Where to begin??? First, Vanessa, our concierge, went above and beyond the call of duty with our extended family of 12, ranging in age from 3 to 69. She helped us with everything with a smile, including setting up 3 tours to Manuel Antonio National Park, a boat ride, and a Sunset Sails Trimaran sunset and snorkeling cruise. She was very available, even on her day off which was her birthday! We had many requests, including several taxi rides, a Visa that needed printed out, information about the house, shopping, etc. etc. We were late on arrival and she stayed late waiting for us to arrive, and giving us a house tour, and information about staying there, such as how to keep MOnkeys out of the house! I can't say enough about her service and availability and her communication before and throughout our stay. Her English is excellent, and we probably relied on her so much since we had very limited Spanish. Thank you Vanessa!
The house, or should I say MANSION, was like staying in a castle. The online photos do not do it justice, and it has many nooks and crannies to hang out, including several dining areas inside and out. The kitchen was amazing, with everything one could imagine needing, including spices and coffee. Our sons and their families including 4 children, shared this space quite a bit, while us grandparents took the lovely apartment, which was fully air conditioned and had its own kitchen. It was quite hot (90-95 degreed) during our stay, so the pristine pool and fans in the house were very refreshing. The AC in the bedrooms was excellent as well.
The pool was incredible, and we spent most of our at house time in and around us, while the kids literally turned into fish! The first day and large family (about 20+) of Tika squirrel monkeys put on a show on the patio for us, wrestling, showing off, drinking pool water, looking for food, mommas and babies scampering around, for about 30 minutes. We also saw many white faced ,monkeys, a howler monkey, sloths, macaws, toucans, frogs, and many multi-colored iguanas on the trail around the house. Staying in Manuel Antonio was an unforgettable experience, and went way beyond any of our expectations.
The cleaning staff came in every weekday to wash towels, clean, and empty trash. We felt very pampered and sometimes told them it was not necessary to wash the towels every day. They were very friendly and quite accepting and tolerant of our lack of Spanish conversation. 10 stars****