Casa Frisons (Playa Flamingo)

We stayed seven nights at Casa Frisons (aka “our dope casa”). Casa Frisons is a 6,500 sq ft mansion located on a cliff with nearly 360-degree views of the Pacific Ocean and Playa Flamingo. It is the most fabulous house I’ve ever stayed in.

The property can be seen from Playa Flamingo, and it’s the type of property that makes you wonder, “Who gets to sleep there?”

Us, that’s who.

Below is the reverse view of the above photo.

Gate

Casa Frisons is a gated property, and there is a “security guard” who lives on the property in a tiny one-room house at the base of the driveway. The security guard can control the security gate, and this gate can also be controlled via several keypads (with video screens) in various rooms in the house. One of these keypads is located in the master bedroom.

Protip: If you happen to be the lucky person or couple staying in the master bedroom and you have early-waking guests, it is highly advised that you arm them with the gate/garage door opener so that they can let themselves into the property without having to ring the bell, say after their 5:30am run.

Driveway

The driveway of Casa Frisons is very steep. We rented a Hyundai Accent (manual transmission), and I was unable to drive it up the driveway from a stopped position at the base of the driveway.

It did not have enough power (and it was loaded down with beer and liquor). I’d get about halfway up the driveway, and the tires would begin to spin and squeal and the car would come to a complete stop. I’d have to let it roll back to the base of the driveway and try again.

The one and only time I was successful driving up the driveway was when I took a “running start” from the road which was very dangerous because of the tight turn from the road to the narrow driveway.

Below is a photo of our shuttle backing down the driveway on our way to the airport; we fit 12 people + the driver in that tiny shuttle.

Protip: Park in the garage, which is located just past the driveway. There are steps from inside the garage to the front door, so it is accessible without having to open/close the driveway gate and/or garage door.

Bedrooms

There are six bedrooms on the property and eight bathrooms which qualifies it as a mansion by the very loose mansion definition that the property must have more bathrooms than bedrooms. There are five bedrooms in the main house and one villa perched on the side of the cliff, accessible from a flight of stairs off of the lower garden.

One of our requirements set at the beginning of the property search was that all bedrooms must be en suite. For a trip of this nature, we (Jessi and I, the organizers) did not want:

• Anyone to have to exit their room to use the loo
• Two couples to share a bathroom
• Any couple to have a bathroom that doubles as a “public” bathroom, say off the main living area

This en suite requirement narrowed the list of potential rental properties significantly, and by significantly, I mean that Casa Frisons was the only property we found that met this requirement and was within our price range. As a bonus, the property was fully remodeled in 2016 and was modern in design. When Jessi sent me the link to the property, I responded, “That’s it! It’s the one!”

The layout of the property made all bedrooms feel remarkably private, even the bedroom located off of the living room/pool. This bedroom is the least private bedroom in the house, but the door to the bedroom was recessed several feet from the living room, so you would not know there was a bedroom there unless you knew it was there.

Let’s talk about actual beds for a minute, the rectangular thing you sleep on, also known as a mattress. The mattresses in Casa Frisons are the second firmest (the firmest was at Hotel NH Barcelona Ramblas) I have ever laid on. I’ve laid on countless firm mattresses in my five years traveling Europe. I’m even partial to a firm mattress, but our mattress was like a concrete floor.

There was no give to the mattress. Laying on my side was impossible because my hip bone felt like it was pressed against a concrete floor. Almost everyone commented on the firmness, with one couple comparing it to sleeping on a futon. Without question, the mattresses are the property’s biggest downfall.

Bathrooms

As stated previously, there are eight bathrooms on the property, one in each of the bedrooms, one off of the living room, and one off the pool/deck. The bathroom off the pool deck was a genius design decision because it keeps water off the polished concrete floors inside the house.

Protip: Check the hand towel for scorpions in the pool bathroom before using it.

The tap water in the house is heated by solar power, and many in our crew mentioned that they did not have hot water the day we arrived; however, Peter and I did not experience this, nor did anyone mention a lack of hot water for the remainder of our trip.

Fun fact: In 2016, Costa Rica ran entirely on renewable energy. It was the second year in a row that the country powered itself on 100% renewables for more than two-thirds of a calendar year. More on this achievement can be learned here.

Kitchen

Though understated for the size of the property, the kitchen has everything you need and more. I’ve stayed in several rental properties, and most have claimed to be “fully stocked” but fall short.

Casa Frisons is truly fully stocked, as in I did not need to use the cocktail shaker and spatula I brought, just in case (I can’t count the number of times I’ve made fried eggs using one or more of the following: forks, butter knives, wooden spoons, and mixing spatulas).

There are more kitchen gadgets in Casa Frisons than in my own home. You name it, it has it. Kitchen Aid mixer, blender, coffee maker, electric juicer, toaster, kettle, rice cooker, Nespresso machine, etc. It was also fully equipped with dishes, serving pieces, wine glasses, drinking glasses, plastic cups for the pool, shot glasses, espresso glasses, coffee cups, flatware, etc. There were hundreds of dishes in the house.

Protip: The tap water in the house is filtered and is safe to drink. I believe 10 out of 12 people in our group drank the tap water exclusively, and no one got sick – reduce plastic waste and save your money by not buying bottled water.

The dishes are there to serve a small army at this magnificent dining table made out of a single piece of wood.

There is also a large pantry down the hallway behind the kitchen. It has a second full side-by-side fridge, a 28-bottle (?) wine fridge, three Igloo coolers of various sizes, shelves for dry food storage, and too many recycling bins to count.

Protip: The medium-sized supermarket in Playa Flamingo, “Super Maasai,” has everything you would possibly need. I was thoroughly impressed with the liquor selection – everything from Tito’s Vodka ($40 for 1 liter) to Bailey’s to Maker’s Mark to local and regional liquors. Though it’s got all the necessary liquors, swing by Duty-Free at the airport for better prices.

Protip: The wine selection at Super Maasai was also impressive, but we quickly found that a palatable bottle of wine is priced at $25+/bottle. We dumped at least two $10 bottles because they were not good. If I had the opportunity to do it again, I’d bring my own wine in these bottles bags I purchased (and used to bring flavored vodka instead).

Protip: Prior guests typically leave their unused dry food such as sugar, olive oil, salt, pepper, etc. I saw no less than 10 bottles of nearly-full olive oil, so check the cupboards in the house before going to the grocery store.

Air conditioning

Every bedroom is equipped with an individual air conditioner (aka “mini-split”), and they do a good job keeping the room cool (we have these in our home in Seattle).

Peter and I stayed in the master bedroom and our air con unit kept the room cool even though it had windows on three sides of the room and was on the top floor of the house.

Unfortunately, the main living space (kitchen, dining room, living room) is not equipped with air conditioning. There is almost no breeze flowing through during the day, and there is no breeze in the evening.

Dinner was often unbearably hot, and on the fourth day, we contacted the concierge and requested two large floor fans to help cool the room.

The lack of air conditioning in the main living area is the second biggest downfall of this property.

Chef

I was the most vocal about hiring a chef for our stay. I undoubtedly angered a few people along the way as I was determined to turn our vacation into a high-end all-inclusive property.

After several discussions, we agreed to hire AlKa Services as recommended by Casa Frisons concierge. “AlKa” is the first two letters of the owner’s name, Kattya, and her husband’s name, Alonso, mashed together. In total, they provided us with six dinners (one more than originally planned) and five brekkies.

AlKa is a team of four people: Kattya (chef), Ronny (chef), Alonso (extra helping hand/photographer), and Kattya’s son, Luis (bartender).

Due to the size of the team, we were able to customize their services. For example, we chose to skip desserts with dinner in lieu of appetizers delivered poolside around 4pm on our scheduled dinner days. The appetizers were crucial to our survival as we spent our days day drinking in the pool.

I was (I think) the only one pushing for breakfast services from the chef, and if I had the opportunity to do it again, I’d opt for a light continental breakfast versus a plated breakfast. The one big downside with plated meals is that everyone must eat at the same time, and it became readily apparent early on that our wakey-wakey times were different.

Another downside is that we all were served the same meal. I remember poached eggs (ewe!) were served on our last day, so my meal went to waste.

Our group had five planned and plated dinners. Fish entree nights came with an alternative of chicken, but other than those nights, we were served the same entree.

As a group, we took a very laid-back approach – whatever the chef proposed, we agreed to. If I had the opportunity to do it again, we would have requested to be more involved with the food decisions to give more variety and tailor the meals to the group’s tastes and desires.

Our sixth dinner was a last-minute decision on our last full day in Costa Rica. We had dinner reservations at a local restaurant, but the group’s mood in the pool that day was to chill and relax and do as little as possible. Showering and walking downhill to the restaurant seemed like too much work.

Here’s a glimpse of what almost every day looked like… we were lazy, and it was great.

So, ’round 2pm, we had a group vote, and the group voted to contact the chef to see if she was available to help us out that evening. Kattya said she’d send Ronny and Luis over to take care of us.

Ronny cooked up the most amazing family-style taco dinner I’ve ever had. I’m not a betting girl, but if I were to bet on the group’s favorite dinner of the week, it would be taco night.

Finally, the bartender, Luis, came into our lives around day four. Kattya asked if we’d like his services, and we said, “YES, PLEASE. A BARTENDER SOUNDS AMAZING”. And Luis showed up on day four and gave us a helping hand with drinks every day for the remainder of the trip.

My personal review of the food was that it was average, with some entrees tasting better (steak) than others (cordon bleu). For the price we paid ($20/person + food cost for dinner and $10/person + food cost for brekkie), the chef was worth the money. Kattya and her team are so wonderful and will bend over backward to make their guests happy.

If you are thinking of hiring Kattya, the big question is what to expect with the food cost. We found that food costs ranged from 85-100% of the service fee. As an example, the service fee for dinner was $20 per person so the food cost per person is $17-20.

Protip: Supermarkets charge resident and tourist prices, with the tourist rates being the prices posted on shelves. Enquire about having the house provisioned before your arrival.

Pool

The pool is where you will spend your days when not on excursions. It’s larger than it looks in photos and the corner spot below the umbrella and near the upper garden/scorpion stairs is the preferred spot in the pool because you have the two pool edges to rest your arms when they get too tired from holding your drink and it is shaded from the blazing sun.

There’s a mini fridge and speaker system on the pool deck. We hooked both iPhones and Macbook Airs up to the provided cables. It wasn’t the best sound system in the world, and one of the speakers was blown, but it was better than no sound system.

Living room

Speaking of sound systems, there is a Sonos Play:5 in the living room, which is great. It is so magical that Peter and I returned from Costa Rica and bought a Play:5, and I just placed an order for two Sonos One speakers for our bedrooms. The days of corded stereo systems are long gone.

When I purchased our Play:5, I chose the “up&running” service only because the speaker could be delivered 14 hours after placing my order, whereas normal shipping required a time slot the following day when I was not going to be home. A nice dude named Jacob showed up at our house with the speaker and set it all up for us at no extra charge! Sonos. It’s where it is at.

Protip: Download the Sonos app before arriving at the house so you are all set to go through the few steps to get it set up and blast your favorite playlist or online music station. We hooked up iPhones and synced my iTunes library to the system.

Rental car

We rented a Hyundai Accent through Adobe rental car. Adobe rental car and Blue Water Properties (the company that manages Casa Frisons) are located in the same office building, and one could say are in cahoots with one another.

Their pricing (“real estate rate”) was extremely straightforward, with no hidden fees. The worldwide web contains many blog posts and articles about shading car rental pricing and fake fees, but we did not experience this, and it is because we went with a company that was in cahoots with our property.

We paid $290 for our Hyundai accent for six days. This price is less than listed on their pricing sheet below.

If I had the opportunity to do it again, I think we would rent an off-road golf cart. It’s a golf cart with off-road tires and a larger engine. The golf carts can seat up to 4 people or you can put the back seat bench down to serve as a shelf to haul stuff. We’d use the coolers in the house to transport cold items like ice from the supermarket back to the house. A smaller vehicle like a golf cart would have been easier to get around Playa Flamingo to run daily errands.

Massages

We booked massages through the concierge with a company called Lavender Spa. Their prices were extremely reasonable, and they were willing to come to the house for a small fee. The stars aligned and the massages were carried out over the course of two days.

They set up their massage tables on the yoga deck which looked pretty magical. Everyone commented on how the therapists “really worked their muscles,” and, I believe, all were happy with their massages.

Security

I have mixed feelings about the security of the property. It is a large property and the front door is on the opposite side of the house (and down one level) from the pool where we spent most of our time. People could enter and leave the house without us ever knowing. Sure, they would have to get through the “security guard,” but I feel the security guard made the house less secure.

Not only did he allow unknown people and his friends onto the property, but I found him in the main house one day for no known reason – perhaps this is when the bottle of Baileys went missing. Peter and I strongly believe the security guard stole a pair of Peter’s board shorts. We have never fallen victim to theft in any hotel or rental property in all our years of travel, so we do not make that accusation lightly.

Note: It is my understanding that the security guard on duty during our stay was let go after our stay.

There are three safes in the main house, one on each level (master bedroom, bedroom off of the living room, and basement bedroom). There are no English directions for the safes, and they are not your typical “close the door, enter a 4-digit code, press #” type of safe. They required both a code and a key and the problem was that they were all in the locked position; without the code set by the prior guests, we could not get into the safes.

The concierge was exceptional before, during, and after our stay, except for Safe Gate. It took two calls over two days to get someone out to the property to unlock the safes, and the solution to this problem was to give us a set of master keys for all three safes.

For nearly three days, we had nowhere to secure our valuables which included thousands of dollars in cash. Most of us hid our valuables throughout the house or brought the valuables to the pool with us. It was not ideal, and no one had a good feeling about having to hide their valuables.

Housekeeping also struck me as untrustworthy, but I cannot pinpoint why I felt this way. They were at the property for about four hours every day except for Sunday. They did a top to bottom clean, including scrubbing all 6,500 sq ft of flooring. They did an amazing job of cleaning the house, but something felt “off.”

The property management company, Blue Water Properties, was made aware of the security concerns above as well as the instances of theft and took immediate action. My account above and our collective experience should not deter you from booking this property or booking with Blue Water Properties. I speak for all when I say we would all book properties with Blue Water Properties again in a second.

Private beach

This property comes with a private sand beach accessible via a short maintained trail and 97 very steep stairs. I used the stairs as my gym on two occasions. Kudos to whoever built the staircase leading to the beach.

A few more photos of the private beach because I’ve never stayed at a property with a private beach before.

Our other gym was the steel beam on the porch, where we consumed pre and post-dinner drinks. One night we had a pull-up contest. Pull-ups are hard.

Crew

We were a group of 12 people, all raised differently. The girls connected the group. Five of the six girls were randomly chosen to live on the same floor in the dorms during our freshmen year of university in 1996.

Three of the six husbands met at university, the other three met post-university, and three of the 12 worked for the same company post-university. It’s interesting to me where life has taken us and how our crew of 12 was molded over 21 years.

Below are a few family photos of the 40th Birthday Year Crew.

Sunset

Finally, the sunset. It’s spectacular.