www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I am guessing greengo meant jaco to manuel antonio by bus in 2 hours. If there is 2-hour busvservice from san jose to man antonio, i sure as hell would like to know about it. All pacific beaches can kill you if not paying attention and often even if you are. Better to get a hotel with a nice pool. With that restriction, puntarenas and many other areas have some beautiful ocean scenery.

The OP was a post for beaches from SJ, not Jaco--he stated he stayed in Jaco before so he knew that commute time.

So bad guess if you think Greengo meant Jaco to Quepos in 1.5-2 hs.(It's an hour 8x a day ). And I have never, ever seen any $30 hotel signs on the road to MA, in fact very few $$ signs, only 2 that I can ever, ever think of out of the 100 places, the lowest at $60 in green season.

Let Greengo answer which bus he took for an "easy day trip" to Quepos..

Certainly was not trying to put words in anyone's mouth there, just trying to interpret the original question and answer. Plenty of hotels near MA cheap ($30-$40). Times sound great up front but are almost always optimistic. I am in Jaco now on a hotel evaluation trip, which I do every 3 months or so. Took a solid 2 hours from my home in Escazu, as it usually does. MA is usually a solid 3 hours or more with maybe one 5-minute bathroom stop. Jaco to my hotel in MA is generally in the 1.5-hour range. My team does not drive like a bat out of hell, but we've never been passed by a bus.

When you get time, please post a list of $30 dollar hotels in Manuel Antonio, it would be great info for the board. Thanks

Sorry for the late reply. I was moving from Jaco up to Tamarindo for a hotel scouting trip today, and due to some stops along the way, it took all day.

Manuel Antonio does have several nice hotels in the budget range (my $30-$40 quoted above). I do not generally stay in budget hotels myself, so I can't give direct personal info on quality, but I do speak regularly with business contacts and friends who do. I am tired right now, but the few that come to mind immediately are:

1. Hotel Mono Azul (I just did a search on their website for October 15 - 17 and the Standard room is right at $30 per night). They generally get better reviews than even the $50-$60 hotels.

2. Hotel Vela is currently listing their cheapest rate at $42.

3. Nature's Beachfront is showing their lowest rate at $45.

Many of the ultra-budget hotels such as these, and the many, many more in the $50-$55 published range, will often work a discount for multiple nights, weekdays during green season, etc. Don't trust the prices quoted on the booking.com, expedia, hotels.com, multi-hotel sites. They might have the lowest published price, but often the hotel's own booking site will save you a few books, plus you can check out the unpublished web specials. With a few website checks and phone calls, you will unlock some bargains, no particular talent required.

Also, a little research will often reveal very nice, very cheap hotels that might be a few more kilometers from M.A. I have found that you can still fully enjoy the area. M.A. is very popular with the budget-travel crowd, and green season finds a lot of hotels that do fine in high season begging for occupants. Check with the front desk and/or some of the long-time reliable tour van drivers at places such as Sportsmens Lodge and you might find an even better deal.

Hosteling is very popular in the M.A. area, and if you want to go that route, now you're talking about $11 and up per night. Many of them are very nice, as there are a lot of budget backpackers checking out M.A. and the competition between hostels can get a little fiery.

---> You were right about my comment on the San Jose vs. Jaco to Quepos time. I kept saying Manuel Antonio in 2 or 3 posts, instead of Quepos. I am not sure why my brain got stuck on M.A., except that I generally fly into Quepos to get to M.A., unless I am visiting several places along the coast. Granted, the distance is not much farther, but it does take a bit longer to get to M.A., and my brain cramped on it.

Thanks for thorough reply, the board needs guys like you.

The OP said MA was an easy day trip by bus 1.5 to 2 hs. Anybody who's been there knows that's smoke. It's 3 hs by car one way.

And the OP said in Manuel Antonio he "saw signs for nice places with pool and a view for 30 bucks all over."

You didn't comment, but I have--there are no such signs or such places.

You pointed out a few cheaper then normal Manuel Antonio places.

Nature's Beachfront, Not $30. $45 for 1 person not including tax. Who knows what she'll charge for two, depends on her mental status that day. This place has a terrific ocean view. That's the total end of the good. Forget about a pool. It's the weird hillbilly two story shack you can see from the north end of the beach with the big cess pool lagoon in front--which has crocs in it--no kidding, which do get out of the water at night and onto the "hotel" grounds. No kidding. She's named a few of them, feeds them.

The place is a dump as you see from the beach, no windows so obviously no A/C, so everthing you have stays damp. Hit and miss on the warm water. Bug infested. Kind of in the jungle side of the mountain so the big howler monkeys start screaming around 4am--loud.

Cabs won't take you there because of the road in. They will get you as close as they dare and then you have to walk in, a long way. And then walk alot farther out to get to the road to catch a bus or a cab to go anywhere, unless you brought a 4 wheeler.

The gringa owner is a well known "character" in town for lack of a medical term, one day she is Anna, next day she is Carol, one day she is quite normal, next day she is babbling her head off about non-sense carrying a dead fish in her pocket. It is a nut house. Chained link fence surrounds the place so you get a key for the padlock to try and open in the pitch dark. Bring a flashlight and greenbacks. Cash only. You'd have to be nuts to stay at this hotel Psycho II, and not speaking of the $45 for 1 person, I mean even for free.

Hotel Vela acutally Vella Bar. Not $30--it's $42 single without tax, $57 for two, No pool, no view. I had friends stay there this winter so I stopped by. They checked out after 1 night. Dirty, really outdated. Big time bug problem. Crummy bathroom/showers. Hair on the sheets. Bugs in the bed. Noisy restaurant with the help starting chatting and laughing and banging stuff at about 6am. Heard the Hotel was one of the first and was popular a long, long time ago. Almost a dump now.

Hotel Mono Azul or Blue Monkey: Ah finally one for $30 but only for 1 person w/out tax, and yes this one has a pool, but no view. That's for the standard room and they are very very small, with no closet so everything is on the floor, no a/c, bad TA reviews in 2013, damp, dirty, strong sewer smell from the potty. If you are paying for the 2 person rate which is alot more, you have only one way to get out of bed--up and over--one bedside is against the wall. The hotel is not close to anything so its the bus or a cab. Very nice grounds. Has bigger rooms available. The pictures on the internet are now outdated. Alot gloomier now. Had a recurrent theft problem last year which got around that small town like lightening which hurt them. I was there in May to drop off a girl/employee I met on the beach, she confirmed what I knew. I guess it's worth $30 plus tax for a single guy but I wouldn't call it a "nice" place by any means.

Summary: OP said many nice places in MA with signs for $30 with a pool and a view all over.

Reality: Do not exist. No signs advertising such, nor rooms in a "nice" place with a pool and a view for $30 available. None. Hostels or flea bags downtown in Quepos, yes, not MA.

And you are not getting there in 1.5-2 hs by bus like he claims, more like 4 hs by bus, 3 by car, and so MA is not "a day trip" as he claims by either means.

Very, very innacurate trip report for reasons unknown about the most popular beach destinations in CR by the OP .

I used to fly in on the 7am on Sansa and catch the 4 o'clock out to SJ, 25 minutes each way, and then play at night in the gulch and go back in the morning.

That's when Sansa had its "Airpass" program, fly as much as you want anywhere in CR it went for a week for $250 a number of years back. Tiring but it was the best of both worlds. Quepos/MA wasn't very lively at night back then--dead. Regular airfare used to be $35 to Quepos, now it's almost 2.5 that. But, that's the only way you can day trip MA.
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Enuf about the OP's really goofy trip report about Quepos/MA.
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So let's talk about the fun parts of Quepos. Quepos/MA will never be Jaco for our hobby, but Jaco will never be Quepos/MA re the beach and beauty and other stuff. So, it's a trade off.

Quepos, once a completely BYO beach town, is coming around last 5 years. Slow last 9 months because the main playground sold and then got closed--the Pescadora next to Wacky Wanda's which has some, small amts, of action. Worth a peek because all of the realistic action is only a few blocks apart. A little action now at a new bar, Canatico, on the seawall a block south of Great Escape. Canadian girl who tended bar at the now closed Pescadora married a tico and they opened (thus "Canatico") and it's crowded, but no AC. But the old Pescadora is reopening any day, completely gutted and remodeled to new as "The Double Hook". You can look at the pic's for Canatico and The Double Hook on facebook.

Remains to be seen if Double Hook is going to let the girls in; new owner, gringo but a well known fishing boat biz owner for 20 years in Quepos, has married a tica who is, from what i've heard, a goodie-goodie from a local school board in the next town to the south--Matapalo.

If he doesn't let them in, it'll probably crash and burn, not enuf gringo's there in the green season and there's 15 other bars to go to nearby cheaper if they just want to drink. Kenny, the former owner of Pescadora had it rockin. Never as good as Jaco, not close, but he had the right idea: A/C, girls, gringo sports on TV's, reasonable beer/booze prices and a good cheesburger/fries. Cornered the market in Quepos for us guys. Remains to be seen if Double Hook will replicate, but will soon be seen.

Girl's are also available at Leyla's or Layla's hotel/casino, see it on facebook. On the road halfway to the Quepos hospital/airport. Nice bar, fair drinks, girl's very so-so, they live on the premises. Forget it. Another one on the road on the other way out of town--the one you take to Jaco--a dump called Bar Roja. Bang bang in the back rooms cheap. Strictly a tico place unless your spanish is very good. Girls very so so. I'd say forget it.

Some, minimal semi action or just plain girls who want to have fun at Sgt Garcia's downtown and at other clubs on week-ends, a real long shot without some kind of a connection, and Spanish is a must. Quepos is a hard place to hit on locals--small town of app 5,000 including the outlying barrios, they all know each other somehow from the barrios, or family, or the one high school or hanging around, or just by sight, and they don't want to be seen with a gringo for fear of the "puta" label. If you go there alot and make good friends and be a good friend, these guys will hook you up with the semi's who will arrange places for you to meet unseen. I'd say forget that too, too much time and effort involved despite some solid 10 locals semi's, unless you are there 5-6x a year.

So I predict it will be Canatico and/or Double Hook, with some girls always standing outside after 7 or 8pm in front of the casino at Best Western which is conveniently located on the corner between those two bars. Alot you wouldn't pull in the environs I have mentioned, but I've pulled some that were really cute, so they're there. It's the ol' Chickens and Feathers thing in Quepos. But I love Quepos/MA so I don't care if I have to settle for less on a feathers night when I have to get laid.

Yeah, despite my initial confusion with the route we were talking about, I completely agree. I stated in my original post on this that I basically budget 2 hours from SJ to Jaco and 3 hours from SJ to M.A.



I do see signs for these places. Sometimes they are old, sometimes new, sometimes with prices, sometimes not. Yes, that is exactly what I am talking about -- cheaper than normal. That seemed to be the info that was being sought so that's what I posted. For research for my clients, I generally am staying in the $150 and up range.



In my original reply to this subject, I stated that there are many places cheap ($30-$40). Then I rattled a few places off the top of my head that PUBLISH two-digit prices starting with a 3 or 4. I could dig and find a lot more, but I don't keep that info on file because these are not the places that I send my clients. Many more of these places can certainly be talked down to 2-digit price starting with a 3, happens all the time if you're staying multiple nights, weeknights, etc. Driving up at 8pm and talking to the front desk person in green season you have a lot of leverage. There are lots of cheaper hotels, not only in Quepos, but scattered about the M.A. area.

I do see a fair number of signs, but they convey sporadic amounts of information. As to what "many" signs constitutes, that's subjective.

Also, "nice place" is very subjective. Anyone who regularly finds hotels with a pool, view, and published price between $30 and $40 when he travels has a different definition of what "nice" is than average Joe does. To define what you really get for $30 or $40, details are needed (as you described 3 places above). Again, words such as old, dirty, small, noisy, lousy, etc. mean entirely different things to the ultra-budget crowd. I have been in a couple of these places for short periods of time to meet people, etc. and often my first thought is "well, not bad for $30 or $40 per night."

I think we could probably continue this banter forever. I can't prove or disprove you, and you can't prove or disprove my points of view -- it's all subjective.

I claimed in my original reply: "Plenty of hotels near MA cheap ($30-$40)." That was it.

and you replied: "When you get time, please post a list of $30 dollar hotels in Manuel Antonio, it would be great info for the board. Thanks"

I then posted, off the top of my head, 3 hotels that I am aware of with published prices that are $3x or $4x (as I originally stated), noting that those are published prices and can often be negotiated down as well.

Question asked and answered.

[ I did not intend to get nitpicky about which hotels would be considered "acceptable" to some people, but not others, nor banter that the exchange rate might actually mean that a $30 hotel could be $30.50 tomorrow. ]

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I did later say that I have seen signs. Whether "all over" or "many", well... up to the individual. A few (many?) of them have prices, some that start with a "3". A few others do not.

I am not sure quite what you mean by a $30 not only being for the ultra-budget crowd. That is pretty much rock bottom in the M.A. area, so that's pretty much who it's for. I too would love to find a hotel that is AS NICE, has a pool AS BIG AND CLEAN, and a view AS BEAUTIFUL as the $90 per night hotel down the road. Unfortunately, doesn't work out. I would love to go into a BMW dealership and ask for the car for the same price as the cheapest Hyundai. This is basically the "Stone Soup" method of spending money and does not work.

I have made several comments where I could not close my mouth before I shoved my foot into it. After staying at Kioro or Rancho Pacifico for several days, I have headed back into the gulch and stayed at Sportsmens, Dunn Inn, Mona Lisa, or La Amistad and made a comment such as "ratty", "kind of dirty", "old", "things are broken", etc. Shame on me. You cannot compare a $250 - $450 (or even more) resort with a $59 room in the gulch. When I step back and look, the rooms are perfectly fine, clean (maybe not spotless), and a good value for what they are.

When someone asks for a $30 or $40 hotel, I would expect they are not looking for luxury. It might not be "clean" or "nice" to someone who has been staying in a $60 hotel, that's part of why it's half price. There are hotels in the area, just as I claimed, for that price range. Simple as that. Anything else is simply a matter of opinion and perspective.

Not subjective. Highly objective. I know that road better then I know the main street in my hometown, was there 2 weeks ago for the 5 thousanth time.

Greengo made a pretty clear post of there being nice hotels with a pool for 30 bucks on signs all over MA and do-able as a day trip with under a two hour bus trip. He sounded like he'd never been there. And I wonder if he has. So not alot of room for subjective commentary with his fact post.

Not a 2 hr bus ride. Period. No signs for $30 anywhere on the road. Period. No nice rooms like he mentioned for $30. Period. Very very few signs mention price at al. Period. All objective facts. The other objective fact is you can't name a place that falls in line with the OP or saw a sign in MA for a $30 room. Period.

Respectfully, your citing Nature's Beachfront Hotel, aka as Psycho II to the local ex-pats, as an example of a nice $30 hotel spoke volumes about your knowledge of MA. Really.

Sorry and please accept this as an invitation to update your recommendations or keep us advised when you find one that meets the OP's fact pattern.

I saw your restaurant review for the steak places in SJ. Very good review. Keep it up.

Then to adequately reply objectively, I will need an exact, mathematically detailed and precise definition of the following: "nice", "nice pool", "clean", "nice view", "many", "a lot"

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I claimed in my original reply: "Plenty of hotels near MA cheap ($30-$40)." That was it.

and you replied: "When you get time, please post a list of $30 dollar hotels in Manuel Antonio, it would be great info for the board. Thanks"

I then posted, off the top of my head, 3 hotels that I am aware of with published prices that are $3x or $4x (as I originally stated), noting that those are published prices and can often be negotiated down as well.

Question asked and answered.


[ I did not intend to get nitpicky about which hotels would be considered "acceptable" to some people, but not others, nor banter that the exchange rate might actually mean that a $30 hotel could be $30.50 tomorrow. ]

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Which road? I often approach from the 34 (both directions) as well as the road from Naranjito and the one by the college. And of course the main road from Quepos.

My comment on signs was: "I do see a fair number of signs, but they convey sporadic amounts of information. As to what "many" signs constitutes, that's subjective." I was not referring to any particular road. I have seen them.



And your inability to notice that "nice" was not part of the original question and never answer or define what "nice" is, and then call me out for it, speaks volumes about your ability to read as well as maintain a civil and intelligent discussion. Really.

The question was asked and answered.

I have been to M.A. many times and although I do not stay at $50 and under hotels, I do have some knowledge of the area and establishments.

We'll just consider that a "bowing up" with no ill intentions on both our parts, if that's OK with you, and let bygones be bygones, no foul.



For detailed descriptions and first-hand overnight-stay impressions on $50 and unders in the M.A. area, I will have to defer to others, but I will provide the most accurate information that I can.

For detailed descriptions and first-hand overnight-stay impressions on $50 and unders in the M.A. area, I will have to defer to others, but I will provide the most accurate information that I can.

Deferring to others is always a good idea. My points were refuting Greengo's nonsense of the reality of finding $30 nice places with pools and a view in MA.

You as a new guy didn't realize he has a years long history of blabbering bullshit and doing so just for the sake of it. His claim of a day trip w/ 1.5-2 hours to Quepos by bus should have clued you in, everybody else knew, and you see he has never responded to my q's of how he did that and where were the $30 nice MA hotels. He won't. He's never been there.

No one has ever met him despite numerous invitations, or talked to him on the phone. I've talked to at least 20 guys on the phone to exchange info. His world wide adventure tales are so bizarre he forgets what he said a few years earlier and then says he was doing something else at that time. He has lived 12 different lives on this board.

But you bit on it and said $30 nice rooms with a pool are there in MA; to prove you knew you even recommended the worst possible place in all of CR and that was for $45 without a pool.

Growing pains.

And nobody is really interested in tips about $50 rooms in MA so don't bother deferring inquiries. Alot of CRT guys know Quepos/MA or know they can post a q and get a good range of answers from guys who they know have been going to MA for years and years.

Edited for spelling, my keyboard is on the way out.

i like a good deal on a nice place and have to concur w Gersen.
i have been to the MA area maybe 12? times. i lost count.
but once i knew i liked it i made a point to check rates and found some hotels willing to go $50 cash on the inside dirt road loop w the restaurants.
have never seen signs even advertising prices and i like to think i'm pretty observant.
but for the most part $80 was the best i could do for reasonable lodging. i think for me thats a place like Karahe which i seem to return to. love the private pool and quick walk to the beach.
that psycho hotel sounds insane. glad i never stumbled upon that one.
did find one of those in dominical and left after the first night.

_________________
im way deep into nothing special
riding the crest of a wave breaking just west of hollywood

LD: Next time give Verde Mar a walk thru. Cheaper, bigger rooms with kitchens, and only 100 yards south of Karahe, also a great choice, and the only two that are right on the beach that you would consider--unlike Psycho II. Karahe is very nice, the whole package, but though the rooms are newer, they are 25% smaller and no kitchen. A toss up, but the $ may make the diff. Either, as you know, you walk right out onto the beach, a rarity in MA. Warning: Verde Mar built a new 10 room stand alone addition last year by the pool. Don't do those, really small, smaller then Karahe, no kitchen, loud like a HS school hallway.

Me? Villas Mymosa last 3 years, Halfway between the beach and Quepos but I always have a car. Great condo's, huge, nice pool, quiet, great price if you learn what you don't know. PM me. The best deal there.

Nope, never did. And I certainly never recommended anything. You must be the CRT master of using words incorrectly and out of context.

I claimed in my original reply: "Plenty of hotels near MA cheap ($30-$40)." That was it.

and you replied: "When you get time, please post a list of $30 dollar hotels in Manuel Antonio, it would be great info for the board. Thanks"

I then posted, off the top of my head, 3 hotels that I am aware of with published prices that are $3x or $4x (as I originally stated), noting that those are published prices and can often be negotiated down as well.

Question asked and answered.

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Or perhaps I misunderstood. Perhaps "a list of $30 hotels in Manuel Antonio" is CRT-speak for "a list of $30 hotels that a certain person you do not know thinks is nice, with a pool, and a great view (not a view that you think is great, but that someone else does), and that has a free breakfast and is close to the beach and has a nice owner, and has safe free parking, and good security."

As for recommendations, if someone asks me "is there a place near here that serves breakfast for $2?" and I answer, "yeah, crap-o bistro has a $2 breakfast", that does not mean that I recommend crap-o bistro.



"Under $50's" and "$50's and under" are common terms in the travel industry, often used derogatorily. As I stated, many of those can be negotiated downwards, which would put them squarely within the range I originally mentioned. I used the terms to indicate the bargain-basement hotels that are available in that range.

I will refrain from posting tips or deferring inquiries about hotels that rent rooms for precisely $50 in M.A., since nobody is interested in those. My mistake, I was sure in my travels during my 51 years that I had met someone who was interested in a hotel that rented rooms for $50, but I must be mistaken. Now that I think about it, the guy did mention he wanted a room for $49.99.

However, I am still looking for that definition of what "nice" is that is objective (involving no opinions but only facts). So once I get that data straight, I'll be able to post on "nice" hotels since "nice" is an established fact with specific objective criteria and no one will be able to argue that point.