The 16 Best Resorts in Costa Rica

You can arrive by Jeep, but most guests choose to show up soaking wet after a whitewater raft through the jungle, luggage sealed in a dry bag. That's the tone Pacuare Lodge sets from the start. This remote eco-lodge holds nineteen suites and villas with canopied beds, tiled open-air bathrooms, and hammock terraces over the river. Wi-fi exists only in the lobby, which the staff frames as a feature. Dinner, if you like, is reached by zip line. Michelin awarded it 2 Keys.

Twenty steel-and-concrete bungalows on stilts above two river gorges, connected by elevated walkways and strung with hammocks, in a dwarf forest most people drive straight past on the way to the beach. Rio Perdido is a sustainably built resort in the remote San Bernardo Lowlands, earning two Michelin Keys, where the hotel tucks itself into the landscape rather than the other way around. Thermal waters and hiking trails sit just outside the door.

Thatched-roof bungalows perched on a ridge above the Osa Peninsula, with no phones, no televisions, and walls that open to the rainforest breeze instead of air conditioning. This eco-lodge sits inside Costa Rica's last lowland tropical rainforest, and the whole operation runs on the principle that the landscape is the amenity. Board is included, excursions range from self-guided walks to dolphin swims, and the deck views over the Pacific make doing nothing feel productive.

Five circular lodges perch in the mountainous interior of northern Costa Rica, each with a fire-heated hot tub on the terrace and a panoramic sweep of rainforest, Lake Nicaragua, and distant volcanoes. It's a luxury lodge that earns its "origins" name by making the jungle the whole point, from horseback tours to nighttime wildlife walks. Jean-Luc L'Hourre runs the kitchen. The Michelin Guide awarded it one Key.

The directions up the mountain begin with "just after the highway ends" and only get more specific from there, which tells you something about this adults-only rainforest resort on Costa Rica's southern coast. Two hundred and fifty private acres, never more than twenty guests, and the elevation is calibrated precisely to keep nights cool and mosquitoes absent. A Michelin Key property, with villas built into the canopy twenty feet above their own gardens.

Perched on a forested mountainside west of San José, this wellness resort skips the beach entirely in favor of rainforest views and a program that runs from yoga and spa treatments to IV therapy and something called emotional healing. Rooms scale from doubles to a three-bedroom villa, the restaurant leans local and health-forward, and the bar quietly ignores the detox menu. The Michelin Guide has it among its selected hotels.

Twenty-one acres of Pacific coast rainforest, most of it left completely alone. Los Altos is a resort perched on a hillside just outside Manuel Antonio National Park, where the suites have floor-to-ceiling windows and wide balconies looking out over the canopy to the ocean. Rattan and palm frond details keep things tropical without tipping into tiki bar. The infinity pool and spa suit guests who plan to do absolutely nothing, and private beach access suits everyone else.

A Greek-style amphitheater with columns sits on a Costa Rican clifftop a thousand feet above the Pacific, which tells you something about the vision here. Villa Caletas is a French-inflected hillside resort that skips the thatched-roof playbook entirely, mixing contemporary design with colonial antiques. Villas and suites run toward plunge pools and jacuzzi views; the basic rooms are comfortable without pretending otherwise. Pack walking shoes: the layout is all stairs, no elevator.

Six ocean-view suites on a hilltop above Dominical, running on solar and rainwater, with a 2024 Costa Rican longboard champion giving lessons and reviewing your footage after. Lamangata is a small, all-inclusive surf resort on Costa Rica's quieter southern Pacific coast, staffed by a private chef working from an on-site greenhouse. Nauyaca Falls is nearby for anyone who needs a day away from the board.

Thirty-one casitas spread across a hundred-odd acres of rainforest, each with its own plunge pool and an unobstructed view of Arenal Volcano straight through the trees. This is a luxury rainforest resort that sits where most hotels don't bother, right at the park's edge, well away from the coasts. Local materials, low-key in atmosphere but not in comfort, and enough guided expeditions, from volcano hikes to sloth-spotting, to justify staying a week.

Ten jungle villas arranged in small private clusters, each with a saltwater pool and 270-degree views of canopy and Caribbean through open-air ventilation, no AC required. This new luxury resort in Puerto Viejo was born after the Slovenian founder rented a local's house and never left; that same local now runs the property. Cacao ceremonies and BriBri community visits are on the activities list, and the team planted 900 species after building, apparently to apologize to the jungle.

Fifty casitas tucked into 180 acres of hillside tropical forest, each with terrace views that make it hard to argue for doing anything at all. This Auberge resort leans into the mountain setting with farm-to-table dining across four venues, a 20,000-square-foot spa drawing on local traditions, and an all-inclusive structure that removes every excuse not to simply stay another day.

Safari-style glamping on the lower slopes of an active volcano, which is either thrilling or deeply on-brand for Costa Rica, depending on your disposition. The tented roofs are the only thing between you and the jungle, but they do keep the rain out. Shared restaurants and a spa connect to two sister resorts nearby, though the real point is what's outside: ziplines, river trips, suspension bridges, and horses all waiting by morning.

Each villa comes with its own plunge pool, a hammock, and an ocean view, which covers most of what you flew to Costa Rica for. This boutique resort on the Nicoya Peninsula keeps things blissfully self-contained: canopied king beds, patterned textiles, tropical flora framing the terrace, a kitchenette, and in-room spa treatments if the hammock somehow isn't enough. The main pool has a waterfall. Nearby Mal País, still more fishing village than tourist trap, rewards an ATV.

A fifty-foot thatched palm ceiling covers the restaurant, and a curving black sand beach sits a few hundred feet below the hillside rooms, each with a hammock aimed at the Pacific. This secluded Costa Rican eco-resort is four hours from San José by land (four-wheel drive required, nighttime arrival discouraged), though a short charter flight is the move if you'd rather arrive intact. Casitas have plunge pools; villas have full private pools and, presumably, the solitude you came for.

Hot springs fed directly by Arenal volcano run through the property, and the resort has leaned into that fact hard enough to build an entire thermal river system around it. Tabacón is a five-star eco-resort with 105 rooms, open-air spa bungalows, and a resident shaman who leads traditional sweat ceremonies in the rainforest. Rooms have private terraces and jacuzzis for the relaxation-averse who still want to relax. Two restaurants cover local and international ground.