I can't believe all of the so-so reviews I've read about the Caribe Playa! My husband and I love this place and would stay there again and again. If you don't know much about Puerto Rico and/ or are a "vacation snob", maybe you should stay around touristy San Juan or spend $600 a night at the Horned Dorset, but if you are a real traveler who doesn't mind a basic room in exchange for beautiful views and a gorgeous location, this could be a good place for you. Yes, the beach is rocky, as are most beaches in southern PR, but still very pretty. Wear water shoes. This isn't Luquillo. But there are plenty of things that make up for it. Dinners were delicious, the pool was always clean, and we didn't have any mildew in our room! And please don't expect things to be like America; PR might be a U.S. possession, but it definitely has its own culture and way of doing things. If you want a vacation that is packaged perfection, go to an all-inclusive instead and let others enjoy undeveloped, undiscovered Patillas.

Previous reviews have done a very good job of describing the pros and cons of Caribe Playa. While it is not as luxurious as other accommodations on the island, the setting on the beach is not to be outdone. This is the place for the rugged traveler, willing to compromise comfort for idyllic surroundings. The food at the restaurant was very good.

I found the staff to be very accommodating to our requests. My minimal Spanish language skills were helpful, but not necessary.

I would also recommend that to reach the hotel from San Juan that the route through Humacao, Yabacoa and around the coast to Maunabo was easier than following Hwy 52 across the island.

Hoping to avoid the swarms of tourists and assorted tourist traps on Puerto Rico, my wife and I looked for something on the Carribean side of the island. The Carribe Playa Beach Resort -- and a rented car to explore the southern part of Puerto Rico -- sounded perfect. Yes, all my Puerto Rican friends shook their heads and asked, "Patillas??? Why are you going to Patillas?" but we stuck with our plan.

First, the positives:

The photos of this place do not lie. Caribe Playa Beach Resort really is right on the beach with some breathtaking views. Palm trees, beautiful water and sunshine we were lucky to have for our four days there -- it all looks too good to be true on the website but the views really are this amazing. There are beach chairs and hammocks all over the place to lounge around on, there is an outdoor restaurant with the same excellent views right there too. The water when we were there (November) was a very swimmable temperature. The staff was for the most part extremely helpful and friendly (more later) and the coffee in this place was excellent. The nicest thing of all isn't so much about this place as it is a commentary about the island -- I have travelled quite a bit and I have never met friendlier people than the people in Puerto Rico. We must have stopped to ask for directions a thousand times, and every time people went out of their way to help us. Strangers smiled at us and said hi. People constantly wished us good morning. There are a lot of people who are nice for the sake of being nice on this island.

The not so positives: As long as you are not expecting to be pampered like a spoiled diva, most of the "not so positives" of the Caribe Playa Beach Resort aren't really all that bad. Still, you should know that the restaurant staff tend to take a while with your food, as in a very long time. Also, as many have mentioned, there is some noise from the traffic along the highway, which may disturb light sleepers. (I loved the sound of the surf lulling me to sleep, however). Of particular disappointment to me was the fact that the king size bed we were told we'd have was really just two twin beds stuck together and covered with a king size bed spread and sheets to make it look king size. I really wouldn't have cared if I had had to share a bed with my brother or somebody, but for my honeymoon with my wife, not having a big crack down the middle of our bed would have been nice. The water, while swimmable, is not what you might have in mind when you think, "Ahhh, the Carribean." It has lots of rocks at points and it isn't clear as in snorkeling type water. Lastly, you should know that this place is FAR from the San Juan Airport, so if you have a late arriving flight, you probably won't get in until the middle of the night, and that's if you don't get lost, which we did (rather badly.)

The roads on the southern part of the island are in general windy and not always in the best of shape. We ended up going north at times to Fajardo and over to San Juan anyway, where the infrastructure really did seem to be better suited to tourists. Still, we had some great views driving on the Carribean side, particularly going east of Patillas, we met friendly people wherever we were, and despite some construction down there at times as well, we felt good about getting to know the less-known side of the island. It somehow seemed more authentic, which is what we wanted.

The only real negative about our stay which really was a shame and knocks this hotel down a couple of notches, was that in the middle of our second night, I awoke to hear my wife shrieking. I sat up in bed quickly -- what was it? A rat? A burglar? No. My wife was stading in a huge puddle of water. She had gotten up to use the bathroom and had instead found that the toilet had not been functioning properly -- it had kept filling its tank continuously without stopping, and had flooded our room. I walked through the water and turned off the toilet (rather proud of myself to figure out to do this after being awakened suddenly at 3 AM) and we used our towels to soak up as much of the water as we could. After the sun came up, I explained the problem to the hotel manager, who agreed to put us in a different room, but in the end, one of the maintenance guys fixed the toilet and we ended up staying in our original room. Not a huge deal, but if I were the manager of a hotel and I wanted people to come back, I would have offered us something -- a free meal at least -- if two of my guests had lost a good night's sleep and not been able to use a bathroom until the morning because one of my toilets didn't work. Instead, I had to pracically beg for this, and explain over and over to skeptical management that it wasn't us who had stopped up or damaged the toilet -- it just didn't work. In the end, they gave us a free dinner. Much appreciated. But if I hadn't complained about it, they would have done nothing.

You have to go to Caribe Playa Beach Resort -- and the southern side of Puerto Rico -- with the mentality that even though it's the U.S., it's in many ways a foreign country, with all its positives and all its charm, as well as it's inconveniences that might annoy you when you aren't used to them. If you keep that in mind and are okay with that, then this place will be just fine for you (and also if you feel that toilets are overrated.)

If you want to spend several days in a relaxing and beautiful location and are not looking for nightlife or glitz, Playa Caribe is a good location. However, do not expect the same amenities as a similar type of hotel room would have in the United States.

The property is gorgeous. A long and curving stretch of beach with palm trees scattered throughout the property and along the shoreline. The beach has a mixture of both stone and sand, so bring water shoes if you want to walk the entire length. You can wade up to your chest in wonderful warm water (82-85 degrees in mid-February) and splash around. However, 25 feet beyond the entrance to the water is a reef. Beyond the reef there is a strong current making further swimming inadvisable. There are a number of beautiful beaches a short drive East and West of Patillas.

All of the rooms are about 30 feet from the water with a number of hammocks strung between palm trees, and numerous lounge chairs available to sit and watch the surf, birds, sun stars, etc. The outside property is well maintained and groomed with flowers, bushes and other types of trees providing lots of shade and a garden-like setting. My husband and I spent a lot of our time either in the water or while lying in a hammock reading books borrowed from a small library in the main office.

While I had read that the pool had sometimes been less than pristine, when we were there the pool was clean and attractive.

Breakfasts and two dinners in the hotel’s second story open air restaurant which is located with a great view of the beach were well prepared and delicious and there was a reasonable selection. However, not every item listed in the dinner menu was available. You need to provide your reservation and dinner selection early in the day to make sure that they will have preferred items available at dinner. Another alternative is Tranquilidad, a restaurant several miles west on Route 3. The food was good, the restaurant was clean and the ocean-side ambience was perfect. For lunches we obtained roasted chickens, rice and beans, fresh bread and fruit from road side stands and the supermarket in Guayama (20 minutes away) and kept these in the refrigerator in the room.

While the outside grounds were nearly perfect, the rooms were less than ideal. The pillows and bedding smelled of mildew. Having read other reviews, I had brought clean sheets and pillow cases from home and put those over their sheets to create a barrier I would advise bringing impermeable pillow covers, as well as, pillow cases to provide the best barrier. The air conditioner looked quite rusty and we decided not to turn it on since we didn’t know when or if it had last been cleaned and worried about blowing further mold or bacteria into the air. Since the temperature this time of year was pleasant, we used the ceiling fan to move the air in the room.

Other smaller problems were that the coffee maker didn't work and the toilet was difficult to flush. The bath towels were thin and handed out in a miserly fashion. The pool towels, which had to be signed out, were worn. Several guests had brought or bought their own beach towels. The curtains on the window facing the beach were thin and inadequate. We ended up keeping the louvers down to maintain greater privacy.

As had been reported in other reviews, the hotels sits next to the road and the passing traffic can be quite loud. Since the windows have no glass, only screens or plastic with louvered shutters outside, when the trucks and cars begin passing prior to dawn, it could be quite bothersome if you are a light sleeper or bothered by “unnatural” sounds. The sounds of the surf greatly compensated for the traffic noise. I simply went to bed earlier (no nightlife anyway) and woke up at dawn and watched several beautful sunrises over the water and palms

The female staff were all pleasant and eager to be of help and all spoke good English. The male staff did not interact much with the guests. The one spoiler was when my husband asked for assistance locating a boat captain to take him out fishing for several hours. He was told that they knew of someone and a local captain was called and secured for the following day for $175 for a 4 hour fishing trip. This was a bargain in comparison to some boats which were asking for $400-$500. My husband was told that a $25 deposit would be placed on the room charge. After the fishing trip was over, when my husband was paying Captain Johnny, he found out that none of the "deposit" went to the captain. It would seem that the "deposit" was the Playa Caribe’s charge for the five minutes of work looking up the number in their book and calling to arrange the trip. If you ask for assistance in arranging any trips make sure you know what they will charge you.

Other advice would be to have a rental car and good map of Puerto Rico. Most of the roads are in good condition and it is easy to travel around Puerto Rico fairly quickly on the excellent main highways. However, at times, the roads are marked in a confusing manner.

We will return to Playa Caribe in the future, but will be better prepared to avoid the minor annoyances of the less attractive sides of staying there.