Location: Dominical, Costa Rica
If you dream of living in an exotic, relatively untouched tropical rainforest with abundant wildlife less than 3 hours from the capital city and under 10 minutes from some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, then this is your dream in real life, but even better than you imagined. (Please scroll all the way down this page to see the drone video of the property.)
There are two attractive homes on the property, but it’s not only about the homes--it’s about one of the most beautiful and explorable pieces of land anywhere along Costa Rica’s Southern Pacific Coast, with a view of the ocean in the foreground and a backdrop of heavily forested mountains. There are already private walking paths back to a small stream with a multi-staged waterfall as your own picnic and meditation space. Create more paths as you wish and watch for birds of all kinds, monkeys, sloths, wild pigs, agoutis, ocelots and more.
The main home is 4 levels. The garden level has a full laundry/utility room, a spacious and secure storage room, and a bedroom with a full bath. The ground floor houses 4 bedrooms and a living area that segues out to a patio and pool area. The next floor is one open space that includes a living room, dining room and kitchen, all surrounded by huge windows, sliding glass doors and wide wrap-around verandas. When you are in this area, eye-level with the trees, birds, and animals, you feel as though you are in a private wildlife observatory in the heart of the forest canopy.
The fourth level is the “moon deck”, an open platform where you will enjoy the forest and wildlife around you and the Pacific Ocean in front of you. The owners and their kids camped out there with friends, mosquito free under the moon and stars and falling asleep to the sounds of the surf and forest.
The second, 2-story home has 3 bedrooms, a large open living room/dining room/kitchen area with balconies, and all of the amenities for a rental or guest house. There is enough distance to maintain the privacy of each of the homes, but with enough proximity to use them as an easy B&B or visitor quarters.
Surrounding both houses is a garden with more than 150 tropical fruit trees, lush tropical flowers, and all kinds of unique and unusual vegetation collected from around the world.
The Guapil Ecological Community was created, through conservation easements, to provide a place to live and a way to conserve the surrounding natural habitat, complementing the Hacienda Barú Wildlife Refuge next door. Each of the 20 properties in Guapil maintains the forest and wildlife while ensuring the privacy of every other homeowner. In addition, the Guapil homeowners association owns and maintains a 125 acre private reserve that contributes to the Path of The Tapir Biological Corridor – one of Costa Rica’s premiere protected areas.
This property directly borders the Guapil private reserve, meaning that the way you see it today is the way it is going to stay, with no threat of new development to change your view or the forest around you. “Ecological” is not just a marketing ploy—this is the real thing.
With plenty of room for you and your guests, plus solid potential for rental income and an ethos that encourages responsible care for our fragile world, this property is a standout in the area. Call for a tour and bring your walking shoes and camera.
For another perspective, this review comes from a recent visitor who stayed at the house:
VRBO Review #17151488 “In the rain forest, by the beach...”
We could've stayed forever!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
We stayed for 10 days here and each day that we were there, we realized more and more how special this place truly is. We've visited most of the countries in both Central and South America (this was our second time to Costa Rica), and this place will definitely hold a very special place in our hearts. The house itself is stunning. It's very big, functional, and no detail was omitted when building it. It's clear that this house was built for living in, not just vacationing in. The north american plumbing is a major bonus too!
What we loved most about this place was that it is right in a beautiful rainforest. Even though we were there at the end of the dry season, it was still very lush and green. Unfortunately the waterfall was dried up though. Waking up to the sounds of the rainforest waking up was incredible. We heard howler monkeys most mornings. The main floor of the house is actually the second level and as it's built on a hill, the kitchen / covered patio is pretty much halfway up the jungle canopy, with huge trees just outside the house. Eating breakfast on the patio and spotting toucans and parrots daily was incredible. We even saw spider monkeys in the trees by the house one morning while eating breakfast! And the trails that they have on the property are great. They are nice and wide and very easy hiking (a couple of steep spots where our daughter needed a hand). We spent lots of time hiking through the rainforest and saw tons of wildlife. If you want a truly authentic rainforest experience, without having to share it with a bunch of other tourists, this place is incredible! But despite being right in the jungle, there were hardly ever bugs of any kind in the house.
And the moon deck was fantastic. Every evening we would lie there and look for shooting stars before our late night dip in the pool before bed.
We spent a lot of time in the pool, which had a nice shallow area with benches for lounging, and the kids to play on. And the little surf town of Dominical is only a few minute drive away, and other even quieter beaches minutes away as well. Dominicalito was a great beach for our little ones to splash in the waves and run / crawl around.
I seriously can't even express how special this place is. You have to experience it to believe it. We very much hope to return at some point.
