Pura Vida is the famous salutation meaning “pure life.” It's a concept that's embraced by Costa Rica. The country's awe-inspiring geography is known around the world, but there’s also an unmistakably reviving energy here. Costa Rica was one the first nations in the world to promote responsible ecotourism passionately—and rightly so with so much biodiversity to show off. The Central American country sandwiched between Nicaragua and Panama is setting unrivaled benchmarks for renewables. Last year, 99.98 percent of their electricity came from hydropower, geothermal, wind, biomass, and solar sources. A quarter of the country is protected as national parks, wildlife reserves, marine sanctuaries, and conservation areas. It’s all the more uplifting when you know you can stay in a top-notch hotel where they’re also thinking about their environmental and social impact. From hidden eco-lodges to famed beachside addresses, our editors round up the best hotels in Costa Rica.
Every hotel on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveler journalist who knows the destination and has stayed at that property. When choosing hotels, our editors consider both luxury properties and boutique and lesser-known boltholes that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination. We’re always looking for beautiful design, a great location and warm service—as well as serious sustainability credentials. We update this list regularly as new hotels open and existing ones evolve.
This article was originally published on Condé Nast Traveller U.K.
All products and listings featured on Condé Nast Traveler are independently selected by our editors. If you purchase something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
$$ | Hot List 2016, 2022 Readers' Choice Awards 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
All-out action in the mountains
Ensconced in the Pérez Zeledón canton, amid the Brunqueña and Talamanca mountains of southern-central Costa Rica, Hacienda AltaGracia’s casitas gaze into the hilly wilderness of the San Isidro valley. The resort occupies 178 acres—so large that a morning walk with Bagheera, the resident dog, might be the best way to get the lie of the land. Rather than provide a base from which to explore the area, Hacienda AltaGracia, relaunched by Auberge Resorts Collection in 2021, concentrates on bringing the area to guests. Apart from the three restaurants and spa, there’s hiking, biking, rafting and ziplining, plus a serious stable complete with a traditional tack room and sand school, where vaqueros are on hand to lead trails. Abseiling meets nature-spotting 100 feet up in the canopy, as guide Luis Diego Alvarado Mora points out turkey-tail mushrooms on the forest floor over a snack of banana bread and pineapple juice. Then it’s time to abseil down a carboncillo tree. Some nights, competitions unfold between rodeo riders, while chefs Arno Janse van Rensburg and Liezl Odendaal, who work with women’s cooperatives to source ingredients from tacacos to arracache, rustle up magic over a coconut-husk fire. —Anna Prendergast
Courtesy Nayara Tented Camp
Nayara Tented CampArrow
$$$ | Hot List 2020 Readers' Choice Awards 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
Five-star safari experience amid hot springs and a resurrected rainforest
Toucans and parrots flit between towering cecropias while sloths snooze in the upper branches. It’s hard to imagine this lush land was only revived relatively recently after the owner saved land neighboring his estate. Nayara Springs is sister to the two original properties set on this sprawling site, and the next-level neighboring encampment steals the show with its stand-alone cabins draped in canvas created by sustainability-minded Luxury Frontiers. As they nurture terrain and reintroduce flora and fauna in the richest of ways, Nayara is lovingly creating more of these strategically- and sensitively-perched lodges. The grandstand views of Arenal’s gently active volcano are best enjoyed from your plunge pool. —Juliet Kinsman
Photo by Allen Kennedy
Four Seasons Resort Costa Rica at Peninsula PapagayoArrow
$$$ | Gold List 2018 Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023
A sprawling family-friendly stay in the jungle
“Fire breathers. Unicyclists. Acrobats.” These are just some of the performers chief concierge Lucas Medeiros hired for one residential guest at the Four Seasons since it completed its $35-million renovation in 2018. A Middle Eastern prince arrived with 40-person staff and one day decided that he wanted to create a circus in his villa.
The resort isn’t all wild whims and bottomless budgets, though, and if the only circus you bring is your family, the facilities are centered on providing not just something, but something spectacular, for everyone. The beach-view bedrooms and family-sized suites provide a break-out space where everybody can reunite at the end of the day to trade tales of snorkeling with rays, catching waves with pro surfers like Jair Pérez, tasting chef Heberto’s wood-fired Chorotega-style octopus or tracking pumas with lead naturalist Jhonny Hernandez Martínez. Kids while away awe-struck hours at the Explorer’s Club, where Jhonny playfully smacks at the tattoo of a bullet ant on his own hand and delivers a perfect howler monkey impression, whilst Prieta Beach Club, with its Balearic design and private cabanas, is where the grown-ups go to power down. —Anna Prendergast
Courtesy Cielo Lodge
Cielo LodgeArrow
$$ | Hot List 2021
Idyllic rainforest living
At Cielo Lodge, six off-grid cabins emerge like a mirage at the end of a zigzagging dirt and gravel track, with an infinity pool that has views of the Golfito Bay fjord and a restaurant overlooking the pool. Stingless bees buzz around the place, signaling a healthy forest (they are ultra-sensitive to deforestation and pesticides). A soundtrack of frogs, crickets, birds and monkeys plays on a lullaby loop, only interrupted by the arrival of tequila, crushed blackberry and cilantro cocktails. Cielo is the creation of Keith and Nicole Goldstein. Keith, the grandson of Manhattan restaurateurs, met Nicole in Silicon Valley, where they worked for software companies before leaving it all behind for a simpler life. One of the lodge’s most idyllic excursions is the boat outing on the Golfo Dulce, passing beach shacks and wildlife refuges along the coast of Puntarenitas and Piedras Blancas National Park. Moments after departing, Cielo vanishes into the dense rainforest without a trace, and guests are left alone—or in our case, alongside a pod of spotted dolphins sluicing through the glassy waters.
Andaz Costa Rica Resort At Peninsula PapagayoArrow
$$ | Readers' Choice Awards 2017, 2018, 2021
Spoiling spa treatments in the hills
Set seamlessly into the hillside above two beaches are whelk-shaped public spaces and seven low-level concrete blocks of rooms. Bamboo frames the floor-to-ceiling windows and walkways. Inside, it's all natural materials: wooden furniture, a huge tear-drop light inspired by a bird's nest, and a shower with a mosaic pebble wall and sliding doors that open onto the balcony. But it's the other details at Andaz Peninsula Papagayo Resort that add the funky factor. Wooden carts by the two pools form makeshift bars, painted with football emblems and stocked with Cacique Guaro liquor. Chao Pescao, the most fun of three restaurants, feels like it could be a real, rocking neighborhood joint. Have a traditional breakfast of gallo pinto (rice and beans) and then head to the spa where everything can be customized, from the ingredients in your organic scrub to your post-treatment tea.
The Retreat, Costa Rica
The Retreat, Costa RicaArrow
A space to relax, regroup, and reflect
About 45 minutes west of San Jose airport, along a series of steep windy roads, The Retreat sits in a rainforest atop a 50-acre quartz mountain said to have healing energies. Nature surrounds you at every point of the stay, whether you’re in a treatment room, falling asleep in bed, or dining. It’s popular with solo travelers who, beyond looking for a respite from regular life, are there at a transitional point in their life and hoping to kickstart a transformation. Chef, author, and health and wellness life coach Diana Stobo opened the property in 2016, creating a place for guests to focus on nature, nutrition, and wellness in the midst of Costa Rica’s stunning rainforest, with nature as the greatest healer. In the covered outdoor dining room, there is no menu: waiters simply tell you what colorful dish is soon to be presented. Peacocks roam the property, and yoga, meditation, and sound bath classes are on offer in the wellness room. And from nearly every vantage point, gorgeous mountain views abound. —Madison Flager
Brice Ferre/Courtesy of Amor Arenal
Amor ArenalArrow
Readers' Choice Awards 2023
Adults-only casitas among the tree tops
“That’s a good tree,” Oscar Vargas points to the leaning trunk of a laurel that hangs over the footpath at Amor Arenal, which only opened in 2019. “I used to tie my horse to it, when this was a farm. It gave me shade, it has views of Arenal. Now, it’s built into the swim-up bar where I work—isn’t that crazy?” He introduces me to Ronald, a disembodied papier mâché head that sits on the countertop, and makes me a hibiscus-infused Margarita with a sprig of charred, still-smoking rosemary. By day, Oscar studies to be an engineer, following in the footsteps of his sister. By night, he gets the party started at this adults-only hotel hewn into a canyon beneath the lush landscape of Arenal’s active volcano. “Music is my drug,” he says, scrolling through a playlist of soca, salsa, afrobeats and reggae. “But I love putting a bit of funk and soul on—it always gets people moving.” Ronald is his wingman: he dons the mask and passes it around to entertain guests.
Behind the bar, slices of citrus fruits are being dehydrated, and Oscar is adding slices of jackfruit to a bottle of guaro, Costa Rica’s sugarcane spirit. Like magic, the clear liquid turns blood-red in just a few seconds. Originally from Siquirres near the Caribbean coast, he lets me in on a secret. “When I’m on the beach, I make ice with coconut water, and put it in a glass of 12 year Glennfiddich. Phwoar!” A Tiki-loving couple from Detroit overhear, and he promises to make some the next day—it’s his birthday, and everyone's invited. After a hot day trekking the lava trails, climbing 500 steps to La Fortuna’s waterfalls or hiking the hanging bridges in the rainforest, it doesn’t get much better than a gentle swim and a cold drink at Oscar’s bar. —Anna Prendergast
Matias Sauter M
Aguas Claras, Puerto Viejo
Art and soul on the Caribbean’s southern shores
Along the coastline, Aguas Claras is an anomaly and a gem. It has a clubby, local vibe, bringing guests and the community together. Sun-loungers and coral stone fountains sculpted out of the ocean bedrock embellish a garden dense with tropical blooms—so dense you won’t see your neighbors on private verandas, swinging on hammocks hitched on palm trees around six salvaged, clapboard beach cabanas. Small kitchens allow guests a modicum of self-sufficiency, although it's hard to resist the siren call of the restaurants, with their scents and sizzle of barbecued creole fish and spicy plantains. Da Lime, jumping on weekends, is a brief stroll to the banana yellow beach, where deckchairs compete for space between the Talamanca rainforest and the surf. You can head off, barefoot, in either direction, for miles, or borrow the complimentary bikes towards Puerto Viejo or Playa Uva, where the beach becomes ever emptier and wilder, an occasional juice shack providing a welcome pitstop. Back at Aqua Claras, the yoga shala, Casa Gandhi, is a stand-alone destination, offering free classes to guests on weekends in an airy temple-structure hidden in the palms. —Catherine Fairweather
Finca Rosa Blanca, near San Jose
Sip home-grown coffee in the highlands above the capital
An exuberant fresco of the Barbara volcano sits above the huge open-air bathtub of the El Cielo terrace suite, overlooking the forest canopy. This is one of 14 suites at Finca Rosa Blanca, spreading tendril-like across the green, coffee-growing hillsides above the capital San Jose—at eye-level with black-cheeked woodpeckers and streaking neon parrots. There are other fantastical talking-points too: spring-fed internal waterfalls; vine-like staircases entwining ancient trees; story-book turrets scratching the stars—the fruit of artist-owner Glenn Jampol’s irrepressible imagination. A respected painter of the bold canvases that define the free-spirited energy of the finca, he moved here in the 1980s with his wife Teri. Without a grand design for the place, the idea of a hotel evolved organically; the Gaudi-esque adobe structures growing out of, and into, the undulating landscape. Later, Jampol acquired the 30-acre plot next door, where an award-winning, organic coffee-bean is harvested, renowned for the complex floral high-notes of its roast. Local guide Ulisses offers an eye-opening plantation tour, a lesson in biodiversity, ecology, and the conservation practices pioneered by Jampol, who is also Chair of the Global Eco Tourism network. As a self-confessed tree-hugger straight out of 1970s Berkeley, California, it was, he says, instinctive for him to banish single-use plastics and pesticides. He is particularly proud of the free-form, solar-heated pool fed by chemical-free ionized water, joyously landscaped around a tumbling curtain of water, outlandish grotto and cantilevered sunbathing areas. All the furniture and fittings are made on site and there’s a wormery for composting beside a palatial hen coop and the kitchen garden. These feed the El Tigre Vestido restaurant; a highlight, as much for locally-sourced fusion dishes as for the location; a cool 4,000 feet above sea level overlooking the distant glow of San Jose against the silhouetted backdrop of the volcanic Central Valley massif. —Catherine Fairweather
Mike Dell
Kura, Uvita
Modern romance high in drama and low in impact
Warning: dreamy melt-into-the-horizon pool scenes are the kind that will have you snapping sunset shots to the point of being anti-social. Now we’ve got that out the way, let’s also be clear: that’s not where the oohing and ahhing ends in this sexy open-air retreat. Step out of one of the dramatic eight suites at sunrise to hear a theatrical dawn chorus of howler monkeys. That panorama is proper pinch-me stuff as eyes are drawn over uninterrupted tropical rainforest down to the Pacific Coast. Kura—meaning jaguar in the language of the Boruca people—comes from the imagination of a Costa Rican architect and biologist power couple. What makes green-travel lovers purr is how eco-sensitive the practices are behind the scenes when it comes to the 5R tenets of sustainability—reducing waste, reusing, repurposing, and recycling where possible—not to forget our friend, rot. It helps that Kura serves ceviches, tacos, and salads so outrageously delicious leftovers are kept low, but when it comes to the organic waste, a clever Japanese Takakura composting system creates a fertilizer that helps you understand why everything at Kura just seems extra perky. And yes, I’m biased because they let me plant my little seedling and I dream of returning to hug it one day when it’s big and tall. —Juliet Kinsman
Lapa Rios Ecolodge
Lapa Rios Lodge, Osa Peninsula
The original luxury eco-lodge in a thousand-acre reserve
Lapa Rios Lodge takes its name from the scarlet macaws regularly spotted in the skies above these 17 thatched, stilted bungalows. Overlooking the Golfo Dulce, Lapa Rios is especially beloved for having been the first eco-lodge of such status in a nation that’s always been the greenest of holiday destinations. In this lowland tropical rainforest along the Pacific coast, this reserve has recently been given a little upgrade by its new Pacuare Lodge owners. Attesting to its commitment to nature, it’s still a dedicated member of the conservation-focused charity organization, the Long Run. —Juliet Kinsman
Ryan Forbes
Origins Luxury Lodge by Mantis, Bijagua
Biophilia-flaunting adobe and bamboo lodges
Six luxury lodges and a treetop three-bedroom Villa Vertigo lure visitors to Pueblo Nuevo to experience wellness. It’s not just the look and feel of this stay that is seductive to those considering the footprint of their trips—the nature-positive design helps us instantly consider the more prosaic aspects of how eco their operations are. Bioclimatology—when a building is cunningly tuned into nature to keep it cooler in the tropics—is a sure-fire indication Origins has bypassed the need for fuel-guzzling. All hail the breezy biophilia-riffing bamboo used in these buildings, adobe walls for breathability, and the savvy use of old bottles under the floors to help natural airflow. —Juliet Kinsman
Hikers’ heaven in the Cordillera de Tilarán mountains
This 28-suite stay quietly opened as this new eco-sensitive incarnation in 2018. A sustainable remodeling of stand-alone cabins set in staggeringly biodiverse gardens, it still feels like a little mist-enhanced secret. Step outside and you’ll pass furry, feathered, scaled so-and-sos on the path down to nature hikes, meals or yoga classes. Be sure to take a 30-minute sustainability tour and plant a tree. As with all hotels in the Cayuga Collection, you’ll learn how energy and waste are carefully monitored. 95 per cent of what’s served here is sourced within a 200-mile radius. Hyperlocal is the MO, from the arabica coffee and artisan cheese to bathroom amenities produced by local B-Corp-certified brand Aromas. And the strongest indication that you’re staying somewhere helmed by extra-considerate hosts is the sense that everyone loves working here. —Juliet Kinsman
Pierre Theriault
Santarena, Las Catalinas
A slice of Mediterranean charm right on the beach
The privately-owned beach town of Las Catalinas was created in the image of Mediterranean hillside villages such as Positano and Ronda. According to Italian folklore, seaside houses were painted in bright shades to help fishermen navigate home; from my bedroom on the fourth floor of Santarena alone, I can see sun-softened pastel yellow, cornflower blue, dusty pink. On a walk through town, I pass open French doors framing a man asleep at his desk, two Rhodesian ridgebacks snoozing at his feet. Despite its European feel, a black Mangrove hawk watching over me as I walk and a nosy great-tailed grackle insisting I share my breakfast of gallo pinto ground me firmly in Guanacaste. The pedestrianized neighborhood is being privately developed in the hopes of bringing back nostalgic ideals of kids playing in the street and a true sense of community.
“It takes half an hour to walk from one end to the other,” one resident, Robert, tells me fondly. “You stop and say hi to everybody, they invite you over. Tonight we’re having ribs next door.” Right in the centre is the 45-bedroom Santarena, and its all-day breakfast bar makes it something of a hub for guests and residents alike. Days are slow, social, simple: a workout, a coffee, a swim. I go stand-up paddle-boarding with Tony at Pura Vida Ride, the town’s water sports outfitter, and whilst I keep one eye on our destination, Islotes Pitahayas, he tells me about his puppy Luna and where to find the best chiliguaro (a Bloody Mary in shot form) nearby. After, I watch a guest’s befuddled golden retriever eye up a black iguana over a leisurely lunch at Limonata, and by night I open the doors of my top-floor bedroom balcony wide as lightning explodes over the horizon like a brilliant natural firework show. The gentle cadence here filters out the kind of traveller that wants instant, round-the-clock service, and there’s no dress code or rulebook. “You have your formal flip-flops, and your beach flip-flops,” laughs Robert, who has owned a villa here since 2015 and misses it when he’s home in Seattle. “You realize how little you actually need.” —Anna Prendergast
Nantipa, Santa Teresa
A locally owned community-minded beachfront address
The sun is barely up in Santa Teresa, and chef Pedro Cajas is in the kitchen of Manzu, Nantipa’s beachfront restaurant, a production line of sandwich-filling in full swing. But these are not for the guests; “They’re for the athletes,” he smiles. A local initiative, Futbol por mi Pais, trains twice weekly in the plaza up the road. Kids from underprivileged backgrounds receive mentoring from world-class coaches, and the program teaches them important values, discipline and respect. “At Christmas, Pedro made Christmas-tree-shaped cookies with decorations, each individually wrapped and ribboned,” recalls Gally Meyer, the non-profit’s founder. “When I first approached the hotel, I had my elevator pitch ready to go, but they stopped me. The director Harry Hartman was like, count us in, what do you need?” Since then, the kids have been provided with two full, healthy meals a week, and Nantipa has become Gally’s unofficial office. You’ll see her—baseball cap bobbing, pen scribbling—switching seamlessly between English and Spanish in Manzu as she talks sport with the staff (everyone in Costa Rica supports a team), conducts business and fundraises for the foundation.
Above her, a palm-thatched roof is suspended by thick trunks— native pochote, teca and Guanacaste trees—designed to imitate the traditional techniques of the country’s indigenous Chorotegan community. Like the Guanacaste tree, whose strong, firm roots symbolize stability and growth in Costa Rican culture, Nantipa’s own roots already run deep in the community, with initiatives at every turn, from the permaculture farm it supports at Cirenas to the beach cleanups; one bucket-full of microplastics will earn you a free smoothie. If that’s not immersive enough for you, staffer Mario Brenes once took a guest home to La Esperanza Sur. “He wanted to experience life in a local farm town, so I taught him how to milk cows and grind yellow corn, plus introduced him to three elders in the village because he was curious about the Blue Zone lifestyle.” And if you have time for a surfing lesson? Ask for Andres to take you to Playa Hermosa, where there are freshly-fallen pipas (coconuts) and beginner-friendly waves. —Anna Prendergast
Rio Perdido, Guanacaste
Sustainable forest bungalows on the country's western side
You don't expect to find this kind of urban living in the forest. The rooms at the adventure park are shipping containers on stilts. Marked by a neon-yellow or turquoise stripe hugging their middles, they have corrugated roofs, concrete floors and brass-piping lights beside the kingsize beds on castors. Fresh, graphic touches—chevron-patterned cushions, striped hammocks on the small deck—are contrasted with white corner sofas, raffia rugs and rope wardrobe doors. A few minutes' walk away, the restaurant is in an award-winning building with views of the thermal pools. It was originally designed to serve a buffet lunch to the day visitors who flock here for the activities, so at night it can lack atmosphere. What's far nicer is to request supper under the stars, either on the hanging bridge or the lantern-lit platform overlooking the canyon.
Courtesy of Pacuare Lodge
Pacuare LodgeArrow
Secluded jungle immersion
Such is the logistics-defying remoteness of this 20-bedroom wilderness camp that you can only access the place by raft or, even more adventurously, in a cage alongside the luggage, which is hoisted across the river on a hand pulley. Pacuare is right up there as one of the most scenic white-water rafting rivers in the world. Steep canyons alternate with swathes of lush tropical forest, where toucans and oropendolas weave in and out of the green, providing a palpable spectacle from the comfort of the verandas. These low-impact lodges of tight thatch woven by the Indigenous Cabécar people are candlelit at night and air-con free. To up the romantic ante, some include spring-fed pools on their decks and the best suite has a suspension bridge across the gorge for an entrance. Sitting in the heart of 2,500 acres of primary rainforest, water is a constant soundtrack, whether the loud roar of the river or fat raindrops drumming on the roof. Guided activities allow for full jungle immersion, from ziplining above the canopy, rappelling into waterfalls or swimming in clear rock pools where blue morpho butterflies flutter like handkerchiefs and emerald hummingbirds cluster around hibiscus nectar. Since starting life two decades ago as a handful of tents in a clearing, Pacuare Lodge has garnered an impressive collection of awards for sustainable luxury. The shoreline spa uses native herbs and wraps for healing and detoxification treatments; the restaurant brews its own beer and harvests vegetables from a garden on the side of a volcano; and the infinity pool is eco-tiled and chlorine-free. Suspended above the rapids like a floating pontoon, it is the most sensational man-made feature in a natural Eden. —Catherine Fairweather
What is the best part of San Jose to stay in?
Silver Creek Valley The Silver Creek Valley community is just 15 minutes from downtown and is ranked as one of Niche's best neighborhoods to live in San Jose.nullThe Best San Jose Neighborhoods in 2024 - PODS Blogwww.pods.com › blog › san-jose-neighborhoodsnull
What is the nicest part of San Jose, Costa Rica?
In short, Downtown is the best area to stay in San Jose, Costa Rica, as that's where you'll find the main attractions and some fab accommodations!nullWhere to Stay in San Jose, Costa Rica → 5 Top Areas & Hotelsmisstourist.com › where-to-stay-in-san-jose-costa-ricanull
What is the most luxurious area of Costa Rica?
Costa Rica's posh spot is Papagayo, a sparkling strand of beaches in the northwestern Guanacaste Province. Once better known for sabaneros (cowboys) and fine horses, Papagayo Peninsula has been developed into Central America's premier luxury destination.null7 luxury travel destinations in Costa Rica | CNNwww.cnn.com › travel › article › costa-rica-luxury-travelnull
What is the best month to visit San Jose, Costa Rica?
The best time to visit Costa Rica is between December and April, when the weather is at its driest and brightest. We'd also recommend traveling in the country's green season, from May to June or in November.nullBest Time to Visit Costa Rica | Climate Guide | Audley Travel USwww.audleytravel.com › costa-rica › best-time-to-visitnull
