Lapa Rios Lodge by Böëna

What a place! Set on the Osa Peninsula up high over looking the caribbean. Short flight from San Jose. You'll be picked up in Porta Jimenez. Great service, grwat staff. Lots to do. Hiking, day on the beach, guided tours. Lots of wild life. Very tranquil. We would definitely recommend Lapa Rios to all nature lovers.

We spent three nights in November 2025. It rained non-stop during our visit except for about two hours. On the first night we did a night walk with Frank. We did a one hour short version due to the rain. This was per our request. The next morning we did the Wild Waterfalls with Daniel. I didn’t realize we would be crossing the river so many times. It felt like twenty crossings. But we were told it was only twelve. The next morning we did the OSA Trail hike with Edwin. It was raining on all of our hikes. We were in a Premier Villa #15. It has the Evening Breeze canopy above the bed. The meals were all delicious and the staff very nice. I really enjoyed my massage at the Spa.

We spent 2 full days at Lapa Rios. First day we waterfall hike with the hotel guide Edwin. Great experience walking through the primary rainforest, ending with a swim in the falls. Second day we went to the Corcovado reserve by boat, again with Jeffrey one of the hotel guides. we saw 7 humpback whales, tapir, pigs, sloth, coaties, ant eater and loads of birds. The hotel guides have a passion for this location and wildlife that is really authentic. The hotel accomodation is really impressive as you are in the canopy. We sat the pool and saw loads of monkeys, coaties, macaws, the list goes on. This isn't a hotel to laze around in. The lack of air conditioning at night isn't a problem at all but it is humid and a real jungle experience. The food is good. Some great, most is good. But the coffee is excellent, as are the cocktails! And all the staff are authentic, passionate, offering great service, some stories and help.

Our week at Lapa Rios was outstanding in all respects. The location, in a remote 1,000 acre preserve in the jungle, is beautiful and the lodge makes the most of it for its guests. The staff is excellent, from the great guides to the serving staff and concierges. The guides are extremely knowledgeable and the all -inclusive hikes, birding and beach walks never failed to impress with much wildlife to see and much to learn. Sloths, toucans, macaws, coatis, three types of monkeys and many rare birds like a turquoise cotinga, were all fun to observe and learn about. The Osa and Ridge trail hikes were great, as well as the early and sunset birding walks. The nigh walk in the jungle was also worth doing. There are a number of waterfalls within a short walk of the lodge where we enjoyed swimming. Nothing was ever too crowded, given the small size of the resort and the skill of the staff in managing many activities, meals and logistics. The food is excellent, both inventive and healthful, with many vegetarian and local fish and seafood options. Serving staff was superb—very friendly and helpful. Our premier villa was extremely well designed, with a beautiful view, comfortable bed and furniture inside and out. The walk from the higher numbered villas to the main lodge can be a challenge, but we always enjoyed seeing the wildlife on the way up and down the well designed walkway. One of our best vacations ever.

Reception/concierge staff never look up from their laptops and the entire place felt a bit underwhelming, service-wise. Other places in Costa Rica are levels above this place. The ‘Inclusive’ tours were disappointing e.g the sunset bird tour took place on the main road into the lodge making it difficult to take photos due to passing traffic. Hotel food was ok but nothing to write home about. On the plus side the bedrooms were nice and the views excellent.

My wife planned this adventure to Costa Rica and my only requirement was that we would have Beach access. The beach was great. But it was great because it was natural. There wasn't a bunch of chairs with palm trees and servers bringing you watered down pina coladas. But I felt like I was in the movie castaway or an extra on Gilligan's Island. There was something extra magical about that. Don't get me wrong. You would see the occasional other person but ridiculously private and secluded.  We visited the beach three times during our week stay. One visit was to go surfing. The surf instructor that lives in the area was phenomenal. They provided easy to use surfboards and the waves where were surfer friendly to me. Props to my wife for even trying it as it was her first time. If you have sensitive feet, I would recommend bringing water shoes. I brought mine, but actually never wore them.   Temperatures were hot and it only took our bodies a day or so to acclimatize coming from Canada. We stayed in a basic room (no AC) and slept excellent with the ceiling fan.In fact, that when we got home we went to buy new pillows because we realized the ones we had at home weren't as good as the ones on resort. I can't say enough great things about the food. I think I actually lost weight eating here. If that's even possible. Everything was just delicious, healthy real ingredient food creations. I took pictures of the menus in the hopes that I could recreate some of the dishes served during our week's stay... And I tried items on both the plant-based and non-plant-based menus. We mostly drank water. And occasionally had evening drinks during the week but we also had one get drunk day. Cocktails were delicious and fresh. Beers were always cold.  I also will add that because this place is so remote, the other guests there became family during your stay. Like if someone saw a certain rare animal, they would come and tell everyone in the dining room what they saw. And everyone went out to go look at that animal... For us it was the sloth. Lastly, I can't help but want to thank the staff as well. Thank you for introducing us to your country. Your food. Your trails. Your unique animals.  I wish I had taken your sustainability tour but heard about it from other guests. My only recommendation to the resort would be to consider offering a cooking class & tour of the kitchen. Man that food was good. So good I'm mentioning it twice in one review. Yum yum yum.  This last comment is for those travelers who like to read all the reviews as I did prior to coming. (1) Phones: I was going to buy an esim before arriving, but ended up buying a 7 -day card sim card at the airport. It worked great on the beach but if it matters to you was sometimes spotty in-between the beach and resort. The resort had WiFi so that was nice too. I was very mindful of others when using my phone. For example, when calling family back home I did it in a public area versus on my balcony early in the