Casa Mirage, Fabulous Oceanfront Location in Playa Grande, Kid Friendly

Mi familia disfrutó de una estancia espectacular en Casa Mirage. la casa cuenta con todas las comodidades, una espectacular vista al mar y una atención excelente por parte de las personas a cargo, Marianela, Urbano, Kimberly y su esposo. Altamente recomendada

Our group of three families has been doing a tropical trip in February for about 10 years. This is, hands down, the nicest house we've stayed at in. the layout of the house is ideal--plenty of bedrooms and privacy between them, living areas open to the ocean, lots of outdoor seating. We also found Julie Gordon very easy to work with--she did everything she could to make the arrangements for our stay straight-forward and she was clear and honest about all of the house details. The house was in great shape, all of the plumbing, electrical, fridge etc worked and was well maintained. The house is nicely private--a good distance from the neighbors--and the beach is perfect. After all these years, we found the best!

This was truly a week in paradise, I only wish we had booked a longer stay! The house was perfect for our 2 families of 4, everyone had their own space but the house also offers plenty of room for us all to eat together, or lounge on the patio or yard. Beach access is right out the back door, to a long, wide uncrowded beach. Sunsets up on top of the "Rock" were fun for the kids (15-23).Plenty of patio furniture and beach lounges to enjoy the outdoors. We saw one turtle on the beach one night, though it wasn't nesting season! The orange and purple crabs are everywhere - it became a nightly ritual of shooing the crabs out of the courtyard (Not an easy task without hurting them)so they wouldn't scurry into our rooms when the doors were opened! All part of the jungle life, it didn't bother us at all. Water pressure in the house is really low at times, but there is a drought right now so it was no problem for us to deal with. House water is safe to drink, we had no problems. We had Kimberly cook 3 dinners for us - she is not only a great cook (Her Arroz con Pollo is amazing!) but she is very helpful in answering questions about the house and the area in general. Taco stand just down the block is great, Bula Bula has a really nice dinner in a beautiful setting, but the stand out meal was at Café del Pueblo, the small restaurant on the left as you're heading out of Playa Grande. Not to miss!

We booked an Adventure Tour through Frijoles Locos (Corynne is so nice and very helpful!) at Rincon de la Vieja. $85/pp if you drive yourself, which is a very easy 1 3/4 drive away. It included awesome ziplining through gorgeous river gorge, horseback riding (I would skip this part - unimpressive) and whitewater river tubing - the highlight of or whole trip! Also amazing hot springs and mud bath, and a great buffet lunch. Awesome day, I would HIGHLY recommend!

Overall, the house exceeded our expectations. Just remember that you are in a beach house in the jungle so there are critters and sand everywhere. Relax and enjoy! PURA VIDA

I have traveled many places staying in homes from minimalist to luxury and I have to say there were some disappointments with this home. This house has Positives and Negatives.

The positives first: My family stayed here and truly enjoyed the beautiful playa grande beach. The scenery was amazing. The back yard was wonderful with immediate beach access and comfortable hammocks to lounge in. We spent most of our time surfing. We loved the outdoor shower. The staff caring for the home were very friendly people. The owner Julie is wonderful and easy to work with.

The Negatives:

I discovered within a few days stay that the pillow I slept on was covered in black mold which caused me to get a respiratory infection. I am still sick from the mold 1 month later and very disappointed that little care was used to ensure clean and healthy bedding.

After a few days Tons of Frogs decided to mate in the small wading pool in the back yard which was fun to experience all those frogs (I do enjoy nature) however the pool was never cleaned during out 2 week stay and was not useable.

There were limited pots and pans as well as kitchen tools knives and baking dishes. I would not call this kitchen well equipped. It’s adequate for very minimal cooking. Luckily we brought our own kitchen knives to cook with.

Bath towels and sheets were stained and appeared dirty.

The couches in the home were not as pictured in the ad. There was only 1 small couch which did not provide enough seating for everyone to relax in the house. Also the couch was a bit dirty.

Overall this could be a wonderful vacation home if it were better maintained, clean, and offered more seating and a better equipped kitchen. The images of the home in the ad look like it was well cared for at one time. We will miss playa grande beach.

We absolutely had the best time staying in Casa Mirage. We could not have asked for more. It exceeded our expectations from what they told us to expect. The house was perfect for our 6 couples (each had their own room) and having the beach just footsteps away was incredible. The little pool, the hammocks, the lawn chairs, and the area to play games made the outside as enjoyable as the inside of the house. We appreciated the security of the night watchman as well as the kind ladies who cleaned the house. They were very helpful and thorough and the property was well maintained. Kimberly was a great cook. There were also some good restaurants close by. I would definitely recommend this home to anyone who wants to stay at an incredible beachfront property. Thank you to the owners who are willing to share their own bit of heaven with us.