, great balcony, beautiful pool, etc.

Villas Nicolas was also beautiful, and had a smaller, more intimate feel to it. It also has a nice pool. The room we got had a separate living room area, kitchen, and was decorated beautifully. But the best part was the balcony -- it was big, had a table and chairs, a hammock, and an unbeatable view. Both of these hotels are within walking distance to restaurants, and I totally recommend both of them.

Carol

cm -- Thanks for giving me more details on Hotel Cal. It looks like Hotel Cal, Costa Verde and Villa Nicolas are coming in around the same price for that time period so the deciding factor might be the pool area. :) I really don't care about the hair dryer thing because I just put my hair in a pony. ;)

faithie -- I'll probably call Plinios today as I haven't heard back via e-mail. Will definitely want a/c in March. Glad to hear the efficiency's are good at Costa Verde (can't remember if they have a/c, I'll double check). Some reviews talked about the danger of even standing on the road to catch the bus. Is it that bad?

vgirl -- Sounds like you will have a ton of fun in Boston and hopefully, you'll have gorgeous weather. Have a great time!

carolm -- Thank you for your personal review of CV and VN. I think you probably had better rooms than I will get (because I'll probably go for the "budget" rooms) but you helped me better envision the grounds and surroundings.

Thank you all!

Villas Nicolas is really sweet, pretty and intimate. The efficiences do have ac. We find CV great with kids, the little oval pool up in the A-Unit area is really sweet. No-one knows its there so we usually have it to ourselves. We uses the buses a few times a day, we stand off on the side of the road... not on it, lol!!!!
Between Plinios and CV I would go for CV, closer to park, great view of park. Ask for a Efficiency Room in D0-Unit(one with a view is 2 or 4 I believe). BUT, its across the road and up some steps to pool and restaurant. Bonus here is that you have a balcony with a fab view of the punta catedral.

D-Unit....