Lodge Review: Villa Lapas, Carara, Costa Rica

Villa Lapas is adjacent to the Carara National Park.  From their website:

We are a rainforest-resort, located in the pacific coast of Costa Rica. We have become one of the Costa Rica’s top tourist choices, becoming a favorite of birdwatchers and nature lovers.

Our Hotel features 58 rooms surrounded by lush tropical gardens sitting in the midst of a private 500 acre rainforest reserve, with a beautiful river flowing alongside the resort complex.

A replica Of Costa Rica’s historical past, the Santa Lucia Town in Villa Lapas adds a quaint, charming touch to it’s natural surroundings. Santa Lucía includes a church, a local cantina, a lake, restaurant, two souvenir shops and other points of interest, perfect for weddings and private events too. And the Villa Lapas Canopy tour, where your adrenaline flows while you zip through the jungle.

 

We arrived in the early afternoon from Monteverde after being dropped off by the bus.  The grounds are beautiful as one would expect from being next to Carara.

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The reception, bar & restaurant are in a breezy open air area with views of the garden.

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The rooms are on the small side which was fine as we spent most of our time outdoors watching the birds.  The buildings have a Spanish colonial style.

IMG_0780 IMG_0784 IMG_0781 IMG_0782 IMG_0783You won’t have to go far to start birding.  You will find the same species here as you do in Carara but they can be easier to see with the wide open spaces.  We watched Scarlet Macaws flying to and from Carara & their roosting grounds.

IMG_0785 IMG_0786 IMG_0805 IMG_0807 IMG_0808 IMG_0811 IMG_0813 IMG_0815 IMG_0816The swimming pool was small and full of leaves so we didn’t go swimming though we did dangle our feet in the water to cool off.  We were amused by the iguanas running around, sometimes upright!

IMG_0795 IMG_0788 IMG_0787We walked across the bridge to the Santa Lucia Village just in time for an afternoon shower.  It’s a beautiful scenic walk past a small stream.

IMG_0790 IMG_0791 IMG_0793 IMG_0794 IMG_0796 IMG_0801On the opposite end of the property were some buildings that looked like staff quarters and an unused massage hut that would actually be better used as a bird hide.

IMG_0802 IMG_0803Dinner & breakfast are served as buffets and there was a decent variety of dishes-meat pasta, some local dishes that I found a bit spicy, soup & salad.  I forgot to bring my camera to dinner so no pics, sorry!  It started raining as we walked back so had to borrow an umbrella.

Although some hotel booking sites will show a link to Villa Lapas, they never seem to have availability so it could be the property isn’t using them anymore so no airline miles or Ultimate Rewards points.  They have an onsite secure booking form which gets the job done.

The staff are very friendly and helpful.  Although it’s a beautiful property, it does need renovations.  If you are a dedicated birder, you won’t care because the birdlife is amazing but if you are used to Sheratons & Intercontinentals you will probably be disappointed.  The reviews on Trip Advisor are pretty mixed.  Birders love it, normal tourists didn’t.