My fiance and I just returned from Costa Rica and we both loved Bahia Pez Vela. We stayed there for four nights at the end of August and drove from San Jose. It took us about 4-4.5 hours to get there but it was well worth the drive. They say the roads in Costa Rica are poor however besides not having enough lanes on either side they were fine with the exception of the last two miles (or so) into the resort where there were some bumps along the way but nothing one can't manage. If you are looking to be off the beaten path just slightly and really relax, then this resort is for you. It is tucked away at the end of a road and is roughly 4 miles from downtown Playas de Coco. After reaching Playas de Coco's downtown, you turn on another paved road that twists and turns its way through a neighborhood (look out for people and dogs as they both walk along both sides of the road).
As previously stated, the paved road has a few bumps in it that you must chose a spot to cross over and manuever across slowly. After about three miles, you reach the first security gate into Octotal. At this point the road gets fairly bumpy and is dirt at
certain times however it is manageable. We rented a car and were able to get through fine. There is another security gate for the resort and they are there 24 hours a day in addition to having two guards roam around the property all day and night as well so one definitely feels safe. The resort consists mainly of villas however there was just two of us so we stayed in a studio. The studio was one room with a huge bathroom which was great. It was perfect for what we were looking for. The air conditioning worked great and we had very few bugs in the room. (I killed a few ants which is to be expected so I commend the resort with regards to the great job they did keeping the insects away). Anyway, we stayed in Villa 40 and outside of our room was a little wading pool (about 3.5 ft. deep) that one could sit in and see the spectacular view of the bay. To give one some perspective, bahia pez vela sits in a cove with steep embankments on all ends. We were at the top of the resort that meant we had about a five minute walk down a fairly steep paved road to get to the pool and restaurant. The walking down part wasn't bad, but walking up the hill is some good exercise however we did not mind it. So there are two or three clumps of villas at the top of the hill while the rest are down closer to the pool area so keep that in perspective when booking. The resort has it's own private volcanic sand beach which is very peaceful and a pool overlooking the beach. It was beautiful. They have a restaurant called Picante there which is right next to the pool and is open air like most places there. The food was no more expensive than the places in Playas del Coco and it's nice because if you don't want to leave the resort, you don't have to (except for an ATM). There is one that takes all cards in the new Pacifico shopping area to the left of the upscale grocery store in Playas de Coco. Anyway, the staff was all extremely friendly at Picante and we never had poor service. In addition, the staff in the office were all friendly as well. I made my reservation through Katelyn Tocci (the property manager). She was extremely helpful and as mentioned so were the other staff. We would definitely stay here again as it was very peaceful and relaxing. We also did take taxi's (about 4000 colones) into Playas de Coco to experience some of the nightlife as well. We liked Z lounge (for dancing) but our favorite place was La Vida Loca.
