El Sano Banano Beachside Hotel

We spent 3 nights, Saturday-Tuesday at El Sano Banano in downtown Montezuma. The hotel was conveniently located steps to the beach and on the downtown strip, next to a market and many restaurants. We saw a few different lizards in the outdoor dining area. The in-house restaurant and bar served Tipico style Costa Rican cuisine. The included breakfast was a sit down service with tipico rice and beans, eggs, pancakes, toast, coffee. There was no availability of self serve coffee. We stayed in a room with a window overlooking the street vendors and park. There was one full size bed and one twin on the opposite side. The mattresses, linens and pillows were tolerable. There was an AC wall unit but no window or ventilation, or balcony. Our wet clothes never dried completely. There was a private bathroom with shower with hot water, toilet. The decor of the space was beachy, colorful and quirky, I liked it. Due to the proximity to the downtown area and thin walls we could hear the music and bass from the discotheque all of Saturday night. If you’re planning on staying throughout a weekend, I’d highly recommend bringing earplugs/noise cancellers. Overall it was a pretty good stay but we’d probably consider staying somewhere off of the main street when we visit Montezuma next time. Recommendations for the hotel: -self serve coffee station -more comfortable bedding/pillows -warning about street noise, sale/availability of earplugs -more friendly staff

The good: the hotel is located a short walk from the beach, right in the middle of the tiny town of Montezuma. Through their sister hotel Ylang Ylang, I booked a fantastic birding tour with eagle-eyed Eduardo. It was inexpensive and included breakfast and air conditioning. The not so good: the mattress was quite hard. I thought there might not be hot water, but it was just very slow. The layout is that there's a hallway with side by side rooms. The room had a window that looked out onto the hallway, but no exterior light. There were also noisy neighbors and there was no sound dampening. You have to ask for the wifi password. I tried to walk down the beach to Ylang Ylang for the pool, and maybe it was just me, but it was much more than a 10 minute walk! There is a shady dirt road, but nobody seemed to know how I could get to it.

My husband and I just returned home after a lengthy stay at Sano Banano and an absolutely great experience. The rooms are basic, but very clean and comfortable. If you're looking for luxury, maybe consider staying at Ylang Ylang instead. As guests of Sano Banano, we were able to enjoy the beautiful pool just up the beach at this sister property. At both, we were given excellent and friendly staff service. A special thank you to Gabi, Eduardo, Luis and Dorian for their kind assistance throughout our visit. We needed help with transportation and had many other requests which they fulfilled with a friendly smile. We will return to Sano Banano on our next trip to the area. Pura Vida!

Unfriendly staff who only care for the customers of the restaurant. Impraticable room with one bed that was not made for people of regular size. Very noisy even in the morning (staff speaking loudly at 6am). Hotel not recommended.

This place is just a restaurant with some rooms. The guests are not the focus. It’s not even allow to seat down at the garden to relax if you do not order something. Because of the restaurant it’s a noisy place, with loud music. The rooms are quite small and there is only a interior window that doesn’t work. Besides, most of the staff is not that friendly. Do not recommend this place.