My wife and I stayed one month (Jan. 15 to Feb. 15, 2012) at Montelaguna Residence and we totally enjoyed it. The residence is quiet, relaxing and away from the hustle and bustle of Samara Village.

We stayed in condo #23. Nice two bedroom condo with a balcony overlooking the lagoon and the swimming pool. Giorgia and Mario where great hosts and made sure we had a great stay. Whatever we needed, they accommodated us. The pool was always sparkling clean and was a great place to meet the other tenants.

We appreciated our early morning walks on Carillo and Samara beaches. When we needed supplies, Samara Village is a 25 minute walk on the beach, so a car rental was not necessary (not unless you want to visit other areas of Costa Rica). With supplies in hand, we would taxi back for the mere sum of 3,000 colones ($6US) and you do not need to tip taxis (so we were told). At low tide, Samara and Carillo beach have 300 meters wide of beautiful sand.
We enjoyed going for lunch at the many beach front restaurants with the ice cold ceverzas and beautiful scenery.

Close to Montelaguna Residence is a zip-line outfit called Wingnuts Canopy tours. They picked us up at the residence and few minutes later we were at their office. Once fitted with our harnesses, we were off to the site. The tour lasted three hours with 10 zip-lines, a snack and we had great guides by the name of Manu and Freddy. We had a wonderful time and would do it again.

There are many activities available: dolphin watching, snorkelling, surfing, sea kayaking and also fishing boats and sea-doo rentals.
For more info, http://samarabeach.com/whattodo.htm you can even tour the area by air in a small helicopter.

All in all, impressive beaches, good restaurants, wonderful people, great hosts, excellent location and we will be returning at Montelaguna Residence.

Thanks again Giorgia and Mario.
Diane and Bear
Aylmer, Quebec

My wife and I most recently had an extended stay at the Montelaguna Residences and we very much enjoyed our visit. The residences are a short walk, eight minutes , to Playa Carrillo which is an outstanding beach area. Equally pleasant was that we could walk to Samara in approximately 35 minutes along the beach, assuming low tide. Numerous restaurants exist in either Playa Carrillo or Samara if you wish not to prepare your own meals. If you do prepare your own meals grocery store, Pali, is easily located in Samara. The facility itself is well taken care of by management and any issues are quickly responded to by on site management. The setting is quite nice with a view of the countryside and the pool is fantastic after a day at the beach. Bottom line, no negatives, all positives !

We stayed in condo #34 for one month in Feb-March 2012 and we really enjoyed our stay at Montelaguna. It is a perfect place to be with a young family (we have a 3 year-old and a 5 month baby, and my sister-in-law came 2 weeks with her 4 and 5 year olds): pool area for the kids (perfect to learn how to swim!), playground, toys available for the kids, bassinette and high chair for the kids, etc. The owner herself has 3 young children so my boy sometimes played with them.

The condo is really well located. We spent our mornings at Samara and Carillo beaches (easy to walk to both beaches from the condo with the kids), which are 2 AMAZING beaches where the kids can swim (the waves aren't too big - we couldn't swim much with the kids in many other beaches around), with nice sand and a lot of place to run around and play! You can choose to go at Carillo beach (we preferred that one in the morning), which is very quiet, not many people, or Samara beach (we went at Samara more in the evenings) where you will find many restaurants, bars and action! There are MANY activities you can do with the kids around: zipline (my 3 year old went alone and LOVED it!), turtle watch, boat tours, scubadiving, discovering other beautiful beaches along the coast, etc.

The condo is very clean, spacious, and it was good to have an elevator for the stroller and kids! It is also a very quiet place, so it was nice to go out in town and then come back to relax in the condo, feeling the cool sea breeze. We had a rental car so we could often go to town (a 8-10 minutes drive).

Girogia, the owner, helped us a lot before we came over as we weren't sure what to bring for the kids and baby (and even for us!). She found us a Costarican women who helped us a few days per week to clean, cook good food and babysit the kids. She was always there to assist us when we needed some help and to provide us some tips and advice.

I made many searches to find THE place to stay in Samara (and even in Costa Rica!) and we are glad we found the perfect spot!! Villas and other places downtown were not only more expensive, but noisy, dusty and crowded. The location of the condo, the appartments, the people and the equipment available for the kids made our trip the best one we could have.

I ABSOLUTELY recommend Montelaguna.

Just as a note, make sure to check and note the condition of the rental car when you get it and broken/stained items in the places you stay in Costa Rica when you arrive as you may be charged for them even if you are not responsible.

My family and I stayed in the three bedroom condo (#34)on the top floor at Montelaguna last December for two weeks and we had a fantastic stay.
First of all the condo and the residence is really beautiful and well made. Condo 34 has a large balcony and the view is just lovely. The location is also ideal as we were just across the road from both Samara and Carrillo beaches. My wife and I would walk to the beach in the morning with our two children, and in the afternoons we hung out in the magnificent pool of the residence. It was never crowded, and there was a shallow end perfect for the kids.

We were worried at first that we didn't have a car because Montelaguna is not in the center of town, but the taxis worked fine, and it turned out to be cheaper than renting a car. The managers also organized for fish, fruit and pastry trucks to come by a couple of days a week - so we rarely needed to go out to the grocery store.
We would recommend this place to anyone.