Central Cloud Forest & Monte Verde

BOSQUE DE PAZ RAIN/CLOUD FOREST LODGE & BIOLOGICAL RESERVE

Bosque de Paz Biological Orchid and Birdding Reserve is a 1000-hectare natural biological corridor, located on the Central Volcanic Range, Continental Divide, between the Juan Castro Blanco Watershed National Park and the Poás Volcano National Park. It is a rain and cloud forest, located 1 ½ tour away from San José, 35 minutes from Sarchí and 25 minutes away from Zarcero. It has excellent access to the Arenal and Poás volcanoes, and the area of Sarapiquí, San Carlos, Carara National Park, Jacó Beach.

At this lodge, you may enjoy the exuberant biodiversity of centennial trees loaded with orchids, bromeliads, mosses and ferns, surrounded by an unforgettable setting filled with impressive mountains, valleys, rivers and waterfalls. Guests breathe the pure mountain air, while they hike through the trails though the lush rain forest, and then enjoying the exquisite food at the Bosque de Paz restaurant, which is a sample of Costa Rican hospitality offered through the personal attention of the González family, owners of the lodge.

Do you like bird watching, orchid gardens, taking pictures of wildlife and birds, going on jungle nature hikes through a cloud forest, and believe in sustainable tourism? If so, then you’ll love the Bosque de Paz Private Ecological Reserve and Lodge – An Orchid and Bird Paradise in the mountains, unparalleled just about anywhere in the world – a haven for photographers – bird, orchid, nature and animal photography.

In an effort to protect the exuberant flora and fauna in the Central Volcanic Mountain Range of Costa Rica, Federico González-Pinto, his wife Vanessa, and his son Federico Jr. are dedicated to fulfill a dream:

To create a large Biological Corridor for future generations to enjoy and admire; And create a consciousness about the importance of conservation through ecological tourism and education.

Now the González family personally attend to nature and orchid lovers, and bird watchers, from around the world to share their natural treasure. Come and enjoy our comfortable rain forest hotel in a cool, mountain jungle with waterfalls. Hike on our maintained nature trails, and help Costa Rica realize its sustainable eco-tourism goals.

Rick Marsi – Nature and Birding Tour Leader Coauthor and Consultant – The Reader’s Digest Book of North American Birds, says of his visits to Bosque de Paz: “Having escorted hundreds of birders and nature enthusiasts to Costa Rica over the past decade, I am often asked if I have a favorite place there.

The fact is I do. It is Bosque de Paz Cloud Forest Lodge and Preserve. The simplest way I can explain choosing this place is to say that whenever I take people there, or send them there on their own, I am 100 percent certain they will enjoy an outstanding experience.

BIRD WATCHING

We have recorded more than 331 species of birds at our preserve since July, 1997, including Resplendent Quetzal, Scaled Antpitta, Black Guan, Emerald Toucanet, Three Wattled Bellbird, Ornate Hawk-Eagle, Zeledonia, and Silvery-fronted, Tapaculo, Black–faced Solitaire, American Dipper, Golden-browed Chlorophonia, among many others, and abundant hummingbirds.

Orchids at the Preserve

Because the system of trails requires sustained maintenance to clear branch and tree falls, epiphytic orchids are frequently brought down to eye level. Exceptional falls occurred, for example, during Hurricane Mitch in September of 1998. Sr. González-Pinto and son Federico González-Sotela conceived the idea of relocating these plants to make them more accessible to the visitors of the Preserve and sought advice from orchid experts about how these relocations might be done successfully.

They began salvaging and relocating air-fall orchids to the branches of small trees near the Lodge in the mid 1990’s. The resulting 75-m-longBotanical Trail was opened in 1996.

An orchid garden was also created in the year 2000 by relocating plants to trees surrounding a new assembly building. Eye-level relocations of orchids elsewhere along the system of trails also provide interest for orchid enthusiasts in seeing these plants making a living in a nearly natural state.

The collection of orchids at the Preserve (see www.orchidflorabdp.org) is diverse and reflects not only the showy species but also the smaller, less conspicuous, but also wonderful ones, such as those in the Pleurothallinidae Alliance. Also, very large species, such as some of those in the genus Maxillaria that are rarely found in collections or in cultivation, are also strongly represented. The collection is therefore more representative of the orchid flora in the area than those usually found in casual collections or in typical public displays in most botanical gardens.

The success of these relocations speaks for itself. These plants generally have survived, produce new growths, usually blossom and often are pollinated, judging from the fruiting and spent seedpods that are evident. Some seedlings can be observed growing in the gardens´ trees, meaning that some germination also occurs. In a way, these relocations represent a large-scale botanical experiment in which many potential pollinators and symbiotic fungi are shared with the natural environmental of those orchid species.

The efforts that the González family has made in creating public access to orchids have resulted in many of their clients being orchid enthusiasts. The preserve gives the great opportunity of a guided tour in the orchid garden, in this way, people learn about the great diversity and the importance of its conservation.

Deep Green Photography

Many factors combine to assure consistent quality at Bosque de Paz. These include excellent bird, orchid and wildlife photography, expert and friendly guides, delicious food, (vegetarian / vegan, too) wonderful service, spectacular surroundings and unequaled hospitality.”

Accommodations:

Bosque de Paz counts with 12 spacious and exquisitely decorated rooms, with Costa Rican exclusive designs and handcrafts. Each of the rooms has two double beds, and a private bathroom with hot water. Outside the rooms, there are large balconies with a spectacular view to our mountains. Guests can be surprised to be awakened by the song of many tropical birds and the sound of howler monkeys.

At Bosque de Paz, guests enjoy a comfortable terrace, with a spectacular view to the mountains, where they can see birds, the hummingbird gallery, butterflies, mammals.

The lodge has a library with books on natural history, a research laboratory, and a comfortable meeting room. There is an interesting research Project at the Dr. Stephen Kirby Orchid Garden, which has become very popular with orchidologists and naturalists.

Activities:

Bird watching; mammals, hummingbirds, and orchids observation, hiking, honeymoons, photography, annual family meeting, anti-stress program, yoga, meditation.

FONDA VELA

The HOTEL FONDA VELA is located in beautiful Monteverde, famous for its rare and gorgeous cloud forest and friendly community. The climate is refreshing, often referred to as “eternal spring”. The views of the Gulf of Nicoya from the hotel’s 1,400 meter (4,200 foot) elevations are spectacular. Monteverde is an ideal destination for relaxing and enjoying the wonders of the tropics. A visit of at least two nights or more in Monteverde is recommended.

Experience Hotel Fonda Vela’s natural approach to life – with style! Surrounded by beautiful tropical gardens, our buildings are an attractive part of the lush, tropical mountainside. The rooms are cozy, yet elegant, spacious, and comfortable. Each room is designed with the environment in mind. For example, large windows help to bring the outdoors inside.

The Fonda Vela was built with the idea of being a nurturing experience, environmentally, culturally and spiritually.
Our guests play an important part in fulfilling this dream. With the mysterious veils of mist and phenomenal sunsets, Costa Rica has drawn us back to nature. It is the spirit and feelings that brought us here that we want to share with you, our guests.

THE FONDA VELA HOTEL has luxurious accommodations. All Standard Rooms and Junior Suites have private bath, minibar, telephone, coffee maker and cable TV. Standard rooms have two queen sized beds. Junior Suites have a king and a queen sized bed. Since 2010 Upgrade indoor swimming Pool and two Jacuzzis, bar and pool table was added to our facilities. Perfect for all ages, overlooking the green and abundant forest and enjoy bird watching.

Daily, we have happy hour from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the pool bar (2×1). The Two Jacuzzis fits 4 to 6 people and are excellent after a long hike in the area, encouraging couples or families to get together here and relax.

The pool is perfect for a good exercise before dinner, also you can enjoy a drink at the bar overlooking the sunset. We offer lockers, dressers, showers and restrooms on the first level for the best comfort of our guest.

If you are considering a stay in the cloud forest in world-famous Monteverde, Costa Rica, visit us – you won’t be disappointed. If you want to wake to the sound of bird call in a romantic, over sized bed made of tree roots, bathe in your own personal waterfall fantasy shower made of stone, be pampered with fresh-baked goods and massages, and experience the sensation of direct contact with nature from a safe haven all integrated into one location, this is the place for you.

Located in the mountains at an elevation of 1530 meters (5000 feet), our bed and breakfast provides five delightful secluded tree house chalets as well as three finely appointed rooms in a beautiful mountain home. Surrounded by fine gardens with waterfalls and offering a striking view of the Gulf of Nicoya in the distance, Hidden Canopy offers comfortable king or queen-size beds, waterfall showers in meticulously maintained bathrooms, and glorious sunsets. These, along with the friendly staff, and hearty breakfasts, are the memories you’ll keep when you stay at Hidden Canopy.

Enjoy a bit of luxury in a tree house with a view on the edge of the Costa Rican cloud forest. Whether you are looking to meditate next to our koi pond, a good cup of plantation coffee during a tour of a local farm, an afternoon stroll observing nature from treetop walkways, a relaxing massage, or a heart-pumping joyride down the mountain on cabled zip-lines, your Hidden Canopy host can arrange it during your stay.

HOTEL EL ESTABLO

Your home on the mountain was established in 1991 with a story behind its name, and the effort of a family that changed its cattle for tourism. It all started transforming the farm’s stable into 12 cozy rooms. Today, 20 years later and with 155 rooms, there are only memories of the cattle; but the desire to offer the highest quality service to all our clients and suppliers still remains. Hotel El Establo and its staff have now a serious commitment with nature and the community, in always looking for the best human and environmental development for the area. Our hotel is characterized by having a great interest in preserving nature and the environment. This is the reason why we are practicing a special Environmental Management System which is allowing us to stand out in our region. Our desire is for everyone close to us, to share this important and necessary practice of preserving the biodiversity of our ecosystem.

Provide our guests with the best experience of satisfaction, comfort and safety in the Cloud Forest, filling their stay with pleasant and unforgettable moments. And at the same time, provide an everyday client satisfaction through the highest levels of accommodation, comfort, relaxation, and entertaining. Providing all this under the highest standards of sustainability and a serious commitment of making your stay the closest as possible to your home in the mountain. With the Cloud Forest as the background, and as an eco-friendly accommodation, Hotel El Establo, wants to create unforgettable experiences for our guests, by providing first-class attention, amenities, services and hospitality to constantly exceed the expectations of our visitors.

Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel & Nature Reserve

One of the few places in Costa Rica where you can enjoy all the comforts of an upscale boutique hotel while experiencing one of the most unique and endangered types of tropical forests in our very own private cloud forest reserve. You’ll be ensconced in a beautifully appointed 19th-century re-creation of a mountain farm village. From charming Superior and Deluxe Casitas to romantic Honeymoon Suites, each accommodation features vaulted cane ceilings, elegantly handcrafted furniture, and a variety of conveniences and amenities that include wood-burning fireplaces, private garden porches, and in-room whirlpool tubs in all the Deluxe Casitas and Honeymoon Suites.

The Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel just a little over an hour away from San Jose and SJO. It feels like you have moved to another world! This seventy-five-acre private cloud forest borders the Los Angeles Private Biological Reserve. It offers all guests the unique opportunity to experience a cloud forest ecosystem while still being close to San Jose! Ideally located halfway between San Jose and the Arenal Volcano region. Villa Blanca offers one of the most accessible cloud forest experiences. Also, with one of the most diverse animal and plant inventories found in Costa Rica.

Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort situated at just over 3000 feet above sea level. Located in the charming historic community of San Ramon. This area boasts a remarkably temperate climate and the fertile soil. Home to generations of family farms and dairy enterprises. Also, to some of the first European settlers in Costa Rica. As well as to the three prominent Costa Rican presidents. The San Ramon area offers guests a charmingly preserved colonial town to enjoy. As well as a plethora of delicious locally grown produce and dairy products. All while enjoying the fantastic climate and spectacular vistas from the Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel’s terraces!

Superior Casitas offer you all the comforts of an upscale boutique hotel surrounded by a natural cloud forest experience. Casitas feature custom queen beds or twin beds with luxury linens, a living room area with wood-burning fireplace, bathroom with shower, free high-speed internet, complimentary coffee, and a well-stocked mini-bar; and NO television set.

Deluxe Casitas are part of a 19th-Century-style village, and have everything you need to enjoy a relaxing stay for couples or a family. Our 19th-Century-style Deluxe Casitas are nestled within beautiful botanical gardens that adorn the property and are bordered by the 2,000-acre private cloud forest reserve. Each private Casita features a classic open-beam ceiling, custom queen beds with luxury linens, a spacious sitting room with wood-burning fireplace, whirlpool bath with separate shower, and either a private garden porch or terrace; plus free high-speed internet, complimentary coffee, a well-stocked mini-bar, and NO television set. Max Occupancy 4 Adults.

Honeymoon Suite – This romantic, private Casita, set within a 19th-Century-style village, offers you comfort and privacy while you enjoy your honeymoon surrounded by exotic botanical gardens and the 2,000-acre private cloud forest reserve that cradles the Villa Blanca Rancho and El Sendero Restaurant. The Casita features a spacious living room with a sofa and wood-burning fireplace, traditional open-beam ceilings, custom queen beds with luxury linens, a whirlpool bath with separate shower enclosure, and a gorgeous private garden terrace; plus free high-speed internet, complimentary coffee, a well-stocked mini-bar, and NO television set.

Max Occupancy 4 Adults.

Many tours to enjoy from this nature lovers location.

Located in Costa Rica in the picturesque, rolling hills of Costa Rica’s Central Highlands, just above the city of San Ramon, Villa Blanca sits in one of the most accessible cloud forest reserves in Central America. At just over 3000 feet above sea level, the 2000-acre Los Angeles Private Cloud Forest Biological Reserve protects one of the most diverse inventories of Flora amongst the tropical forests of Costa Rica, and practical alternative to Monteverde, with just 60 km of paved Hwy. from the Int. Airport and is the gateway to La Fortuna and San Carlos. Half way along the drive from San Jose to the Arenal Volcano, its majestic smoke covered peak often seen from the hotel terraces, Villa Blanca is less than two hours from the thermal hot springs of Arenal on a beautiful paved mountain road. Also within comfortable driving distance is Poas Volcano National Park. Unlike the more recent beach developments on either coastline, the mountain community of San Ramon and its surrounding farm villages, have preserved a way of life handed down from the first European settlers. Known for generations as the “City of the Poets”, San Ramon features a temperate climate and rich soil that has yielded generations of family-run coffee, sugar cane, and dairy farms.

Amongst Greentique Hotels’ proudest relationships are its support of the ongoing research within the Los Angeles Cloud Forest Private Biological Reserve at Villa Blanca, in the Canton of San Ramon de Alajuela. This active field research laboratory, on the hotel grounds, is just 500 meters from the hotel’s lobby, opened to scientists, researchers, students, nature guides and hotel employees, as well as providing a very unique attraction for visitors from around the world who stay at the hotel and enjoy visiting the station as part of informative guided tours offered every day. Part of what makes this research so extraordinary is that it is conducted so close to the local population and hotel operations, making Villa Blanca one of Costa Rica’s few hotels where such programs exists.

The work done at the Villa Blanca Research Station is part of an international database on biodiversity shared with scientists and researchers around the world. The variety and collection of species represent an inventory, in the surrounding Los Angeles Cloud Forest Biological Reserve, similar to Monteverde’s cloud forest, yet far more accessible for scientists, institutions and tourist visiting from the nearby capital of San Jose as well as many other parts of the world. Special tours take you into the cloud forest and through the research station to see the investigation being done pertaining to the expansive biodiversity represented in this protected reserve offering a better understanding of their relationships with plants, other insects and humans that often comprise this incredibly complex and diverse ecosystem still remaining on our planet.

Three of the most distinctive Costa Rican presidents, Julio Acosta, José Figueres and Francisco Orlich, were born and raised in the Canton of San Ramon, here in the Province of Alajuela. Greentique sister hotel Si Como No, on the Pacific Coast near Manuel Antonio National Park, is just a three-hour drive, offering one of the best ways to experience the beauty of the Central Pacific of Costa Rica.

You’ll enjoy a dramatic and inspiring descent from the cool mountains to the warm Pacific beaches and tropical forests all along the scenic, well-maintained highway. You’ll cross coffee, palm and pineapple plantations on your way to some of the region’s most scenic beaches.

Trapp Family Lodge

The Trapp Family Lodge is the closest lodge to the Monte Verde Reserve Costa Rica; a 15 minute walk, great for bird watching. This cozy new 20-room inn pays tribute to its setting with beautiful tropical wood appointments, private balcony in each guest room, and a family-style restaurant fronted by huge picture windows and a balcony overlooking gardens and verdant rain forest. Set in a small private reserve, the lodge is ideal for families or anyone appreciative of a warm, homey atmosphere and a convenient location just a few minutes’ walk from the Monte Verde Cloud Forest Costa Rica.

At the Trapp Family lodge you’ll find spacious and cozy guest rooms, each with a Venetian window. The Superior rooms and Mountain Suites have private bathrooms with hot water and a lovely picture window showcasing views of the cloud forest. In addition, the Mountain Suites come with a private balcony overlooking the gardens. The Trapp Family Lodge Costa Rica caters to all types of people. Whether you’re an individual on business or pleasure, a family looking for a summer getaway or an eco-activist organization, all are welcome here.

Our intimate European Chalet with 20 private rooms invite you to peacefully co-exist with the natural wonder of the Rainforest. Tropical green trees among bright blue skies while relaxing your mind-body and spirit to the sounds of wildlife. A retreat in the Monteverde Cloud Forest is a dream come true Located in Monteverde Costa Rica, featuring a restaurant and gardens with a terrace, Trapp Family Lodge also offers complimentary Wi-Fi access throughout and public parking on site.

The property is located amid the tropical forest of Monteverde Reserve. The rooms and suites at Trapp Family Lodge include a working desk, cable TV, and a balcony with views of the garden. The suites also feature a seating area with a sofa. All bathrooms provide toiletries and a hairdryer. The property is constructed featuring a rustic style. Guests will be able to find restaurant options within 3.1 mi from the property, and the Trapp Family Lodge restaurant specializes in local dishes and international cuisine. Guest may enjoy outings to visit the Monteverde Reserve by foot or by horse ride, go to the Suspended Bridges. Canopy tours and go bird watching are also recommended activities. Santa Elena is 4.3 mi from the property and the city of San José is 2 hours and 40 minutes’ drive away. Couples in particular like the location, Honeymooners are delighted being here.

Call 800 938 9767 PST, to make your reservations and plans for your vacation in Costa Rica.