Hotel Buena Vista, Alajuela

It's hard to believe this hotel costs so little- large rooms, stunning view down the valley, cool breeze comes up form the valley floor, in the midst of coffee farms full of beautiful birds, great restaurant, exceptional staff...from here we drove to the Los Angeles Cloudforest (like Monteverde without the crowds), up Poas Volcano, into "Cowboy country- (great steaks), into craft and wood carving village, down to Orosi Valley (stunning drive), out to an amazing botanical garden... Many guests were there to hike or tour the many nearby sies, others used the hotel to overnight before they left on tours since it's 10 minutes fromt he airport. Lovely that it's Costa Rican owned. Within 2 minutes of Xandari which is three to four times the price (but does have a lovely day spa and restaurant- though we came to see the outdoors, not sit in spa) 10/10 highly, highly recommended.

My wife and I were at Hotel Buena Vista when it first opened. The room and balcony were beautiful, the service excellent, the owner/manager, Ed Pratt, very personable, the food delicious, the location was slightly inconvenient, but perfect for "getting away" from everything yet accessible to wherever you wanted to go. We highly recommend it!

My family of 3 stayed at the Buena Vista Hotel for an extended period prior to, and after, attending a tour of Costa Rica. The hotel is built on the lower slopes of Poas volcano and can boast spectacular views of the central valley, and the cities of San Jose and Alajuela. Be sure to take in the view after dark, when the shimmering lights of the central valley fairly take your breath away! The location is convenient for access to Juan SantaMaria International Airport, the city of Alajuela, the Capitol (San Jose) and nearby attractions. Hotel Buena Vista is constructed in a Spanish colonial style (at least, to me it looked that way!) and is bright and clean. Hotel grounds are immaculately kept. Every day we saw hotel staff cleaning and keeping the hotel and grounds. The hotel has a reflection garden, a beautiful lawn, a nearly-enclosed pool deck, a fantastic restaurant & bar, and an interpretive coffee trail winding through their hillside coffee plantation, with wonderful views of the surrounding countryside. The hotel staff went out of their way to make us feel that we were at our home-away-from-home in Costa Rica. They were willing to arrange day trips to various venues (shopping at Sarchi, Grecia's metallic church, exploring waterfalls, rainforests, cloudforests, Poas Volcano, etc.). More impressively, the staff took the time to greet us with a warm handshake each morning and whenever we returned to the hotel. They generously shared their time and knowledge of Costa Rica whenever I asked them about Costa Rica's history, culture, economics, family life, ecology or whatever topic came to my mind. Sometimes these conversations took a bit of time and - with interruptions to attend to the needs of another guest - the staff always gave us the time to help us, share with us, teach us Spanish, and treat us like family!

Our "normal" nice hotel in the US is Hampton Inns. I say that to give you a sense of where we are coming from. This place is at least two steps up from that. The rooms, views, beds, food, etc. are wonderful. The one thing that sets this place apart from the field is the staff that did everything we asked of them. They provided assistance with places to stay (we rented a SUV and drove ourselves around the country) what to wear, what to expect, were very diplomatic about correcting some of our �crazy ideas�, suggested tours, and made our vacation a huge success. It was our starting and ending hotel and when we return we will stay there again. Jim & Sharon

This is a great place to stay for your first or last nights in Costa Rica. They will pick you up and drop you off at the airport. The staff is great and more than helpful. If your room does not have a view, you only need to step outside to enjoy the view of the coffee plantations or city. Breakfast included fresh fruits, breads, and good coffee. The staff is helpful in making your arrangements for day tours and transfers to other cities. It was truly a pleasure to stay at Hotel Buena Vista. Thanks to the staff and I will gladly return to this hotel.

I am a travel agent and my niece wanted to get married in Costa Rica. On a short trip in October we were checking out hotels and tours for the wedding guests. We found the Hotel Buena Vista with a tour driver. The hotel was very clean, and the rooms were a nice size. They also offered a breakfast included in the room rate. We immediately reserved a group of rooms for the wedding guests. I have just come back from my niece's wedding and wanted to relay that the Hotel Buena Vista was WONDERFUL. The family and friends who stayed at the hotel thoroughly enjoyed the rooms, breakfast, bar, free airport transfers and the friendly staff at the hotel. I found the reservation staff to be very competent and wonderful to communicate with through emails. I would definitely recommend this hotel for future guests wanting to visit this part of Costa Rica.