Arenal, Costa Rica
Nayara Springs
Thirty-five adults-only rainforest villas, each with a private plunge pool fed by hot springs.
Nayara Springs is the adults-only property on the Nayara campus outside La Fortuna, reached on foot across a suspension bridge over a forested ravine. There are thirty-five villas and only one category, so there is no better room to angle for. Every one of them has an oversized plunge pool on its deck fed by actual mineral water piped from thermal sources at the base of Arenal.
The rainforest around you was planted. The land had been cleared for cattle, and the owners put in more than forty thousand native trees, heavy on the cecropia that sloths feed on. The canopy closed, the sloths came back on their own, and there are now more than fifteen living on the property. In 2025 it became the first hotel in Costa Rica to earn three Michelin Keys.
What makes it special
A hot spring on your own deck
Not a heated pool. Actual mineral water from thermal sources at the volcano, in a private plunge pool at every villa.
Adults only, eighteen and over
The two sister properties take families, so this is the quiet side of a campus that is not otherwise quiet. You can cross the bridge to use everything over there; children cannot cross back.
The sloths returned on their own
Forty thousand trees on former pasture, a closed canopy, and now fifteen-plus wild sloths and a dedicated trail to look for them. It is the most convincing reforestation story I know in a hotel.
Three Michelin Keys
The first and still the only three-Key hotel in Costa Rica, out of roughly 143 worldwide.
Spa pavilions over the ravine
Open-air treatment decks cantilevered into the trees, using local coffee, cacao clay and Arenal volcanic mud. Condé Nast Traveler once called it the best hotel spa in the world.
A closer look
What to do
- 01
Stay in your villa
Genuinely. The plunge pool, the deck and the sloths in the trees outside are what most guests spend their days on, and they are right to.
- 02
Arenal Volcano National Park
Twenty to thirty minutes. The 1968 Trail crosses the hardened lava field from that eruption and gets you as close to the cone as the law allows.
- 03
La Fortuna Waterfall
Twenty minutes, then five hundred steps down into the canyon to a seventy-metre fall. Worth every step, less so on the way back.
- 04
Mistico hanging bridges
Twenty-five minutes, a three-kilometre loop over six suspension bridges through primary rainforest. Best early for birds.
- 05
Tabacón, just up the road
Five to ten minutes. A day pass buys a genuinely larger hot-spring river system than the resort's own.
- 06
Río Celeste, if you have a full day
An hour and a half to two hours each way to the turquoise river in Tenorio. A long day, and the most photographed hike in the region.
Good to know
- Villas
- 35, all one category, about 1,500 sq ft with a private plunge pool
- Dining
- Amor Loco, Mis Amores, Nostalgia wine bar, plus everything across the bridge
- Spa
- Open-air pavilions over the ravine, sauna, steam, and free daily yoga
- Ages
- Adults only, 18 and over
- Getting there
- About 2.5 hours from San José, about 3 from Liberia. Arrange a transfer
- Rates
- Roughly $880 and up, with most guests paying nearer $1,000 to $1,200
My honest take
The honest caveat, and it is the one travelers raise most: most villas do not have a volcano view. The jungle is dense and the villas are tucked into it, so if seeing Arenal from your bed matters to you, the Tented Camp next door is the property that delivers it. Budget for on-property spending too, since guests commonly report around a hundred dollars a head per day on food and wine, and book excursions independently rather than through the desk. Arenal is on the Caribbean slope and gets rain in every month, so mornings are your best window for a clear cone.
Written from research and public information, and kept current as I go. Photography is courtesy of the property. For live availability, rates, and the perks I can add as a preferred partner, let's talk.