Hotel Pacífico

That rooftop view over the shoreline and the pool were lovely, and the hotel is right across from the beach. We stayed in April with a tour group, though, and our ground-floor room kept getting centipedes in both the bedroom and bathroom. It wasn't a huge issue, but we had to be careful to keep our luggage put away. The pillows were pretty hard, and the Wi-Fi was weak wherever we tried it. The hotel also locks up at night, so getting back in late was a hassle. We stayed for the location, not the rooms or amenities.

At 7 am I left the place I'd booked after a pretty unfortunate dive. There were pigs in a muddy garden, flies stuck to the fan they called an AC, and I had to walk along a muddy track to get to Hotel Pacifico. What a relief when I arrived. It felt safe, and it's a lovely, clean, spacious place, the best and most traditional hotel in town. They weren't especially welcoming, but by then I didn't care. I was just grateful.

We were a family of five, but there were only four towels in the room. When I asked the manager for more pool towels, he said the ones in the room were enough. He also refused rudely when I asked for change for a large bill. The rooms had to be paid for in cash, and I needed smaller money for local vendors and shops. After housekeeping stripped the sheets from one bed, they never put them back, despite my asking that evening. On checkout day, our kids stayed in the pool past noon while we waited for our ride in the lobby, and the manager suddenly told them to get out because checkout had passed. On top of all that, the internet was slow and didn't reach some rooms. There are nicer and cheaper places nearby, and this place was so rude I could write a book about it.

Nelly and everyone at Hotel Pacifico looked after our group of five so well. They went out of their way to help us find local services and things to do, and to make our early departure work. We could see the ocean and sunset beautifully from our rooms.