Where to Stay in Manuel Antonio: Best Areas and Hotels

Choosing where to stay in Manuel Antonio is harder than it should be, because it isn’t really a town. It’s one 6km road running between Quepos and the national park entrance, and almost every hotel, restaurant and bar in the area sits somewhere along it. Where you pick on that road can decide your trip.

My guide splits it into five areas to consider, covering who each one suits, potential drawbacks and gives a typical price for every hotel I recommend. I’ve also flagged which ones run a free shuttle, because that can make things a lot easier.

We stayed on that road for the Manuel Antonio leg of our 7 days in Costa Rica itinerary, at a hotel we picked because it had its own nature reserve and free shuttle. We were surrounded by nature and even saw sloths right by the restaurant, I’d 100% make the same choice again.

Table of Contents (click to expand)

More of my Costa Rica guides to help plan your trip

7 Days in Costa Rica Itinerary: A first-timer route with costs, timings and where to stay
Is Manuel Antonio National Park Worth It?: Honest tips on tickets, timing and when to skip it
Things to Do in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica: The best activities ranked and what to book ahead
Things to Do in La Fortuna, Costa Rica: My guide to what’s worth your time and what to skip
La Fortuna to Manuel Antonio: The four ways to travel it, costs and comparison
Where to Stay in La Fortuna: The hotels with hot springs, what they cost and if it’s worth it

Disclaimer: This article may feature affiliate links. If you click these links, and choose to book with that hotel or company, I will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I appreciate the support that allows me to continue providing this information.

TL;DR Where should you stay in Manuel Antonio?

My personal opinion, if your budget stretches to it, book a hotel with its own nature reserve. It may not be the typical advice, but, for me being surrounded by the animals you came here to see, at your own hotel, on your own time, is a lovely way to spend a few days. There are some lovely options, which I go into detail on later.

If your budget is a bit tighter, stay nearer the park entrance and the beach end, where you can walk to both.

The best places to stay in Manuel Antonio at a glance

If you’re in a hurry, these are the ones I recommend to friends and family. Full write-ups further down.

Best for wildlife on site: Gaia Hotel & Reserve

Aerial view of white multi-level buildings and two tiered pools built into a forested hilltop, surrounded by dense jungle — Gaia Hotel Reserve (credit Booking.com)

Adults-only boutique hotel at the Quepos end of the hill with its own private reserve and a free guided walk for guests. Around $290 (£229) a night, and where we stayed.

Best all-rounder: Hotel La Mariposa

Minimal bedroom with a low wooden bed and wraparound picture windows framing a headland and the ocean below — Hotel la Mariposa (credit Booking.com)

The highest point on the hill, with wide Pacific views, an infinity pool and restaurants you can walk to. Around $260 (£205).

Best for families: Si Como No

Guest using a spotting scope on a viewing deck above dense rainforest, with the ocean and an island in the distance — Si Como No Viewpoint (credit Booking.com)

Near the top of the hill, with a waterslide, a swim-up bar and its own 25-acre wildlife refuge across the road. Around $250 (£198).

Best for walking to the beach and the park: Hotel San Bada

Open-sided hilltop restaurant with laid tables, looking out over treetops to the ocean and a rocky island — Hotel San Bada Restaurant (credit Booking.com)

A proper four-star hotel right at the park entrance, with the beach two minutes away on foot. Around $250 (£198).

Best for a special occasion: Arenas del Mar

Private terrace with a sunken hot tub, sun loungers and a glass of wine, overlooking islands at sunset — Arenas Del Mar Room (credit Booking.com)

The only luxury resort in Manuel Antonio directly on the beach, wrapped in its own rainforest. Around $800 (£632).

Best on a budget: Costa Linda Art Hostel

Brightly painted hostel frontage with a hand-lettered sign, backed by dense green rainforest under a blue sky — Costa Linda Art Hostel (credit Booking.com)

Basic rooms and dorms three minutes from the beach, breakfast included. Around $30 (£24).

How the area and road is laid out

There is nowhere to stay inside Manuel Antonio National Park, and only a handful of places within a couple of minutes of the gate. Everything else is strung along the 6km (3.7 miles) of road between Quepos and the entrance.

The road climbs steeply out of Quepos, flattens across the top of the hill where most of the restaurants and shops are, then drops down to the beach and the park at the far end. There’s also a side road near the top leading out to Punta Quepos, a quiet forested headland where most of the expensive places are.

So when people say Manuel Antonio, they usually mean this whole strip rather than a place you can point at on a map.

Why the hotel matters more in Manuel Antonio

I’d spend more on a hotel in Manuel Antonio than I would elsewhere in Costa Rica, and I say that as someone who took a standard room in La Fortuna specifically so the money could go into activities instead.

The reason is that the gap between an average hotel and a good one is much wider here. We paid more to have the wildlife right at the door for days rather than something we had to book and drive to. That was one of the main things I came to Manuel Antonio for. Add a restaurant on site you’re happy to eat at and you’ve saved yourself a taxi most evenings too. If the hotel also has a free shuttle bus, this is a bonus, I cover all of this below.

Manuel Antonio areas compared

Here are the five areas side by side, starting from the park entrance back towards Quepos.

Area	Typical cost per night	To the park entrance	Can you walk to food and shops	Best for
Playa Espadilla and the park entrance	Around $180 (£142)	2 to 15 minutes on foot	Yes, flat and easy	Walking to the beach and being first through the park gate
The top of the hill	Around $220 (£174)	About 5 minutes by car	Yes, but hilly and spread out	Ocean views, restaurants and the widest choice of rooms
Punta Quepos	Around $350 (£277)	About 10 minutes by car	No	Quiet, forest, wildlife and the high end
The Quepos end of the hill	Around $180 (£142)	7 to 10 minutes by car	No	Wildlife on site and better value rooms
Quepos town	Around $85 (£67)	About 15 minutes by bus or car	Yes, flat and easy	Cheapest beds and local restaurants

Treat these as typical figures for a mid-range room. Green season, roughly May to mid-November, is cheaper across the board. Christmas, New Year and Easter are considerably more expensive everywhere.

Map of Manuel Antonio hotels and areas

Playa Espadilla and the park entrance

The flattest, most walkable part of the area, at the far end of the road where it runs out at the beach. Playa Espadilla is the long public beach right beside the national park gate.

It’s worth it if you find a hotel you like down here. It cuts your reliance on Uber and the bus, and you can do the park and the beach in the same day without losing time to transport. Early morning and evening walks along the sand are lovely too.

This location isn’t a must though. We looked hard for something we liked at this end and couldn’t find it, partly because we booked late and this is the smallest cluster of hotels in the area.

The catch to be aware of

This is the busiest area by a distance, particularly mid-morning to late afternoon when the tour buses arrive for the park. Parking is tight.

I also want to be clear, in my opinion, Playa Espadilla Norte is convenient rather than great, and I personally wouldn’t go back for a full beach day. The small beaches inside the national park are nicer, and Playa Biesanz is the one most people rate for swimming. I’ve covered both in my guide to things to do in Manuel Antonio.

Hotel San Bada

Bedroom with a painted sloth mural above the bed, a curved wooden ceiling and glass doors onto a leafy balcony — Hotel San Bada Room (credit Booking.com)

The closest proper hotel to the park entrance, with 67 rooms, a pool, a spa and a restaurant, and every room facing either the ocean or the park. The beach is a two-minute walk. It’s a comfortable four-star rather than anything characterful, and reviews mention evening noise from the road, but for pure convenience nothing else here comes close. Breakfast and valet parking are included.

Cost typically around $250 (£198) Booking.com rating 8.3 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Pick this if you want to walk to the gate for opening and back for lunch, and you’d rather pay for the location than the character.

Hotel Costa Verde

Bedroom inside a converted aeroplane fuselage, with porthole windows, two beds and a balcony overlooking the ocean — Hotel Costa Verde (credit Booking.com)

Spread across a bluff in thick forest, with large rooms and wide views out over the sea and rainforest. It also has a suite built into the fuselage of a Boeing 727, which is either the reason you book it or the reason you don’t. Playa Espadilla is about 400 metres away and the park gate is a 10 to 15 minute walk. It has a real reputation for monkeys, with guests reporting large troops turning up at the pools, and some saying they saw more here than inside the national park.

Cost typically around $185 (£146) Booking.com rating 8.7 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Pick this if you want forest and a view at this end of the road, and the walk to the gate doesn’t put you off.

Hotel Manuel Antonio

Balcony with wooden chairs and a table, looking past palm trees to the sea across the road — Hotel Manuel Antonio (credit Booking.com)

A small, traditional, locally owned hotel at the very end of the road, directly across from the beach. Rooms are clean and simple with a close ocean view. Nothing fancy, but the location is as good as it gets at this price.

Cost typically around $130 (£103) Booking.com rating 8.2 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Pick this if you’d rather be across from the beach in a plain room than up the hill in a smarter one.

Costa Linda Art Hostel

Open-air restaurant with red and orange painted pillars, high stools and a bookshelf along the back wall — Costa Linda Art Hostel Restaurant (credit Booking.com)

Budget rooms and dorms with breakfast included and a restaurant on site. Three minutes to the sand and about five to the park gate. It’s known locally for displaying guests’ artwork, hence the name.

Cost typically around $30 (£24) Booking.com rating 8.3 CHECK AVAILABILITY

The top of the hill

This is the flat stretch where the road levels out at the top, roughly where you’ll find Hotel La Mariposa, Si Como No and most of the area’s restaurants, bars and shops. It’s where the ocean views are best, and it has the widest choice of rooms at every budget. If being able to walk to dinner matters to you, then pick this area.

What to consider

It sits on a hill and spreads out along it, so walking between places takes more out of you than the map suggests, especially in the middle of the day. The main road runs straight through, so front-facing rooms can be noisy. And it’s a five-minute drive to the beach and the park gate rather than a walk.

Hotel La Mariposa

Infinity pool reflecting a vivid orange and pink sunset, framed by silhouetted palms and trees — Hotel La Mariposa Infinity pool sunset (credit Booking.com)

One of the longest-standing hotels in Manuel Antonio, sitting at the highest point on the hill with wide views over the Pacific, the national park and across to Quepos. There’s an infinity pool, a pool bar and a well-regarded restaurant. Rooms are simple rather than luxurious, which is reflected in the price. The beach is about 2km downhill, so a 25 to 30 minute walk down and a hard one back up.

Cost typically around $260 (£205) Booking.com rating 8.6 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Shuttle Free to Playa Espadilla, four times a day. There’s no separate park shuttle, but the drop-off is a short walk from the entrance. There’s also a free shuttle to the Quepos bus station

Pick this if the view is the thing you’ll remember.

Si Como No

Bed beside floor-to-ceiling sliding doors opening onto a green bamboo balcony rail and thick jungle — Si Como No Resort Room (credit Booking.com)

Lush grounds that attract a lot of wildlife, ocean views from many rooms, and a pool with a swim-up bar and a waterslide. It runs its own 25-acre wildlife refuge and butterfly garden across the road, and it’s certified for sustainability in Costa Rica. There’s no beach within walking distance, so the shuttle matters here.

Cost typically around $250 (£198) Booking.com rating 8.9 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Shuttle Free to Playa Espadilla, three times a day, about five minutes. The park entrance sits at the far end of the same beach.

Pick this if you’re travelling with children and want the wildlife-on-site benefit without moving out to the quieter areas.

Hotel Villas Lirio

Bedroom with a dark wooden beamed ceiling, terracotta floor, red bedspread and open doors onto a balcony — Hotel Villas Lirio (credit Booking.com)

Thirty-three rooms, no two decorated the same, with a main pool and a second quieter one set away from the buildings, plus a games room and a restaurant. Rates include breakfast.

Cost typically around $140 (£111) Booking.com rating 8.4 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Pick this if you want a spot near the restaurants without the resort price, and you’d use a pool that isn’t busy.

Punta Quepos (Quepos Point)

A side road off the top of the hill leading out to a forested headland, and where most of the expensive hotels in the area are. You’ll see it written both ways on maps and booking sites.

The appeal is quiet. The properties sit in rainforest with plenty of wildlife around them, the ocean views are wide, and you’re away from the traffic and the crowds entirely. Playa Biesanz, the sheltered cove most people rate as the best swimming beach in the area, is walkable from several of them.

What you miss in this area

You’re roughly ten minutes by car from the park gate and the main beach, and there’s nothing to walk to for dinner. Pick a hotel that has a good restaurant. Avoid booking out here without pinning down how you’ll get about, or factor in the cost of taxis.

Arenas del Mar

Infinity pool framed by tall rainforest trees, looking out to the ocean and a forested island offshore — Arenas Del Mar Pool view (credit Booking.com)

The only luxury resort in Manuel Antonio directly on the beach, with around 40 rooms wrapped in rainforest and most carrying an ocean-view balcony. There are 11 acres of grounds with their own trails and a hanging bridge, and a guided walk included for guests. Golf carts run guests up and down the hillside to the sand, and the park gate is about ten minutes by car. Certified for sustainability in Costa Rica. Rates climb to around $1,300 (£1,027) in February and over the peak weeks, so check your dates before you fall for it.

Cost typically around $800 (£632) Booking.com rating 9.4 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Pick this if beachfront is genuinely the priority and the budget is there, because nothing else here offers it.

Parador Nature Resort and Spa

Table for two on a terrace with a parasol, looking out over the ocean to two forested islands — Parador Nature Resort and Spa (credit Booking.com)

The largest property on the headland at around 120 rooms, with multiple pools, several restaurants, easy trails on site and an adults-only section alongside the family areas. Playa Biesanz is within walking distance.

Cost typically around $310 (£245) Booking.com rating 9.3 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Shuttle Free to the town and the beaches by the national park

Pick this if you want resort facilities and a quiet setting, and you’d rather have choice on site than walk to the restaurants up the hill.

Shana by the Beach

Spacious twin room with red and orange bed runners, a red leather armchair and sliding doors onto a rainforest balcony — Shana by the Beach (credit Booking.com)

Set back on the hillside in a similar spot to the Parador, with spacious modern rooms, a pool and a good on-site restaurant. Its own nature trail runs down through the forest to Playa Biesanz.

Cost typically around $180 (£142) Booking.com rating 8.4 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Pick this if you want the headland’s quiet without the top-tier price, and you’ll use the walk down to the cove.

Issimo Suites

Luxury suite with floor-to-ceiling glass on three sides, a bed scattered with rose petals and wide views over the Pacific — Issimo Suites (credit Booking.com)

Perched above a cove at the far end of the headland, this one is small at twelve suites, adults-only and built entirely around the view, with a spa, a Mediterranean restaurant and a private terrace and hot tub in every room.

Cost typically around $310 (£245) Booking.com rating 8.8 CHECK AVAILABILITY
Shuttle Free to the beach

Pick this if you’re here as a couple and you’d take privacy and a terrace of your own over pools, slides and choice of restaurant.

The Quepos end of the hill

This is the stretch running up out of Quepos before the road levels off at the top, and it’s where we stayed. Most guides skim over it. I think it’s the most interesting part of the area if you’re willing to accept one trade-off.

You get more space, more forest and better value than the top of the hill for being a few minutes further from the gate. Several of the properties along here sit in their own patch of rainforest, which is a real difference.

Fiery orange and pink sunset over the Pacific Ocean with a single bright star and silhouetted forested hills in the foreground. — Sunset over the Ocean from Gaia

Where we stayed and why

We picked our hotel for two reasons: wildlife on the property, and a free shuttle to both the park and the beach. Both delivered.

The wildlife wasn’t something we had to go looking for. There was a sloth in the trees right by the restaurant at breakfast, still there at lunch, close enough that we didn’t need the binoculars. We spotted our first toucan while floating about in the pool. On the free guided walk through the reserve we had scarlet macaws in the air within ten minutes of setting off, which I’d never seen in the wild before, and a three-toed sloth on the way back.

The service was the other surprise. We were added to a private WhatsApp on arrival with someone dedicated to helping us, and they were genuinely useful, sorting tour advice, taxis, our transport to San José and a restaurant booking. At check-in you get to choose which toiletry brand you’d like from a selection, which my other half was delighted by. And the sushi at the restaurant was very good, which I wasn’t expecting on a hillside in Costa Rica.

The trade-off

Dinner becomes a journey. You’re looking at a taxi, the bus or a walk to reach restaurants, and the road is winding and steep in places, so walking isn’t as casual as it sounds.

There’s a simple way round it, and it’s what I’d tell a friend: either accept the taxi fare most evenings, or book somewhere with a restaurant on site you’re happy to eat at more than once. We did the second and never felt short-changed.

Gaia Hotel & Reserve

Curtained double daybed and a shaded table on a stone terrace, looking out over rainforest to the sea — Private terrace Gaia Hotel Reserve (credit Booking.com)

A small adults-only property set in its own private nature reserve at the Quepos end of the road, with around twenty rooms, a three-level infinity pool, an excellent restaurant and a free guided reserve walk for guests tied to the hotels scarlet macaw reintroduction programme.

Cost typically around $290 (£229) Booking.com rating 8.9 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Shuttle Free to the national park and the beach, seven minutes, running 07:30 to 16:30

Pick this if you want the wildlife to come to you and you’d rather your hotel be part of the trip than a place to sleep. This is where we stayed and I’d book it again in a heartbeat.

Hotel Plaza Yara

On the inland side of the road, with spacious suites, kitchenettes, a couple of small pools and reliable wildlife spotting from the terraces. Guests regularly report sloths, toucans, monkeys and iguanas from the balcony. Breakfast is included, and private rooms and two-bedroom houses are both available. The park gate is about five minutes by car.

Cost typically around $140 (£111) Booking.com rating 9.5 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Pick this if you want animals around your room at the cheapest price, or you need more space than a room.

Hostel Plinio

Wooden jungle lodge on stilts built into a forested hillside, with a small pool and shaded seating in the foreground — Hostel Plinio (credit Booking.com)

A long-running hostel just under a mile from Quepos, built like an oversized treehouse and surrounded by jungle. Large airy dorms and private rooms, plenty of communal space, a pool and a free breakfast that guests rate highly.

Cost typically around $22 (£17) for a dorm bed Booking.com rating 8.4 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Quepos town

Quepos is the working town at the northern end of the road, about fifteen minutes from the park. It’s where the bus station is, along with the marina, supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and a set of local restaurants known as sodas. I personally wouldn’t recommend picking here but it’s the option that suits those on the tightest budget.

Rooms and meals are noticeably cheaper than anywhere else in the area, and the atmosphere is local rather than resort. I haven’t stayed here, so this is from extensive research rather than first hand experience.

The downsides worth knowing

There’s no swimming beach in town and it isn’t scenic. It’s louder than the rest of the area, there’s little wildlife around and no upper-tier hotels at all. Several travel writers who have stayed in the area rate the guesthouses in central Quepos poorly for the money, so you need to do your research, part of which I’ve done for you below.

Best Western Hotel & Casino Kamuk

Kidney-shaped pool and wooden sun deck in a courtyard, framed by blue and yellow balconies and tall palms — Best Western Hotel Casino Kamuk (credit Booking.com)

Four-star chain hotel in the centre of town with a pool, a spa, a casino and a third-floor restaurant looking out over the Pacific. Breakfast is included and it’s about sixteen minutes by road to the national park.

Cost typically around $105 (£83) Booking.com rating 7.4 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Pick this if you want four-star facilities at Quepos prices and you’re happy to bus or drive to the beaches.

Sueño Tranquilo

Small pool and shaded patio with a white parasol outside a low white villa, surrounded by palms and tropical planting — Sueno Tranquilo (credit Booking.com)

Simple and well reviewed, with spacious rooms, a decent-sized pool and a good location for the town’s restaurants, with a bus stop about six minutes’ walk away. Ask for a room with a terrace or balcony overlooking the pool.

Cost typically around $65 (£51) Booking.com rating 8.7 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Pick this if you’re keeping costs down but you’d still like a pool and a room of your own rather than a dorm.

Wide Mouth Frog

Palm-lined pool with sun loungers and a turquoise parasol in front of a white three-storey building with balconies — Wide Mouth Frog (credit Booking.com)

Backpacker hostel a couple of minutes from the main bus station, with dorms, doubles, singles and family rooms, a large pool, a garden with hammocks and an on-site restaurant. The most modern of the town’s hostels. Private rooms run considerably higher at about $90 to $100 a night.

Cost typically around $25 (£20) for a dorm bed Booking.com rating 8.1 CHECK AVAILABILITY

Getting to the park and the beach from your hotel

Wherever you end up on the road, there are three ways to move around.

Your hotel shuttle. Free at five of the properties in this guide: Gaia, La Mariposa, Si Como No, Parador and Issimo Suites. They don’t all go to the same places, so confirm where it drops you, how often it runs and the time of the last one back.
The local bus. It runs the length of the one road between Quepos and the park entrance, roughly every twenty minutes and for well under a dollar. It’s the cheapest option by far.
Uber and taxis. Uber works well here and we found cars turned up quickly. Our hotel also booked taxis for us on request, which was easier than doing it ourselves.

You don’t need a hire car for Manuel Antonio, and I’ve explained why in full in my guide to things to do in Manuel Antonio. Almost every tour includes hotel pickup, which covers the big days out.

When to book your Manuel Antonio hotel

Book earlier than you think. We left it about three weeks and it nearly cost us. The places I liked near the beach end had gone, and we got the last room at the hotel we wanted, which was luck rather than good planning.

As a guide:

High season, December to April. Book three to six months ahead.
Christmas, New Year and Easter week. Six months or more, ideally as soon as your dates are fixed.
Green season, May to November. One to three months is enough, and last-minute rooms are usually there.

Two things to factor in before you compare prices. Most hotels in Manuel Antonio, and across Costa Rica generally, include breakfast in the nightly rate, which changes how a room compares to a self-catering apartment. And this is one of the most expensive destinations in the country, so the figures in this guide will feel high next to the rest of your Costa Rica budget. That’s normal.

My Top Tip! Watch out for listings that give a Quepos address when the property is actually up the hill in Manuel Antonio, or somewhere on the road between the two. It’s common enough that it catches people out. Check the pin on Google Maps against the areas in this guide before you book.

FAQs about where to stay in Manuel Antonio

Is it better to stay in Manuel Antonio or Quepos?

Manuel Antonio, for a short first trip. You’re closer to the park and the beaches, there’s more wildlife around and the hotels are better. Quepos is cheaper, with more local restaurants and the bus station, so it works on a tight budget. I stayed on the Manuel Antonio road and would again.

Do you need to stay near the park entrance?

No. Five of the hotels in this guide run a free shuttle to the park or the beach, and the local bus covers the whole road roughly every twenty minutes for well under a dollar. Only a handful of hotels are genuinely walkable to the gate, and they book out first.

How much does a hotel in Manuel Antonio cost per night?

Expect about $30 (£24) for a hostel bed, $130 to $185 (£103 to £146) for a simple hotel near the beach, around $250 (£198) for a good mid-range room and $800 (£632) upwards for beachfront luxury. Villas and apartments work out cheaper for families and groups.

Which hotels have monkeys and sloths on the property?

Costa Verde has the biggest reputation for monkeys, with guests reporting large troops arriving at the pools. Gaia, Si Como No and Plaza Yara all deliver reliably too. Where we stayed there was a sloth by the restaurant at breakfast and still there at lunch, and we saw our first toucan from the pool.

Will monkeys get into your hotel room?

They can. White-faced capuchins are the culprits and they will go into rooms after food, and take things out of bags. Keep balcony doors shut when you go out, don’t leave fruit or snacks in view, and never feed them, because that’s what taught them to try in the first place.

Which hotels in Manuel Antonio are adults only?

Gaia Hotel & Reserve and Issimo Suites are both adults only, and Parador has an adults-only section within a wider family resort. Makanda by the Sea is another, though it didn’t make my picks. All of them sit up the hill or out on the headland rather than at the beach end.

Is it worth paying extra for an ocean view room?

That’s personal preference. We spent most evenings at our hotel’s rooftop bar for the sunset, which sat higher than any of the room views did, so the room itself mattered less than I expected. A balcony or private terrace is a nice touch if you value the privacy.