We stayed in one of the rooms on top of the "hill", close to the good sized pool. Nice rooms with a/c /a safe and our own patio. The beach is just 2 minutes walk, surf/boggieboard rentals even closer. Santa Teresa beach is unspoilt next to the jungle and a surferparadise. Which makes something lovely with the people and culture.

Since the jungel were next door we weren't surprised to have some ants in the room, the friendly staff took care of the problem right away.

Eather you order breakfast the night before and get it delivered on your doorstep, our you go to the very good Ginger Cafe just next door, for a lovely breakfast!!

Good Santa Teresa location!

Stayed here for 3 nights, it's a step-up from a hostel, so it is worth about $50 or so a night, not $100+. Make sure you stay in a stand-alone cabin, not in the on the rooms that is in the big building at the end of the property. We were in the big building and I can attest that you can hear everything your neighbor does.

Random issues we had - broken AC, gigantic ants coming out of toilet into room, millipedes in the bed, and a breakfast service that came only half the time. Breakfast is terrible too - stale bread and cereal, bad coffee (in costa rica!)

Not good, stay elsewhere.

We stayed here for two nights from march 9 to the11th with a group of family members, we had two two bedroom casitas and they were very clean, the bathroom was large and the shower had good water pressure. Each bedroom has its own A/C unit and they give you the remotes when you check in. The A/C´s worked very well. There is a digital safe in one of the rooms thats big enough for your laptop and other valuables. The kitchen is basic but fine for simple meals and includes a smallish fridge, sink and gas stovetop with four burners. Plates, cuttlery and glasses were in good condition. The pool is nice and has shade for some of the lounge chairs but none for the pool itself.They only have one set of keys for each casita and that can be a problem with a group. The hotel is across the street from a disco and we were worried it would be very loud but it wasn´t. We did hear it on Saturday night but not loud enough to keep anyone awake. The Hotel itself is on a small hill with the hotel rooms at the top, then the pool and WiFi area and then the casitas going down to the entrance where the parking lot and reception are. Lodgings are a bit removed from the street which is great because it is soooo dusty. The dust is not an issue in the rooms. You have to walk across the road and down a path to the beach. You could take a car too since there is parking at the beach. Esencia is very simple but clean and well cared for. We were pleased with what we got for the price.

This is a cute little place to stay, the walk up to our room was interesting, especially since I lost my flip flops on the first day we arrived. Room was adorable, local style and clean. No breakfast included, which was fine. No phones in the room, which only posed to be a problem when we found a scorpion in our bed! Fun times though, and when in Costa Rica, the wildlife truly does sit at your doorstep, and closer! I woke up on the first morning to find a huge Iguana on our balcony, and monkeys in the trees! Not bad!