tyler

Has anyone stayed at the following places? If so, I would appreciate your thoughts. We are traveling as a family of four (two teenage girls) and are looking for lodging options with two separate bedrooms.

Thanks.

Gumbo Limbo in Santa Teresa

Lizards and Leaves in Fortuna

Arco Iris in Monteverde

Tulemar Bungalows in Manuel Antonio

Costa Verde in Manuel Antonio.

Any thoughts are greatly apreciated.

Enchanting_girl

I´ve never stayed in Gumbo Limbo in Santa Teresa, however I´ve been to Santa Teresa a couple times and always stay at Tropico Latino (www.hoteltropicolatino.com), I really like the hotel, the service and their restaurant. I think here you can be able to find accommodation with two bedrooms.
Regarding the other areas, I´ve heard that Tulemar Bungalows is really nice, but I haven´t experience it myself.
Hope this helps!

Pat_Hewitt

Hi Tyler,

I like the direction you are going with this.

Please "read between the lines" below.

Gumbo Limbo in Santa Teresa
Don't know this place either. But I also really like the Tropico Latino. Great restaurant, and they even have a little two bedroom house.

Lizards and Leaves in Fortuna
This place gets really good reviews. One caveat here though is the distant location. We handled a trip for some clients, that had booked this portion directly. They said the hotel was nice enough, but that it was a half hour from La Fortuna. So every trip into town required careful planning. You are a half hour from restaurants and hot springs. You really should have a car and are adding an hour (round trip) to every activity. Plus, the tour companies all charged extra for the distant pick up. I hate to hit the negative so hard. But it is an important detail. But as I said, the hotel itself gets good reviews.

Arco Iris in Monteverde
Fun place owned by a German expat. More basic that some other hotels in the area. For example, there are no phones in the rooms. But it is in a beautiful setting, just a few hundred yards walk from downtown Santa Elena. Good breakfast (additional charge), and extremely clean.

Tulemar Bungalows in Manuel Antonio
Great value. The bungalows have two beds in the bedroom, and a trundle (two singles) in the living room. So you get your two private sleeping areas. The real star here is the private beach and woods on site. Lots of monkeys. The property is 33 acres, so they have a shuttle to move you around the property.

Here are videos I shot at Tulemar / Buena Vista last month:

Beach video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2KnhAPI5CM
Monkey video: http://www.youtube.com/user/CostaTra.../2/sqrFRlXotSw

Costa Verde in Manuel Antonio.
An extremely good value. Great views from the rooms that are higher up on the price scale. The beach access is not as easy as the web site would leave you to believe. But that is my worst complaint. I have a group of guys that I send to fish in Quepos every year, and this is the only place they will stay.

When are you going? There are other hotels available in all of these areas. My recommendations would change, depending on the season. There are lots of specials available right now too.

Hope this helps! Let me know if I can offer more advice.

Warm Regards,

Pat Hewitt
Travel professional

volcanogirl

In the Arenal area, we love the Lost Iguana, and they run some great specials. You might check out Silencio del Campo too.

We also like Fonda Vela in Monteverde.

As stated above, Tulemar always gets good reviews.

qwovadis

Personally have stayed at www.tulemar.com Villa Mot Mot

was great private beach also have personally satayed at

www.costaverde.com VV2 the penthouse it was also great.

In Arenal www.tabacon.com my fav best FREE hot springs

www.royalcorin.com is new more modern they have some

great 2 bedroom suites with Jacuzzis Plasma TVs spa great food

Leaves and Lizards more rustic gave it a pass

fondavela.com Sapo Dorado and hotelbelmar.net all good

in MV from personal experience

hotelcasachameleon.com my fav in ST or moanalodge.com

ylangylangresort.com in nearby Montezuma.

Keep in mind a lot of the all positive reviews on

Tripadvertizer are owner culled censored hence rankings flawed

I only believe mixed to bad reviews the all good all fake

Look to hotel booking site for honest reviews from recent

guests booking.com hotels.com sidestep.com etc.

volcanogirl

gwo, have you stayed at Casa Chameleon? I have been eyeing that one for years - looks amazing.

tyler

Thanks for all of your great replies. For the two bedroom house at Tropicano, is it close to the beach? Are the complaints about noise at night overblown?

Pat, we will be traveling next June/July.

Enchanting_girl

Tyler,
the hotel is in front of the beach, the pool, spa, yoga deck, massage room and restaurant have great views along with the beach front roomd but I am not sure about the house being part of the beach front accommodations.
About the noise, the times I´ve been there I never had a problem with noise.
Hope this helps!

MichelleY

We loved our stay at Costa Verde. Costa Verde II is even nicer, but for adults only. Your teens may not be old enough to stay there.

MY

tully

I really enjoyed Costa Verde, the Studio Plus rooms being the nicest as they have the best views. Nice spread out property with 2 restaurants (one by reception & La Cantina across the street), plus the Avion up the road as well. The Studio Plus rooms though do not have separate bedrooms but I know they also have a couple of small houses/bungalows as well, not sure if they have the same great view. Haven't stayed at Tulemar but it gets good mentions here a lot at fodors.

Sorry to get Off topic, but since it is mentioned in this thread....I'd like to point out that, contrary to qwo's accusations, my review over at Trip Advisor on Costa Verde (as well as many others written since) which was written over 6-7 years ago was indeed MY review and was indeed a true review. I also recently wrote a negative review of a hotel (ironically of one he often says "best for me") and it was also posted and no it was not censored. I know several owners of hotels/lodges and trust me, when they get a poor or bad review, they fret over it just like any business owner would, because they do NOT have a way to "cull" bad reviews and have absolutely no say over them - other than to write a management response. Also, qwo recently accused all Destination Experts of being shills and tour operators. I'd like to point out that for me personally I have posting here at fodor's for almost 8 years and at TA for 6 years and no, am not a tout, simply a traveler who likes to post answers to questions that I have personal experience with (of course, anyone can use google obsessively and pass it off experience but that's not really very helpful is it?).

aliciagab56

I agree with Tully above about Trip Advisor reviews. I used it for planning both my most recent trip to Costa Rica and last year's trip to Mexico. All the information I gathered seemed right on, and my reviews were posted as I wrote them and are still available.

We stayed at Cerro Azul in La Fortuna and thought it was great. It's very close to the waterfalls and only 5 minutes from town. It is simple but very clean and owned by a local family that takes great pride in the four cabins located on 28 acres. Alvaro and his wife offer a great breakfast and are very helpful when planning day trips. They recommended and set up a white water rafting trip for my husband, myself and two sons (ages 21 and 15) with Agua Brava. The rafting trip was one of the highlights of our vacation. Also loads of tour buses let off tourists at Tabacan (mentioned above) for its hot springs. Didn't visit it though so I don't have first hand experience. Good luck and enjoy.