We stumbled across the Habitat Puerto Viejo website almost by accident and from there came across the Casa Tin Roof. There wasn’t much information on the actual website about the house or Playa Chiquita itself, but the pictures of looked nice and the house seemed perfect size for a couple and so we took a gamble and booked it. We are so pleased that we did.
We have just spent a glorious nine days relaxing at the Casa Tin Roof, enjoying the tranquility of the setting and the beauty of the beach and have absolutely no hesitation in recommending it to others.
For those of you thinking about booking this place, here is some more information that I hope will help you make the decision to go ahead.
The house is even better than the pictures show. It has been built in the typical Costa Rica style but to a very high standard. There are technically three rooms: a large bedroom with a huge, super comfy bed, a modern bathroom and a well equipped kitchen. As is typical in Costa Rica, there is no glass in the windows but they are covered with a mesh to keep out the insects and patterned metal lattice work for security. It’s was lovely to feel a cool breeze some nights coming through the windows and to be able to hear the sea. Surrounding these rooms is a lovely polished wood verandah which provides you with an outdoor sitting area with two hammocks and dining room. Because the weather is always warm, even if it is raining, it is absolutely fine to be outside. We loved lying in the hammocks reading our books. Heavenly!
There are fans in all the rooms and on the verandah which help keep you cool on hot days and nights. There is no tv, which for us was a bonus. There is WiFi so you can stay connected to the world if you want to!
The house sits on a good sized plot and the gardens are beautiful. We enjoyed sitting on the verandah looking at the flowers, birds and the visiting agouti. If you bring a car, there is a parking space within the grounds.
The house is not on the beach but for us that was an advantage as we felt more private, it was quieter and more secure. To get to the beach, you just have a 5-10 minute walk. You walk down the gravel road for about 3 minutes, then look diagonally left over the main road and you see another gravel road and once you are at the bottom of this, you cross the beach bar car park and you are at the beach.
The beach at Playa Chiquita is beautiful, just what you imagine a Caribbean beach to look like, small coves of yellow sand fringed with palm trees. The beach seems to go on for miles and miles in each direction. There are lots of shallow rock pools that you can just sit in or you can go between the rocks and swim. But don’t go very far out as there are rip tides. (This pretty much applies to the whole coast in this area.) When we were there in February, the beach was busy if there were ten people on it!
The house has a well kitted out kitchen and the El Duende Gourmet supermarket is at the end of the gravel road. It is open until 7.30 pm each day. If you don’t want to cook, there are a number of local restaurants that you can easily walk to. (We loved Pizzeria Pulchinella). Some take cards, some only take cash. Some open for breakfast and lunch and some also open for dinner. There are vegetarian and vegan options available.
If you don’t have a car, it’s easy to get a taxi from and to lively Puerto Viejo for about 4000 colones. Alternatively you can use the cheap, local bus which runs every two hours (there is a timetable on the wall outside the supermarket). You can also rent bicycles from the supermarket for 5 dollars a day. Lots of people do this as the road is not that busy and it’s flat!
Finally, one thing that makes renting the Casa Tin Hut great is the service that you get. We stayed nine nights and had our towels changed and a visit from the cleaner and gardener. We had a couple of problems which the management company staff very kindly and promptly helped us with. For instance, our UK phone service did not work at all in Costa Rica and we couldn’t call a taxi to pick us up when we checked out so Monica arranged one for us.
I hope that this review will help you and if you chose to stay at the Casa Tin Roof, I hope you have as enjoyable and peaceful stay as we did.
Todas las reservas se hacen directamente con el propietario 