Cristal Ballena Boutique Hotel & Spa

This is a very charming place with absolutely stunning grounds and a very large pool. Staff is attentive and very friendly, the restaurant offers very nice food and reasonable prices (compared to some other places we stayed at in Costa Rica). Some of the facilities may need some updating cosmetically, but that did not diminish our stay at all. The rooms were clean, very spacious and the views are enchanting. Really recommend this hotel - it is a relaxing, heart warming place.

Top notch place to stay in Uvita, Costa Rica My wife and I travelled to Uvita for our daughters wedding Getting to this location was challenging, 6am flight from PHL to Mia Mia to San Jose Costa Rica and the... small plane on Sansa a local carrier on a 20 minute flight that was delayed four times and more than three hours to Quepos which was an hour from the hotel. You could rent a car as our other daughter did for a 3 1/2 hour drive that turned into 7 1/2 hours When we got to the hotel it was pitch dark on the roads and beautiful ambient lighting at the hotel which we were too tired to appreciate. We had a lite meal at the restaurant which is next to the beautifully lit pool an then off to bed, The next morning we went back to the restaurant for a delightful buffet breakfast which is included for all guests daily The staff is great, the ambiance of the hotel is terrific The grounds are fantastic with Toucans and other exotic birds flying about and singing My wife and I met the owner, Angelica, as we were dining at the table next to her and she was delightful Our two daughters stayed at two other hotels within 10-15 minutes of this one. WE visited both an resolutely I can say this was by far the best. We strongly recommend this property

We stayed at the hotel for 3 nights in May. The location and views are stunning, but the hotel is far from a 4-star hotel now. The room and bathroom look dated. The bed cover was dusty and after 7pm there was nobody to find at the reception. One day the hotel had people from the local government do life-saving training at the hotel pool so we couldn't use it the whole morning. When we asked the manager about when this would be over, he said we could use a small corner of the pool. The bathroom towels were old and scrubby. I do have to say the food and attention the restaurant was very good. Sorry to say, but I don't think we will come back.

This was our last stop in Costa Rica and meant for some R&R before returning home. It is a very nice 4-star hotel with some great facilities (pool, spa/massage, bar), great rooms (size, bed, balcony, storage, etc.), wonderful views/outlook (wildlife in the grounds, and they have their own jungle hike). However, some of the facilites let it down - cold water most of the time, noisy air con for 2 nights out of 4 (which was supposedly fixed after 1 night) which meant we had 2 sleepless nights when we were meant to be relaxing... Drinks are also very expensive (CRC4k for a beer which is CRC2k elsewhere) and Happy Hour is 2 drinks for the price of 1 and a half, whereas it was 2 for 1 in every other hotel we stayed in...!

Lovely place to stay. We had a corner room and enjoyed lounging on our large balcony to read, nap, and watch the sunset. The rain shower was fantastic. The service was excellent and the large portions of food very good. The sunset from the restaurant/pool area was stunning every evening. This is a “chill” place to stay. Big pool.

This is a colonial hotel, a little dated but that added to the charm for us. The pool and the sunsets were wonderful. We also had a fantastic mangrove tour in Sierpe (Osa Mangrove tours) and there are lots of places to eat if you have a car.