Pacuare Lodge by Böëna

The room with the private pool was awesome. The staff was exceptional, friendly, helpful and polite. The restaurant is great, the menu amazing and the service is word class. We can only recommend all activities they offer. The guides are very knowledgeable and make you feel safe and taken care of.

Such an amazing place! Costa Rica is renowned for its eco tourism, and this lodge is definitely an excellent example of why. We were picked up in San Jose and the 3 hour drive seemed short due to the engaging guides from the lodge and the great traditional breakfast that we stopped for on the way. We then did the raft in to the lodge, I’d never done rafting before and it was an intense but fun experience, and we got to enjoy great views in the calmer sections. We were lucky to be upgraded to the Jaguar suite, which was huge and had amazing views of the river, and all the features you’d expect at luxury accommodation. Once we were settled in, we were talked through the included and extra excursions we could do during our time at the lodge. We chose to do zip lining, a waterfall hike, a night walk, and a cooking lesson. All these were well run with great guides. The cooking lesson was an extra charge. We also did the included sustainability tour, jaguar talk and had a go at making clay balls full of biomaterial which keep the river healthy. The sustainability elements of the lodge are what really blew us away and were so interesting to learn about. We stayed for four nights, which meant we also had time to enjoy the amazing pool (maybe the best pool we have ever seen) and go to the spa, where the oils used smell incredible! It was also good to stay for longer as it meant we could rearrange activities if there was bad weather. This is no reflection of the lodge, but if you go in November be prepared for a lot of rain. We generally had clear mornings until about 12, then cloud and drizzle for a few hours and then very heavy rain from 4pm all night. We have travelled to other tropical destinations and this is definitely the most rain we have ever seen. The heavy rain meant unfortunately we couldn’t do the rafting out, which was disappointing but understandable. We do feel like this could have been communicated a bit better, as we were only informed the rafting was cancelled after we were in our rafting gear ready to go. Another stand out highlight was the food at the lodge. The vegetarian options were incredible, we didn’t have a bad meal and there were lots of healthy options. It may be because of the rain, but there were less wildlife spotting than we expected being in such a remote rainforest location. We saw one sloth from a distance, and lots of butterflies and birds, so something to consider if you are hoping to see sloths/monkeys.

This place was absolutely incredible, my dream vacation. I loved everything about it: the friendly and attentive staff, the 'glamping" room secluded in the hills, the included meals by a master chef, and the activities including white water rafting, canopy ziplining, canyoning down a waterfall, many different hikes, and early morning bird watching. I guess we were there in the rainy season but it basically rained late afternoon and evening, no biggie. (It WAS the rain forest!) We saw so many interesting creatures from tucans to bullet ants, and learned so much about them from the resort guides. If you're looking to really experience a beautiful, remote area of Costa Rica, this is the place.

While the setting and the accommodations are spectacular, the people of Pacuare Lodge are what makes it extraordinary! From the time we were met in San Jose by our guides to rafting in to the lodge in exceptionally high water, to our greetings on the property with the best dragon fruit juice ever and every meal and activity after that, our stay will be a memorable one forever. The knowledge of nature by all the staff was amazing… the bird watching, the canopy tour, the canyoning and the hikes all featured guides that could answer just about any question we threw at them. In addition, they were kind, caring and had their own unique styles and stories. The one thing that really surprised us though was the quality and beauty of the food. Every meal featured carefully prepared ingredients that were not only beautiful but seemed healthy and delicious. This place truly exemplifies Pura Vida. Well done, Pacuare Lodge and Boena! I hope to return soon!

We’re a family of four and stayed here two nights during our summer holiday travelling across the country. Our only regret is that we should have stayed longer. This place is tremendous - proper luxury living. We stayed in the brilliant Canopy room which was plenty big enough for the four of us, had its own treetop pool and canopy bridge. Amazing. The facilities are great - great pool, fantastic food and service quality top notch. What sets this apart was the brilliant white water rafting into the lodge and also on the way out. Added to that was zip lining and canyoning - a fabulous adventure each day. The staff were consistently first rate - Eric, Dani, Luis et al were fabulous.

I loved this place so much I visited twice in one month. The first visit I went with my girl friends and we did the activities around the lodge. All the guides were amazing. Once I returned home, I missed the peacefulness I found there. Almost immediately, I booked a week for myself. This was the first time going out of the country by myself, I did not worry because I knew I would be safe. I requested Victor as my driver for my whole stay because he was alway very professional with me. Never once did I feel like he would not take care of me or cross the line. I do not speak Spanish so anytime we went somewhere he always handled everything. This trip I decided to not do the activities at the lodge but to adventure around Costa Rica and I am so glad I did. I feel like I got to experience a lot of the culture of the Costa Rican people, and I fell in love with the country! I could not have been more grateful for the service I received from the whole staff at the lodge highly recommend! I will return.