Small Hotel and Casino. Staff very courteous and cheerful. Right on the beach. Overall clean and comfortable. Not for every traveler. Hotel is dated, but gives a great local flavor. Not a luxurious place, but comfortable. FOOD is great! We even had them to prepare meals with the Mahi Mahi and Tuna we caught while fishing out of los Suenos Marina. I would rather stay here than in a fancy hotel. No TV or hone in room, laundry service available. The construction next door is almost complete and then they will raze part of the quaint hotel and start on Phase 2. Tourism has arrived to Jaco and the area is growing. Too bad.

We have been to Costa Rica a few times and it has been wonderful each time except for when we stayed at the El Cocal in Jaco. We booked our vacation through Nolitours. This was the second time Nolitours has put us in a hotel with construction in or near the hotel. When we booked we were told we would get a gardenview room with a buffet breakfast. Well, the "gardenview" turned out to be a parking lot view and no buffet breakfast. Just a selection of three or 4 items. I settled for eggs with 1 piece of cold toast and a glass of warm juice every morning. A couple times I ordered a plate of fruit but it wasn't enough to satisfy my appetite. We ended up eating all our other meals in Jaco and the food was great! I told the person at the front desk that we paid for a garden view room but I was told that all Air Transat people were in the parking lot. I would NOT have booked here had I known this. There is a condo being built in the parking lot. Construction starts at 6am every morning. Be ready for a rude awakening every day to hammering and alot of niose. The manager wouldn't even talk to us. They wouldn't do anything to make it up to us. Halfway through the week we ended up paying an extra $30USD per night for an ocean view. This is NOT the place to go for solitude. The beach is nice (big waves) except for the garbage everywhere. There's a big hill at the end of the beach with lots of birdlife. Lots of Toucans and Macaws there. We will NOT be booking through Nolitours again. Two strikes, not going for a third.