The Steiner familiy has done a great job in setting up this hotel a decade ago. The owners live on the premises, which makes for a personalized service. Beautiful views towards the Pacific Ocean, but tucked away on a hilltop near the jungle. Love the jungle trails, beautiful pool and nice food.

My wife and I booked 3 nights in early February and liked it enough to ask at the front desk if we could stay longer. Like most other vistiors to Costa Rica we pack our days with all the activities we can and by late afternoon, early evening we're ready to relax. This is the perfect hotel for that. Huge... More

My daughter, son-in-law and I spent 4 days at the hilltop resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean in January. They enjoyed the hike through the rainforest with the owner's dog leading the way! We all walked down the hill to do the fitness trail. On the way back one day, one of the men cut a hole in 3 coconuts and... More

Cristal Ballena is clean, charming and has a responsive staff, which made our 5 days there at the end of December really memorable. The pool is beautifully tiled, well maintained and set on a hilltop overlooking the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. The owner, Waldemar, made guests feel quite welcome as did his attentive staff. The breakfast buffet is adequate... More

I stayed here one weekend with a friend and we shared a suite with two queen beds and a lovely balcony. The weather that weekend was not conducive to going whale watching, which was what we'd hoped to do, but the hotel and the large pool proved to be a nice place to simply relax. Our room was large and... More

The lovely grounds make a great first impression! Expanses of grass, beautiful trees, classy white Mediterranean style buildings, brilliant turquoise pool. Elegant is a good word to describe it. The staff were extremely friendly, and helped arrange tours and a rental car. Pretty standard breakfast buffet, but everything tastes better gazing out over the ocean. Fantastic pool. We stayed in... More

LOVE this region of Costa Rica and have stayed here a couple of times now..5 stars all the way around . Beautifully maintained grounds, tucked away on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Whale Bay. The Service is impeccable. Friendly attentive, hard working staff with a clear priority of making you feel at home -Bed and Breakfast style, but... More

We stayed here in June 2012 for 4 nights. The owner and the entire staff of this resort were super firendly. the location is beautiful, each room is a suite with unbelievable view and the restaurant is simply great! We enjoued ourselves very much (after a very unpleasant experience with another hotel in the area). We can highly recommend this... More

I stayed here for 2 nights on a recent visit to Costa Rica. My only complaint was how hard the bed was. It was like sleeping on box springs. The location was beautiful. We enjoyed the trail on the hotel property and were joined by Bonita, the sweet dog on property. Unfortunately, I probably wouldn't stay here again because of... More