ビスタ バレーナ(Vista Ballena)

Although my plane landed late, it was tricky to get to the area via taxi, but when I arrived late the reception was very helpful and helped me organise my stay. I had a great time there.

This hotel is on a mountainside overlooking the sea. Fantastic views from rooms and restaurant and bar. Lovely swimming pool. Nice public areas. However, the receptionist was a bit dismissive, not friendly. No thank yous. Waiting staff very friendly though. First night meal was absolutely awful. Set menu for our group of 18, probably not the standard menu. The food was cold and very, very salty. However, the breakfasts were good and our second night meal was good. The rooms are tired and not particularly clean. The bathroom needed a good scrub. Bedding clean. Hairdryer in room. Shampoo and conditioner but no shower gel. Internet off and on. No water in room, but water available from bar urn. The swimming pool was great as the weather was very hot. You cannot walk to anywhere from this hotel. it's in the middle of nowhere up a very steep and narrow drive, which is at least one mile long. Not good for a long stay, but OK for 2 nights.

Rooms are down several steep staircases from the tiny common area perched atop the hill. Aversive muzak played nonstop in the bar/restaurant area which permeated the whole place. Not a peaceful costa rican environment.

We had an amazing stay! The staff was friendly, the food was delicious, and the view is amazing!

What a great place! The staff are friendly and provide excellent service. The view, bar area, and pool are sublime. This hotel sits on the side of a steep hill with an incredible view of the ocean and Whales Tail. As a result, the drive up can be intimidating but easily managed by taking it slow in first gear. You need to be prepared to walk up stairs to get back and forth from the room and bar/restaurant/pool area. The food and drinks are excellent. The beach and town are a 15 min drive, at most. The rooms are comfortable with well functioning air conditioning. The outside patio/deck provides another magnificent view from the room. We had a wonderful couples massage in the open air yoga space. The bathroom in the room could use some attention, but hardly enough of a concern to dissuade us from returning. We're very happy we stayed here on our trip to Costa Rica. Thank you, Vista Ballena!

We went here for the sunset view and decided to have dinner and drinks. The view was amazing however the food was subpar. The piña coladas were delicious. We had bruschetta as an appetizer and it tasted weird. We discovered they put olives on it. It made it treats fishy. I wish they would have indicated that on the menu. As our main meal, I had mahi-mahi and my wife had steak. Our meals came with mashed potatoes and vegetables. The mahi-mahi was good, the steak was tough and the mashed potatoes and vegetables tasted fishy for both of us. I would recommend this place for sunset and drinks only.

Book for the view, nothing else. Rooms are quite a walk and the bathroom is very very dirty and outdated. The shower curtains were full of mold and when turning on the shower there was water everywhere in your room. The bar is awesome they make great margaritas, but for this money you would expect more of the room.

The view from the restaurant is breathtaking. The restaurant's food is delicious. But the room we stayed in, the toilet had issues. First, it had no cold water going into the bathroom sink, shower and toilet. The maintenance team resolved as the main line was turned off. Then the toilet was howling every time you flushed for 20 seconds. Sounded like you were at a sports arena with foghorns. They said it was trapped air in piped. The howling/screeching sound lasted the entire time we stayed (one/night). I explained and showed a video to the receptionist and she just gave me a blank stare and said that there is air in the pipes.

We stayed at the hotel for 3 nights and had a wonderful experience. All the staff was incredibly friendly and helpful and went out of their way to make our stay memorable. The hotel was clean and comfortable with incredible views of the area. The breakfast was better than the average included breakfast. The dinners were excellent. We will definitely stay there again the next time we are in Uvita. We highly recommend the Vista Ballena. It is an excellent value.