This smaller hotel offers an intimate and charming style that blends in perfectly with the Guanacaste Pacific Coast. Hotel Playa Hermosa has recently been renovated, making this boutique hotel a great choice for people looking to stay in front of a beautiful beach, without having to deal with the hussel and bustle of a large beach town like Manuel Antonio, Jaco Beach, or Tamarindo Beach.

In total, they offer 20 Junior Suites with two queen beds, a nice sitting area, a patio or porch, as well as the must haves such as A.C, cable T.V, and hot water. If you would like to pamper yourself a little, you can stay in one of their twelve new Deluxe rooms with unbelievable Ocean view rooms. Six of them even include your very own Jacuzzi in front of the beach.

Another great asset for this beach is the location. If you fly into Liberia airport, you will only be looking at a thirty minute drive. Of course, if you fly into San Jose, like most people do, you will need to drive closer to four and a half hours to get there. Once you arrive at this charming boutique hotel, you will get pampered by the wonderful service offered by both the owner personally and the wonderful staff at Playa Hermosa Hotel.

There are many hotel options in Montezuma, however, a lot of them are either grossly overprices, or very budget and uncomfortable. El Jardin Hotel in Montezuma is one of the only hotel options under their category. It is situated on a hill and overlooks the town. You can see spots of the ocean from certain places, but it is not an ocean view hotel. They recently renovated their pool area, which is quite nice.

The hotel owners are also very helpful and kind. The most important part, the rooms, are very clean, and the beds are quite comfortable. The grounds are absolutely beautiful, with lots of colorful flowers everywhere. I must have spent about an hour just taking pictures of all the flowers during my stay at El Jardin. The town itself is very electric and artsy. You have lots of shops to choose from, as well as delicious restaurants.

Getting to Monteverde will be the hardest part, as you will need to hope on a ferry from either Jaco or Puntarenas. It is best to book your transportation ahead of time prior to traveling to Montezuma, Costa Rica, or any of the surrounding beaches like Mal Pais or Tambor.

This hotel is a prototypical Costa Rican hotel on the budget side of life. The kitchen area was quit dirty, dishes all over the place, open windows allowing the vivid jungle life access to the kitchen area. The rooms had outdated sofas, although a few of the nicer rooms did have new couches. Not my idea of the ideal place during a trip to Costa Rica.

The set up is like a motel, but made of wood and tucked away in the jungle, although it does not escape from the loud noises coming from the street. In arriving to the hotel, I had to wait almost 5 minutes for someone to show up at the front desk. I guess the people running the hotel are very trusting and don´t mind leaving strangers alone in the reception area.

As mentioned, the pool area is quite nice, and was more of what I was expecting when going to do the hotel inspection. The location is OK for those who don´t have a car, as it is located close to the city center of Quepos. The big draw back of the hotel is that there are no views of the amazing Pacific Ocean, as well as the fact that you can not walk to the beach or the park from your hotel. So in the end, with all of the extra taxi

Of course, the principle reason people come to Arenal is to see the amazing Arenal volcano. One of the downsides to staying at Hotel San Bosco in Arenal is that you do not have a view of the volcano from your room. You can catch a peak of the volcano from the pool area, but it is not the same as other hotels in the area such as Montana de Fuego or Volcano Lodge. Another plus of this hotel is that it is one of the most affordable options that still includes air conditioning and cable t.v.

If you are travelling during peak season, there is a good chance this hotel will still have space as they do not market their property very well. Hotel San Bosco in Arenal has 34 rooms, each room includes air conditioning, cable TV and hot water. Some highlights of this hotel include a swimming pool, two hot tubs (with actual hot water which is rare in Costa Rica), a tour desk and free internet (wireless available).

EXT Hotel Rating

Overall 3/5
Value 4/5
Luxury 2/5
Cleanliness 4/5
Amenities 3/5
Location 3/5
Romance 1/5
Family 3/5

The street located in front of the Balmoral hotel is for pedestrians only, and is packed pretty much all day. Located across from the Balmoral hotel in San Jose is the renowned Hotel Presidente, its four star counter part, and much pricier option. The Balmoral Hotel offers a gym, however, when touring the hotel I was greatly disappointing with the low standard of the equipment and the size of the room that they called a gym.

Driving to Hotel Balmoral can be a little tricky as well, due to the driving conditions in the Central Valley. The parking area is also hard to find, as the main entrance only has space for a few cars. The lobby area in the hotel is average at best, as they are in desperate need of changing their carpet. But these small details can easily be disregarded when you see the affordable prices offered by the Hotel Balmoral. The nightly entertainment and lively atmosphere also make this one the hottest spots in all of San Jose. The location also can’t be beat, as you are but a few steps away from the National Museum, Avenida Central and the Gold Museum.

Staying a few nights in the charming jungle hotel, with the Almonds trees and Chorales, will help you take relaxing to a whole new level. There are very few hotels in Costa Rica that can offer you true luxury, and a pure Eco experience at the same time. If you want to stay here, get re4ady to spend a little money. Almonds and Corals is a one of a kind, and it also charges as such. The hotel consists of 25 rooms that are located between giant trees in a forest so dense that the light rays from the beaming sun are almost unable to reach your room window, let alone the ground. The rooms have be elevated from the ground to ensure you do not experience any unpleasant flooding.

Esquinas Lodge is the ideal choice for those looking for a pure Eco hotel that offers nothing more that the natural wonders of the Costa Rican rainforest. It is located near San Isodro de General. It is not located close to a beach, so make sure you want to explore the forest not suntan when staying here. The isolation of Esquinas Rainforest Lodge ensures you really feel like you’ve escaped someplace that is as far away from home as possible.

It is a quick 45 minutes drive to your hotel if you are flying into Liberia (about 4.5 hours if you are landing into San Jose). Giardini di Papagayo is located directly on the beach, which is a dark sand beach. I was able to clearly hear the sounds of crashing waves from my room while I laid in bed. This was not the case while I stayed at other all inclusive hotels like the Hilton Puntarenas or Barcelo Langosta.

There is a little bit of a rustic vibe at the Giardini di Papagoyo. The pool areas are simple and basic, and serve their purpose of refreshing you after spending a few hours under the hot sun. The pools however, are not the type of pools where you would like to spend the entire day next to.

The meal plan at Giardini de Papagayo is one of the reasons they are able to offer much lower prices than their competitors. They consider themselves all inclusive because all the meals are included, however, they only serve 3 meals a day, at specific times, and they are served on plates, not buffet style. I was never hungry during my stay, however, I like to go over the top when I stay at an all inclusive resort, and this was not possible here. All in all, I would only recommend staying here if budget is an important issue in your travel plans, yet you still want unlimited alcoholic drinks and all meals included.

Playa Panama itself has darker sand, and small waves. There is not good surfing in the area unless you take a boat across to Witch’s Rock, one of the country’s best surfing spots.

I decided to do some surfing instead and was thrilled with the quality of the waves. This hotel is located just 25 minutes from Tambor, the area’s most popular destination. The main reason so few people travel here is the location. We had to take a ferry across in Punterenas, and the wait was over two hours. We were told space is not guaranteed, and that we were lucky to get on. We would have been better to fly in to Tambor. Once you arrive though, you really feel as though you are in a real tropical paradise. The hard access is just what makes this place so special. There are very few travel packages to Costa Rica that offer this as a possible destination. I highly recommend it.