www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Myself and 2 amigos stayed at the Suenos del Paraiso http://www.hotelsuenosjaco.com over the MLK weekend and were extremely happy with the hotel and outstanding service provided by Richard and his business partner Sid. The hotel itself has spacious rooms with all the usual amenities (air conditioning, hot showers, cable t.v, and even large refrigerators in select rooms) at the reasonable price of $55/night, plus CRT members get an additional 10% off. As an economy hotel, this is really a bargain by Jaco standards as all the larger hotels were all quoting me well above the $100/night range.

Some people prefer the mega hotels with hundreds of rooms, however this hotel appealed to me for its smaller (18 units) cozy atmosphere, and newly renovated pool. The owners are currently converting the units into Condos and Richard told me that even after the conversion and sale of all units, they still plan on renting out the units for the new owners when they are out of town. The unconverted rooms are very nice, but the new Condo units are simply unbelievable.

For those of you who might be interested, the 1-bedroom condos are being offered for $99K and the large 2-bedrooms are being offered for a little over $200K. Hardwood cabinets throughout, brand new kitchens/appliances, and very efficient layouts with the top floor units having a view of the beach.

The hotel is around a 5 minute cab ride ($1-2 dollars) from all the main action such as the Beetle Bar & Monkey Bar, or around a 15 minute walk. I like being a little away from the noise of the bars and clubs, so this was perfect for me. Sid was kind enough to drive us to a beach bar were we watched the sun go down while downing a bunch of happy hour beers. The next day he drove us to a place where they had a live lesbian sex show. Now that’s what I call service!

The only problem we had was for our cab driver from the Airport in initially finding the hotel. The hotel is right next to the Jaco Fiesta hotel in South Jaco so see if you driver knows of that hotel first. If your driver can’t find the place, make sure you have the number to the Paraiso hotel (506) 643-1920 and have the driver give them a call. That’s what we did and there was no problem after that. Other than that, I would highly recommend this hotel and give it a big thumbs up.

Thanks for the review. Since they are fairly new, I was hoping to get a review before booking them for next month.

We will be in Jaco next weekend. What is the name of the place that had the lesbian show ?

Can remember the name of the strip club, but it was about 10 minutes out of town by car without much else around it. Had the bar on the right side when you walk in, with the main stage on the front left side. I think it was a $5 or $10 entrance fee, but that included two free drinks. When you are there, ask some of the locals, I'll sure they will know the place as it was about half ticos and half gringos.

Hey Hogman, the name of the club is D'Pelufos. It's actually got some good talent. As for Suenos del Paraiso, I don't know about this one guys. I don't have personal knowledge but hear it is kind of dingy. Also it is in a part of town with tons of construction going on and can only imagine the noise factor.

Thanks Thirdworld, that sounds like the right name of that stip club. As for the hotel, there was construction on the site adjacent to the hotel, but since we were up early each morning for tours, it wasn’t really a big deal for us. If you like to sleep late, then it might be something to consider. I still think it’s a nice economy hotel [emphasis economy] for its price considering the outrageous prices I was quoted at other Jaco hotels. While I clearly wouldn’t say it’s on par with the Presidente or something like that, it was more than adequate for our needs.

I’m not rolling in money, so I just couldn’t justify spending $100-$150+ a night on a room that I’m rarely in. While looking for rooms in Jaco, I was truly shocked by how much more expensive it is than San Jose. If you are more of a homebody and like to hang around the hotel, then you might want to consider some of the larger “touristy” hotels like Copacabana and such. For me, the extra cost wasn’t justified for what we wanted to accomplish. I also like the fact they are CRT sponsors and the ownership went out of their way to make sure we had fun while in town. To me that more than made up for any of the shortcomings of the hotel.

Seems like a good review. These places change hands from time to time and it sounds like the owners now are pretty good.

Stayed there a night last week.

If you ever saw or stayed at their previous place, Paradise Motel, this is a very similar type of place. When I read "new hotel", I wasn't aware that it meant new ownership, not new building.

I don't want to say anything bad about the place because Richard is a super nice guy (offered to drive us into town at night when the taxi phone lines were down), but I feel I owe it to the members to write an honest report.

Our room was pretty run-down, the paint cracks on the walls in the bathroom, brown water stains near the ceiling, things like that. Old dingy fridge that I would never dare put anything in that wasn't vacuum sealed. (But keep in mind that I'm a neat freak so I have a different scale by which I judge things like this.) One of the cons was the location. It's good walk, 20-25 minutes during the day into the center of town. But there are shady characters hanging around some places so better to call a taxi. The other problem was that the taxi line was either busy or nobody was answering the day we were there.

They are in the process of converting rooms into condos, but it's only during the day, no noise at night. Even in the day, it's not bad. They are also building a new building right next door also during the day.

The room was 20,000¢ ($39). I thought it was $55, but I wasn't going to argue when the guy at the reception desk said 20k. Overall, it wasn't too bad, you get what you pay for. Cocal is $110/night during the peak season.

Hogman,

Sorry to respond so late, but next time you are in Jaco the name of the place with the lesbian show is Hollywood. It's on the outskirts of town. I wasn't a big fan as it is nowhere near the main strip and it can take you a while to get a cab back. The lesbian show wasn't all that great either. I'd rather get a couple chicas from the BB and have a private show in my room.

I stayed one night last month and as everyone said, for $55, or whatever, it ain't bad. My only problems were no pool and how early in the morning that the construction started, and the morning that I was there, IT WAS LOUD. Moved to the Tangeri for the rest of the week.