Montezuma Beach Houses — Hotel in Cóbano

When I booked the room, I didn't realize it was a B&B with a shared bathroom. As it turned out, no one else booked a room, so we had the whole house to ourselves. As such, it was an enjoyable stay, but it would have been too cramped for me if others had stayed here. ||PROs:|If you book here, you will check in at Hotel Lucy with the owner of both the house and hotel, Lucy. She will take you up the steep road to the house in a 4x4 taxi (at her expense) and open the house and explain the amenities. She is very nice and accommodating. She speaks some English, but we speak Spanish, so it wasn't a problem. ||I thought the price was reasonable, especially because we had the entire house to ourselves. ||Lucy asked us each day when we wanted breakfast, and then she would come to the house and cook it for us. The breakfasts were good. Eggs, gallo pinto, fruit, cheese, platano served with coffee. ||The open air dining area was nice, but you can't leave any food or bags out or the monkeys will come down and abscound with them. Each morning, we saw a few monkeys come down to the property wall to eye our food as we ate. ||There is a breakfast bar with stools outside, and a large trap door can be lifted from inside the kitchen and suspended on a chain to create an open "window" space between the breakfast bar in the dining area outside and the kitchen inside. ||The kitchen was a decent size, and fully equipped.||The wrap-around balcony is HUGE and a great place to relax with 2 hammocks, and two separate seating areas, as well as a high table and chairs and two more chairs around the side. From the balcony, you have a partial ocean view. ||There's a washer and detergent on site and clotheslines on the balcony. Lucy will explain how to use the washer. ||There are 2 bathrooms with showers here. One in the upstairs hallway, and one outside to the left of the laundry area's back door. ||The location is about an 8 minute walk from the main street and restaurants. It's a 3 minute walk to the turn off, and then a 5 minute walk up the steep dirt and rock road to the house. ||The Montezuma lower falls trail is a 20 minute walk from the house. ||The downstairs patio had a beautiful white railing, but the area itself was rugged dirt and not a sitting area. ||- The room was very basic, with a bed, nightstand, old dresser, and a seat. We reserved the room with A/C, which was needed in Montezuma and especially in this hot house. ||- The house has an alarm, but honestly, it isn't needed. Montezuma is safe and laid back. |||CONs: |It could use a little upkeep and care:||- The wood balcony floor under one hammock was covered in small, white wood/mold/ white mites the size of salt grains. Harmless, but a little perturbing. ||- The balcony furniture pads and the upstairs sofa need a good scrubbing.||- Wasps were busy building nests in all the eaves of the balcony roof. They actually never came near us, even when we had food or drink outside on the balcony, but it made me too nervous to open the window underneath them to let cooler air into the upstairs area. ||- There were many little bugs, some spiders, and a few spider web strands in the curtains of the house, and under the windows. ||- The indoor bathroom shower floor was very dingy and the curtains were moldy.||- The indoor bathroom was humid and did not have a window to ventilate it. The overpowering smell of a bathroom deodorizer that smelled like the urine salt tablets in men's urinals made me feel nauseous. ||- The bathroom "door" was a sliding shower door with a lock. Convenient for small spaces, I suppose, but kind of odd.||-There was a glass door with a metal hand grip at the top of the stairs ( like you'd find at the entrance to a 7-11). I suppose it was meant to close off hot air coming from the stairway, but the air in the upstairs spaces was so much hotter, I kept trying to leave it open. But that blocked the bathroom door, which was located just to the side of the stairway door. Just odd. And again, if others had been staying there, it might have been an awkward situation coming out of the bathroom while someone is coming in or out of the stairway. || - The house walls and floors are primarily wood, which was dark, gloomy, and musty.||- The outdoor shower was a nice feature, but the drain was too small and easily clogged with sand, creating a pool of dirty water. ||It was unbearably hot upstairs, unless I was in the bedroom with its own A/C unit, or out on the balcony (which was still very hot, but better than the small spaces upstairs). There's a fan in the small TV sitting area, but without a cross breeze, it did very little good. There was only one channel, anyway. ||- If you have mobility issues, this is not the place for you. You will have to walk up and down the steep road, as taxis are scarce in Montezuma, do not pass by on this residential road, and/or refuse to drive up it. The driveway is also steep, though I think it was paved...don't remember. The stairway inside is narrow and the steps slightly uneven. ||- The road is very dark at night, and has some open drains, so a flashlight or cell phone light is recommended when walking. ||||In sum, the house is actually quite large compared to Montezuma houses. There were many different rooms/areas, and we spent most of our time on the huge balcony. I enjoyed the quiet atmosphere here compared to the active, party atmosphere below in town. ||However, all of the upstairs areas - the stairway, the shared bathroom, the common TV area, and the hallways were very dark, small, cramped, and hot. It felt small when I was in these spaces alone. I would not have liked sharing these tight spaces with strangers. |||Montezuma is a combination of swanky little hotels/cozy boutiques and backpacker hostels, with little in between. If you want a taste of the Tico life, stay here. ||As a budget stay with the entire house to ourselves, we could overlook some of the more rugged conditions, and we were happy with our choice. Had there been other guests, I probably would've moved to a different...

The locations is great about a 7 minute walk into town. Bring a flashlight its dark at night for the walk. We stayed in the Villa as it was the only unit large enough for our family. I expected rustic and that is what it was in many ways. The grounds are lovely and quite charming and the beautiful beach is very close along with the turtle hatching facility out front. these are big pluses. The waves are rough and only good for surfing or boogie boarding which you can rent in town. The pool is nice. The Villa is an awkward set up with a small main area that has a kitchen and one room and bath. The other 3 rooms are all accessed outside with their own doors, two upstairs that share a nice deck and one downstairs. The upstairs seemed nicer. My wife and I shared the downstairs. It had very poor lighting good thing we had flashlights. The bath sink is super small. There is no closet to hang anything up. The room safe wasnt operable. The kitchen was lacking an oven and the coffee pot barely worked so that was a bummer and the BBQ wasnt operating (no gas) either so the day we bought food to grill we had to pan fry instead which wasnt very good because the main kitchen area gets super hot as the AC doenst work well in there. There was a water leak from upstairs into the kitchen so we had to use towels to sop it up. Some of the lights dont appear to have switches in the house so you have to unscrew the bulbs to turn them off. Two the toilets didnt work well particularly the outdoor one by the pool they never got it functioning right while we were there. Wifi was spotty and super slow. The pool was nice but lacked adequate lighting for nighttime use and even the light under the water was hanging by its wire which concerned me. Dont get me wrong we liked the place and enjoyed the visit. Its relaxing and charming but really could use fixing up the deferred maintenance issues and thats why it gets 3 stars and not 5. I peaked into the beach house and it appeared in better condition but only has one bedroom and a loft so it doesnt accommodate as...

This is my second time staying at this one-of-a-kind property. We rented the 'Beach House' in 2011 and again here I sit beside the perfect pool looking out at the perfect ocean. I'm not sure how to explain how wonderful it is here, but it has it all. I love the pool, and my partner prefers the ocean...we are both happy. The town of Montezuma is magical to say the least. The owners have been in this town for many many years, and I can sees why.||||The full time caretakers are gracious, helpful, and accessible. My Spanish is poor, but it doesn't matter - they are patient and always keeping the place looking spectacular.||||A few things to remember (these are the things that I love about my stay, but are important for others to consider): this is a place for the independent vacationer - you are never bothered by anyone and you make your own way for you stay. In the Beach House, the kitchen is well appointed though not extravagant. You may cook all the meals that you need or walk the VERY short distance to town for any number of meals. There is also access (your responsibility to schedule and setup) to a cook, massages, and we love going down the beach to Ylang Ylang Resort for afternoon cocktails. ||||Some other reviewers have called this place 'rustic' but I think this is misleading...this is the perfect combo of the relaxing, worry free Pura Vida lifestyle and the right amount of comfort that some travelers (including families) would expect. Extremely safe too.||||For me, I will never consider going anywhere else for my perfect beach vacation. If you don't like it here, you're...