Verified review
4/10 Poor
Robyn
Jun 2, 2026
Liked: Cleanliness
Disliked: Check-in, listing accuracy
The property was in a nice family neighborhood, with friendly helpful neighbors, and a gorgeous view that was accurate as shown in the photos. We loved El Castillo overall.
The host advertised this via Expedia as "Entire place - You'll have the entire home to yourself and will only share it with other guests in your party" and that is what I expected we were reserving and paying for. We got there and found it was 2 separate studio rentals on levels 1 and 2 of the house. The landlady was nice enough to let us choose one, but we would not have reserved this if it were 2 units.
The landlady was responsive. Some of what she said was wrong. She said "there are no mosquitoes at the home" (we had many the first night) and that "Malaria is only in Africa" (Alajuela province had a Malaria prophylaxis warning - luckily we brought meds). She said her onsite host would meet us but we could not reach the onsite host due to phone service issues. The home was almost impossible for taxis or shuttles to find. We had to ask people on the street where the house was. The local people were the best thing about El Castillo.
Finally although the setting is tranquil- the next door neighbors let their dogs out late at night and they formed a pack with other dogs that howled and we heard terrible noise like they were killing some animal (they probably were). This was AWFUL, went on for a long time and earplugs and headphones. We thought others should know.
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2026