Marea Brava Villas

The place is amazing. The service the best. Please visit the place its in front on the beach. Perfect to go by walk and have special experience.

The service is excellent, we had all the good treats without expensive bills. They have a beautiful view of the beach, and nice condos. They provide a secure experience, in a place that is nearby the City of San Jose, and all the beautiful beaches in Puntarenas.

We stayed in the privet rooms advised by Karla as a privet house. It is a motel!!!! Molded mattresses, stains on the walls, rusted sinks, rusted mini fridge, cabinets falling apart, not a hanger or a closet in any of the rooms, outdoor tables infested with ants, outdoor chairs kept together by tape, awful smell in the rooms, internet non existent inside the rooms. When we saw the property with our own eyes we asked Karla to refund us so we can go any other place. She refused. Costa Rica is a beautiful country, but this motel should be taken out of commission just so it doesn’t ruin the experience for anyone else.

Marea Brava was my home base for another great surf trip. The pool side condo was perfect. Playa Hermosa waves were great. Jamie, Carla and staff are super helpful. They help with airport transfer and connections for all local activities. There is no place better for a cold beverage at sunset. I’ll be back…soon.

Save your money, do not stay at Marea Brava! We were welcomed by a mountain of rotting, smelly, black bags of trash sitting in the hot sun under the Marea Brava sign. Next we were told that we had to pay cash, in US dollars, because their credit card machine was not working. They refused to take Colones. The manager told us that we had to go the A**, in Jaco, which is approximately 6 miles away to get dollars. She gave us until 6pm. All of the A**s were out of dollars. Our Uber driver took us to every A**, including the ******. Luckily, our friends and family helped us by pooling together the cash. We learned later that this practice is illegal to demand US dollars in Costa Rica. Funny, the small little restaurant and roadside souvenir shop just a short walk away; their machines worked just fine. They had our reservation wrong as well. They tried to short us one night. Luckily I had my email receipt that clearly showed our length of stay. We were told that they did not have a room for us. In the end it did work out. Our room was okay. The windows did not close or come together, at least an inch gap. Our toilet leaked. The only good thing I can say about this place is the housekeeping staff are amazing and the pool was nice. The pictures online of Marea Brava are probably 15-20 years old.

Started out bad when we showed up and we were informed the credit card machine wasn't working and that we would have to pre-pay in cash (US dollars only). Machine had been broken for some time, or at least enough so that hotel administration could have informed us, but they didn't. Also, no option for PayPal, Venmo, etc. Nearest A** in Jaco, about 10km away. Trying to get cash (especially USD) on a Friday afternoon from an A** in Jaco impossible. Simply unacceptable behavior from a hospitality business. Things didn't get any better. Toilet leaked (pic). Door on balcony didn't have locks (pic). Only hot water was in shower from on-demand unit (pic). Apparently, there are no trash dumpsters in Playa Hermosa, so trash just accumulates out front (pic) until it's picked up (once a week, I assume?). There's a restaurant/bar adjacent to the pool that doesn't look like it's been used in years (COVID casualty, I assume). Other family and friends stayed in other units and had similar experiences. One had only screens on a window (ground floor unit!). Another had a toilet that leaked worse than ours. In case you haven't guessed already, I'd never stay at this place again and wouldn't recommend it to anyone. As for Playa Hermosa, if you like to surf, you'll be very happy. If you don't and you want to get in the water, better have on a rash guard and a life jacket.

I was one of the long term renters at Marea brava during your wedding stay. This is an amazing property with amazing staff! YOUR group was extremely inconsiderate of the people that actually call Marea Brava home and are not just visiting. Yes this is Costa Rica but common decency still exists here! Regardless of what you were promised from the management you knew there were long term tenants from the first day you arrived. You had access to the green lawn area yet you decided to set up your dance floor for your wedding right in front of the building that the long term residents live in and then proceeded to play dance music till 2AM. The following Friday you guys had a full blown RAVE in front of the same building till 3am! The next day you guys started with the DJ at the pool at 10AM and went till 10pm ! We complained to the management as enough is enough and they TOLD you no music after 10 pm yet at 10 pm as I’m sitting on my balcony here comes the music speakers out! You WERE never violently threatened, as perhaps you should have been, I simply informed you that the music had to stop at 10pm at that point one of your party members got in my face and told me to shut the f**k up, that’s when I got heated! I was here for the entire two weeks you were and saw nothing but people having a good time and enjoying the PURA VIDA, your ceremony was beautiful! I had a wedding with over 100 people and there were issues as there are with ALL weddings! Don’t blame the staff and the property management in a foreign country because you had American expectations and since you felt they weren’t met you decided to make everyone that lived here miserable that doesn’t fly no matter what country you live in! Take my advice and stay in America that’s where you belong! PURA VIDA!

Owner is a liar and a thief - do not expect a signed contract to be honored. They frequently change the property name so prior bad reviews are no longer visible - be sure to look at the reviews for 'Marea Brava Hotel And Villas' as well. We signed a contract to reserve the entire property for 10 days for our wedding over a year ago. When we show up they say sorry, 2 of the 2-bedroom oceanfront condos we promised are no longer available... We had 80 people coming in from all over the world and needed every room and bed we signed a contract for. When we refused to pay them for the 2 condos they failed to deliver they held us hostage by cutting the power to my 70 year-old parents condo and refused to turn it on until we paid for the missing condos as well as an extra $600 with no explanation. The owner refused to speak with us the entire time we were there and the property manager fled the property after the 2nd day and left us to deal with the employees who had no idea what was going on. Other issues or promises that weren't delivered: -The owner sent a screaming voice message to the bride less than 6 months from her international wedding yelling that he didn't want to hear from her until we were 30 days out... -Contract included flowers and string lights, none of which were provided - we had to bring and hang our own lights -We were promised the gravel patio areas with exposed tarp underneath would be covered, none of which was completed -We were told all condos would be painted before we arrived, only 3 were completed -We were promised there were no noise restrictions or quite hours since we were renting the entire property and that they would notify the long-term renters of our contract -The renters were not notified, one of them had his entire family in town the week we were there and then violently threatened our entire group if we didn't stop playing music after 10pm Do yourself a favor and stay far away from them or don't expect them to deliver on anything they say they will.

It was a very great experience, and the support provided by the staff was amazing. An incredible trip, I can definitely invite people to visit this amazing place as they offer very good prices with very good types of activities and things to do