La Amistad Vacations from $393

It was a very pleasant stay

It’s difficult for me to leave only 3 stars, as the owners truly did their best to assist us—though they stopped short of offering a refund for our remaining days so we could stay elsewhere. Positives: The property itself is beautiful and appears to be a new build, just as advertised. The pool area is small but very lovely. The location is excellent; under a 10-minute walk to the National Park and close to several decent restaurants. However, our stay was less than ideal: Three out of four towels were stained, as were most of the pillowcases. We didn’t notice the stained bedsheets until late at night, so we ended up sleeping on top of them. Even more concerning was the cockroach issue. While I understand this is Costa Rica and we were on the ground floor, this was the only place we encountered cockroaches during our entire month in the country. The owners did provide us with spray, but it was unsettling. At first, they seemed to stay in the living area, but I later found one had gotten into our laundry bag—and made the trip with us to our next destination!