Havana Lodge — Hotel in Cóbano

Our extended family rented the whole of Villa Havana, which is part of Havana Lodge. ||||The Villa’s 6 bedrooms and layout worked great for the 10 of us – great spots for group meals and hanging out, and nicely appointed bedrooms/bathrooms for privacy. ||||First let me say that Evi and Amir were great to work with. Evi was very helpful during the rental process, and Amir was my main contact as we were setting up activities and excursions before and during our stay. He was great about answering my many many questions, and was always promptly available. Both Evi and Amir greeted us on arrival and checked in with us during the stay. Much appreciated, Amir and Evi!! ||||Great location in Mal Pais, perhaps a 5 minute drive from the crossroads. The Villa is set far enough off of the sometimes busy road that we didn’t get much road noise at all. Very peaceful and private. A hop across the road and through the camping area to the closest beach, which is rocky and not where we wanted to swim, but lovely for views and for starting long beach walks. (We swam, boogie boarded and surfed at Playa Carmen – nearest the Crossroads-- or further north Santa Teresa at Roca Mal. Could have walked the mile or so to Playa Carmen but we usually ended up driving and parking right there at the beach.) ||||Back to Villa Havana: Beautiful outdoor area. Grandpa enjoyed early mornings on the steps overlooking the pool, in the cool and quiet of the mornings while he’d watch a pair of hawks building a nest in the tallest tree, and other visiting birds. We’d all usually start our day out there enjoying the beautiful and lush setting-- great spot for morning coffee. ||||Accessibility: Grandma’s knees aren’t doing so well and she needed some help up and down the tall front steps, and into the main pool area, but with our help she did fine. Not a problem if everyone gets around well, but something to keep in mind if any of your group has some trouble with mobility. ||||The pool was lovely at all times of the day, and when we were escaping the sun we could hang out in the nicely shaded living area, or outside at the covered pool table. ||All of the bedrooms were nicely sized, with private baths (two bedrooms shared one jack-and-jill bath, the rest each had their own). A/c in each of the bedroom areas for comfort. ||||We hired Andrea Moyano to cook several meals for us at the house. She was fabulous and we’d hire her again in a heartbeat. Her cooking was beautiful, healthy and delicious—fish, rice dishes, salads, fruits etc etc all prepared to highlight the freshness of the ingredients. (thanks, Amir, for recommending Andrea!) It was so nice to have Andrea take care of us and to have fun group meals at the house. One evening, Andrea cooked up the catch from our fishing boat expedition that morning: the mahi mahi (grilled and ceviche) and mackerel tuna sashimi were the absolute best!! ||||We also knew that there were many many restaurants in the area that we wanted to try, and Villa Havana is a very quick drive to Santa Teresa and the many great eateries there. We tried Koji’s, Taco Corner, the Bakery, Katana, and Las Caracolas (which is just across the road) to name a few. All great and worthy of repeat visits. The food on this trip was amazingly good. ||||The housekeepers at the Villa did a great job of keeping the place tidy with daily cleaning service. (and laundry service- yay! Which is so helpful when traveling and packing light.) Any towels left on the floor were promptly picked up for laundering-- but not always replaced, oops! Luckily the on-site groundskeeper/handyman was available even when we discovered late at night that we had a towel shortage, and would deliver stacks of towels to keep us covered. (Thanks Javier!) ||||Would we recommend Villa Havana? Yes, absolutely. Lovely house, great location and helpful friendly managers and staff. A great base for exploring Mal Pais/Santa Teresa...

Havana Lodge is quaint, earthy, and unique. The beds are very comfortable, it's clean and safe, and the breakfasts are very nice (we were served a huge bowl of assorted fresh fruit with yogurt and granola, orange juice, coffee, and even an extremely tasty croissant one day). The shared kitchen is spacious and relatively well-equipped. The fridge supplies filtered water, and we enjoyed meeting a lovely Tico family and some people from Berlin and Israel in the pool (where the water looks foggy but is actually clean and a nice warm temperature).

The nearby beach to the south of the property (accessed by walking thru the campground) is very, very rocky, so we didn't feel safe swimming there. But, there are some beautiful beaches a short drive away by the busy town of surfers. A word of caution though - the roads getting to this entire area are very, very rough. And if you're planning to head north up the coast be prepared for true 4×4ing - Google sent us on a road with about 5 river crossings on our way to Santa Cruz. Some really nice views along the way but don't plan to get anywhere fast.

Overall, Havana Lodge is a great option for couples or families. The peninsula wasn't our favorite area of CR (very dry as dusty everywhere) but it's a very interesting place worth seeing if you have the time.

ps. the grocery store in town is very well stocked, and the pizza at Tomate is...

We stayed at Havana Lodge for 7 nights and had a fantastic time! Amir helped us with the booking process setting up transportation from San Jose and and Laura greeted us and helped us booked excursions after arriving, a Quad tour to Montezuma Falls and Canopy Mal Pais. The house was beautiful and we spent a lot of time in the pool, the staff always available to help and address any issues (we had a lightbulb burn out and it was replaced right away). We were a large group 4 adults and 8 teenagers and it accommodated us perfectly. We made a few big dinners and even hired a local chef to prepare a meal at the villa for us. We also had dinner our first and last night at Caricola's across the street and it was a perfect beginning and ending to our...