Cottage Style Beach House-Large Private Pool-local cell phone use included

The house is located in a small community. There are houses next door and across the street and there is a hospital right down the road. Not much noise though.

Rent a 4 x 4. Nothing is close and you’ll be going over mountains. Plan on two plus hours each way to go see or do something.

The house is located directly on the beach and it is a very short walk across a large lawn.

The pool is wonderful. The temperature was always perfect. The patio has an amazing barbecue that we used every night. There are plenty of lounge chairs for everyone but only one cushion. The chairs are hard without any cushioning.

The house is old and a little dated. The conditioning worked. Bring one or two power strips and a small extension cord. The outlets are few and far between. The beds and pillows were not comfortable.

There are security cameras inside and outside of the home for insurance purposes. Still

There are multiple keys for the home. One for each bedroom, one for the front door and two for the pedestrian gate. If there are multiple people in your party that are coming and going at different times it does make things hard with all the keys.

The kitchen was fully stocked and had everything you could possibly need. The dining area has plenty of room for everyone. It does get hot in there in the late afternoon early evening. So we usually ate outdoors where there was normally a breeze.

There is a living room upstairs that has two couches, a huge coffee table and a small TV. We never used it because it was right off of someone’s bedroom and it felt weird everybody hanging out if people were in the bedroom.

The caretakers, Bernie and Ronald are wonderful people. When we arrived they took us to the grocery store, the meat market, the fruit market, and the fish market. Bernie made breakfast everyday for all of us. It didn’t matter what we asked for she could make it. We had Bernie make dinner most nights and the food was absolutely incredible.

If you need anything such as making arrangements to go fishing, tours, etc., talk to Bernie and Ronald first. They never led us astray in the people.

At the end of the day we have had a wonderful vacation and we would recommend it to people and if we ever wanted to come back to Costa Rica we would come here.

Arrival into San Jose and immigration was smooth and easy. Taxi to Oceano took approx 1 hour . The beach house is clean comfortable relaxing and accommodating. The onsite couple Bernie and Ronald are amazingly accommodating,helpful and very pleasant. Lovely people who had great suggestions for restaurants directions and markets. Owners were available via phone call as needed. We got lost one day and Karin assisted the taxi driver in getting us to our destination. Great to have the house cell phone to carry for that very reason. The mattress s are comfortable and rooms very clean. Kitchen is well equipped. The outdoor cooking area was wonderful to use for everything. Charcoal or wood base. Cleaned after every use. Pool is well maintained and nice loungers. No cushions for the wood loungers which was uncomfortable after about day 3 but if u purchase or bring blow up floating mattress use those. Hammocks in the palms is lovely quiet and a nice breeze off the ocean. We did swim in the ocean but the waves can be a challenge. We got to know how to manage the waves and swam regularly. Walking the beach, hearing and smelling the ocean is therapeutic and does not disappoint. This location is close to many national parks,shopping areas,markets with easy access to local buses. Transportation is easy to figure out and very cheap. Taxis are cost effective. We used a local guy Chico's tours. Very good English and reasonable cost. Very accommodating. Find him on line Highly recommend this place as a family/group vacation. Spacious enough for comfort for everyone. Owners are accommodating and on site managers are more than accommodating. Would do this again without question. Give it a try. It will not disappoint

We loved our time at Rupi and Karin’s house! Rupi and Karin were great all throughout the process of renting the house and preparing to arrive. They met us at the house, and waited patiently for us despite our delayed arrival. It was so nice to meet them in person! We’ve missed our time there so much since our return! This was the 3rd visit to Costa Rica for my immediate family, and the 2nd for my parents and my brother’s family. Everyone said this was the best house yet. The set up was perfect for our family of 11. There were 2 bedrooms we didn’t even use. Everyone had their own space, yet there was plenty of area for us all to hang out together. We completely enjoyed the patio/pool/grill area. One of the best parts of our trip was Ronald and Bernie. They felt like family! We asked Bernie to cook dinner for us twice. She is an excellent cook, and amazing at having no mess as she cooked. Ronald got pipas from the tree for us and cut them open for us to drink, and then later opened them for us to eat. So good!!!! He went with us to the fish market to make sure we got a fair price. That was a fun experience! My brother and I love to work on our Spanish when in Central America, and Ronald and Bernie were patient to let us converse with them in Spanish. We had some very enjoyable (and sometimes funny due to our incorrect usage) conversations. We learned some new words/information and truly loved it! I should mention too that the yard between the house and the beach was awesome. That’s where the fresh pipas grew, and Ronald would hang hammocks for us every morning. It was so peacefully perfect!! There was plenty of space for us to “play”. One of the reasons I love Costa Rica so much is that it feels like home. I don’t mean that it reminds me of where I live...it’s absolutely different. What I mean is that when we get there it feels like we’ve come home. This house/property had the “I’m home” feel more than anywhere we’ve ever been. Highly recommended! Really wishing we had never left! Can’t wait to be back! Thank you so much Karin and Rupi, and Ronald and Bernie!

Our family of 7 stayed in this beach house right at the transition between the rainy and dry season (Nov 4 - 11). Our weather was perfect - it rained mostly at night. The backyard was gorgeous with palm trees and a pool with a waterfall. The ocean was a few steps through this gorgeous backyard. We spent most of our time on the back patio since it was quite hot and humid, and the main part of the house did not have air conditioning.

All the bed rooms had window units which made sleeping very comfortable. The beds were good. There were no blankets on the beds, but you didn't really need them unless you had the AC up too high. The main house has three bedrooms. The king bed is upstairs next to the media room. The two downstairs rooms have two single beds. The other 4 rooms are only accessed from the outside and all have queens. The showers were spacious but the shower heads were a bit tricky. If you get a cold shower at first, you just need to move the nob on the head to the right to get hot water.

The kitchen was very nice and had all the things you needed for making meals. There was even a griddle which we used for making quesadillas and pancakes. The gas oven was excellent and the two refrigerators were handy. We used all the tables in the dining room to eat and play games. Karin and Rupi had the Great Dalmuti card game. The media room had comfortable couches and a 32" flat tv which we were able to connect to our WII U. The internet speed was excellent and Rupi made a special trip to replace the router after an electrical storm took it out.

The caretakers, Ronald and Bernie, were the best part of the house. They were so gracious and kind to us. We enjoyed practicing our Spanish on them and Bernie made two delicious meals. We weren't able to get some of the ingredients for her, but she managed to get them while we were out. Ronald was available at all times for anything we needed. We used the washer which was new and modern. The dogs Macha and Sami were wonderful. We all fell in love with these sweet, friendly, well behaved dogs.

Though the house is older with simple features and decor, it was very clean and well maintained. The owners have thought of many details to make their guests comfortable and are very attentive to the needs of their renters. The caretakers were wonderful and recommended an amazing tour guide who we really appreciated. I highly recommend this house and location.

We had 3 couples with 5 kids and there was more than enough room. As soon as we arrived, the kids were in the pool, and throughout the entire week it was hard to get them out! After Ronald put up the volleyball net, it was hard to get the adults out of the pool as well! It is just a short walk across the lawn to the beach. It is a black sand beach, so it is not the most picturesque, but the water felt so good and we had a terrific time. We went on 3 days of excursions, and we highly recommend Chico, the guy that Ronald will suggest you use. Every driver/guide who we toured with was professional and highly knowledgeable. We learned so much--especially on the Monteverde tour with Christian.

We only went to one restaurant in town because we had the best cook around in Bernie! Whatever you do, don't miss her cooking! She makes wonderful food, and I would take a meal at the house cooked by Bernie and eaten at our leisure before a restaurant any day. And maybe I shouldn't tell you this, but she cleans it all up too! Bernie is an absolute sweetheart and we all fell in love with her. She made french toast and omelettes, guacamole and pico de gallo, Costa Rican pork chops and lasagna (oh, that lasagna was soooo good!). Be sure to have her make a tres leches cake. Oh my. Heaven.

As far as day trips, I would definitely recommend the Monteverde zip line (through Selvatura, I believe). 2 hours of zip-lining for just $50 ($35 for the kids, age 4-12) was a steal. And our guides knew the perfect restaurant to take us to afterwards. Of course, the monkeys just a few minutes away are a MUST. What an experience! We also thought the crocodile/birds tour was great as well. I didn't think the Tortuga Island day was that fantastic, but the rest of the family seemed to enjoy it quite a bit, and we did get to see dolphins and turtles along the way. We also enjoyed walking down the beach and out onto the pier at the Doubletree Hilton. Bring your deet, though. Lots and lots of mosquitoes in this part of Costa Rica.

As other reviews have already stated, the showers were plenty warm (mine was almost too hot upstairs), the air conditioners in each room worked great, and the caretakers, Ronald and Bernie, were great people. Whenever I emailed questions (which I did a lot, sorry Karin), the owners responded quickly and with detail. They were terrific to work with. I would highly recommend this house to any and all interested in an authentic Costa Rican experience!