Sueño al Mar Residence & Hotel

I went to Flamingo Beach to learn Spanish and chose this hotel in Protrero, originally I only booked 4 days but extended for my entire stay of 14 days. the units are condos with 2 units per building. I had a large kitchen, good sized bedroom, and bathroom, also there was a small patio off the kitchen. The location is a little remote so if you don't have a car you will need to take cabs which can be arranged at reception. You can walk in 15 minutes to the beach, Playa La Penca is very clean, good for swimming,sunsets, and there weren't many people. You can also walk 10 minutes to two local food stores, both adequate for the basics but don't expect to find fresh meats or seafood. There is also a popular bar next to the markets, called Las Brisas, basic beach bar, good place to end the day as the sun goes down. The Marco Polo restaurant is 5 minutes away, Italian fare, good service, average prices, good food, I returned 3 times and was never disappointed , try the Caesar salad, tuna carpaccio, or tagliatelle con carne, I also had a decent steak, actually prepared as I asked...very rare! The hotel has wifi in the courtyard near reception, there's an ice cream shop with homemade ice cream and they make great coffees, as you would hope in Costa Rica. The Villaggio has a fantastic pool, it never became crowded and there's a huge jacuzzi as well. They have daily cleaning of the units, and laundry service, I definitely recommend Villaggio if you are looking for a clean, quiet place

Overall, my stay at the Villagio was great. I was in Costa Rica for a friend's destination wedding at one of the resorts on Playa Flamingo. The Villagio was much more affordable than many of the resorts in Playa Flamingo. The free wi-fi in the main areas worked fine. The rooms were large and very clean. The hotel staff was so friendly and helpful. There is a tourist-organizer-tour outfitter right in the main plaza of the hotel. The Villago has 3 pools, a small gellato store and espresso cafe, plus the main Marco Polo restaurant. There are long termers there (staying 6 weeks- many months), as well as people who seemed to own their condo/villa as a vacation home, etc. I stayed for 1 wk. The place seems to be run by Italians. Many also spoke English, in addition to Spanish and Italian. My only concern was the location-- and this depends on what you were planning on doing, and if you rented a car. I did not rent a car, but needed to be in Flamingo beach daily for wedding activities. The public bus stop is about 1 block from the Villagio, which was great-- and only costs about $1 US. This is what I usually did. The bus did not run very late, however, and if I was out past 9 pm, I needed to pay $10 US for a cab to take me about 4-5 miles back to the Villagio. So, if I had rented a car, great, no issues. If I took the public bus and had no time constrictions, great, no problem. If I'm not on a budget, cab, great, no problem. Additionally, you could walk from the Portreo beach to the Flamingo beach during the day in about 30- 40 minutes. The Villagio is actually in the Playa Portrero area (as opposed to the 'downtown' Portreo area). Most of the roads are not paved. Hope this helps, I would easily use this hotel again.

Nearby the Villagio Flor is la Playa Penca, a gorgeous white sand beach that was very sparsely populated for the whole time we stayed. Everyone in the area is nice, and not at all pushy; it seemed like most had nothing to do with the tourist industry. This would be a great place to escape, if you knew the area and had a four-wheel drive vehicle. Neither of these explain us. We had been led to believe that we could get a shuttle from Liberia airport to Potrero, but that's simply false. Even if true, we would have been SOL if we had to find our way for the last mile to the Villagio, because it's still a distance more, on unlit dirt roads. Lack of transportation was a big impediment during our stay. Taxis were pretty much the only option to get anywhere, and they were all shockingly expensive. If we had driven, I don't know how we would have found the place. Another issue was the total lack of guidance available from the staff. Getting information about eating establishments, excursions, basic transportation, mobile telephone service, even the location of their beach-side hut, was an exhausting process. The place is really geared towards serving the sparse needs of their residents, and we felt like an afterthought. If you're coming from out of country, stay in Playa Flamingo or Tamarindo; your trip will be much easier and more varied.