Family hotels and homes in Guerra

Feeling of being remote… The host Jozue is a really nice and helpfull man. The ocean ride to Corcovado in bad weather… adrenalin pure. Not for everyone.

Location, staff, birds, nature, food (eat diners!)

Fabulous location, beautiful grounds and the food was excellent. The mangroves tour with Melvin was superb. We saw 3 types of monkey, crocodiles, turtles, a colony of bats, a boa and loads of birds, most of which we would have missed without Melvin's sharp eyes and great information. We also spent a lovely morning kayaking on our own along the smaller waterways. Macaws, aracari, woodpeckers, tanagers, herons, parrots and lots more right on your doorstep. We loved the swimming hole which we shared with basilisk lizards and the odd heron and ibis! The fan in the room really helped to cool us down at night.

The setting of the property is absolutely gorgeous in the beautiful jungle, with many opportunities to see wildlife right there. Erickson and his family go above and beyond with making the stay as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. I was taken on an afternoon walk on my first afternoon to get to know the birds and wildlife. I went without a car and Erickson constantly helped me with taxi transfers, which they run from a separate family business. Maria, the mother, cooked delicious meals from scratch every evening (for the full duration of my 5 night stay) and it was the best meals I had in CR. All my tours were also arranged for me, which were all fantastic. Cannot recommend this place enough!

We were picked up from the boat by Edu in a very friendly way as we disembarked onto the beach. It was an exciting trip up river from Sierpe which is the main launch place for Drake Bay. He drove us the twenty minutes or so to the Lodge. Arriving there was one of the highlights of our time in Costa Rica. We picked up his daughters from school on the way which almost made us feel part of the family. Sabrina welcomed us to their lovely veranda style "restaurant" with a salad lunch as looked out over the lagoon and to the Pacific Ocean beyond. From there we were taken to our tree house which Edu had made using wood from the forest or the beach. It was beautiful with a lovely veranda almost filled by the double hammock. The accommodation was much more luxurious than we had been expecting. We had supper each night cooked by the family and it was delicious. There are only two lodges and so it feels a really personal experience. Everywhere is very clean but also open to the natural world. The setting is amazing with the forest surrounding you on three sides and then a wonderful view down to the lagoon. Edu will canoe you across to the beach where there is a wonderful walk along the Pacific and you are very likely to see red macaw and monkeys. He will pick you up later or you can just take a canoe yourself. His canoe tour of the local waterways is also magic. We did a trip to the Corcovado Reserve and saw a tapir which was very special. We went to San Pedrillo which is nearer to Drake Bay and a bit less busy than some of the other stations. Your hosts will organise this for you as it has to be booked in advance. Sabrina and Edu are just the most lovely people and do everything they can to make sure your stay with them the best time. We can't recommend this place highly enough and if we were going back to Costa Rica, we would definitely want to go here again.

We chose to stay at Isla Violin Eco-Lodge as we wanted to experience a real jungle experience - and that's exactly what we got: We stayed in a hut surround by beautiful rainforest and a lot of wildlife on a remote mangrove island. Keeping that in mind accomodation is therefore quite basic: No mobile (and most of the time also no internet) reception, occasional electricity cut-off and of course a lot of insects crawling and flying around outside and inside the hut (mosquito nets above beds provided). The best part of our stay was the hospitality of the owner (who live at the premises). Giovanni is very helpful and knowledgeable about the area. Don't miss to go on a boat trip with him as he has so much to tell about the surrounding nature and wildlife. Also he can help arranging trips to Corcovado. His wife was preparing delicious freshly cooked meals 3 times a day which we always struggled to finish due to the size of the portions. Also their son Joshua is really friendly - we played Uno and Domino with him every evening improving our Spanish and his English skills :)

Great location with an amazing view across the bay. Has a nice bar and kitchen area with good food. Extremely nice staff who were very helpful

Nice view from the terrace and a lot of privacy. Also very nice hosts. The re usable bottles were also very handy

Very comfortable beds, coffe making faciliies and fridge in room, nice size swimming pool, very friendly and helpful staff who organised our boats and trips to Corcovado, also gave us a lift to and from hotel with suitcases.