Lapa Villas 1&2: Views, Heated Pool, & Beach Trail

We stayed at Lapa Villas for 3 weeks and had an amazing time. There were 9 of us- two 9 year olds, a 12 year old and 14 year old, their nanny (22 year old cousin to 2 of the kids) and 4 adults. The 4 adults stayed in the older building with the other 5 in the newer building. We had such a nice time. The kids and their nanny had their own space in the newer building, which is abutting the road. The newer building had 3 floors. A kitchen, living room, laundry room and 2 bedrooms each with their own bathroom on the top floor, the garage with room for 4 cars on the middle floor and the 12 year old and 14 year old had their own bedrooms with associated bathrooms on the bottom floor. These bedrooms were only accessible on the outside but the 12 year old and 14 year old loved the independence and solitude. However, there were often complaints about climbing 2 sets of stairs to hang out with the other kids and the nanny. There was also a jacuzzi on the very top floor which was a covered porch. We never used it because of the inconvenience of walking up 4 flights of stairs and also the pool in the older building was so pleasant. There was also a laundry room which we used frequently. The 4 adults stayed in the older building. This one was down a set of stairs and a short walk away from the building the kids were in. The building held 2 master bedrooms with king sized beds and their respective bathrooms and a small living room. One of the master bedrooms was larger with many big windows and the other one smaller, with no windows except from the bathroom. The beds were quite comfortable and the bathrooms large and clean. The kitchen and dining room for this building were outside, and also contiguous with a pool that was covered. This was great because we had a view of the beach (a 10 min walk downhill) and we were able to see much of the wildlife while eating breakfast. For example, there is a family of 3 toucans that live in a tree nearby, we saw 2 scarlett macaws, there is a family of around 10 or so spider monkeys that would come over, a few capuchin monkeys and a couple iguanas that would sun on the pathways or trees nearby. In the evening, there was a raccoon, that we named Charlie, who would come and very reliably eat anything we left out. There are signs to keep food inside or in the fridge and so luckily, there wasn't much damage or mess. We were also impressed by the staff. Arellys and Melissa came by every weekday to clean our rooms, do the dishes, clean the kitchens and the living spaces. They were very friendly and accomodating. Whenever we had an issue, then Dixi was able to address it quickly at almost all hours. We also hired Michael Fernandez from Forever Chef for dinners when we were in the villa and he was well priced, familiar with the villa, very friendly and the food was tasty. He kept in mind those of us that were vegetarian/pescatarian and everyone was happy. He also involved the kids, having them cut the veggies, make nachos, etc and my 9 year old loved learning from him. The grounds were excellent as well. As above, we truly felt like we were in the jungle and were able to see so many animals daily. To the point where we thought that visiting Manuel Antonio national park was a bit superfluous, since we had seen many of the animals already. We were a 10 min (for the slowest of us) walk downhill to the beach. The beach was a bit rocky and wearing Keens or similar shoes was necessary. Also, we needed to keep in mind the tides schedule because at high tide, the waves were quite high and it was dangerous to swim. To either the right and left of the beach we also have access to the Reto Mae trail, which is a trail through the jungle. We were able to see agoutis, a large howler monkey family, and a few sloths along that trail. Turning left, facing the ocean, we could take the trail to the Biesanz beach, which is lovely and pretty guaranteed to see at least one sloth in the trees by the beach. We can then walk along the road a 8 min walk back to the villa. One note on that beach is that our 9 year old was stung by a jellyfish there. But otherwise, the beach is lovely, less rocky and certainly fewer waves. Across the road and down a steep unpaved road is another beach, Espadilla beach. Because the road is so steep, even though it's only a 5 min drive, we only drove and didnt walk. This beach is massive with very few people and was our favorite beach. We also tried to go at low tide because of the waves and risk of the rip tide. Three of the adults during this time had to work remotely during part of the stay. The internet was excellent and the only issue we had was one day when power was cut to all of Manuel antonio for about 6 hours. There was absolutely no internet then and we needed to go to a hotel restaurant nearby that had a generator to work. Finding a restaurant with working internet did take some time to figure out. Overall though, all of us had an excellent time and we would highly recommend the villa.