Blogs

Dining is avant-garde at the Shambala Restaurant at Hotel Tropico Latino in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. Now, the restaurant section of the Hotel Tropico Latino website matches the creativity coming out of the kitchen.

Large high-density images flow across the top of the restaurant webpage. Caution: the images of sample dishes may induce drooling. Photographed in such full color detail, you can almost smell and taste the tantalizing cuisine. A video shows off the restaurant of the Santa Teresa beach

Costa Rica’s real estate market is on the rise again and foreign investors are heading to the popular Central American country for retirement or a simpler place to live, or to invest in a Costa Rica vacation home or other property investment. The good news is that foreigners can legally own property in Costa Rica.

Even the savviest home buyer should pause before entering into a real estate deal in a foreign country. There is no way to know everything you need to without years of on-the-ground exp

Small hotels offer unforgettable travel experiences. They enrich your journey with something different – history, culture, remarkable architecture, outstanding surroundings, new friends or unusual charm. Instead of an impersonal homogenous chain, small boutique or family-run hotels are places where design is intrinsic to the experience, where hotel staff gives personalized service, where details and quality count, and where charm eases you into relaxing even before you’ve checked in.

Small, out-o

Costa Rica is celebrating International Surfing Day on June 20 big this year. Costa Rica’s surfing “dream team” made national history on June 7 when they were crowned 2015 World Surfing Champions.

Costa Rica’s team won the overall gold medal in the International Surfing Association (ISA) 2015 World Surfing Games held at Playa Popoyo, Nicaragua, competing against 26 teams from around the world. The medal, along with the Fernando Aguirre World Team Trophy and the International Olympic Committee (I

When I stay at Pranamar Oceanfront Villas & Yoga Retreat in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, one of my favorite things to do is to swim in the giant tide pool down the beach about five minutes from the hotel.

The larger-than-Olympic-sized shallow sea water swimming pool is one of the best-kept secrets of the area. It is located between Pranamar Villas and “El Peñón,” or the big rock, where Santa Teresa Beach turns into Hermosa Beach – better known as “Playa Hermosa”. Since Santa Teresa and Playa Hermos

Coming very soon to Playa Hermosa by Jacó in Costa Rica are the Costa Rica National Surfing Championships for 2015. The annual national event will take place July 17 to 19 on Playa Hermosa in front of the Backyard Bar & Restaurant.

If you are in Costa Rica at this time, don’t miss this fun beach party and exciting Costa Rica surfing competition on the third weekend in July 2015. Newly opened Hotel Tramonto is the best place to stay in Playa Hermosa by Jacó. The modern 76-room hotel is located on

What is your dream for the planet?

Live sustainably? No unusable trash? Less food waste? Clean oceans and water sources? Trees, mountains and forests protected? Well-being of people and animals? Communities living in harmony and respect?

Horizontes Nature Tours in Costa Rica has the same dreams. They care about how travel and tourism affects not only their home of Costa Rica, but the entire planet.

On June 5 people everywhere celebrate World Environment Day 2015 (WED) with the United Nations Env

Eco-friendly travel and sustainable tourism are some of the top buzzwords today in the travel and tourism industry worldwide. “Go Green” is the slogan you hear most often nowadays. Planet-conscientious travelers are more frequently seeking out eco-friendly lodging wherever they travel.

In ecotourism hotspot Costa Rica, L'acqua Viva Resort & Spa is a leading eco-friendly hotel in Nosara on the Nicoya Peninsula. The Bali-style Costa Rica luxury hotel is located between the beautiful white sand bea

When I first visited Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge at the end of 2004, what struck me most was how in heaven did this amazing high-end Costa Rica eco-lodge come to exist in the middle of a jungle on the sea, with nothing else around?

The question is a valid one given Nicuesa Lodge’s completely isolated location in southern Costa Rica. It is a wild place of dense steamy rainforest and tranquil ocean, intensely populated by thousands of species of tropical wildlife. Playa Nicuesa is a little cresc

Ever wanted to have your own private tropical island?

That was the dream of Argentinean Jorge Benatuel, co-owner of eco-boutique Hotel Laguna Azul in Bocas del Toro, Panama.

The intense city-life of Buenos Aires is a far-cry from the backwater southern Caribbean archipelago of Bocas del Toro in northwestern Panama. But in 1998, Benatuel and his wife traveled from Argentina to Bocas del Toro on vacation. They spent 15 days boating around Bocas del Toro’s nine major islands and 200-plus islets, lo

Walk down the Pacific beaches of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica and you’re likely to see long, empty stretches of white sand, beautiful blue rolling waves, multicolored crushed seashells and interesting rocks and pebbles. What you won’t see so much is trash.

The southern Nicoya Peninsula beaches of Playa Hermosa, Playa Santa Teresa, Playa Carmen and Mal Pais all were honored once again with the Costa Rica Ecological Blue Flag Award by the Costa Rican Tourism Board for being some of the cleanest beache

Heard about Atenas, Costa Rica – a favorite place for international retirement – and want to know more information?

The charming country town, strategically located between the capital city of San Jose and beautiful Pacific Coast beaches, has several sources of information to let you know what’s happening in Atenas, Costa Rica. All are available online from wherever you may be. Then, the best thing to do is to visit Atenas in person.

ATENAS TODAY E-MAGAZINE

One of the best sources of information a

If you are a Pack Light traveler, you probably often find yourself with extra room in your luggage when you go on vacation. Have you ever thought about using that available luggage space to provide supplies to communities you visit?

The desire to give back or contribute to the place people visit as tourists is a fast-growing movement around the world. Volunteer vacations, or volunteerism, are a very popular way to take a vacation. Another way is to “pack for a purpose” and bring needed school an

It’s no wonder that Jacó Beach is one of the most popular beaches in Costa Rica. There is so muchto do on the Central Pacific Coast of Costa Rica – beaches, surfing, outdoor adventure sports, the Carara National Park, Manuel Antonio National Park, and the Tarcoles River with its famous huge crocodiles.

The thing about Jacó, though, is that it is one of the closest beaches to the capital city of San Jose, and is always really busy. If you’re like me, and you want to experience this spectacular re

The way Omar Arce sees it, the Costa Rica tradition of the oxcart driver and his oxen is an important cultural heritage that must be kept alive. Nowadays in his country town of Atenas, Costa Rica most roads are paved and cars zoom everywhere. But when Arce, 73, was a boy, the only way to bring the vegetables his father sold from their family farm to the town center was by walking with their team of oxen pulling a wooden cart loaded with produce. The 7 km journey – now a 15-minute drive – would t

In celebration of Earth Day 2015 – celebrating its 45^th anniversary on April 22, 2015 – Horizontes Nature Tours in Costa Rica asked one of their long-time naturalist guides what was his favorite element of Costa Rica nature. Costa Rica’s national parks were his answer.

From a country that was nearly devastated by deforestation by the early 1980s, today over 52 percent of Costa Rica’s territory is protected between national parks, private reserves and wildlife refuges. Costa Rica’s progressive re

Surfing hotspot of Santa Teresa, Costa Rica is a favorite among national pro surfers in Costa Rica. The award-winning beach was in the spotlight April 18-19, 2015 for the season’s fourth 2015 Costa Rica National Surfing Circuit competition, sponsored by ISAW Action Cameras of Australia.  Competitive surfers from all over Costa Rica came to Santa Teresa to compete. 

Surfing in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica

On Costa Rica’s southern Nicoya Peninsula, Santa Teresa and neighboring Mal Pais draw visitors f

Like all travelers, when you plan a vacation to an unfamiliar location, you want to have an idea of what to expect. TripAdvisor is a great resource for getting insider information about a place from guests who have been there.

Here are 5 great travel tips for your vacation to Nosara, Costa Rica from guests who stayed at L’acqua Viva Resort & Spa by Playa Guiones.

1. What’s the best way to get to Nosara, Costa Rica? Fly.

The area of Nosara includes the town of Nosara and the beaches of Playa Guio

I’m sitting at my desk, meant to be working. What I’m really doing is daydreaming about snorkeling in the Golfo Dulce in Costa Rica.

I’m plotting how I can get back to Playa Nicuesa Rainforest Lodge on Golfo Dulce. I’m remembering swimming in that calm sea and the feel of delicious water – not bath-water warm, but not cold either. I’m thinking about how clear the Golfo Dulce water is, and how vibrantly it changes color from deep jade green next to the shoreline where it reflects the jungle, to b

After a big day of hiking, zip-lining, horseback riding or other adventure tours in Costa Rica, there is nearly nothing better than soaking in steamy thermal springs so hot they make you tingle all over. Your tired muscles are soon relaxed into spaghetti-like existence and the cares of the world melt away.

Mineral-rich hot springs have rejuvenating and therapeutic properties treasured for centuries by people all over the world. Travelers pay big bucks to visit famous spas with mineral springs. A