Name: El Refugio de las Aves
Address: Barrio El Tigrillo, Montañita 241702, Ecuador, Montanita, Montanita, Montanita, EC241702, Ecuador
Rating: 8

24-hour reception

Smoke-free property

All Spaces Non-Smoking (public and private)

General

Non-smoking rooms

Room service

Shower

Toiletries

Rooms

Concierge services

Services and amenities

Breakfast

Common kitchen

Restaurant

Kitchenette

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet

Picnic area

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Location

At the hostel

Room amenities

General Ulpiano Paez Airport

El Refugio de las Aves

Montanita

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

 Facilities:   3/5 stars.  First, it is hard to find.  Google map and Map.me are wrong.  The sign on the highway, once you know it is there, is obvious; if you do not know it is there, it is easy to miss.  Once you turn off the highway, no other signs indicate its location.  Once you find it, the rooms are small and simple.  Bed was comfy, but no storage space present and road noise was a problem.  Do not leave a light on in the bathroom during the night as moths will come in through gaps in the ceiling.  Hot water was adequate.  Dining area is outside on the covered deck,.  The deck has a great view of the valley and forest and the fruit feeders are active and close.  Hummingbird feeders are present but are not as active as in other locations. The service and attention from the Paz family more than made up for any deficiency in the facilities.  Mornings are busy as many tours bring people up to see the different birds but most of the tours leave by 12:00 noon..  Afternoons were quiet and we were alone. Different members of the family volunteered to take us places to see unusual, uncommon birds.  If we had chosen, we could have been active until midnight each day.  Absolutely great attention from the family.
 Food:  3/5 stars.  The food was basic.  Dinners and lunches consisted of soup, entree of pork, beef or fish, and desert.  Breakfasts are designed to be served to large groups of people from the tour companies but were good.  
 Birding and photography: 5/5 stars.  Many unusual birds in wonderful settings.  Feeders, visible from the deck area, were stocked several times per day and were visited regularly by many colorful species, many of which are difficult to see elsewhere.  Because of the proximity of the feeders to the deck, photo opportunities were great.  Because we were being guided by family members, we were afforded “front row” spots at all the Antpitta feeding stations and the Cock-of the-Rock lek.   We expected to see the various Antpittas and Cock-of the-Rocks, but we did not expect to see many of the other birds that were pointed out to us.
 Overall:  4/5 stars.  Would we return?  Yes!  We would highly recommend staying at the lodge rather than just visiting during a morning tour stop.  The individual attention we received more than made up for the marginal facility.

The wonderful family and great birding make up for marginal facilities

This hostel is a bit hard to find as the google map is useless. It's just past the main Montanita area (if you came from Guayaquil by bus, just walk to the end of the main area) then over a little bridge and down the first dirt path on the right. Once you know where it is, it's a great location as it's only 5 minutes from the main action and the beach, but far enough away to be quiet at night time. There are two halves to the property on either side of the road. We stayed across the road from the main office, where most of the rooms seem to be and where breakfast is served. The wifi didn't reach to our side of the complex, but there was a seating area in the main area where the wifi worked very well. Breakfast was nice - especially the fruit in yogurt. The bread was toasted and buttered and was really nice, but would have been good to have eggs or jam with it. The hostel is very attractive and for novelty value is a great place to stay - all made of wood and bamboo poles. However there is no sound-proofing at all (the ceiling was mosquito netting), so whilst the hostel is very quiet in general, we could hear everything at breakfast time or if someone was watching the TV or chatting in the communal area. Also on our last night a nearby hostel had a live band which started up at 12am... The rooms have fridges which is nice and the owner gave us a mosquito plug which was good (we didn't have any problems with mosquitos). The shower was very weak but warm to hot. There were quite a few ants and spiders in our room - one of the downsides of a building made of wood and reeds. I think $35 a night for a double room is a bit steep (the booking.com rate) but if it's quiet you can probably negotiate down with the owner as some other guests did when we were there.

El Refugio de las Aves

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