Highly Recommended

Guest: Phil (Michigan, USA)
Date of Stay: 07/15/11 Review Submitted: 08/06/11

I decided to rent a house for my second visit to CR, and this one served as an excellent base for our travels in the country. Atenas is a great central location, and much of the western part of the country is within a 3 hour drive. We had experienced a terrible travel day on the way down, complete with late flights and a lost rental car reservation because of our lateness. The property manager helped the airline couriers guide our luggage (which was late too) to the house, and the property helped to melt away the rest of the stress from that day. The property manager lives just down the street, and was available for advice and help, which definitely improved our stay. The area is very safe, and has a nice mix of locals and expats alike. Driving in unfamiliar areas at night can be stressful, so the town of Atenas (10 minutes away) proved to be a great place to hang out in the evenings after our day trips. The house does look even better in person, and it was a great place to just relax with the light breezes coming through the windows...and that's saying something, because there are so many other enticing locations to go to when you have a car at your disposal.

Recommended for:Girls getaway, families with teenagers, adventure seekers, romantic getaway, age 55+, tourists without a car, sightseeing, families with young children.

Atenas home

Guest: Linda (Indiana)
Date of Stay: 07/03/11 Review Submitted: 07/25/11

We stayed in this home for just one week, and would have loved to stay another week. The pool is absolultely great, but would suggest either a rail, or swim shoes when going down the steps. I wore my swimshoes and they worked great. The house is very roomy and comfortable, and Aad the manager is very gracious. He even agreed to pick us up at SJO due to a last minute change in plans. We would not hesitate to stay here again. My husband and our son-in-law got to see two toucans fly into one of the trees for a few seconds. Gil the owner was great to work with, and my relatives from Palmares had no trouble finding the house. I would give this a 5 star rating.

Recommended for:Girls getaway, families with teenagers, adventure seekers, romantic getaway, age 55+, people with disabilities, sightseeing, families with young children.

A Get-Away Far Beyond My Expectations!

Guest: Sheri (NYC, NY/USA)
Date of Stay: 03/14/11 Review Submitted: 05/01/11

Life in the busiest city in the western world; work at the busiest retail store in the western world and all I wanted was a perfect get-away from it all. My friend and I rented this wonderful house in a beautiful mountain area of an unforgettable country with some information as to what to expect. It couldn't have been better!!! I like surprises and upon landing at San Jose's welcoming airport, I felt immediately at ease. Even the Immigration Officer inspecting my passport couldn't have been nicer. So nice, that he gave me detailed information as to how and where to change money, and the best way to get a safe and affordable taxi to our 30 minute away destination. We found many pepople spoke some English, but as I am fluent in Spanish, I preferred speaking the language of the country in which I was a visitor. The driver even called the Caretakers expecting us at this lovely home..soon to be ours for 1 week to verify the exact location. As we pulled into the beautiful, well-maintained gated drive, Adrian and Marian introduced themselves with ready smiles. They live just down the road, having relocated to Costa Rica about 3 years ago. Between guests, they oversee the house we rented and made us feel welcome and at home in minutes. The house is lovely, comfortable and beautifully situated in the hillside. We had a non-stop soundtrack of birds throughout our stay, along with exquisite sunsets, welcoming sunrises, and lucky us....a full moon the week we were there! The beds were super-comfy; closets galore and perfect size bathrooms. The kitchen was fun and easy to use; we didn't entertain during our stay, but definitely could have. The swimming pool is the right size, with landscaping all around that just delights the senses. The short ride into the charming town of Atenas was easy...we just called the charming and polite taxi driver whose card we got the first night we used his services, and he was available to us within minutes.The local sights are enchanting, the people charming and easy to talk to. Local restaurants made eating out fun and reasonable, with convenient supermarkets just right for stocking up on what we needed to have in the fridge. Although it was just the two of us staying this time, one can imagine a family or 2 couples sharing the space and having plenty of privacy and room to spare. The BEST thing I can write, is that I can't wait to go back and fit right in... all over again!

Recommended for:Girls getaway, adventure seekers, romantic getaway, age 55+, people with disabilities, sightseeing, families with young children.

First Time In Costa Rica

Guest: Elliot (Long Island)
Date of Stay: 03/25/10 Review Submitted: 09/10/10

We had a wonderful vacation here so I logged on to homeaway.com today to find another destination. I decided I should write a review. My wife and 23 year old daughter stayed a week in March. We really have no complaints. The pictures are OK but I was surprised to find the house even nicer than I expected. The landscaping is beautiful which you don’t really see in the pictures. You can tell the owner takes pride in the property. The caretakers are a European couple that retired to Costa Rica. Besides making sure the house and pool were maintained they were helpful in suggesting restaurants and other things to do. We drove to the rainforest where we had a great day and of course it did rain. We drove to the Pacific coast for a day of swimming. It was much hotter on the coast and a relief to return to the central highlands. The weather at the house was perfect. Always cool at night and it doesn’t rain in the dry season. By the way, the roads are not so well marked so expect to take longer getting to a destination than you might expect. We brought our Garmin GPS with a CR map but even that made some mistakes. Taking little detours was fun though. We all slept well on the beds in the house. When we got home my wife complained our bed was not as good as the one on our vacation. The result was an unplanned expense of a new bed. I have to agree our new bed is better. I don’t think the beds in Costa Rica were too hard. We did day trips mostly but also spent time reading and relaxing at the pool. We cooked a number of dinners from local fresh food. I was concerned my daughter would be bored but she wasn’t. Seeing parrots in the trees was more exciting than racing on a jetski. If you are looking for a relaxing time with no stress this is it.

Recommended for:Girls getaway, families with teenagers, adventure seekers, romantic getaway, age 55+, people with disabilities, pet owners, sightseeing.

Perfect vacation house – very relaxing!

Guest: Susan (Baltimore, MD USA)
Date of Stay: 07/06/10 Review Submitted: 07/29/10

The house was impeccably clean and spacious. It is a gorgeous house with tall ceilings and huge windows with breathtaking views. There was plenty of seating for our family of 5 and guests. The grounds are beautifully manicured. On our second day, the gardeners gave us mangos from the tree in the front yard. The pool was delightful, so much that I thought it was heated, but was informed by the caretakers that it was just Mother Nature’s work. The caretakers, Marian and Aad, are sweet people. Their house is across the street diagonally from this house. Since they are so close, they are always available if we needed anything. Gil has made many changes to the house from the previous reviews. He has plastic cups, comfortable seating, and a grill. We loved the grill. We bought charcoal from a man on a coffee farm on the way to the house. For $5 we received a huge bag of real charcoal, not briskets. The charcoal burned hot for hours and left hardly any ash – wish I had brought a bag home with me! The location is perfect. The weather is delightful and you can take a day trip to many attractions in Costa Rica – zip line, beaches, volcanoes (Poas and Arenal), and butterfly farm. If you are looking for adventure or to relax poolside, this house will be perfect for you. We are looking forward to returning again next year.

Recommended for:Families with teenagers, adventure seekers, age 55+, sightseeing, families with young children.

The best place ever in Costa Rica

Guest: Tjak (Utrecht, Netherland)
Date of Stay: 01/14/10 Review Submitted: 06/27/10

Please forgive us our English ;-) Hello, we stayed in this house last Jan (2010) Its a very beautyfull, comfortable house with a nice clean swimmingpool. The furniture is cosy, the kitchen very large and clean. Everything we needed was there. Good big beds, I have slept like a log. The view over there is amazing. you see and hear a lot of animals hummingbirds, Iguana's etc. Also a nice detail overthere are the neighbours, you don't have any haha. Just kidding, the people up hill, Aad & Marian, are very friendly and willing to advise you about what to do in the neighbourhood. Very good restaurants (ask Marian) We will come back for sure Kind regards, Tjako & Joyce from Holland

Recommended for:Families with teenagers, romantic getaway, age 55+, people with disabilities, sightseeing.

What you see is what you get . . . and nothing more

Guest: What you see is what you get (Marietta, GA)
Date of Stay: 04/10/10 Review Submitted: 05/26/10

The house is nice and does have an open floor plan, but you get what you pay for. The furniture is uncomfortable. The bed in the master BR is TOO low and the other queen bed is VERY firm (hard as a rock). All I wanted to do was relax and curl up and read a book, but there is no comfortable place to do that. You "stick" to the pleather couches (because there is no AC and even though there are fans and a breeze, sometimes it still doesn't cool down enough). You have to leave the windows open to cool off but if you leave the house you have to close them and turn off the fans to set the alarm. At night you have to leave the windows open to cool off but the night critters will keep you up so it's a catch 22. If they don't keep you up at night, they will surely get you up bright and early! The pool is nice and we enjoyed watching the birds. We got to see some parrots and a tucan. They have a nice flat screen tv, but no cable/satellite. They do have a DVD player, but they only had 2 movies, so it doesn't do you much good. Luckily, the caretakers let us borrow a few. I wouldn't call their CD's a "music library"; it is very limited, as are the books and games (scrabble, a deck of cards). So if you plan on hanging around, you better bring your own entertainment. And buy some plastic cups for the pool area. They only have glass and if you break something, be prepared to pay for it. They even give you a listing with the prices! There is only a gas stove/oven. They really should have a grill outside. The house gets too hot if you cook indoors. The roads and the drivers are crazy! They love to tailgate you and drive like maniacs. And if you get a flat tire, be careful. People may stop to "help" you, but end up stealing from you. One last comment. They should give directions to the house instead of telling you to call the caretakers from the grocery store in town. The phones don't always work and if you can't get through, you're stuck. I would not rent this house again.

Owner response:Thanks to Ms Burns' and other guests' suggestions we now provide a grill and cups for the outdoors. Also, we now provide a set of directions to the house in addition to arranging for a pick-up by our caretakers. With respect to Ms Burns' other concerns: DVDs: Our house description does not promise to provide DVDs. There are at least two shops in town that have very large selections of rental DVDs. CDs: We think the music selection is broad, including classical, Broadway and some pop. Books and games: We do not advertise a book or game library. We do have a few of each and will add more with time. Furniture: Guests have not complained before about our furniture. We and our guests have done much reading sprawled out and curled up on our couches, both indoors and out. (However, we will arrange to have a slip-cover handy for those who on't prefer leather or leather-like surfaces). As ofr the bed in the master bedroom, it is a bit lower than average (it was made as a water-bed frame) but hasn't presented a problem to 99% of our guests. Also, most people like the very firm mattress in the second bedroom for the support it affords. Closing the windows, noise and heat: Ms Burns must have misunderstood: only the bedroom windows need to be closed when the alarm is set. You do need to turn off the ceiling fans when alarming but that doesn't seem like much of a problem. The beautiful and plentiful wildlife do make sounds in the evening and the morning, so if you are looking forward to seeing birds but not hearing them, well, good luck. During April at the end of the dry season there are sometimes a few unusually hot days, and this year was a bit hotter than most. Otherwise the weather in the Central Valley, and in Atenas, in particular, is so temperate that air-conditioning is unnecessary and a rarity in homes. On driving and Costa Ricans: We haven't found Costa Rican drivers to be much different fro other drivers. Perhaps the Burns' were driving more slowly than the flow of traffic since Costa Rica is a mountainous country and they weren't used to the roads. In any case, we would like to urge all non-Costa Ricans, whatever your home country, to refrain from speaking disparagingly of Costa Ricans based on limited personal experience. Phones: We have never experienced a loss of phone service that affects both land-lines and cell phone coverage. The caretakers have both; they have not had a problem connecting with our guests before.

Recommended for:

Easter vacation

Guest: my2cents (weston,fl,usa)
Date of Stay: 04/04/09 Review Submitted: 04/20/09

Pros: Amazing view from master bedroom and dining room. Open floor plan. Nice private pool Caretakers were wonderful people. Place was clean and well maintained. Price of the rental was reasonable. Cons: First night we arrived there were flying ants everywhere until we got the caretaker to spay. Every day we lost the water in the house for several hours. Even with all of the windows open the breeze did not blow through the house. The fan over the kitchen table had only one setting (high). In my opionion the house needs A/C. No reading lights were available. The overhead light in the 2nd bedroom was extremely dim The walk into the pool was very slippery and there are no hand rails. Living room furniture was not comfortable. One of the wicker rocking chairs was coming apart. Master bed was too low.

Owner response:While we appreciate the positive comments of this review and the helpful suggestions, we find the tone, the overall rating and some of the fault-finding unfair. As for the helpful suggestions: we replaced the fan over the kitchen table with a three speed ventilator, and we replaced the bulb in the overhead light of the second bedroom. Regarding the other complaints, there are reading lamps in both bedrooms; the water supply does pose a problem for part of the day at the end of the dry season for all the houses in our community, (this was not a problem specific to our house, as the caretakers must have mentioned); houses in our region generally do not possess air-conditioning since mornings, evenings and nights are cool though on the hottest days there may be a period during the day when the circulating fans do not cool the house sufficiently for comfort, (there is the pool to cool off in); no other party who has rented the house, of the over forty we have had, complained about the walk into the pool or the absence of handrails (this group did contain an elderly disabled person for whom we attached rails for the toilet and the shower, but could not for the pool entrance), or complained about the height of the master bedroom bed, or the living room furniture. Our wonderful caretakers tell us that, overwhelmingly, guests love our house. The number of people who have come back for a second and third vacation attest to that.

Recommended for:Families with teenagers.