“Vista Bikini”

For sale: $179,000

2 bed, 2.5 bath 124 m2 furnished oceanfront condo with secure parking and bodega in San Clemente, Manabi, Ecuador.

View from the dining area and kitchen.

The apartment

Vista Bikini is a top-floor, 124 m2 oceanfront property with superior views of Manta to the south, the Pacific to the west, Punta Bikini and the Bahia peninsula to the north.

Vista Bikini features * two big bedrooms, both with king-sized beds and full ensuite baths; * a spacious and well-equipped kitchen with microwave wall oven combo; * dining/living area wired for fiberoptic Internet; * on-demand hot water heater; * social bath; and * covered balcony.

Private, secured parking and a bodega are located at the back of the building.

  • Vista Bikini living room, dining area, and kitchen with view of Playa Punta Bikini.
  • Vista Bikini living room and entryway.
  • Vista Bikini kitchen with view of Punta Bikini.
  • Vista Bikini kitchen, dining area, and living room with view of Playa Punta Bikini.
  • Vista Bikini dining area and living room, with view of Playa Punta Bikini.
  • South facing view of Playa Punta Bikini, from the balcony of Vista Bikini.

Upgrades

  • New PVC windows throughout (2024); the westward-facing picture windows are double-paned, tinted, and polarized
  • New Big Blue water filtration system inside a locally crafted teak bodega (2025)
  • New reverse osmosis system, which provides chilled drinking water and ice from the refrigerator (2023)
  • New lighting throughout (2023)
  • New remote controlled ceiling fans in all rooms (2023 – 2025)
  • New air conditioners in all rooms (2023)
  • New propane stove (2022)
  • New roof over the rear secured parking space (2024)
  • New custom-fitted floor-to-ceiling blackout curtains (2022)
  • Upgraded sliding security garage door (2025)

The building

Condominio Miramar is a four-unit construction built in 2019. All four units are occupied. Our top-floor neighbours are a retired couple from Quito. Below us is a property developer from Florida and a retired couple from Ontario.

Everyone reliably pays their monthly maintenance fees ($175). The condo corporation has a healthy reserve fund. The building is properly maintained.

Miramar operates its own swimming pool and employs a handyman to care for the gardens, clean the common areas, and effect repairs.

Upgrades

  • Reinforced seawalls (2026)
  • Private transformer with a copper connection to utility grid (2026)
  • Roof membrane (2026)
  • Exterior lighting (2026)
  • Security cameras (2026)
  • Backup water pump and gas generator (2024)
  • Courtyard expansion (2024)

Upcoming (budgeted)

  • Building to be painted with a durable elastomeric coating
  • New aluminum guardrails for the balconies

The beach

San Clemente’s Playa Punta Bikini is the vacation spot north of Manta.

Holidays and weekends, it is not uncommon to see hundreds of families from Guayaquil and the Sierra enjoying the sun and surf. Our community hires lifeguards for these occasions.

On weekdays, the beach belongs to us. It is possible to walk for hours without encountering a soul.

  • Palapa on the beach in front of Condominio Miramar.
  • San Clemente is a colourful, free-spirited village.
  • San Clemente is a colourful, free-spirited village.
  • Playa Punta Bikini, facing south at low tide.
  • Craft fishermen bring in their nets, Playa Punta Bikini, 2024.
  • Playa Punta Bikini, facing south at low tide.

Craft fishermen work the shores with their kilometres long nets. When they bring in a catch, the skies above them swarm with frigate birds, each fighting the other for food.

Squadrons of pelicans wing overhead, south in the morning and north in the evening. Every so often, you’ll spot a blue-footed boobie. Rarer still are the sea lions, but we do get them.

The beach is a living organism. Every day, it offers a new adventure.

  • Sunset from the balcony of Vista Bikini.
  • Sunset from the balcony of Vista Bikini.
  • Sunset from the balcony of Vista Bikini.
  • Sunset from the balcony of Vista Bikini.

The town

San Clemente is a tiny fishing village located 45 minutes north of Manta on the scenic Manabi coast. Approximately 1,500 Ecuadorians and 250 Canadians and Americans call San Clemente home. Everyone knows everyone.

Meier's, San Clemente's favourite beach bar and pizza joint.
Meier’s, San Clemente’s favourite beach bar and pizza joint.

Conveniences include several very good restaurants, bars, butchers, grocery and produce vendors, liquor stores, banks, a gym, a futbol pitch, and the freshest seafood you’ll find on the coast.

For its size, San Clemente is unusually eventful. Saturday nights, the tiny downtown opens its many bars and restaurants, and the streets fill with locals dressed in their finest evening attire. They come after mass to eat, dance, and enjoy the company of their neighbours. We gringos gather at a watering hole and pizza joint called Meier’s, which is at the corner of our laneway.

  • Duval's on a Saturday night, downtown San Clemente.
  • Downtown San Clemente at dusk, as seen from the terrace at Zhua, a local restaurant.
  • A gringo couple playing Santa and Mrs. Claus for the local children at Christmas.
  • Meier's, San Clemente's favourite beach bar and pizza joint.
  • Christmas tree raising and lighting party, downtown San Clemente, 2025.
  • Christmas tree raising and lighting party, downtown San Clemente, 2024.

At Christmastime, the local men build an enormous decorative tree and the entire town joyously participates in its lighting ceremony. New Year’s brings a monumental street party with burning monigotes and the night sky aglow with floating candle lanterns.

The biggest and noisiest spectacle of all, the Three Kings festival, features stage concerts, parades, and thousands of (mostly inebriated) celebrants. You haven’t experienced anything quite like Three Kings. Not even Carnaval comes close.

San Clemente is a special place. There’s nowhere else like it in Ecuador.

Interested?

Write to us at info@vistabikini.com.

Already in Ecuador? Chantal (my wife) and I (James) will show you our home and take you on a walking tour of San Clemente.

We speak English, French, and Spanish. Often badly, but we try.