Apartamentos F&Y

The place is on a cliff, so there's no swimming or safe way to get to the ocean. It's a low-budget facility that badly needs renovation and repairs, and it's about a five-minute walk to the city center.

The good parts were the well-kept saltwater pool and green areas, friendly building staff who guarded the property, and a few fairly good restaurants on this side of Juan Dolio that work for a family visit. The ocean water was warm and clear, but the bottom was rocky. Though the property is oceanfront, there's no beach there. To reach beaches, you have to walk about three blocks west through bushes and years' worth of accumulated garbage, and even those beaches aren't much to write home about. The buildings are neglected and need a full restoration. The tap water is salty, and it's corroded the plumbing fixtures. Humidity and lack of upkeep have made paint peel on some interior walls, and the sliding-door rollers have corroded and seized up. During my October 2020 stay, brownouts and power outages were common, sometimes lasting up to seven hours. The water is apparently pumped into the buildings, so when the power goes out, there's no water. The building provides Wi-Fi. You get a password that takes you to their webpage to enter another set of credentials. If you manage to log in and stay connected, the speed is around 5 Mbps, okay for texting and browsing but not streaming. The parking lot is small and reserved for owners, so you'll most likely need to park on the street. One detail worth mentioning: most of the five-star posts for this place were submitted by the same property owners and staff, whom I met personally during my family stay. If the price appeals to you, I'd suggest staying no more than three days to get to know the area, but not longer.

Don't waste your time or money going there.

Fine.