Brian (US) – Tripadvisor.com review
Las Terrazas de Dana Lodge has four brand new stand-alone bungalows, each with a balcony overlooking a beautiful cloud forest valley. The bungalows are modern and spotless. The grounds are loaded with interesting fruit and flowering plants which attract tons of tropical birds, including hummingbirds everywhere you look. It is the perfect example of a modern, clean, small scale operation sitting in the middle of a spectacular and bio-diverse setting.
The rooms come with breakfast included. The food was excellent with several options from a custom menu each day and an offer to accommodate any special requests. The meals always included lots of fresh fruits and juices. You had the choice of eating at the restaurant or having the food brought to your private balcony. I usually enjoyed my breakfast after taking a sunrise walk around the grounds and along the nearby river. We usually ate dinner or lunch there as well. Again, the menu options were always delicious and interesting.
Although you couldn’t ask for more from an eco-lodge, what really stands out about this place is the service. David (owner/resident) was ever-present on the grounds. We would talk each day about the types of things we were interested in doing. If we knew exactly what we wanted, he was on the phone making the arrangements/reservations, etc. Often times he (or Marlon from his staff) would take us. Sometimes they would stay with us or come back to pick us up and always, at a minimum, pre-arrange with the staff at the place we were visiting to get us a cab (always extremely cheap BTW) back to the lodge when we were done. If we were looking for recommendations, he always had excellent ideas for us. Our ride back to the airport with Marlon was a fun all-day adventure in itself including a couple interesting stops along the way and a soccer game in Quito. This was so far above and beyond that I really do not have words to describe it.
Mindo is an easy, pleasant, and interesting 15 minute walk away. I had eight days in Ecuador and originally planned to stay the first four at Las Terrazas. But I decided to stay all eight. This is the perfect lodge and the perfect place to use as a base to explore the region.
