In short… Nayara Tented Camp is an immersive, safari-style stay (with hot springs) in the Costa Rican rainforest
The vibe… One of the first things you notice from the jungly vista behind your tent—as lush and colorful as a Rousseau painting—is that there are no mosquitoes in a place where you would normally be slapping yourself silly. The second thing you realize is that this exuberant tableau, backed by the cloud-ringed cone of Costa Rica’s Arenal volcano, is rippling with life—busy hummingbirds, darting butterflies and plopping frogs (peek over the edge and you might spot an armadillo). It is arguably this huge population of frogs—including the red-eyed tree kind and the Kermit-y green glass frogs—that account for the miraculous lack of mosquitoes, which they eat for dinner. And the very presence of the frogs (and birds and sloths and even a howler monkey or two) here at Nayara Tented Camp is another sort of miracle.
The background… Costa Rica is, of course, known for its wildly progressive pro-environmental policies, with more than 50 percent of the country now blanketed in green. But when Nayara founders Leo and Ruthy Ghitis acquired this hilltop a few years ago to add to their portfolio of eco-lodges—the original Nayara Gardens and the (adult only Relais & Chateau) Nayara Springs down the hill—it was a barren cattle ranch. They planted 40,000 indigenous trees, which exploded under the 139” annual rainfall and quickly enveloped the 38 tented suites that were fully unveiled this year.
The property is carbon neutral and treads lightly and all that good stuff, though it doesn’t boast enough about its impressive social programs. Nearly all of the staff are from the local towns around La Fortuna (including the Resort Manager, Jairo, who rose through the ranks from receptionist). In addition to supporting a local orphanage and offering day care to all employees, the owners bought a parcel of land nearby and teamed up with a local bank to offer female staff, many of them single mothers, low-interest loans to buy a home there. Everyone walks around greeting each other with “pura vida” (pure life, the Costa Rican motto) like you’d hear “aloha” or “ciao,” and soon enough you find yourself saying it too.
The rooms… To call them tents is a stretch—although they are modeled on safari tents the couple scouted across Botswana, they all have A/C, canopy beds and giant tubs; some have 2 or 4 bedrooms and kitchens. The Tented Camp is the most elevated of the three Nayara properties (in both senses), and each one has its own hot spring pool fed by the volcano’s heat that is so private you can skinny dip in broad daylight. If you feel like being more social, you can also plunge into the camp’s seven public hot spring pools that burble down a hillside, where a bartender stands by to mix your guaro sour.
The wellness… There is little incentive to leave the 61 acres of connecting properties. You can walk the twisting paths with a guide to spot any of the 15 resident sloths that loaf in cecropia trees, venture out at sunrise to clock scarlet-rumped tanagers and keeled bill (aka “kill bill”) toucans, or join a chorus-filled frog hunt at night. There is an open-air yoga shala in the treetops and a spa with private cabanas on stilts, where a volcanic mud massage leaves you feeling as slick as a baby seal. The resident coffee house hosts workshops on the Costa Rican pour-over from locally harvested beans. But it is definitely worth heading out for a day with Nayara’s guides to explore the wobbly crossings of Arenal’s Hanging Bridges Park (unless you’re acrophobic!), or for the typical Costa Rican adventure fare of ziplining or trekking across lava fields.
The food… With so much else going on, it’s easy to forget the food, which was truly good and healthy, and super varied between the six options at the 3 connected resorts. Ayla, the new restaurant at the Tented Camp, is overseen by an Israeli chef who turns out fresh Mediterranean cuisine; La Terraza serves typical Costa Rican fare like casado (black beans, rice, fried sweet plantains and eggs), Amor Loco is more Michelin-y fine dining, and there’s also a Japanese place, which at first makes you wonder why you’d come all the way to Costa Rica to eat sushi, but of course the super-fresh fish with local twists like coconut milk or plantains make it feel of place.
Be sure to… Do the frog walk at night—you creep around the property with a guide, following the snorts and croaks of frogs, and come face to face in the beam of your flashlight with some amazing specimens!
Parting words… It’s a super-easy trip from the East Coast. I flew nonstop to San Jose from Newark; there are also plenty of flights from Atlanta and Dallas and the hotel is a twisty 2-plus hour drive from there. I would pair this with a stay at the beach, like the Harmony hotel in Nosara, Florblanca in Santa Teresa, or the Four Seasons in Papagayo, which people swear doesn’t feel chain-y. Nayara also has a newish over-water bungalow property in Panama, Nayara Bocas del Toro, which you can get to via a short flight.
Dates of stay… October, 2022
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