Alluring Paradise in the Mountains of Atenas

To start, there are nice views and you can watch the clouds roll in. However, there are multiple people living on this property, including a long term renter. She entertained guests while we were there. So, the privacy is not existent for the pool area. There is also a house being constructed next door, so expect noise from 6am to 6pm. The host was not welcoming and the house was not especially clean: dirty sink, moldy pillows in the closet, old bird poop on covered deck, Also, the pool was not clean upon our arrival. The air conditioner units did work well.

The most beautiful place we’ve ever stayed in CR. It was absolutely perfect. Great for large families. The host was very knowledgeable about the area. We can’t wait to visit again!

THE HOUSE, PROPERTY AND EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS BEAUTIFUL PARADISE WAS AMAZING...DAVID AND SHANNON BOTH WAS THERE IF WE NEEDED ANYTHING AT ANYTIME AND AS FOR DAVIDS RESTAURANT THE FOOD WAS A+... I HAVE BEEN COMING TO COSTA RICA FOR 15 YEARS AND FOR THE LAST 3 YEARS EVERY OTHER MONTH I CAN PROMISE THIS IS MY NEW PLACE TO STAY..... THANK YOU DAVID FOR EVERYTHING AND SEE YOU SOON....

Our family of 4 made our second trip to the Atenas area to celebrate our daughter's college graduation. We have rented through VRBO multiple times. This is one of our favorites. David is so easy to work with & accessible for questions (via WhatsApp). The property is beautifully maintained and updated, & has the added security of being behind several gated entrances (one to the entire area/one to the actual property). My daughter (25yrs) had her own private area on the lower level next to the pool. My husband, 17-yr old son and I shared the main upper space. The house is just as pictured. Read the description carefully; there is no reason for you to be surprised that the homeowner also lives on the property. We saw him exactly two times, once while he was checking us in (giving a short tour, handing over keys, etc.) & one other time when he was walking from his residence to his car. One other delightful thing about this VRBO that we hadn't experienced in any other VRBO situations was that we had almost zero requirements on us before we left the property at the end of our stay. Although we did start the dishwasher, take out the trash, composting and recycling, it wasn't required. David said, the housekeeper comes on Monday, & didn't ask anything of us. The setting: May I PLEASE go back, tomorrow?!? I spent hours each morning on the covered deck listening to birds, watching birds and iguanas, and enjoying the fresh mango my husband picked on the property. RENT. THIS. HOUSE.

The house was perfect for my family of 5. The location was within 1.5-2 hours of the beach, volcanos and San Jose. The town is small but had a good grocery and restaurants. We had two fabulous meals at David's, the home owners, restaurant. We had fresh mangos everyday from the trees on the property. I would recommend staying in this idyllic home with a beautiful view.

The host cancelled our reservation the day we were to arrive. I begged him to help us since we did not have a place to stay. He would not return my messages or help us in anyway. We were in a foreign country with no where to go. I did not know paid reservations could be cancelled. What a nightmare. We may never use Vrbo again.

This was a great place to stay and enjoy the Costa Rican experience. Centrally located we were able to explore waterfalls, adventure parks, zip lining, and volcano's. After a long day of adventure we would come back to relax, soak in the pool and enjoy the outdoor sounds of the native species of birds. We enjoyed excellent dinning at David's restaurant Monsoon Asian Bistro and Pizza The quaint outdoor restaurant provided a great atmosphere, great service but nothing compared to the food we enjoyed several nights. David was an excellent host and a valuable resource regarding anything Costa Rica. If you are looking for a relaxing, nature filled experience we would highly recommend staying at this location.

We booked our stay for a month to celebrate my husbands retirement. Our stay was marvelous. David is a wonderful host. He lives on the property and was so responsive to our needs. He introduced us to his friend, Tom, that provided our transportation. Everything was as smooth as glass. The house exceeded our expectation and was beyond comfortable for our needs. His care for the property is made even better by his attention to details. Until next time.... we will remember fondly our time in Costa Rica. Also, David has an amazing restaurant which we frequented often to the pleasure of our taste buds.

We had to extend our vacation in Costa Rica unexpectedly and luckily found David’s property. The house and grounds were beautiful, and on top of being clean, David’s home was the least buggy of all the places we had stayed at previously. (It’s Costa Rica, so I know that’s to be expected, but it was a pleasant surprise!) David was an incredibly gracious, helpful host, even going so far as to coordinate food and liquor delivery for us. David also owns/operates Monsoon, which is delicious! We had a great stay, and I’d recommend David’s home to anyone. A bonus for us - David’s dog Cally visited us a few times, and we’re all huge dog lovers. Thanks to David for opening his home to us!

Spent 11 days here February 2022. The house is new with a large, lovely, open plan kitchen-living room and a large deck to sit outside and enjoy the weather and the birds. There is a nice new gas BBQ on the deck. The bedrooms are a good size and the beds are comfortable. Everything was in good working condition and it was great to have a dishwasher—which is not to be taken for granted in Costa Rica. Netflix was provided, which was a bonus. We were allowed to pick the fruit on the property. We were a little surprised to find out upon arrival that the owner was living on site in the upstairs apartment. He was very discrete and spent most of the day at his restaurant so it was not an issue but we should have been informed prior to arrival since it was not mentioned in the VRBO description. There were a few cons. The pool is shallow and small with 4m x 5m of useable space. It is great for smaller children or a quick cool down but isn’t very functional for swimming. It is unheated and the cool (20°C) overnight temperatures mean the water was always brisk. There are two sets of beautiful French doors from the living room to the deck, but they were padlocked. There is an exit from the living room to the side deck, but it would have been really nice to open at least one of the sets of double doors to the large deck during the day to really take advantage of the indoor-outdoor living space that the house was designed for. (It didn’t occur to me until we left, but this also meant we only had a single emergency exit route from the house which is a bit unsettling.) All the bedroom windows were bolted shut so we couldn’t open the windows to let the lovely cool evening air in. The master bedroom did have AC although I would have preferred to just open a window. The other bedroom was a bit stuffy at night because the windows were bolted shut.