Hotel El Jardin

Hotel El Jardin is located on a big hill on the edge of Montezuma, a laid back Costa Rican backpacker town. The hotel’s name is Spanish for "the garden" and its grounds are appropriately manicured with cactus, palms, and a variety of blossoming ixora, ginger, and bougainvillea. Since it’s built on a hill, there are a ton of steps to reach the bungalows and some guest rooms. While the steps might be a drag, the higher altitude rooms have beautiful ocean views. Overall, style here is rustic, bordering on spartan. The lobby is simple affair with a few couches and free coffee and hot water in the mornings. It’s a place to check in and check out, and get info from the helpful front desk attendant. The hotel’s pool, meanwhile, is really the hotel’s heart. Surrounded by guest rooms, hotel guests often relax around its gurgling waterfall and cold-water whirlpool. Keep in mind that the grounds can get pretty dusty as the road out front is poorly paved and sends clouds throughout the grounds. El Jardin attracts a wide range of guests, but a majority are couples from the U.S., Canada, and Europe. It’s not a backpacker spot (there are many of those in town), but still has a friendly, get-to-know-your neighbor vibe. 

Hotel El Jardin’s located at the main turnoff for Montezuma, a small backpacker town on Costa Rica’s Pacific Coast. Given the two-road town's tiny size, everything is walkable in three minutes or less. Most importantly, the beach is a one-minute walk from the hotel. Multiple restaurants including Mediterranean, pizza, international, sushi, and seafood are three minutes away on foot. There’s also a grocery store, ATM, and an ATV rental office a two-minute walk away. Montezuma’s known for the gorgeous Montezuma Falls, a 79-foot cascade that’s a 35-minute walk and hike from the hotel. A two-hour beach walk away is the El Chorro waterfall and its romantic cove that spills into the ocean. Cobano, a buzzing commercial town has banks, a pharmacy, gas stations, and is a 25-minute drive from El Jardin. For great surf waves, Santa Teresa Beach is 40 minutes away by car. Tambor Airport -- the closest -- is a 30-minute drive away. Flights to Liberia (25 minutes) and San Jose (20 minutes) leave from Tambor Airport. Driving to Liberia takes just over four hours, while San Jose is a four-hour-and-forty-minute drive that includes a scenic ferry ride across the Gulf of Nicoya. 

The rooms at El Jardin are a mix of 14 simple, but comfortable hotel rooms and two bungalows. The bungalows are located up a big hill (with lots of steps) but offer the most privacy and have gorgeous ocean views. However, these bi-level units are the definition of rustic with their all-wood construction and lack of air-conditioning. They do have have floor fans and full kitchens with gas ranges, coffeemakers, blenders, and full-size refrigerators. Their huge balconies are a big plus, with picnic tables, and they include a second upstairs balcony with a hammock. 

The hotel rooms are all air-conditioned and most have balconies or patios with Adirondack-style chairs and hammocks. Expect stiff queen or double beds with tan bed runners, pointillist-painted masks or photos of exotic birds on the walls, and hardwood teak floors and ceilings (some are vaulted). They all have mini-fridges and ceiling fans, but no TVs. All rooms also have Wi-Fi, but it’s spotty and often painfully slow. 

Bathrooms throughout the hotel are small. Expect wooden vanities, mosaic-tile framed mirrors, and tiled floors. All rooms have hot water but be careful, as some of the water heaters have exposed wires. Bathrooms also include bar soap and shampoo. There’s no in-room safe but valuables can be stored in the hotel’s lobby lockbox. It's also worth noting that dust from the road nearby will get into rooms, and those near the road should expect traffic noise.

Features are quite slim at this budget property, and there's no restaurant for a proper breakfast (or any other meal, for that matter). Hotel’s El Jardin’s freshwater pool is the perfect spot to relax after a day exploring or beaching. It’s surrounded by lounge chairs and has a waterfall and cold-water whirlpool. In the mornings, free coffee, tea, and crackers are available in the lobby, which also has a small book lending library. The hotel can assist in arranging tours, diving and snorkeling trips, renting cars, shuttles, and booking domestic flights. There’s also free Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, but we found it spotty and unreliable.