Hotel Costa Linda — Hotel in Tolú

How to spend a beautiful week in Cartagena and Tolu: Use - Hotel Casa Gloria, Hotel Costa Linda||||We went in February. Don’t go in December or January, as Tolu will be overcrowded, and you won’t have the experience I’m going to describe.||Don’t be afraid if you do not speak fluent Spanish; you can do this.||||Fly to Cartagena, get a room at Hotel Casa Gloria. The cabs are regulated from the airport. You get a ticket, then enter a cab. It’s about 15-18,000. No negotiations. A 10% tip is more than adequate for the driver. It is a 15 minute drive.||||The Hotel Casa Gloria is great, and they will tell you some attractions and serve you breakfast. There is a rooftop sunbathing area, and a pool. The desk help is wonderful. The beaches...eh. Lots of vendors and women trying to massage you. Relax. You are going to a beautiful beach in Tolu. Cartagena is not the place for great beaches: it is a place to explore a cool city with great people. ||||After 2 days, ask the hotel desk worker to get you a cab to the bus station. It will be a 45 minute, bumpy ride, through some areas that have poverty, but relax. Just get in the cab, pay approximately 22,000 and arrive. You are getting a bus to TOLU-BEACH. ||||At the bus station, people will ask to take your bags, ask to help you get a ticket. Relax. Walk up to a counter while holding your own bags, and book a BRASILA bus. It will be about 35,000. You might get people trying to get you on another type of bus, but just don’t agree. Just book Brasila and you will have a relaxing ride on an air-conditioned bus. People will hop on and sell arepas and drinks, so don’t panic if you didn’t bring food. At this point, you should FB message the Hotal Costa Linda and tell them you will be in Tolu in about 3 hours. ||||If you got a BRASILA bus, after about 2:45 hours, you will be dropped off at the bus station, which actually is a gas station with a PUMA sign. If you did not get a BRASILA bus, you will be dropped at the side of a dusty road, diagonally from the bus station, and you may feel a little disoriented. You should have waited for the BRASILA, but no point in regrets. Relax. You are in a BEACH town It’s like Seaside Heights. You need to find the bus station, and wait. Look for the PUMA sign at the gas station across the street, diagonally. ||||Tolu is a bit “eh” in terms of accommodations, but you’re not staying in the town.Your hotel is 5 miles out.||||Ken (who is American and speaks English) from Hotel Costa Linda will arrive in his white pickup truck at the station. You CANNOT get a ride from any of the bike taxis. It’s too far. Just relax, message the hotel if Ken isn’t there, and wait. Sometimes phone service is out. Messaging is best. It might be 20 minutes, but just wait. The ride is free! You may want to get supplies like feminine products, gallons of water or whatever in Tolu’s supermarket as you head to the hotel, but ask Ken to stop first. His village is tiny, and there is only a tiny store.||||Enjoy your stay! In February, we were the ONLY ones on a five-mile stretch of beautiful, clean beach. HEAVEN! Ken will book you a boat to Isla Murcura, Titipan, or wherever you want. You DON’T have to haggle at a boat. You DON’T have to worry about anything, really. Ken will take care of everything. He will drive you back into town any time for a modest fee (20,000), and your return voyage back to the bus is also free. ||||You’ll end the trip back on the bus, and this is important: when you arrive at Cartagena for your taxi, get another regulated cab. You will have many cab drivers, and you should book a proper, safe vehicle. Again, you will go through some areas with lots of traffic, bumpy roads, etc. - so maybe it is best to be safe and arrive in Cartagena in daylight. ||||You can go back at Hotel Casa Gloria for a night before flying home to your cold and dismal New...

Pos: Hotel is very clean, comfortable (nice beds, good shower, etc), small ,but lovely pool. Drinks not great but good . Its quiet,with 10 rooms or so and caters to small families, couples or solo travellers. Food adequate only for a few days, its not bad (not great either) , but extremely repetitive.|Neg: The women in charge of management is very unpleasant, to say the least, she tried to charged us extra money for transportation to Tolu.We were pretty clear that we needed 2 rides the same day, (We confirmed by telephone twice; no extra cost we were told!), then we were charged 30K Col pesos for one of the rides (which is incredibly expensive by they way; tickets from Monteria to Tolu cost also 30K, but its a 2 HOURS trip, not 15 minutes). Although we tried to avoid any hassle in our trips, there was an argument , since we don't like that sort of dishonest business behaviour. Hotel management finally acknowledged that the staff was not properly informed about hotel policies and so on (Their responsibility, not ours as I told them) and we moved on; but the manager did not. She kept complaining about the whole situation taking things personal; my advice: Learn to Run a Business in a professional way; Correct mistakes, Problems do happen, they are solved , and don't take things personal, BE PROFESSIONAL.||Moving on, Tolu is anything but a lovely beach destination (the town is the ugliest ever) , we already knew that; but we decided to give it a shot since we were close by (Business trip to Monteria) , Playa el Frances where the hotel is Located (7 kms North of Tolu) is decent, and clean. I would say its kind of nice; BUT not the sort of idyllic Caribbean Beach you might see in other locations. I would not bother to return to this beach, but if you plan to visit the area, the Costa Linda is probably the best option available. |||taff offered some of |-Road from Tolu is in extremely bad shape (rainy season did not help), 15 minuets...

ANREISE/LAGE: Das Hotel liegt ca. 35 Autofahrminuten von Tolu entfernt. Der Hotelbesitzer hat uns mit seinem Pick-Up von Tolu abgeholt. Die Fahrt war aufgrund der nicht asphaltierten Straße recht ruckelig. ||Das Hotel liegt sehr abgelegen, was sehr schön ist, wenn man Ruhe und Erholung sucht. Wenn man hingegen selbst einmal in die Stadt (nach Tolu) oder andere Orte aufsuchen möchte, ist man auf den fahrbaren Untersatz des Hotelbesitzers angewiesen.||||ZIMMER: Sauber, geräumig, mit Kühlschrank, Klimaanlage, Ventilator, Fernseher, eigenem Balkon (inkl Hängematte) mit Meerblick und einem kleinen, aber feinem Badezimmer.||(Kleines Kuriosum am Rande: Die Betten waren aus Beton und nicht aus Holz.)||||ESSEN/TRINKEN: Nichts Außergewöhnliches. Kolumbianischer Durchschnitt. Neben karibischen Standardgerichten gab es auch Hot Dogs und Burger. Die Küche und das Restaurant wirkten recht sauber.||||STRAND/POOL: Der kleine Strandabschnitt des Hotels war sehr gepflegt, was leider nicht auf alle weiteren zugänglichen Strandabschnitte in der Umgebung zutraf. Das Meer war in Ordnung. Der Pool durchschnittlich. ||Liegen können umsonst benützt werden. Außerdem besteht die Möglichkeit ein Doppelsitzer-Kajak gratis zu nutzen.||||SERVICE: Sehr bemühte und freundliche Angestellte. Das Zimmer wird täglich gereinigt. Kalte Getränke auch am Strand und Pool serviert. Der Großteil der Angestellten spricht hauptsächlich spanisch.||||Was uns teilweise gestört hat war hingegen das Verhalten des amerikanischen Besitzers des Hotels. Bereits auf der Fahrt von Tolu zum Hotel wurden wir ohne danach gefragt zu haben über sein politisches Weltbild belehrt. Während unseres Aufenthalts war uns sein sehr aufdringliches Verhalten immer wieder unangenehm. Er suchte sehr oft das Gespräch mit uns, unabhängig davon ob wir gerade alleine am Strand lagen oder in Ruhe etwas essen wollten. Dabei wirkten die Unterhaltungen für unseren Geschmack oft ein wenig zu direkt, zu persönlich und ein wenig grenzüberschreitend. Dadurch haben wir uns immer wieder ein wenig in unserer Privatsphäre gestört gefühlt.||Die Fahrt nach Tolu, die uns im Zuge eines Eintagesausflugs angeboten wurde, wurde uns in Rechnung gestellt, ohne dass das im Vorhinein erwähnt wurde.||||FAZIT: Kleines, feines abgelegenes Hotel mit recht gutem Standard. In der Gästebetreuung fehlt es dem Besitzer etwas an professioneller Distanz. Ansonsten aber sehr freundliches und zuvorkommendes Personal. Haben uns im Großen und Ganzen...