One of my favorite places that I’ve ever stayed, is in a 100 foot high treehouse in the middle of the jungle in Costa Rica! It’s secluded in nature with breathtaking scenery, wildlife and waterfalls. Getting here alone was an adventure- driving through the rainforest and then following a map to hike to the location of our tree. I really felt at home here.
Finca Bellavista
Finca Bellavista is a self sustainable treehouse community where people live in the rainforest full time. They also rent treehouses to visitors here, where you can find a variety of houses to choose from. The best time to visit is during the dry season- mid December to April.
When you check in, the main cabin has a bar/lounge area with books, games and hammocks to relax in. Theres also a community dining area where a kitchen staff cooks meals for everyone.
Because it’s a self sustainable community, they have a huge garden of vegetables, fruits, herbs and fresh eggs from the chickens. You have the option to join in the family style meals in the community cabin, or pick what you like from the garden and cook your own meals in the treehouse.
The bar mixers are fresh squeezed juice from the garden and they infuse their own rum. I had a delicious cocktail with chili pepper infused rum mixed with watermelon and passionfruit juice.
Our treehouse
We stayed at El Castillo Mastate. This luxury treehouse is 100 foot high (27.4 meter) in a tree and is comprised of 2 separate double story treehouses, connected by a suspension bridge. Between the 2 houses there are 3 beds, a full kitchen, 2 bathrooms with hot water, a viewing deck and electricity through out. It’s very impressive how much detail and creativity has gone into everything. There were hardwood floors, a full size oven, refrigerator, and even flushing toilets- all of this in a tree!
Pipes run all the way up the tree to provide water to both houses. Theres a hot water heater in the open air shower and you can watch monkeys swing through the trees while you rinse off (biodegradable soap is provided). The shower wall is lined with seashells from a nearby beach. One of my favorite features was the sink spout. It’s a conch shell with water flowing out of it.
The bedrooms and kitchen are screened in to keep the bugs out as well as a mosquito net over the beds. Electricity is run on solar energy and theres a backup generator just in case. Theres both overhead lighting and rope lights to save energy.
From the treehouse, theres many hiking trails leading to waterfalls and swimming holes. We also did a guided night hike and saw all kinds of interesting creatures. My favorite was the bright colored poison dart frogs.
How to get here
Getting here was an adventure in itself. We flew into San Jose airport and rented a car to do a road trip of both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts. It was a gorgeous drive through jungles, cloud forests, tropical beaches and coffee plantations.
If you plan to drive straight to Finca Bellavista, it takes 5-8 hours depending on traffic. It’s faster to take a regional flight from San Jose to Golfito. The flight is about 45 minutes plus a 45 minute 4×4 taxi into the rainforest.
Since we didn’t speak Spanish, and this location is literally in the middle of the jungle, they gave us very detailed directions. It was like being on a treasure hunt. Some of the instructions were, “when you see an old blue building, take a left at the gravel road.” Initially when I read this I thought we might get lost, but everything made perfect sense when we were there it wasn’t a problem.
When we arrived and checked in at the main cabin, we received a map of the property and the location of our treehouse. We hiked about 25 minutes through the jungle until we arrived. It was worth every minute for how amazing the treehouse was.
Beaches
If you’re wanting some beach time, Domincal beach has big waves for surfing and is about an hour drive north of here. Uvita beach is also very nice and next to the scenic “whale tail” lookout point.
Everyone at Finca Bellavista was so friendly. I definitely plan to come here again and check out the other treehouses in this community. This vacation was the perfect mix of relaxation and adventure. If you’re interested in staying here, you can book online at https://www.fincabellavista.com.
