The publisher of Boutique Lodges, Pacific Avenue, S.A., announces the publication’s selection of the top 5 nature lodges in Costa Rica. Based on a careful review of accommodations throughout this compact, Central American country, the 5 were chosen for their small size, true reflection of their natural surroundings, as well as established reputations within the field of eco-friendly hospitality.

The top 5 boutique lodges in Costa Rica are:
1. Finca Rosa Blanca Country Inn, Central Valley
2. Tiskita Jungle Lodge, Southwest Coast
3. Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge, Golfo Dulce
4. Inn at Coyote Mountain, Central Pacific Mountains
5. Costa Rica’s Treehouse Lodge, Southern Caribbean Coast

Costa Rica has one of the greatest concentrations of eco-lodges on earth, in a varierty of settings and offering a plethora of nature experiences; this top 5 list provides is a taste of the best the country has to offer.

Lending guests an experience of being in and one with nature–whether coast, rainforest, or mountain–a sense of architectural and aesthetic place within Costa Rica diverse natural surroundings, geographic considerations, proven sustainable tourism practices, and excellence in guest services resulted in the ultimate selection. Properties did not apply to be considered for the top 5 selection. All the properties have achieved recognition for their hospitality and have been in business for at least 5 years.

Important to this Top 5 selection was the sustainable tourism commitment of each property. Treehouse Lodge, for instance, supports the Green Iguana Foundation, while Inn at Coyote Mountain practices gray water recycling and reforestation. Finca Rosa Blanca is a member of Costa Rica’s renowned eco-certification program.

Boutique Lodges is the latest Internet publication of Pacific Avenue, which also puts out the Costa Rica Travel Review, the number one culinary travel site foodvacation.com, and Costa Rica Luxury Hotels.

Tourism ranks second in revenue generating for Costa Rica . The country has not been overdeveloped with mega resorts and volume group travel.

Hotels and resorts outside the capital city of Costa Rica San Jose are small, which limits the number of travelers coming into the country; therefore, beaches, parks, nature preserves and rivers are not taken over by tourists.

Deep water fishing on the Pacific and Tarpon/Snook fishing on the Atlantic are world class. River rafting class 1 to the exhilarating rapids is a favorite here. Lake Arenal is referred to as have the number 1 wind surfing conditions in the World. Snorkeling and diving are fast becoming popular on both coasts.

Costa Rica is located on the Central American isthmus, 10° North of the equator and 84° West of the Prime Meridian. It borders both the Caribbean Sea (to the east) and the North Pacific Ocean (to the west), with a total of 1,290 kilometers (802 mi) of coastline (212 km / 132 mi on the Caribbean coast and 1,016 km / 631 mi on the Pacific). It is about the size of West Virginia and shares that state’s reputation for excellent whitewater kayaking/rafting opportunities.

Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.1% of the world’s landmass, it contains 5% of the world’s biodiversity.Around 25% of the country’s land area is in protected national parks and protected areas, the largest percentual of protected areas in the world.

One national park that is internationally-renowned among ecologists for its biodiversity (including big cats and tapirs) and where visitors can expect to see an abundance of wildlife is the Corcovado National Park.

Our first view of Costa Rica is from aloft, the verdant mountains peeking through a gauze of glistening cloud. Rain forests rush by as our plane skims closer and closer to earth; white clouds give way to curtains of shining mist, and finally, to solid land. I shake Cala awake.

“We’re here!”

Cala, my friend and partner in travel, opens one sleepy eye and then the other. It has been a long day for both of us, beginning with a 3 a.m. wake-up and a 5:30 a.m. flight. But as the stewardess announces that we are ready to deplane, I instantly feel my body snap to attention, that same adrenaline surging through my veins that always arrives the moment I step into a foreign place, a new country, the next journey.

We are in Costa Rica on an all expenses paid trip thanks to a travel-writing contest that I entered on a whim. I had written about a cross-country journey on New Years Eve, and now I was being rewarded with another journey. How fitting that one journey should lead to another.

We disembark, and immediately are ushered to our first hotel, The Lost Iguana, a stunning multi-acre complex situated amidst the forests and mountains of the town of La Fortuna. Winding cobblestone paths lead to hotel rooms swaddled in jungle. The town’s active Arenal Volcano looms on the horizon, its lava shining in pools of molten gold as the sun sinks below the horizon. We explore the hotel grounds in a sleepy daze, wandering to the open-air dining pavilion to snack on quesadillas, drifting to the poolside bar to sip on fresh fruit juice, and finally rolling off to bed, to claim a much needed repose.

The next morning I awake to the sound of fluttering; a bright blue butterfly has slipped into our room during the night and now is exploring the woven twig lampshades and wooden monkey sculptures with its dazzling wings. We rise and begin our meander to breakfast, admiring the ponds of koi and bunches of tropical flowers lining the path. Cala stops suddenly, motioning to a tree replete with ripe starfruits. With one gentle push, they all drop to the ground in a simultaneous plop, rolling gently to our feet. We toss them into the outstretched folds of Cala’s lavender dress, and take off again, down the jungle path to breakfast, where a waiter whisks the fruits from our hands and blends them into two fresh juice cocktails. We sit back and enjoy our first breakfast in Costa Rica: drinking fresh starfruit purée as the volcano billows its glistening smoke in the early rays of the misty morning.
Vacation to Costa Rica

Choosing doing good over feeling good sometimes requires a sacrifice. But for travelers who enjoy active vacations while avoiding crowds, ecotourism provides a sacrifice-free opportunity to both do good and feel good.

The International Ecotourism Society, established in 1990, defines ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural places, which conserves the environment and sustains or improves the well-being of the local people.” The group has developed a set of ecotourism principles, as well as a directory of members adhering to them.

Though the term ecotourism has been in use for less than 30 years, the desire to see nature in a pristine, undeveloped state goes back at least a century to the advent of the conservation movement and the establishment of the national parks system.

Interest in ecotourism has burgeoned recently, making it one of the fastest growing segments in the travel industry. Ecolodges are typically intimately scaled, however, so crowds are not an issue.

At Lapa Rios, located on the Osa Peninsula at the southern tip of Costa Rica, there are never more than 64 guests, even during the high season.
Source www.laparios.com

Home Features
Air Conditioning
Balcony
Cable TV
Ceramic Floors
Furnished
Garden
Internet
Mountain View
Private Pool
TV Room
Telephone

More information in www.costaricasalesrentals.com

Considered to be one of the most exotic beaches on the Costa Rican Gold Coast, Playa Conchal is situated in the north of Guanacaste province on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Two kilometers from Playa Brasilito, this marvelous beach is also a stone’s throw away from the famous Playa Flamingo and Tamarindo. Together with Playa Brasilito, this beach is separated by a rocky headland known as Punta Conchal, which gets its name from the sand found here that is composed of hundreds of millions of tiny crushed shells.

This four kilometer beach stretch is accessible by air from San Jose to Tamarindo Domestic Airport, from where you can take a 10-minute taxi ride into town. However, you can also get here by taxi from the Daniel Oduber International Airport in Liberia, but it is around a 45-minute drive. If you don’t mind the traveling, you can enjoy a lovely scenic drive from San Jose to Playa Conchal, which takes around 4 hours.

Tourism ranks second in revenue generating for Costa Rica. The country has not been overdeveloped with mega resorts and volume group travel. Hotels and resorts outside the capital city of San Jose are small, which limits the number of travelers coming into the country; therefore, beaches, parks, nature preserves and rivers are not taken over by tourists.

Deep water fishing on the Pacific and Tarpon/Snook fishing on the Atlantic are world class. River rafting class 1 to the exhilarating rapids is a favorite here. Lake Arenal is referred to as have the number 1 wind surfing conditions in the World. Snorkeling and diving are fast becoming popular on both coasts.

Costa Rica is located on the Central American isthmus, 10° North of the equator and 84° West of the Prime Meridian. It borders both the Caribbean Sea (to the east) and the North Pacific Ocean (to the west), with a total of 1,290 kilometers (802 mi) of coastline (212 km / 132 mi on the Caribbean coast and 1,016 km / 631 mi on the Pacific). It is about the size of West Virginia and shares that state’s reputation for excellent whitewater kayaking/rafting opportunities.

Costa Rica is home to a rich variety of plants and animals. While the country has only about 0.1% of the world’s landmass, it contains 5% of the world’s biodiversity.Around 25% of the country’s land area is in protected national parks and protected areas, the largest percentual of protected areas in the world.

One national park that is internationally-renowned among ecologists for its biodiversity (including big cats and tapirs) and where visitors can expect to see an abundance of wildlife is the Corcovado National Park.