We stayed there for 3 nights in November. Advise: do not take a room in the building where the reception is. The other rooms seem to be reasonable (from the reviews). Our room was really dark, it smelt horrible and it did not feel very clean. The microwave and the fridge was great as well as the breakfast. You get a menu and the make what you like. All in all I probabely would not go back.

First of all the service at the front desk was great. We had made a mistake when making our reservation and they fixed it in a matter of seconds. Second...the property is really well kept and the views are beautiful. The beach, sunsets and sunrises looked splendid from our room. The rooms have a Fridge and a Microwave which was really nice. The things I didn't liked that much is that since rooms have a small private balcony if the people at the other rooms are making noise you can hear them clearly. Also we never got to enjoy the Breakfast because (is nice that they make everything at the moment) most of the time we woke up late and once we waited for almost 10 minutes and since they were cooking for another guests they never showed up. TV was outdated and didn't have too much channels. It has a nice pool with views of the beach. This place has good potential and is perfect if you want to stay away from the metropolitan area and just enjoy the beach in a more quiet setting.

It was a misleading reservation for 4 people for 3 days. The room had a twin bed and a narrow single bed for 4 persons. The offer was "all inclusive" but for breakfast and dinner you had to move by your own car to their twin hotel. The room was narrow, with only a window. There was no way 4 persons could have breathing space there, although they readily charged for it.

Two travelers from Europe (currently resinding in NYC & DC)
April, 17-24 2009

Yes, the Parador Costa del Mar has clean rooms, 12 of them with a terrific view over the lawn, the lush trees on to the marvelous blue-green sea. Over a busy weekend these rooms were taken and we got a dark "cell" to the side without above mentioned advantages; but the staff were nice and helpful and offered to move us to an ocean view room on Sunday night. The hammocks on the green lawn invite you for an afternoon nap. But do also climb downhill to the beach - a rope will serve as a handrail - and you will reach the ocean over the rocks. Breakfast was served Monday to Friday half a mile away at the Parador Palmas de Lucia, owned by the same family. This was principally not a problem but the surroundings have clearly seen better times: the littered beach and the welcome "team" in front of the Parador, in form of half a dozen stray dogs, were definitely less than inviting. The Parador Costa del Mare's address, Route 901, highly praised even by Lonely Planet, is in fact by no means as spectacular as described: Dense traffic, no scenic overlooks, an oil refinery and some industrial ruins as well as reckless drivers. And don't expect any nice restaurants on the road or in the area at large. We are surely not picky but all there is are beer halls galore exclusively frequented by male locals and not really the place to enjoy a romantic night out. We checked out the following restaurants in the neighborhood recommended by Lonely Planet: El Nuevo Horizonte, there they gave us a tourist menu with rip off prices - green salad for about 15 Dollars, smell of lobster stew - no way. The staff didn't make any effort to serve us. Forget also Paradise Sea Food Restaurant at Naguabo or Marc's at the Melia in Ponce, the latter one being shut down. What we can, however, really recommend is Palmas del Mar, a marvelous spot (gated community) nestled on a 3 mile palm shore about 10 miles away from Parador Costa del Mar. There you can choose between a few nice restaurants for lunch or dinner: a tapas bar, Bistro Rico, a French restaurant and the rather fancy Country Club, which closes at 7 pm on week nights and 10 pm on weekends.

All in all: Puerto Rico's East Coast can pride itself with unique natural beauty and a wonderful climate hence it is all the more sad to see the public infrastructure so run down.