Hotel Pacande in Alajuela is a ten minute, $6 (3,000 colones) taxi ride from the Juan Santamaria Airport in San Jose, Costa Rica. Take one of the official taxis at the airport, they know where it is and they will charge you correctly. In general, I prefer official taxis with "marias" in Costa Rica. Asking for a guaranteed rate in advance of your trip usually means a higher fare, not a deal. Ask them to use the maria.

Hotel Pacande serves a lot of in and out travellers who stay primarily for their first and/or last night in San Jose. Alajuela is also a good gateway to the La Fortuna/Arenal area.

Everything you need is nearby -- restaurants in different price ranges, groceries, bank, drug store, hardware store, and the police station is just around the corner. Lots of taxis going by.

Management is friendly and helpful. You have a choice of rooms from private, private with shared bathroom, or dorms -- all in the lower price range. I had a private with shared bathroom (although no one was sharing the bathroom) and it included cable tv in my room.

The hotel is clean and your room includes a continental breakfast with coffee, bread and butter, and fruit in their enclosed back garden.

It is not fancy with simple basic accommodations, and it may not be that quiet because people need to come and go at different hours to meet their flight schedule. But it is a good value and a good location. It is difficult to find safe and clean hotels at low prices near the airport.

The rating is for what it is, if you are looking for fancy accommodations, you can find those closer to the airport at a much higher room rate.

Tried to return on another trip to Hotel Pacande but it was full and stayed instead next door at Hotel Cortez Azul. They are very similar in layout, service, and value. I recommend them both.

The rating is for what it is, if you are looking for fancy accommodations, you can find those closer to the airport at a much higher room rate.

The hotel itself seem very nice. The rooms were clean, the staff was very friendly and helpful, and it felt safe in an area that didn't seem safe at all. I especially liked how they were a sustainable hotel and very mindful about conservation and being "green." The garden in the back also had a nice atmosphere to it. The area in general though was not worth visiting. If possible, avoid staying in Alajuela at all. The city was very dirty and did not seem safe with every building behind bars and razor wire and policemen roaming the streets in groups of three. The hotel even had their front doors locked in the middle of the afternoon when we arrived. At least you can be sure no unwanted people will be strolling about the place and breaking into your room. But, if you have to stay in Alajuela I would recommend Hotel Pacande.

We are staying here on our last night in CR, heading to the airport tomorrow. We think we have the best room in the house. Room number 8. Off the back patio, up a very skinny spiral staircase. A private balcony overlooks the back garden. The room is completely paneled in wood, has two beds downstairs and then a loft with a double bed. Very roomy, it would be a good room to stay in if you had kids with you. But perhaps not little kids because of the skinny spiral staircase.

Very well maintained property.
Nice lobby with a receptionist 24/7. Free internet use.
We were charged 30 dollars for a private room with a shared bathroom and with a breakfast in the morning. The shared bathrooms rooms on the first floor are basic, but very clean. All of them have a TV with cable (buch of English language channels).
There is one shared bathroom per 2 rooms, and it's located right where those rooms are, so you don't really share bathroom with too many people.
The backyard (as well as kitchen) are superclean and well maintained.
It takes only 10 min to/from airport to this hotel.
The hotel called us a taxi in the morning (we had a very early flight) and it cost us only $5 dollars.
The hotel is also very close to the public buses to San Jose (Tuasa bus), volcano Poas etc etc. There is a cute soda place right across the hotel.
Very friendly staff and the owner, who is originally from Colombia.
A+ to this property.