Casa Bonita is a wonderful place for a vacation and I highly recommend it. We met up in Costa Rica with extended family from three different continents. We ranged in age from <2 to 78. Our party included five children.
Location: Naranjito is a small town not a far drive from Quepos and Manuel Antonio, but far enough to be away from the bustle of a city. The road from Naranjito to the house is dirt, but in good condition. You don't need four wheel drive to get to the house. You drive past a really cool sawmill where the workers are happy to show you what they are working on.
Views: The house has great views of a valley, and the balconies/patios are well situated to enjoy them (or from the pool or hot tub).
Gardens: The house is nicely landscaped with beautiful gardens. There is an outdoor shower near the pool so you can rinse off before going in (the pool is sanitized with salt, not chlorine).
Size: There were plenty of beds in different sizes to accommodate us. The kitchen is very large and there is ample counter space for food preparation. Living areas are huge! The kids had lots of space in which to play inside when it was too hot outside, and the whole house can be air conditioned. There is a kids' room with bunk beds and another bedroom right near it. There's another room off by itself with a king sized bed, and a huge master suite that is also quite private. The pool house is not as luxurious, but we put the grandparents there so they could get some quiet from the kids if they wanted it! There was ample parking for our four rental vehicles behind the remote-operated gate.
Furniture: There are two dining tables, so there was space for all of us to sit down at once. There is plenty of seating: dining room chairs, desk chairs at the large desk, stools at the bar and in the kitchen, upholstered chairs/sofas, rocking chairs outside on the balcony, table and chairs under ceiling fans on the patio, more table and chairs (and chaise lounges) on the pool deck. There is a charcoal grill behind the pool bar, and a gas grill on the patio off the kitchen.
Sleeping: All the bedrooms have individual air conditioners. Beds were very comfortable and linens were good quality. The house is right on a road at the top of a hill, so sometimes car engines climbing the hill were loud, but you shouldn't sleep in too late in Costa Rica anyway--if you do, you're missing the cool morning time to see wildlife.
Pool: The kids all enjoyed the pool, which has large steps/tiers in the shallow end for younger kids who cannot yet swim. The adults appreciated that there were gates we could lock to assure that our adventurous toddler could not get to the pool by himself.
Toys: The house does have some matchbox cars, puzzles, children's books, and MegaBlocks in a closet for kids to play with. There is a little trike for toddlers.
Kitchen: The house obviously used to have a dishwasher, but did not last week when we were there. Some of the pans need to be retired and replaced. It would be wonderful to have a few more food storage containers for leftovers. There were plenty of coffee mugs, plates, cups, and glasses. We were a large party, so after one meal we would run out of utensils. Perhaps a few more would be helpful. Essentials such as coffee, salt, pepper, cooking oil, and hand soap was provided. We had to go get our own dish soap.
Laundry: There is a large washing machine and a large dryer in the large laundry room. Plenty of space for folding clothes or linens (but you won't need to fold linens because there is maid service).
Cleanliness: The house is quite clean. The house owner also owns the Parador Hotel and Spa in Quepos, so maids are dispatched to clean the house twice a week. The house is in good repair and was quite clean.
Animals: There are horses nearby that come up and graze right next to the house. There are two dogs that come with the house. The host said that if we didn't want them around, they could keep them away, but we love dogs, and the kids loved that the dogs would greet us every time we opened the gate. The dogs came with us on hikes on the property. The cat became friendly with us and got some lap petting when not hunting lizards. We did see a squirrel monkey in a nearby tree one day, and a couple of times toucans stayed briefly in nearby trees. Several different species of hummingbird live on the premises and feed at the beautiful flowers. One afternoon we saw a pair of scarlet macaws fly over. There are basilisk lizards at the creek on the property, and we enjoyed watching them walk on water over to the other side of the creek when we or the dogs spooked them.
Internet: There are two networks available at the house (one in the main house and one at the pool house). As is often the case in Costa Rica, download speeds were not what we are used to in the U.S. (uploading was painfully slow), but there were so many diversions for cousins that don't often get to play together that we were pleasantly surprised not to be hounded for screen time anyway!
The Parador: We had planned to go to Playa Baisanz near the Parador one day. We packed up to go and realized that the pool towels we'd washed and put in the dryer weren't yet dry. The staff at the Parador greeted us warmly, loaned us more pool towels to use at the beach, let us park there and shuttled us down to the trail to the beach. The hotel stations an employee at the beach, who can call up to the hotel to get someone to drive down and shuttle you back up.
Todas las reservas se hacen directamente con el propietario 