Jungle Vista Boutique Hotel

The highlight was sitting on the balcony of Iguana #5 and watching the monkeys. A fruit tree sits at balcony height, and groups of all three kinds, howler, squirrel, and capuchin, came to feed at different times of day. It had the best view of the property for “Monkey TV.” The room and grounds were very clean, and the staff were pleasant, helpful, and more accommodating than we needed throughout our stay. Shout out to Jeremy, our server! The room was tight in a few spots and had very little storage, but we made it work. I would've liked some bathroom hooks for towels. The restaurant food was very good, though its menu was extremely limited in the rainy off season. Breakfast and dinner menus we received weren't the ones shown online, and the restaurant was closed for lunch. Still, try the pineapple carpaccio and fruit bowl desserts. There are also plenty of nearby places to eat, on foot or by taxi. The shower water was a bit cooler than we'd like but tolerable. Soap and conditioner were provided, but no shampoo, which seemed odd. Despite those minor shortcomings, none of which involved the people or prompted a complaint, we very much enjoyed our stay and would choose the property again if we return to the region.

The hotel is well located, and the rooms are really nice and well equipped, even with a small kitchen. Now we understand why people might need it. For food, though, avoid the Sloth, the hotel restaurant. You can't find it on Google, and breakfast service and quality were a disaster. Our breakfast and tea took 45 minutes to arrive. We also narrowly missed the New Year's Eve menu, which was supposed to be festive but turned out to be very average buffet food, with half the main dishes nearly cold.

Our room was Tucan 2. We checked out early because we couldn't sleep. The hotel is on a busier road than we'd expected, and although the traffic itself wasn't necessarily a problem, the windows facing the road had no soundproofing, so we kept waking up. Light from the street lamps poured in through the large window by the entrance, and the room never got properly dark. The bathroom smelled of sewers, and the curtains on the main windows looked dirty and moldy. The listing photos look much better than the actual room. It's been 10 days since staff gave us the hotel manager's contact details, and we still haven't heard back. Getting a response seems impossible.

The staff were so nice and helpful. We also loved the quiet setting and jungle patio, where we could watch monkeys playing in the trees.