A slightly strange hotel - much more like a set of apartments with some central facilities. The hotel accommodation is in 3 blocks (2 or 3 storey) along one side of the resort's private beach, while the restaurant is the other side of the beach (albeit it's very close). There's a swimming pool area (small but very adequate) exclusively for hotel residents. Good quality, well-maintained sun-beds are available free of charge to residents (visitors must pay to hire them) but, rather oddly, you have to pay a dollar a day if you want a beach/pool towel. Our accommodation was in a set of newly constructed studios - actually the one directly overlooking the sea and called "The Suite". It was very spacious but equally expensive - and the fixtures and fittings were not quite up to the price. However, it was clean and comfortable and the excellent sun-balcony (complete with jacuzzi!) more than made up for it. The bar and restauarant area was excellent - right on the beach front - meals and drinks were good quality and well-priced compared to local equivalents. Sadly, it was invariably empty - we could not really understand why (except that there is also an excellent, independent beach bar/restaurant called Bongos, which takes most of the trade) so was a bit lacking in atmosphere. The view compensated! The beach was generally uncrowded, despite being, arguably, the best beach on Bonaire - but it did get very crowded the 2 days that there was a large cruise liner in the harbour. The snorkelling from the hotel's private jetty is quite amazing - more fish than the average aquarium! For divers (that's what most people go there for) there's a dive school attached to the hotel. I used them, but was a bit unhappy with their methods. They use single-manned boats, go to the dive site and moor and you then have to dive along the reef against the current and return to the boat in a drift dive. On days when the current was strong, this made for very unpleasant and rather shortened dives - one ending up with the dive boat getting stuck on the rocks trying to rescue exhausted divers. Overall, a good place to go for relaxation, eating and drinking, swimming and sunbathing - but you might wish to choose somewhere else if you want well-managed diving on-site.

My husband and I stayed at the Eden Beach Resort for 2 weeks in early May 2007. We had a wonderful time and would highly recommend the resort and Bonaire in general. The rooms at EBR are simple and clean, albeit a bit outdated, however the resort is in the process of remodeling. We checked out many other properties while we were on Bonaire and it seems that most haven't been redone for years. Many people say it, but it's true--you don't visit Bonaire so you can sit in your hotel room. So far Bonaire is my favorite dive destination that I have been to because you are able to shore dive on your own right off the Western coast of the island. I cannot imagine going back to boat diving with the herds after our wonderful private diving experience in Bonaire. The dives were easy for the most part and the fish life amazing. Back to the resort....while we were staying at the EBR I think there was maybe just one other American couple--otherwise everyone was Dutch--which was fine with us as it made it more interesting. If you want to be with the other Americans stay at Buddy Dive or Captain Don's--however if you are looking for a more unique, laid-back atmosphere try EBR. Bongos beach bar, which is on the resort property is a wonderful place to watch the sunset with a cold drink--and it definitely attracts a crowd on Friday evenings. We chose to have the breakfast buffet included with our room--which was great for diving in the morning--less hassle of cooking. The buffet was great, offering eggs, omeletes, bacon, fresh fruit, juice and a great cappuccino. In addition to Bongos beach bar and restaurant, there is also a restaurant on site run by the resort (they served the breakfast buffet). The resort restaurant was never busy, and we couldn't figure out why they didn't try to attract more people with drink specials, a more lively atmosphere, etc...The resort restaurant too has a great sunset view as it is right next door to Bongos. One thing to be aware of: none of the rooms at EBR are actually waterfront--the resort consists of 4 or 5 buildings that run in one line that is perpendicular to the shore. The first couple of buildings are very close to the water, and when you step out on your patio you can see it--however the units aren't directly facing the water. There actually aren't many properties on Bonaire that have oceanfront rooms as far as we could tell. As far as location of EBR--it is just a couple minutes North of downtown Kralendjik by car. Virtually all of the hotels are very close to downtown, so eating out is very convenient.
We used the dive shop on the premises, Wannadive, for our unlimited air. The guys there were nice, and very hands-off. Bob was definitely the friendliest and most helpful divemaster.

When we return to Bonaire we would definitely stay at EBR again.

This was our second year at Eden Beach. For those who know the island, this resort has one of two sand beaches on the island, the other is at Lac Bay.

The owners, Julio and his sons, do a great job of making sure that you are taken care of. Wannadive dive shop is located on the grounds and they are very professional, and the location is convenient.

I highly recommend Eden Beach as a good place to stay and enjoy the great diving in Bonaire - we will be booking 2 weeks at Eden Beach next spring.

Bonaire is a great place to visit. Eden Beach Resort, eh, was so so. We chose it primarily based on their website photos and positive reviews on the BonaireTalk website. The reality we found when we got there was a bit more, well, plain. Not bad, necessarily, and I suppose a decent deal for the price, but we had expected more.

The hotel rooms are two story condo-type units. Two bedrooms and two baths upstairs in ours and a kitchen/dining area/sitting area/sitting porch downstairs. The building is situated on a diagonal from the beach, and at least when we were there, didn't really get the prevailing winds that blow all the time. The first eight units or so face the beach and the water. After that they face the pool and the parking lot, which isn't such a bad view as it sounds, but beach side units are preferable.

We found our unit a bit narrow and cave-like, sparsely decorated, and musty smelling when we arrived. Opening all the doors and windows and airing it out pretty much solved the smell. The front bedroom had a great view over the beach and the ocean, and actually had screens on its windows, which not all the units did, however. The back bedroom had double french doors onto a porch with view of the back of the building next door and no screens. No screens on the sliding doors on the porch downstairs either. We tended to leave all doors and windows open during the day and close up everything and use the AC at night to defend against mosquitos, which were present but tolerable.

The downstairs air conditioner was noisy as some have complained, but the bedroom units were quite quiet on the lower fan setting. All were plenty powerful and cooled the place fine.

The bathrooms were small and a little rough around the edges. The toilets did not always inspire confidence that they would actually flush, but they always mananged to do the job.

Plenty of closet and counter space in the bedrooms. The beds seemed to have foam mattresses on them that were actually surprisingly comfortable. We slept quite well on them. One bedroom had a safe in it which we used for our valuables and we had no issues with theft. You could fit a couple small cameras, wallets, phones, passports in it with out any problem. The key for the safe cost extra and was $2/day; worth it we figured, but a little cheap of them to charge for it. We also rented a crib for our toddler, at $10 a day, which we thought was a little steep, but in the end we were not charged. They provided a portable type crib with a minimal but adequate mattress. If you do rent a crib bring your own sheet as we did; they provided an adult sheet folded up, which is not considered safe.

The unit was clean and the maid came daily and did a pretty good job and was wonderfully friendly and chatty.

The lock on our sliding door was broken when we arrived which we found out when going to dinner our first night. We were impressed that despite the late hour on a Sunday, the management had a maintanence man on duty who was able to rig up a temporary fix and who came back at 10am the next morning to make a permanent fix.

The pool area is a little spartan, mostly used by kids and scuba divers for classes. The baby pool is not flush with the deck, but actually set above ground and at 2.5 feet deep, was a little deep, we thought, for kids. The main pool was all one depth and a little too deep at 4.5-5 feet deep.

There's a dive shop on the premises, Wannadive, but I didn't use them since all their rental equipment was out while we were there.

The beach is rough sand with a lot of coral bits. Not the nicest beach, but ok for sitting on. The sand goes down to the water, but quickly turns into rock and coral and drops off quickly. Not the best for small kids to play in unsupervised. Slightly older ones are probably fine.

One annoyance was that on Wednesday afternoon the beach was overrun by people from a cruise ship. They apparently come on a regular basis, and we had no warning. It was impossible to enjoy the beach or snorkel.

There's a dock which juts out into the water and provides access for snorkling and divers. Very decent sea life right along the shore here. No much coral but TONS of fish of many types, as well as urchins, sea cucumbers, crabs, etc. Well worth sticking your head in to look around.

There is a beach bar/restuarant right on the beach here, Bongos. The food was good with a decent variety of fresh fish dishes, burgers, quesadillas, soups, etc. Not fancy, but good. Service was reasonably friendly, but unbelievably slow. Generally there was one bartender and one waitress who were sometimes serving 40-80 people. We ate early one night and the cook actually took our order and then went back to prepare it. The majority of the customers were Dutch and we occasionally felt that we weren't getting quite the same attention they were. Bongos doesn't take reservations (with some exceptions) so getting a table at prime time could be hit or miss. The one night it was raining they closed the outdoor deck and took reservations for the covered area around the bar, which we didn't find out until we showed up and couldn't get a table under cover. Fortunately the rain stopped then and it didn't matter. Bongos sometimes got crowded and noisy, but they always shut down by 10pm or so and were never an annoyance late at night.

We've heard that Bongos is run by different management than Eden Beach and that there is some tension between the two. Eden Beach seems to be building its own restuarant, but it was not completed yet when we were there.

Eden Beach is doing construction and adding on another set of units on top of the beach side units where we were staying. There was occasional banging and power tool noise from above us, but never very early and never for too long, and wasn't really an issue.

The vast majority of the guests were Dutch when we were there. This didn't bother us and actually made it feel more exotic than perhaps it was.

To sum up, I guess I would say that rule of caveat emptor applies here. The rates are on the budget side for Bonaire and you get what you pay for. The rooms were clean, if a bit spartan, and the management reasonably responsive to requests if not overly solicitous. If you're looking for a budget option, you could do far worse. Just be aware that you get what you pay for and in this price range, they cut some corners.