When digital publishing entrepreneur Chris Ingham-Brook first visited Nosara, Costa Rica in 2016, it was just a sleepy little surf town with one main drag and jungle extending down to the sand.
During the pandemic, that started to change. Costa Rica’s government doubled its investment in fiber optics, followed by an influx of remote workers from the United States and Canada. Private coworking clubs, cold plunge studios, boutiques, and restaurants serving acai bowls and blue spirulina lattes have opened. When Brooke returned with his family five years later in 2021, he was surprised by how much the city had changed, with gravel roads, howler monkeys and family-owned businesses.
“It got really lively and interesting,” he said. Still, when it came to luxury accommodation for families, there weren’t many options.
Nosara’s quiet coastline is experiencing a boom in luxury development. Salt shot photo (@saltshot)
He purchased commercial land and opened Silvestre three years later in March. It’s a boutique resort with nine of his 1,000-square-foot residences, a rooftop bar, a yoga studio, and a surfing “concierge.” Silvestre is located just off the beach path towards Playa Guiones, and he is located on one of the most stable surf breaks in the world.
Silvestre is not alone. New luxury properties are currently opening this year in the popular arid province of Guanacaste on Costa Rica’s Pacific Gold Coast. A new Ritz-Carlton and Waldorf Astoria resort will open at the end of the year, a full 20 years after the region’s top resort, Four Seasons, planted its flag on the Papagayo Peninsula. Luxury real estate sales and development are another force reshaping Guanacaste and the area 45 minutes south known as Las Catalinas. A car-free development with a time zone synchronized with the United States, vacation homes here range from a few million dollars to about $10 million.
The number of international visitors to Costa Rica increased by 17 percent last year from 2022, according to Costa News Agency, and the number of visitors in January this year increased due to new direct flights from Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis and Houston. The addition resulted in a 59% increase from January 2023. Rico Tourism Bureau.
“The beach is seconds from my office,” says Renae Johnson, marketing director at Las Catalinas. “You can take a 15-minute coffee break and put your toes in the sand. That’s the new luxury.”
Last month, Silvestre, a boutique resort with nine 1,000-square-foot mansions, opened in the area.Courtesy of Mr. Silvestre
Costa Rica’s appeal isn’t its amenities or nightlife (though that is improving), but its year-round mild climate provides perfect conditions for surfing, snorkeling, hiking, and mountain biking, making it a great choice for outdoor enthusiasts. It has become the North Star. Jets here are more likely to flock to watch the sunset than to the discos. It’s the much-touted Blue Zones wellness culture, where pristine beaches and forests provide fodder for better alignment of the chakras.
what will happen to guanacaste
The Waldorf Astoria is scheduled to open next year.Provided by Waldorf Astoria
An astonishing 18 properties are scheduled to open by 2025, including two new luxury properties scheduled to hit the market later this year: Nekajui Ritz-Carlton Reserve Hotel & Residences and Waldorf Astoria Costa Rica・Includes Punta Cacique. Six Senses Resort and Spa Papagayo is scheduled to open in late 2025.
Located 30 minutes from Liberia Airport, Waldorf Astoria features 188 rooms and suites and 41 homes built into a hillside with a private sandy beach, signature restaurant, cenote-themed spa, teen center, and kids club. There are residences. Tourist experience in the surrounding area.
“We’re not just taking care of kids in our clubs, we’re giving them opportunities to experience what this country has to offer,” said Valeria Novotny, Hilton’s vice president of resort operations in the Caribbean, Mexico and Central America. We will support them so that they can do so.” She said: “Visitors here are looking for a nature experience with a little bit of local culture.”
Located on the Papagayo Peninsula near the Four Seasons and Andaz Resorts, the Ritz-Carlton’s Nekajuy (meaning “garden” in the local Chorotega dialect) features 107 new guest rooms, including 30 suites and three glamping tents. It will be added. Another of his 36 homes for sale, inspired by Mediterranean villas overlooking Playa Pochote, is on the market here, each priced at just under $15 million. Meanwhile, visitors can take the cable car down to the beach club and check out the suspension bridge and pool, hidden bootlegger, coffee and cacao bar, and indoor/outdoor spa with wellness studio and hydrotherapy area.
For luxury travelers who were struggling to find well-located resorts with the right amenities and sophistication, these properties now have expanded infrastructure and more paved roads to make it easier to get from place to place. This will give you another reason to return to Guanacaste.
And despite the construction boom on the Papagayo Peninsula, the region will be overbuilt for some time thanks to the vast Conservatoire de Guanacaste (ACG), a UNESCO World Heritage Site that protects 400,000 acres of wildlife from the surrounding Pacific coast. Unlikely. From these hotels to the lowland rainforests of the Caribbean Basin. Many locals also complain that the nearby city of Tamarindo is becoming more like Cancun, with restrictions on access to water rights to limit development here and throughout Costa Rica.・Wagner Loria, agent for Williams Tamarind, said:
Further south, Nosara also has a conservation facility that prevents developers from building directly on the beach, leaving the landscape pristine.
“We have a very strong community here that protects the town,” Brook said. “When you look back from the beach, all you see is jungle. That’s what makes it such a special place.”
