My boyfriend & I came here for his birthday. It feels so private, romantic & remote... We had to take a land cruiser on the beach to get there. The ocean waves, the hammocks, the multi-colored crabs & lizards that scamper on the pathways, the cocktails, the food, the friendly people. We really loved that they put fresh flower petals all around the sink and made a birthday cake out of towels decorated with flowers, spelling out his name. Clean, dreamy, an oasis, your own tropical jungle... This place rocks!!! :) Here's a video... http://youtu.be/aF7_uRTLSQI

Despite the weird name of this hotel, my wife and I had a marvelous experience. We stayed 3 nights in a beach-front bungalow, falling asleep to the sounds of the ocean each night. Even though it was the "rainy season," we only experienced short showers at night, so enjoyed marvelous weather.

The Ylang Ylang Resort was very clean, our bed was perfect, the a/c worked great (which helped us dry out from the humidity at night). The restaurant was superb: definitely the best food we ate in Costa Rica.

The grounds were crawling with interesting lizards, which was delightful for us. The location is a short walk from the town center, which was perfect: far enough away from the traffic to keep the beach empty, but close enough to easily get to Montezuma for excursions.

The way the landscaping and architecture are set up, visitors are afforded a great deal of privacy. You would be very comfortable and happy here as a couple, group, or family.

My husband (<--still weird to say) and I spent 6 days at Ylang Ylang in Montezuma, and we couldn't have been more blown away. We knew that we didn't want to honeymoon in a massive resort that isolated visitors from the local culture, but we also didn't want to "rough it" like we usually do. It was in this mindset that we found Ylang Ylang reviews here on Trip Advisor, and we were glad to see that they were (mostly) accurate.

The best thing about Ylang Ylang is that it's the perfect balance of comfort and an authentic experience. If you walk in one direction down the beach, you'll reach the town of Montezuma. If you walk the other way, you'll find freshwater streams, amazing seaside boulders, and what we affectionately started calling "The Pirate Beach". (It seemed like the perfect place for old school pirates to dump their treasure.) And no matter how sweaty you get, no matter how hard you hike/climb up those boulders, you know you have a hut w/ AC, a shower, and a comfortable waiting for you.

As others have mentioned, the food was excellent. Our package included breakfast and dinner everyday, and it was enough food to where we only ate lunch on one day. We looked forward to every meal, and none of them disappointed. I was really surprised with how large their menu was--perfect for those staying for more than a couple nights.

The spa was nice, too. We had a couple's message, and the spa itself was beautiful and relaxing. My husband says his masseuse was great, as she communicated with him to assure she was applying the right amount of pressure, etc. My masseuse, however, was a little less impressive. Basically, she didn't go hard enough. I was a little disappointed, but I chalked it up to the fact that she was most likely newer. Regardless, I still found my spa experience to be relaxing and enjoyable, and I would book another message in a heart beat.

The only activity we did was the horse ride to the world's only (?) waterfall into the ocean. We had the front desk book it for us, and I believe they booked it with "El Pinto". If you're adventurous, you should definitely do this. It was our favorite day! Marvin was an amazing guide, he takes very good care of his horses (which we heard through the grapevine), and he even brought along a snack. Neither of us were experienced horseriders, and we were sore for a couple days. But man was it fun!

Finally--do the beach side dinner, or "Dinner Romantico" as it's called. It really is romantico.

Can't wait to back to Ylang Ylang, maybe next time with our families.

My wife and I had high expectations of our trip to Costa Rica, and the experience we had at Ylang Ylang made it a dream vacation come true. Things we liked: the remoteness (some of our friends thought that we were weird to choose a hotel that requires a 10-15 min beach walk to get to, but having the whole beautiful beach to ourselves made it well worth it); the food (you've gotta try to the shrimp kabobs for dinner); the beach bungalow (rainforest out the back door, stunning beach view out the front door); the customer care from beginning to end (we had flower pedals sprinkled all over our bungalow when we arrived, and the staff was nice enough to ship the pair of glasses I left behind at no charge). I'm a penny pincher, so the $250/night price was hard to swallow at first, but I can honestly say it was worth every single penny.

PS-- The colored rock beach which is a 5 min hike up the beach was one of the coolest beaches I've ever been on.