My wife and I just spent a wonderful vacation with the kids and grandkids at Manuel Antonio Estates near Quepos, Costa Rica. We had booked a 5 bedroom home and were upgraded at no additional cost to a 7 bedroom estate at the top of the hill overlooking Quepos and the bay. The house was elegant, clean, well maintained, and very convenient to Quepos, the national park, and the beaches. This was our fourth "grandkids" summer trip and the best by far. The kids especially enjoyed the pool built into the deck. We saw monkeys in the trees next to the house, as well as many birds including Toucans. We highly recommend this property.

We rented this property for one of my tour groups as an upgrade. Usually we don't stay in luxury but if you divide the price between 14 persons it comes even less than a hotel but gives you much more!
I prefer this type of accommodation instead of boring big hotel chains. You are close to everything yet separated on a small hill (which can be frustrating to climb in a heat if you are without a car or taxi). Its not the most modern, highest luxury, but a very comfortable, affordable place for up to 14 persons. The rooms have with private bath and AC plus there is a little pool and the really big sun deck where we all fit during the night barbecue. The living area could need an A/C but apart from this you have everything here!

My husband and I stayed in the eco apartment #8 for 3 nights. The best thing was the feeling of being at home instead of a crowed hotel. We had privacy and there was only one other family that we saw in the apts. Which meant that we had the pool to ourselves all the time except for the little dude that lived at the pool. A large iguana which would come out during the day to sun himself on the pool side lounge chairs. It was great and you knew you were in Costa Rica. The apt was a nice size and the bedroom had AC which was perfect for the hot and humid nights. Yes, the whole apt does not have AC and it is hot but not too many places that you will travel to during the day have AC so it is better to adjust to the temp. You have AC at night to sleep in so it was fine for us. We also had a kitchen with some cooking supplies and so we went to the farmers market on Friday night in Quepos and bought some fresh food to cook up for breakfast the next morning. I would recommend the market on Friday nights and Sat mornings. We walked to the market and back. The walk is not far but the hill up to the apt is very steep so be prepared. It was our daily exercise. The guards at the gate our friendly and called us a cab a few times when we wanted to go out for dinner up the road in Manuel Antonio. We had no problem walking to Quepos but I would not recommend walking up the hill toward "tourist road" towards MA. The restaurants and bars on this road are much better to visit then anything in Quepos. Head to Byblos bar down this road by taxi which cost about 3 mil for drinks, watching sports on their TV, billiards and music. Friday nights was ladies night with free drinks. MA national park is at the end of the road and the estates apartments are at the start so taking a taxi is costly and it is not in walking distance. Take the local bus which the bus stop is down the hill toward Quepos a few blocks on the left side of the road. The bus is cheap maybe like 50 cents to the park and runs every half hour during the day. Dorit was the host at the office and was very helpful. She told us fun places to go and things to see and even gave us her personal cell phone if we had any problems because we checked in on Friday and the office was not open Sat afternoon and Sunday and we were leaving on Monday. I think it was a good value. The rooms are older but well maintained and if you have any issues just bring them up to the office staff. We would have loved to stay here longer! We did not use the spa so I'm not sure how that is.

Fabulous place to stay for our 4 families. The night guard was awesome and brought us fresh Mangoes off of the trees. This place is awesome, beautiful and amazing!