San Rafael Ecolodge

“Far better than we could have ever imagined!!!”

Stay here!!! We would give WAY more than 5 stars if Trip Advisor let us! Giovani is the personification of the Pura Vida kindness, gentleness, and genuine love of life that people travel to Costa Rica to experience. And the other reviews are right, we saw more animals at the ecolodge than at all ou… more

Stay here!!! We would give WAY more than 5 stars if Trip Advisor let us! Giovani is the personification of the Pura Vida kindness, gentleness, and genuine love of life that people travel to Costa Rica to experience. And the other reviews are right, we saw more animals at the ecolodge than at all our activities combined. Eat breakfast and dinner here, and you will be thrilled to pause mid-way when Giovani starts calling everyone over to view the sloths, birds and lizards that live on the property. And don't bother with a night hike, he will show you dozens of frogs right out your front door. This is not a typical hotel experience, it is much more like immersing yourself in someone's home - but with your own space and over-the-top service! Giovani, Louis and Elizabeth make this place so warm and welcoming, their pets are sweet and friendly, and their love of the land is contagious. And it was such a blessing to get away from the busy tourist scene in La Fortuna and come home at night to slow, quiet (except when the cicadas chorus) rainforest. You cannot beat the price for what you get. We cannot recommend San Rafael Ecolodge enough. Our only regret is that we did not stay longer!!!

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“Pura Vida in the jungle!”

First of all, I cannot say enough about Giovanni and Luis. We have never felt so welcomed in our life! The other guests were also just incredible. Very communal, kind and loving vibes all around. Like every other review, we saw more sloths, toucans, frogs, iguanas and everything else than tours, p… more

First of all, I cannot say enough about Giovanni and Luis. We have never felt so welcomed in our life! The other guests were also just incredible. Very communal, kind and loving vibes all around. Like every other review, we saw more sloths, toucans, frogs, iguanas and everything else than tours, parks, trails. They have a magical thing going here and EAT EVERY MEAL HERE. We ate one night at the "nicest restaurant" in La Fortuna and regretted not eating at the lodge. We cannot say enough good things about San Rafael Ecolodge. We will definitely be back!

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“Perfect”

The best possible place to stay in Costa Rica! Giovanni and Luis will treat you like family and make sure you are comfortable your entire stay. The facilities are modern and clean and the food is the best I had in the country. You won’t regret staying here!

“An absolutely delightful place in a tranquil setting”

An absolutely delightful place in a tranquil setting. If you are looking for somewhere a bit off the beaten track, close to nature, to stay somewhere spotlessly clean, comfortable and beautifully run look no further than San Rafael Ecolodge. We stayed here last year and I thought I’d left a review … more

An absolutely delightful place in a tranquil setting. If you are looking for somewhere a bit off the beaten track, close to nature, to stay somewhere spotlessly clean, comfortable and beautifully run look no further than San Rafael Ecolodge. We stayed here last year and I thought I’d left a review but seems I didn’t - and this is a place really worth staying in. You can easily miss the area as it's not really mentioned in the Rough Guide, and because it's outside of La Fortuna, it is an area you might think of missing (La Fortuna is a tourist town and was never a town before the tourism trade), but the area around La Tigra is absolutely stunning and along its many rivers it is part of the wildlife corridors linking the plains, with The Eternal Forest of the Children (the reason that Monteverde exists is the hinterland of this vast protected forest) to the Monteverde cloud forest itself. We saw the most birds, sloths and other animals while staying here and had been to some stunning locations before. Giovanni and Luis are the perfect hosts - they really do go out of their way to make your stay as comfortable and memorable as possible. As La Fortuna is nearby, we were not interested in trips to adventure parks so we asked Giovanni if he knew any good nature guides, and he delivered spectacularly. Giovanni's first recommendation was the wonderful Alberto, a Spanish biologist who teaches Wildlife Management at the National University, and we did two fantastic tours and walks with him Our second guide was the amazing Victor, a local biologist and great birder, who took us to Papa's Place for some of the best bird watching we've done on Costa Rica (three species of Toucans at once). if you'd prefer a somewhere with a delicious cold beer on your own balcony, looking at trees, watching fireflies and listening to the frogs and insects by a stream, a lovely pool for a refreshing swim after a forest walk, and delicious home cooked food then l highly recommend staying here. Giovanni will arrange everything for you (he takes no commission) and if it's quiet will drive you around himself - highly recommended!

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