How comfortable are rainforest eco-lodges?
 

Considering booking a trip to Osa Peninsula in CR. My husband and I are very intrigued by the idea of being surrounded by nature and beautiful sights and the opportunity to explore. I understand that there's a certain amount of roughing it that will obviously take place, but I'd love to get some personal opinions on just how much.

For example, no television or phones means perfection to us, but no ac makes us nervous. Generally, bugs aren't a big deal, but having to sleep under mosquito netting might be. Of course the websites talk about how ac isn't needed and that the bugs aren't bad, but we wonder if that's just marketing. We'd be traveling during the beginning of March, if that makes a differences.

Specifically, we're looking at Encanta la Vida and el Remanso, but would welcome other suggestions.

My husband and I usually take "rustic luxury" vacations, just never outside the US. I'm sure it's quite different to be in the deep woods versus the deep jungle, which is why we need your help. We're not expecting Four Seasons, nor do we want it, but we do want to be comfortable.

Thanks for your input

The club rooms at Iguana Lodge have air conditioning.
Cabina La Guinda at El Remanso has tight screening and no mosquito netting.

Other than that, nets are the rule--as is no airconditioning. Not that it wouldn't make it more confortable--these places are off the grid. Sleeping under a net is no problem. However, when it is hot, they do limit any breeze that might be about.

Bug toleration is highly variable from person to person. Control your lighting and you will control the bugs. Lower your mosquito netting at light before turning on lights, especially any lights in the vicinity of the bed.

Bosque del Cabo gets a lot of recommendation here, and it is excellent, but there are other good places also. You need have absolutely no fear of too much rusticness unless you have no business being in a jungle at all.

I can recommend Luna Lodge, El Remanso, Bosque del Cabo and Iguana Lodge. I have not been to Lapa Rios or Encanta la Vida. From the website and reviews, the latter place did not interest us.

I don't even consider these places rustic. They are simply unique and delightful.
Read the reviews of the places you are interested in on Trip Advisor. Look at the photos there that accompany the reviews.

Bugs are the rule on the Osa, and in CR in general. But you're not exactly going to be covered in them, they're just there abd you come across them from time to time. As noted above, keeping your lights off, especially at dusk helps a lot, and don't keep any food in your room. I'm pretty skittish about bugs but then again, once I get down to the Osa I tend to get a little inured to them and find myself blithely flicking them off my arm or bed in a way I would not do at home.

I've stayed at Bosque del Cabo several times, love it there. Have also stayed at El Remanso in the La Guinda cabina, I had small little colourful beetles at night but they seemed to mind their own business.

Honestly never been bothered by the heat, or maybe I'm just too knackered from hiking all day in the heat to notice at night.

If you're really interested at hiking and wildlife, I would stay at a lodge like El Remanso or Bosque del Cabo, just because you will have plenty of land/trails at your disposal. I stopped by Encanta once when I was staying down on the beach and I wasn't overly impressed to be honest.

You don't have to go to Osa to experience wildlife in CR. From the sound of it you may be more comfortable somewhere like this

http://www.arenasdelmar.com/

By my figuring, anywhere with A/C shouldn't be calling itself an "ecolodge".

March and April are the hottest months of the year in Costa Rica. It does get very hot down in Osa this time of year. Not knowing your tolerance for heat -- it varies so from person to person -- it's hard to say.

We loved Bosque del Cabo - beautiful property with great trails and tons of wildlife. We didn't have very many bugs in our cabin, but we did try to keep the lights low after dark. They have garden cabins and then cabins along the cliff that overlook the ocean. If you stay there, I'd definitely opt for the ocean view cabins because they get more of a breeze. Ours had a small fan that we used to keep the air moving. It was pretty humid when we were there and warm but not unbearable. Totally worth it in my book. We saw all 4 species of monkeys just from the front porch of our cabin. Also saw scarlet macaws and toucans and an anteater while out hiking. The food is great too. And the views are amazing. Our cabin temp was in the 80s - so up to you on how comfortable you would be with it. March is hot on the Osa. Other places would give you easier beach access if that's important to you; you'd have to hike down to the beach at BdC. There's also a nice bar and small pool to cool off in. There's enough power in the cabins to run lights, but not enough to use a blow dryer or anything like that. It's nice in a way to give all that up.

www.laparios.com

www.bosquedelcabo.com

www.lunalodge.com

my top 3 you can experience

www.corcovado.org Osa in style sith all 3

from personal eperience.

We've been to Bosque del Cabo twice at the beginning of March. It was hot, but surprisingly, with the small fan at the head of our bed, we slept comfortably. We had a great breeze off the ocean at night, too.

We were amazed at the lack of flying, swarming, biting type of bugs present when we were there. As Kinkazote mentioned, we lowered our netting before it got dark, and kept our lights low.

Nothing better than sleeping so close to nature with the doors thrown open while in a comfy king-sized bed!

We had a similar experience at BdC in March. I think because it was so dry (maybe unusually so), the humidity was relatively lower. I was surprised to find that I pulled the sheets up around me at night -- just that little fan and the breeze kept us comfortable at night (this was in Congo cabina).

My biggest worry when going to the Osa was a/c too. I was expecting something like the heat and humidity of Florida during July and August and I knew if it was like that, I would have trouble sleeping.

What we got was surprisingly cool and almost crisp (the locals described the weather as "fresh"). We were there in early December and if there had not been a canvas bedspread, we would have been uncomfortably chilly at night.

During rainy season, it's humid. My hair never really did get dry when we were there. I'd wash it in the morning, and it would still be pretty wet in the evening. We'd get pretty sweaty during the day too, but those outdoor showers are great, and ours even had an outdoor bathtub.