I have read the reviews on trip advisor but am wondering if any fodorites (is that a word?) have stayed there and what they thought. any Montezuma thoughts in general also appreciated.

We're staying there in February, so I'd kinda interested in this too.

I stayed at Ylang Ylang's sister hotel, El Sano Banano, in town and we had access to the pool at Ylang Ylang. The grounds and pool were very nice. Just keep in mind that Ylang Ylang is a 15 minute walk along the beach from town (no road). Montezuma itself is a small, quaint town. Great restaurants there. It's one of my favorite places in Costa Rica

Just got back from Ylang Ylang. Stayed for 4 nights Dec 25 through 29. Absolutely loved it. I've stayed at El Jardin in town which is also great if you can get a room high up on the hill, and much cheaper, at $85-95. However, if you can afford Ylang Ylang, I can't recommend it enough. Beautiful grounds, awesome setting, lots of wildlife right outside your cabin (and sometimes inside!) that you wouldn't otherwise see in
town. I stayed in both Dome 5 and Dome 2.

I wouldn't recommend the jungalows, because even though they are cheaper, the domes are very very nice. I'd particularly recommend Dome 2 - beach right in front, sun on the patio, beautiful. I've read some people complain about the wave noise at night, but I didn't have any issues sleeping. Howler Monkeys are louder anyways and will get you up at 6am, right when you want to. Nature's alarm clock. I still can't believe people complain about waves being too loud...

The food is absolutely terrific as well. I'm a vegetarian and I found it great, and my wife had a tuna steak and loved it.

Free internet at the reception desk, 10 min walk from town on a large central american beach, no road, no honking... I could go on and on.

GO!

I took a few shots of the cabin:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/1489165...7603617213687/

What a great review for Ylang Ylang--I've got renewed interest in Montezuma (again!).

While there, karenlf, make time to visit the Montezuma falls and also the Cabo Blanco Reserve (used to be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, probably still the same). Start early in the day if you plan to do the full hike--it's strenuous. Take water and a bit of a snack for your arrival at the beach! It's about 2 hours to the beach (over a ridge) one way. Once there, there is water and showers. Lots of wildlife en route, so it is a great activity for those who are at least a little fit. We were about 50 when we did it, average to good shape--we lived!

Also, there is a shorter loop if you decide you don't want to spend so much of the day hiking. We loved it, though.

shillmac - remind me how far from Santa Teresa to Cabo Blanco?

Also, if I were to take a taxi to Montezuma and just spend a couple hours there, can I walk down to the Ylang Ylang beach, or are there nice ones closer to town? Other than the waterfall, anything else I should definitely try to get to?

Hi Tully,
Plan to spend more than a couple of hours in Montezuma--at least allow time for lunch or dinner. There are some decent beaches right there in town. You like horseback, so you might be interested in that. I haven't ever done the walk to Ylang Ylang (since never stayed there), but I did overhear a group of people talking about a great beach called Playa Grande (different Playa Grande) that they thought was really nice. Not sure how far the walk. We had Isa with us, she was just a baby, so we left that for another visit. You don't need to hike to a more distant beach, though, to enjoy some beach time while there. The falls are a short distance out of town. You might consider arranging for a pick-up from your taxi driver after an hour or two at the falls.

At that time, the little shortcut road that connects Malpais (Ste. Teresa north of MP) to Cabuya (the little town where Cabo Blanco is located) was just WAY narrow, one lane, and generally horrible. So to get there, one had to do the 45 min. or so drive to Montezuma through Cobano, then from there the 7km to Cabuya. Check the map, you'll see what I mean.

However, since then someone (surfexec, I think) says that road has been improved and has opened up to the general public, which makes getting to Cabuya very convenient (not necessary to backtrack through Cobano and Montezuma) and very much a time saver.

Spent a lot of time on Playa Grande (some pictures in my link above). Beautiful beach. The "ylang ylang" beach is just the end of the large Montezuma beach, which starts on the east end of town (at the end of the small driveway leading from the bakery cafe).

Playa Grande is east beyond that. It's not a bad walk, good paths, about 30 mins maybe. At the end of the 15 minute walk from town past ylang ylang, you take a 200m path through the woods to the next cove where a stream runs through the middle of the small beach. After that small 500m beach, it's another 200m path to another cove, which is very rocky (no beach) and about 500m long too. One more 200m path and then you are there. It is very much worth it, very few people usually on Playa Grande - during weekdays in less busy times (ie. not around xmas), you'll have the 5km stretch almost to yourself. I even had it to myself in the mornings during christmas break, save a couple surfers. Beautiful spot.

The road to cabo blanco wasn't bad over the holidays - it only took our cab about 15-20 mins to get there, and although I wasn't driving, it didn't seem very rough (I found the cobano->montezuma stretch rougher).

Sorry - 1 more note. I also took the road from cabuya to mal pais on an ATV, and I found that challenging. Can't imagine doing it with a car, but that said, locals were driving right by me in large SUVs.

If they were driving by you, then that's an improvement. At one time, there wouldn't have been room!

I agree, that road between Cobano and Montezuma (at least 2 years ago) was one of the worst we have ever been on in the entire country--much worse than the road to Monteverde which gets so much comment.

Very comparable (that Cobano-Montezuma stretch) to the Paquera-Naranjo stretch at the ferry landing.