La Mansion is a cute Boutiques hotel situated on a cliffside in Manuel Antonio. I will be honest-if you drive, it is a bit difficult to park the car or get out of the lot. The smaller rooms are cute and have basic essentials. The suites definitely have a lot more to offer. My favourite thing about this hotel is the Bat Cave. IT is a fun way to spend the afternoon if you do not want to go into town. The Cousteau restaurant is good-but there are a lot of places to choose from for dining options in the area. All in all, this is a cute place to stay with the basics for a beach trip. (if you get a smaller room-keep in mind, there are no hairdryers:(

My husband and I stayed here for 4 nights for our honeymoon in Nov 2007. We booked a deluxe room with an ocean view - Room #1 on the second floor. Cost was approx $175 night prepaid incl tax.

Staff: excellent and helpful. Reception desk, dining staff speak excellent English. Some other staff (cleaning) not as much but all supervisors do so if you have communication problems there is always someone who can help. We had no such problems. Since we were a bit off season it took a few minutes to find staff and get food in the pool area.

Room: Large size room with king bed (not two twins put together). Entertainment unit with mini bar and tv, bench at the foot of the bed but no other chair in the room. Large closet and shelf space. Tile floors throughout the hotel as is common in Costa Rica. Bed was very comfortable.

Balcony - 2 large rocking chairs with table on upper section of balcony and step down to even more room. The monkeys use the balcony rail as a shortcut to scamper between areas of trees. If you sit in the rockers they will pass by. If you are too close to the rail they will hold off until you step back a bit. Please help keep them wild and don't feed them - even fruit - there is lots of native food in the area for them. Excellent View.

Bathroom: also large - shower only. Enough counter space and cabinet space. Granite countertop. Nice toiletries, two robes. Hair dryer.

Cleaning: cleaning staff were excellent. Every day they make a new "towel sculptures" - swans, elephants, flowers - for your bed and the bathroom countertop. Also decorate them with flower petals

Pool - nice pool area with great lounge chairs, swim up bar and patio tables for lunch. Not big enough for laps though.

Internet - common terminal in the lobby if you want to check your email. They also have wireless in the lobby but could not get it to work for me.

Spas: spas in the area and some come into the hotel as well.

Security - Safe in room that is big enough for a laptop. Staff keeps an eye out for who is coming and going. No problems anywhere - don't leave your stuff unattended on the beach or in the car.

Breakfast was included in the room rate and was very good - selection of menu to choose from - including local type food or regular selection. There is a terrace with a few tables outside as well as the inside ones. The monkeys come here too and hang out.

Dinner - they have a nice dining room, romantic. Food was excellent. My husband had a pork chop in pepper sauce and said it was the best he ever had. You can pre order for a specific time and your meal will be ready on schedule for you. They will try to accomodate any dietary needs / special requests - just let them know.

Beach - they have a free shuttle to the beach that is also the same spot as the entrance to the Manual Antonio National Park - I think it is for 4 set times a day. At the beach you can rent beach chairs with umbrellas - think it was around $4/day for each chair. Can barter if you get there later in the day. Lots of people trying to sell you ceramics / towels / crafts on the beach. Also they will sell / deliver food and drinks to your beach chair. Water was good - lots of people surfing and body boarding. Waves weren't huge - good for beginners. Go in the morning - usually around 2 or 3 pm there was some rain.

Manual Antonio Ntl Parki - you can get a tour from the hotel or take the free shuttle and then there are official park tour guides at the entrance - for $20/person - 1/2 the hotel rate. They bring along a telescope to help you view the birds and animals - the sloths are in the tops of the trees. If you don't want the tour, the paths are well marked - only 3 main trails and they give you a map when you pay your entrance fee - $7. In order to get to the entrance you will have to cross a small stream (need to take off your shoes) or there are some locals with a small boat who will use it to help you cross the stream for a voluntary donation. Highly recommend the park we saw 3 kinds of monkeys, sloths, wild pig, lots of birds and more. Also, there a couple of nice beaches in the park without the crowds. No vendors in the park - so bring your water in with you.

Town: Mostly one big long road - it's a big hill down to the beach and park. Lots of restaurants, hotels. We had great pizza at the spot to the right of the casino.

Fitness: There is a gym in the area - on the main road take a left and go down the hill. It's near the bottom on the right just before entering Quepos. Or just run, swim and hike.

Tours: Several tours available via the hotel

Getting There: We rented a car for our entire two weeks in Costa Rica. The directions on the hotel website were good enough to find it. If you pass the Casino on your left you have gone too far by a bout 200m. There are really no addresses or street signs in Costa Rica - all directions are by landmarks - "take a right at the gas station" etc.

Parking: There is parking right in front of the hotel entrance. Not a lot of spaces but we had no problem finding one when we needed it. No fee.

Driving: In Costa Rica you need a 4WD. If you go off the main roads many are not paved, and there are huge potholes to navigate (like after you turn off the main road and go down to the hotel). Drive defensively, roads can be a bit narrow with no shoulders in some places and you'll have to pass by trucks etc. Even the main roads are often one lane each direction but most truck drivers are great and will wave you by when it is safe for you to pass since it is difficult to see around them.

Costa Rica is not a rich nation and municipalities do not have the money to pave the side streets or do other things you may be used to. The pace is also slower so relax, allow extra time if you must be somewhere. The people are fabulous, interesting, helpful and fun. The scenery is spectacular. The wildlife is great - you'll see lots. And it is much cheaper to travel in Costa Rica than many other places.

We loved our time here and would happily return to this hotel and the area.

La Mansion has a wonderful staff...all very helpful and attentive. Our suite was large and had a beautiful view of the ocean. Each day when we returned to the room from the day's excursion, we were always interested to see how the cleaning staff had arranged the towels/robes and decorated the room with little flowers. Lots of attention to detail!

The hotel pool (w/ in-pool bar) was beautiful. White-faced monkeys visited daily and provided plenty of entertainment. The views of the ocean from the pool are also wonderful.

La Mansion provides several (free) daily shuttles to Manuel Antonio Beach. We loved this service!! One afternoon, there had been a small car accident that prevented the shuttle from leaving La Mansion to pick us up from the beach. Pablo (who owns the shuttle buses) came to pick us up in his own vehicle. Now that is excellent customer service!!

Now the not-so-good stuff: The quality of the linens in the rooms were a bit disappointing (especially compared to equally priced places in the US). The cost of beverages/snacks in the mini-bar was outrageous...of course. We suggest a trip to a local liquor store/market. The food in the hotel's restaurant was just average...but VERY expensive. I would recommend venturing out for dinner. Most taxi drivers know a little English...if you know the name of a restaurant--they'll get you there. Good places to go: Ronnie's Place, Agua Azul, La Cantina.

We booked 3 tours through La Mansion (Canopy Safari, Rainmaker and Planet Dolphin Catamaran)...all 3 included a great lunch. We were not provided with tour vouchers by the hotel (which were requested during 2 of our tours), nor were we told that Rainmaker did not accept credit cards to pay for the remaining balance. Surprisingly, the tour operators were very understanding and allowed us to pay them in cash once we returned to La Mansion.

Our overall experience at La Mansion was very good, though I would probably stay at a different hotel in the future...just for the new experience.

We originally planned to stay 3 nights at La Mansion Inn, but after upgrading from the Deluxe room to the Presidential Suite our last night, we decided to stay one more day to enjoy the room!! (and the area). It's unbelievable for Costa Rica! Make sure you ask to see the room! We got it for an unbelievable price!

The staff was super friendly and accomodating and felt like old friends by the time we left!

The food was excellent, the pool is beautiful and views are even better!

We definitely recommend this hotel and will definitely return in future!