The best place to stay in Manuel Antonio/Quepos area?

Question

We are going to Costa Rica in June for our honeymoon, and thinking about staying at La Mariposa, is this a good choice, it seems a little pricey....is there better places to stay? Are there other restaurants/bars nearby? Any advice about the area would be very helpful!!!!

Answer 1

In you can afford it, the best place to stay by far is Si Como No. The hotel restaurant is really good and they even have their own movie theatre for guests.

More affordable is Costa Verde.

I've also stayed at La Colina ($59/night in green season breakfast included) and thought it was a good value.

Be sure to check out El Avion - it's a cliff side restaurant that features a bar located inside an entire Fairchild C-123 cargo plane that was left over from the United States’ secret war against the communist Sandinista government in Nicaragua during the mid 1980’s. The food there is good and it's the best place to watch the Sunset!

Answer 2

Great Question !!!  My wife and I were just married in Manuel Antonio in April '07.  I also visited Guanacaste in 2002 and loved it soooo much I wanted to be married in Costa Rica !!!

Anyway, we went to La Mariposa for dinner one night.  I will tell you this . . . the view from that hotel is probably the most beautiful view I've seen anywhere in the world !!!  And I've traveled a good amount (Thailand, Spain, Hawaii, Mexico, Europe, and 49 states).  They have an infinity pool there with a pool bar that's gorgeous !!!

Having said that, we stayed at Si Como No resort !!!  On a scale of 1 - 10 I would say the view from La Mariposa is a 10 . . . and Si Como No is a 9.  The rooms and layout of Si Como No is a 10 . . . the pools are a 10 . . . and the service is a 10 !!!  Didn't go in the rooms at La Mariposa so I can't give you feedback on that.  We went with about 9 people and everyone LOVED it !!!  I think Si Como No is a little cheaper too.  We walked to La Mariposa from Si Como No and it only takes about 10 minutes.

The Manuel Antonio National Park is small (about 3 square miles) . . . but Beautiful !!!  The beaches are something out of a Hemmingway novel !!!  We did a day trip to Quepos.  Not much to see there . . . it's an old fishing village where all the natives live . . . but worth a day trip for sure.  If you go offshore fishing . . . you will leave from the docks at Quepos.

The food will be excellent no matter where you go.  The Mahi Mahi is the local favorite, and excellent EVERYWHERE !!!There's a restaurant across the street from La Mariposa that has awesome pizza of all things.  We didn't have a bad meal anywhere while we were there !!!  

Best Bar/Restaurant hands down, is the airplane bar.  In the 1980's a seaplane was shot down off the coast of Nicaruagua.  The pilot, who was a retired US army general, survived the crash which uncovered the whole Iran Contra Arms Scandal during the Reagan Administration.  Someone salvaged the airplane and brought it onshore and made a bar/restaurant IN it . . . LITERALLY !!!!  It's UNBELIEVALBE !!!!  You can even see the bullet holes in the fuselage still !!!

The owner of Si Como No is some bigshot Hollywood producer and they even have a small movie theater in the resort . . . holds about 25 people.  That was good on rainy days.  The grounds of Si Como No make if feel like you are literally in the Jungle.  They only cut down two major trees when they built the resort.  La Mariposa is more of a classic french type structure with ivy growing on the sides etc.

You'll love Manuel Antonio no matter where you stay, but seeing both places I would chose Si Como No again and again !!!

Pura Vida !!!

Answer 3

You are going to get a better price at Jaco and is so much closer and the road is excellent the beach is wonderfull check it out before you make a choice ...and if you want to visit manuel antonio you could is about 1:30 from Jaco ...and Jaco is only 2hrs from San Jose ...and manuel antonio is 3-4 hours ....have fun and congrats !!!!!!!!!!!!!