Montañita, a picturesque beach town located on the Pacific coast of Ecuador, has become a sought-after destination for digital nomads seeking a perfect blend of work and play. With its vibrant surf culture, breathtaking beaches, and lively nightlife, Montañita offers an ideal environment for remote workers looking to party and enjoy the beach at reasonable prices. In this blog post, we will explore some of the top lodging options in Montañita.
To find accommodations in Montanita, I used mainly AirBNB and Hotels.com
Montanita is a surf town that lives off tourism, so many hotels, hostels and co-living spaces are available. I first stayed a few days in the party district in one such hotel, then moved to spend 2 months in an AirBNB nearby.
Depending on your style, you may want to get a temporary spot for when you land and then look locally. You can walk the whole city pretty easily, and there are dozens of hostels with great prices and weekly or monthly deals.
I’ve covered this in more details in my Living in Montanita for nomads article, but simply know that Montanita is a party town, and you will hear loud music day and night from Thursday to Monday, sometimes Tuesday morning. If you’re looking for a spot to bunker down and grind, this is not it. The beach, restaurants, constant flow of partying tourists, drugs, night clubs and booze are part of daily life here, and it would be difficult not to partake!
As far as neighborhoods go, Montanita is small – you could walk the entire length of the town in about 30-45 mins, meaning there aren’t exactly “neighborhoods” per se.
I’ve provided a map below with some notes for first timers.
Green: Many hostels here, as well as a few AirBNBs. Three minute walk from the main road in yellow to the beach there. A few restaurants and convenience stores to be found along main road.
Orange: Here you’ll find many beach bars, some surfing schools, as well as some hotels, including Dharma Beach hotel which has a great beachfront restaurant.
Red: This is the core of the town and party central. Here you’ll find the aptly named “Cocktail Alley”, tons of restaurants, night clubs and bars. This place does not sleep!
Blue: The southern part of town is much more relaxed and residential, with fewer tourist oriented shops, but still a good amount of rental options such as hostels and apartments.
Another thing to note is that the beach is split between north beach and south beach by a river which connects to the ocean (visible at the bottom of the orange circle). The northern part is a bit more sparsely occupied, although one of my favorite restaurants which I covered in my Taste of Montanita article is located at the north end of the beach.
As far as services, Montanita gets correct coverage from the major cellphone carriers in Ecuador, and actually has fiber coverage. I had speeds solidly above 100mbps in the AirBNB I stayed in, although not everyone will provide that.
Housing is affordable in general, but here are some details:
3 Bedrooms - $700/Month
The entire 2nd floor of a house, this AirBNB was located 2 minutes from the beach and 5 at most from the party area. It had fiber internet, 3 bedrooms and a gigantic patio area with furniture.
Now I don’t believe this is “typical” of Montanita – as a matter of fact I just pulled up that listing on Airbnb and renting it now would come out to about $850 for the month. On average, prices for a place that has somewhere to work from and good internet starts around $1100
As with anywhere, you can ball out here too, it’s not all rustic houses and hostels.
If you’re willing to up your lodging costs, you’ll have to fork out at least $1800 for a unit in the fancier buildings (or even more for beachfront villas).
For example, at that $1800 mark, you could find a unit like this in the Montanita Estates complex:
Montanita Estates - 1 Bedroom - $1800/Month
Montanita Estates airbnb unit – at moment of writing, $1830 a month
Travellers of all budgets can stay here and survive, however, if you enjoy nicer, more modern units like I do, things can get pricier, and unless you find a solid compromise like I did with that $700 unit, you’ll end up spending a fair chunk of change on lodging.
