We had only been in Costa Rica a few days when Sabina, who owns and manages Albergue Alma de Hatillo met us at the front gate and "swept us off our feet." We were welcomed into her warm and loving world - the beautiful, lush gardens, the clean cabinas, the delicious breakfast jams and spreads and the tremendously refreshing salt-water swimming pool - the perfect dip after a long bus ride.

Delicious, home-cooked dinners are prepared by Sabina and her crew. Pre-dinner, we enjoyed bird watching from the open-air dining area (Cherrie's (aka Rufous Rumped) Tanagers, Hummingbirds and Yellow Warblers were common - Trogons were sighted as well). As the sun set, the accented lighting under the dining area roof and around parts of the garden set the perfect mood. At times, the crashing surf can be heard in the distance.

Hacienda Baru, a wonderful stretch of beach, mangroves for kayaking and the scruffy-but-fun "surf" town of Dominical are all close by, and Quepos and Manuel Antonio NP with in commuting distance.

We enjoyed being with Sabina and staying at her Albergue so much retuned for a second stay after visiting the Osa Peninsula.

The Dominical area is argueably the best part of Costa Rica. It has easy acces to nearly everything you could want to do and see while in Costa Rica- beach, mountains, waterfalls, mangroves, jungle, etc. And by far the best place to stay in the area is Alma de Hatillo. Staying here takes you off the beaten path a little so you can escape the otherwise tourist-populated town. Although it is not on the beach, the beach is an easy walk or drive away, and the property offers a beautiful garden in its place. And the ocean can be seen from certain parts of the property (beautiful sunsets).
But what really sets Alma de Hatillo apart from the rest is the owner, Sabina. She treats every guest as if they were family and no request goes ignored. She is extremely talkative and even comes across as a little tightly wound, but more than that she is helpful and clearly takes her job very seriously.
My boyfriend and I only planned on staying for a few days, but we ended up staying the whole week. because there was so much to do in the area, and we really enjoyed the feeling of home we got here. The included breakfast is yummy, with homemade jams and spreads. We had dinner there a few nights; the food was good, but it was also nice to be able to go into town for dinner and a change in ambiance.
Overall, this place is great! It is a great place for families (great salt water pool for kids to enjoy), couples, groups, anyone. It's a perfect home base from which to explore Costa Rica. We would love to come back to Costa Rica and would certainly look this place up again.

We were here for 3 days in January and could not have been happier. Our room was clean and spacious with a fridge if we needed it and the grounds and pool were wonderful. The weather was great and we fell asleep to the sounds of the jungle including the roosters which after all are birds!
We only ate dinner once there but it was one of the best dinners we had in Cost Rica and at a very reasonable price. We thought Sabina was a wonderful hostess and we would go back again.

This was a really disappointing experience after booking 8 months ahead on the basis of the previous Trip Advisor reviews, and receiving friendly assistance from Sabina. This was going to be a family reunion for Christmas with our grown-up children travelling from different continents. We had made a reservation for 8 nights but one uncomfortable night was enough. We left and headed back north. To be fair, one problem was the timing of our visit in December. We expected the rainy season to be over. It was not. On the evening we arrived, we had three solid hours of rain. Obviously, not the owner's faulty, but a warning to other potential visitors to the area at this time of year. Despite its splendid beach, Dominical is also really a group of houses and bars and nothing to write home about.

We had requested the cottage but this property was dingy, outdated and shabby. We stayed the night in the Mango rooms, a group of three non-private rooms in one building with a veranda. At $60 per person per night + 13% tax, these rooms are not good value; they are cramped and basic, the bed is uncomfortable, and the shower produced neither hot water nor a reasonable rate of flow (The owner warned us about the latter problem despite the brochure offering a "hot shower".) The description of the property as offering "well-appointed" rooms is simply not accurate. We all had an uncomfortable night - disturbed by a mixture of cold temperature, uncomfortable beds, baying dogs (Sabina has several), and the cabins' location 200 metres from the Pan-American Highway, along which noisy heavy trucks pass through the night.

Other parts of the Alma de Hatillo website are also quite misleading. While displaying attractive pictures of the pool, breakfast area, and yoga studio, the site misleadingly gives the sense of space i.e. that the cabins are spread out on a fairly large property. They are not. Indeed, the general sense we had was claustrophobic and a lack of sunlight. All the buildings are pretty close together, and each contain individual rooms next to one another. The site speaks of offering an evening meal (at extra cost) but Sabina told us she did not cook and was thankful that her son (who evidently could cook) had just arrived from Belgium. The dingy cottage in which we had originally planned to stay offered cooking facilities but the other rooms do not. Although there is a well-stocked supermarket in Dominical, the rooms only have tiny fridges in which to store food. So, visitors faced the prospect of traipsing out for lunch and dinner to one of the bars in Dominical. Continental breakfast was included, was OK, but nothing to write home about. Indeed, more generally, this accommodation really needs to offer more than it does.