Villas Josipek

What People are saying

In the heart of nature

Batool L on 30/12/2016 22:26

As soon as we got the villa - was kinda skeptical. The room is very small - just place for a bed and another bunker bed and a very small bathroom. No hot water. Has a small kitchenette - which helps when traveling with a kid. But, the place slowly grows on you - especially when you wake up to chirping birds and amazing greenery all around. Recommend if you like a nature- filled experience sans any hotel- like facilities.

Quaint Cabins, Wonderful Owners

Brian J on 27/02/2016 23:13

What a pleasant surprise! We had heard that this place was "Rustic", but the cabins were very comfortable, had lots of character and were very well maintained.
The owner and his wife were great (but spoke no English). The grounds were a lovely garden. In addition, there is a large botanical garden in the back half of the property. The evenings were quiet.
Be sure to ask for breakfast to be included. It was served poolside and was quite nice, however, most guests did not know it was an option.

Run down eco lodge

Famevei on 19/04/2015 08:37

We stayed in this property on 1-3 april 2015. This hotel was a nightmare for us.
Right off the bat we were so disappointed, the owner was trying to charged us more than what it was on hotels.com and when advised he said it was not possible the price was different. So we had to walk through a booking process to prove that he quoted us different price.
Secondly, we walked into our very dusty room, as if it was never occupied for a while. The room was missing lightbulb that wehad to ask to be replaced. There were spider webs in every corner. The washroom wall was dirty and yucky and to add to our horror, we found small cockroaches on our beds and myriads other dead bugs on the beds as well. cockroaches crawling around on the beds , no thanks !!
Thirdly, the next day , we ran out of toilet paper ! Seriously ?? And we again had to ask for it to be replaced.
I will not recommend this hotel to anyone, if you want to charge min US$ 75 per night in Arenal , this place needs serious attention and not just presenting customer with dirty, unequipped place. They have no right to charge this much if they can not even present customer with basic hygenic place to sleep in.
This place is also far from the downtown Arenal, be ready to spend min U$10 one way to town each time . So you will spend around $25 at leas per day.
We expected way more than this, this place is very traumatizing and beyond explainable.

My advice: don't bother to stay at this place, they will rip you off. Find a place closer to town , if not splurge at other lodge that will not scam you !

Rustic Paradise

MamaLoblolly on 24/02/2015 12:50

Rustic, clean cabins with simple, well equipped kitchens with gorgeous natural view & delightful hosts. Attached botanical garden with medicinal herb garden an unexpected bonus as well as trails into jungle. Pool was a joy. Perfect for our family reunion. We stayed an extra day because we enjoyed it so much. Large house looked lovely as another option. Car or paid transportation necessary.

Eco-lodge-style Bungalows

Amber C on 14/01/2015 00:56

We made a reservation well in advance--through a booking agency--to stay at the Eco Lodge Coter on the west end of Lake Arenal. This was a place we had stayed before and enjoyed. When we arrived, we discovered that the place had gone out of business and been more or less abandoned. So we stayed at a different lodge in Palma, but the cabin was only available for one night. It was fine, but not really what we're interested in since we wanted to be able to cook our own food and hang out on a porch with good scenery and interesting birds. We did some online research, and it seemed that the only place that had everything we were looking for was Villas Josipek. When we drove out to see it, we were surprised at how few other lodges there were in the area. This is a much less touristy area than the north side of the lake or Palma/Fortuna. To us, this is a bonus. The cabins are small but quite adequate. The amply equipped kitchen opens onto the covered porch, making it easy to cook dinner and eat in the open air. The botanic garden onsite is AMAZING. So is the trail system that leads out into the rainforest. We are birdwatchers, and the birds on the grounds are phenomenal. On the first evening, we saw two species of parrot, both toucans, parakeets, oropendulas, woodcreepers, woodpeckers, two species of antbird, hummingbirds, the long-billed gnatwren, warblers, and sundry other interesting species. There is a large group cabin with beds for up to 14 people with a huge kitchen downstairs, two bathrooms, and a wrap-around upstairs balcony. The pool looks very inviting as well. If you are interested in birds and plants and enjoy cooking for yourself, this place is perfect. There are restaurants in the area, but we passed on that. It's not far from Fortuna, and it's also close to the back entrance to the national park. The owners are really nice and helpful. The only drawback is that it's close to the main road, which means that the traffic noise is loud at times. However, that also means it's easy to get to, unlike the Eco Lodge Coter that we originally wanted to stay at.