NAYARA SPRINGS RESORT, Costa Rica — My friend and I, along with our golf cart driver, creep through the bushes — flashlights in hand and breath bated. Every so often, we stop to stealthily part the bushes and quietly gush with delight. To anyone who might happen across us, our behavior would no doubt appear suspicious, or at the very least, peculiar.
Here, at Nayara Springs Resort in the middle of a Costa Rican rainforest, it is neither. We are on the resort’s nocturnal “frog walk,” hoping to locate the source of the loud trilling we have been hearing once the sun goes down.
We’re rewarded when our driver/guide Alexander’s flashlight beam lands on the most beautiful frog I’ve ever seen. Its tiny emerald body is decorated with a cobalt blue stripe on each leg, and at the moment it is staring back at us with bulging scarlet peepers. Alex tells us it is a red-eyed tree frog, one of many species that can be found on Nayara’s lush grounds.
Frog-spotting is only one of the delights visitors to Nayara Springs Resort, named the best resort in Central America by Conde Nast Traveler Magazine, have in store for them.
The property, a 2 1/2 -hour drive from San Jose and located in the Arenal Volcano National Park, is a rainforest retreat that engages all the senses. Listen to birdsong in the morning and frogs in the evening; sniff tropical blossoms; feel gentle pop-up rain showers, and above all, see the lush green that surrounds you at every turn.
Checking into one of the property’s 35 villas is your own adventure in paradise. Decor is inspired by the best of the tropics — gauzy mosquito netting around the four-poster bed, local art on the walls, a multicolored hammock for afternoon siestas on the deck, and two features you won’t soon forget — a two-person outdoor shower that is a tropical oasis in itself, and a private plunge pool fed by natural mineral hot springs.
While it might be tempting to spend all your time lounging around your villa, please don’t — there are too many other things to do, such as the free bird-watching tour or the complimentary yoga class.
As coffee is so much a part of Costa Rica’s culture, my friend and I signed up for the coffee class in Mi Cafecito. Diana, the manager, took us through the intricacies of coffee roasting, providing us with interesting factoids such as that lava from the volcanoes results in excellent soil for coffee growing, and the darker the coffee bean, the less caffeine it has. Better yet, there is a tasting to accompany your tutorial.
The resort can even arrange for a three-hour private tour to an organic coffee plantation.
Speaking of children, they are not allowed at Nayara Springs unless they are 16 or older; however, families are welcomed at its sister resort Nayara Hotel, Spa and Gardens, accessed by crossing the 250-foot pedestrian bridge through the rainforest that separates the two properties.
Costa Ricans have an expression — “Pura Vida,” — meaning pure or good life. A stay at Nayara Springs Resort will definitely have you living la Pura Vida.
