We arrived early in the morning at Pension Alajuela without a reservation and they were happy to let us check into an available room well before the official check-in time. The woman at the front desk was extremely helpful and spent some time finding us a cheap taxi for a return trip to Volcan Poas the next morning (if you are planning on visiting the volcano I recommend taking a taxi to arrive early - when we visited clouds obscured the crater before the tours and public buses arrived).

The hotel itself is definitely a budget option, with not all rooms having AC and the hot water being provided by electric heaters on the shower heads. However the rooms were spotless and comfortable, breakfast was provided and the common area is very pleasant. Hard to beat in terms of value for money.

We stayed at the Pension Alajuela for 2 nights in June 2006 - one on the day we arrived in Costa Rica, and one the morning before we flew out of Costa Rica. It's a quick 5-10 minute taxi ride from the airport, and so was a convenient base for our travels. It's located right near the road which heads out of Alajuela to Poas Volcano, which was convenient since that was our first place to be visiting.

Things did not start well as when we checked in they did not have our reservation. However, it turned out not to be a problem since they still had rooms available. The room that they gave us was located right next to the road and the entrance to the hotel. There is no A/C, so the windows are open, which causes the room to be quite noisy due to the traffic both on the street and in and out of the front door. Their showers had the infamous electric water heaters attached to the shower head, which seemed to work but still made us a little nervous (we took quick showers).

The staff was very friendly and helpful, and there was a basic free breakfast that was included in the cost of the room.

Overall, it definitely wasn't the best night of sleep that we had in Costa Rica, but it was cheap ($50/night for a room with 3 beds), close to the airport, and served us adequately during our time there.