Tamarindo

"We spent the summer in this house and know it quite well! It's very safe here and despite prior comments it is in a fully enclosed gated neighborhood except for one path to the beach (i've walked it many times). It is also patrolled by security 24 hours. The house itself is really beautiful we stayed here with a 5 and 7 year old and it is well equipped for cooking and entertaining. There are 2 tvs one in the master bedroom, one in the living room. The living room has a DVD and Blu-Ray Combo. It also has a surround sound system that i never could get to work however i only spent 10 minutes trying. There is a stackable front load washer dryer system that worked well for us. The pool in the backyard is great as mentioned in a prior post it doesn't have full sun. Although it gets a good bit of sun throughout the day and with the heat here you don't really need direct sun. The house is also filled with some great books (i've read a lot of them). Also on the first floor is a 1/2 bathroom. There's a winding tile staircase to the second floor with the 2 bedrooms. Both of the bathrooms are showers (no tub) They are also partially outside so you must keep the door to the shower and also the door to the bedroom closed at all times. However, we loved the outdoor shower it's really nice to listen to the birds and the sounds of the tropics while you shower. We did not have a car while we were here and walked to town or the beach club everyday. You can walk along the beach by cutting through the back of the neighborhood or you can walk out the front and take a dirt road to town. We commonly walked out to the road and then cut through Capitan Suizo to the beach this is a little easier and gets you into town in about 15 minutes. The internet in the house is slow compared to the USA but pretty standard for Costa Rica. We are able to use Skype and stream media with one device at a time. The negatives are that the A/C doesn't work very well. There are 3 compressors in 3 zones. One for downstairs and 2 for the bedrooms upstairs. The downstairs A/C will work for about 3 or 4 hours set at 78 degrees and then it will freeze up. The kids bedroom only works for about 2 hours before freezing up and the master bedroom works for most of the night without freezing up as long as you remember to turn it off during the day. The other downfall is that the house is not sealed up well, so there are a few harmless creatures wandering in and out mostly geckos and ants."

"This place is a little hidden gem! The pictures truly don't do it justice. We took our two teenagers here for spring break/senior trip. We didn't know that spring break was the busiest week in Costa Rica. Most of the people that live in Costa Rica get that week off as well. BUT that is what was so great about this house. It is VERY private, clean and comfortable. The week we went was very hot. We would go to the beach early in the morning until around 11 (when it would start to get crowded) then we would go back to the house and chill at the pool and the shade until around 4:30 and then go back to the beach to play in the waves. Tamarindo was pretty crowded but the kitchen had everything we needed and we ate most of our meals there. The grocery store is very close and had just about everything we needed. I would recommend this house to anyone who asked about going to Costa Rica. Thank you so much for sharing your home, we loved it!!"