Casa Chameleon Mal Pais

I stayed with my wife and two teenagers at Casa Chameleon in Mal País, and it exceeded my expectations on all counts. It's one of the best boutique hotels I have stayed at. The service was impeccable. The staff memorized the guest's names, which is a small detail that goes a long way. The waiters were super friendly and seemed genuinely interested in us. Honestly, I can't say enough about how good they were. I would give them 5 stars. The food was extremely good. The meals were made with top-quality ingredients and the chef made everything with expertise and care. We were there for New Year's Eve, and they had prepared an amazing special menu for the evening. They had a very tasteful BBQ with a dessert plate that included 6 or 7 different pastries for each person! Wow. The desserts were as good as I have had at a fine restaurant in Paris. I was not expecting that! We had 2 separate rooms for our family, and the accommodations were incredible. Just look at the pictures people have posted. That says it all. I feel like my review is gushing, but it was really that good. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Casa Chameleon Mal País to anyone who is looking for a top-drawer boutique experience. I hope to be back!

Private & Perfect As wonderful as I had hoped. Personal attention from the time you arrive and new friends when you leave. The staff (In particular - Ariel, David, Andy, and Christopher, and the amazing chef we did not get to meet, but most definitely enjoyed) were welcoming and very helpful. The room was large, clean, and inviting, but what stands out when first entering the room are the large glass doors that fold open onto the personal balcony and plunge (infinity) pool. We were in the pool in minutes overlooking the green jungle canopy and the ocean. The cocktails were freshly made and delicious at happy hour. The breakfast selection was great and came with fresh juice and fruit along with Costa Rican coffee. We did happy hour every night and dinner twice - both great. The staff set up an island tour for us and transportation. A great, great place with great people.

My girlfriend and I stayed in the Estrella suite. We are world travellers with a taste for the good life, and we were not in any way disappointed. The room was absolutely gorgeous, with great attention to detail. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful, with excellent sense of customer service, and no request was even thought about, just accommodated. The food was terrific, and the location unbeatable - although when they tell you that you should have a 4WD to get from the main road to the reception, you should listen! At the end, we agreed on two things: 1) we will return to Mal Pais and 2) we will not return to Mal Pais and NOT stay at Casa Chameleon!

We had thoroughly researched Mal Pais before choosing Casa Chameleon and weren't disappointed. Our villa was lovely with amazing views down to the Pacific. We only had 2 niggles with the room: the bed was so hard that I had to sleep on top of the pillows and the lovely folding doors kept sticking. Neither of these were too disastrous but our friends were upgraded to a superior villa where the bed was soft and the doors were on runners. There was also no wardrobe so we hung our clothes (after requesting hangers) around the room. The waiting staff and the lady who cleaned our room were all delightful. Andy, David and Justin were absolutely amazing and so efficient. The beauty of the location is tempered by the tremendously steep hill on a very rough road leading up from the main road. We all walked up and down as we deliberately avoided hiring a quad bike (ATV) as being too risky. We took taxis in the evening to go out but at $20 each way, seemingly irrespective of distance, this was another cost if you want to eat out at night. The food at Casa Chameleon is superb. Breakfast was fantastic and the 2 dinners we had during our 6 night stay were excellent.

We have stayed at Casa Chameleon’s property in Las Catalinas which is one of the top properties we have ever stayed in so couldn’t help comparing the two. First, the good. Mal Pais had even better food and service than the larger, higher rated Las Catalinas property despite only having two guest facing staff members on duty at a time. The staff could not have been any better and the food was even better than one of the highest rated restaurants we ate at in Santa Teresa. Now, the not so good. The road up to the hotel is horrible even by Costa Rica and Nicoya Peninsula standards. Although it is a hurricane evacuation route, it has massive holes that will tear off bumpers and other parts under your car. Do not drive your personal vehicle up this road! I am not sure why the owners along the road don’t chip in to keep the already steep road in passable condition like elsewhere in Costa Rica but they apparently don’t here. Once you get past the terrible road up to the property, the grounds and public facilities are beautiful. However, the rooms are dated in terms of finishes and decor, although the bathrooms have seemingly been updated more recently. According to the staff, the owners built this property before the Las Catalinas property and apparently all of their resources are now being devoted to the Las Catalinas property at the expense of this property. We had numerous maintenance issues (kitchen sink wouldn’t drain properly, leak in bathroom sink, loose boards in ceiling, double glass doors onto patio and plunge pool didn’t operate properly with one side having the opener hardware missing, and numerous missing tiles from plunge pool). Finally, the views were average at best. We paid for an “ocean view” which we technically had but the suite was oriented at an angle to the water so it was a much longer view to the ocean than if it was a direct view and a large tower was right in the middle of the view. As we looked at the other units our view seemed to be one of the better views because of odd orientation of units and trees and other vegetation. I would rate Casa Chameleon at Las Catalinas a 10; this property is a solid 8 but could be much better if ownership would invest in improving the road (just fill the holes if nothing else), updating the rooms and trimming trees to improve the views. Maybe it isn’t worth investing in this much smaller property but it definitely hurts the “brand” and if we had stayed in this property before staying at the Las Catalinas property we probably would have opted for a different option when traveling to the Las Catalinas area.