Buena Vista del Rincón, Rincón de la Vieja

Buena Vista del Rincón (long known as Buena Vista Lodge) is a family-owned mountain hotel and adventure park on the slopes of Rincón de la Vieja volcano, 31 kilometers from Liberia. It began in 1990 when a struggling cattle and dairy ranch turned to tourism, and today it combines 60 rooms with volcanic hot springs, mud baths, a 420-meter river-fed water slide, zip lines, hanging bridges and forest trails. It holds Costa Rica’s CST sustainability certification at the Basic level. Choose it for a lively, activity-packed base close to Liberia airport, rather than a quiet hideaway.

At a glance

Where it is

The hotel sits in the foothills of Rincón de la Vieja, in the canton of Liberia, Guanacaste. Its contact page gives the distance from Liberia as 31 kilometers and the address as Cañas Dulces, and the hotel calls itself an extension of Rincón de la Vieja National Park, part of the Guanacaste Conservation Area. The Tico Times describes the route: north from Liberia on Highway 1, then right onto the road to Cañas Dulces for about 20 kilometers. The final section is gravel, so a high-clearance car is a good idea.

Note that the park’s own entrances (Las Pailas and Santa María) are reached by other roads, so a park visit means driving around rather than walking over the hill. SINAC says the 14,300-hectare park was created in 1973, protects the headwaters of 32 rivers and the largest wild population of the guaria morada orchid, Costa Rica’s national flower, and has bubbling mud pots and fumaroles along its trails.

At around 750 meters of elevation, the hotel is cooler and greener than the dry Guanacaste lowlands, with daytime temperatures that the hotel puts between 25 and 36°C.

From dairy farm to adventure lodge

The land belongs to the Ocampo family, who ran it as a beef and dairy ranch. According to the Tico Times, the business collapsed in the 1990 recession, and patriarch Gerardo Ocampo, seeing tourists arrive at a nearby lodge, sold his 12 best milking cows to build five rustic cabins and a restaurant. Soon after opening, wind tore the roofs off, so he borrowed to rebuild and planted trees as windbreaks. La Voz de Guanacaste reported in 2017 that the family still owned the property and that all 102 staff came from Guanacaste.

The ranch heritage is still part of the experience: sabaneros (Guanacaste cowboys) guide the horseback rides, and one room category looks onto the stables.

Rooms

The accommodations page lists 60 rooms:

• Mountain rooms (12): newly renovated cottage-style rooms on a hillside by the forest, with air conditioning, two double beds, a mini-fridge and a porch facing the sunset.
• Lake rooms (26): bungalow-style rooms near a small lake, with two double beds and a balcony looking over the Guanacaste plains, the Pacific and the volcano’s slopes.
• Hacienda rooms (22): two double beds and a wide porch overlooking the stables, near the swimming pool.

Current room offers include breakfast and access to the Pacaya hot springs. The hotel has several restaurants on the property.

Hot springs and adventure

The hot springs are the highlight for most guests. The hotel describes a private wildlife refuge with volcanic hot spring pools, a natural sauna, volcanic mud baths and cold plunge pools. In the classic routine La Voz de Guanacaste describes, a farm tractor carries guests about 3 kilometers through the forest to the springs, where they sweat in the sauna, coat themselves in warm mud, rinse, and work from the hottest pool to the coolest.

The adventure park side includes a canopy tour across a canyon (the Spanish version of the homepage mentions 12 platforms), the Los Higuerones hanging bridges, horseback rides to waterfalls, hikes in the El Zaino reserve, and the 420-meter forest water slide driven by river water. Cultural add-ons in the hotel’s day pass packages include a sugar cane mill visit, a coffee tasting and a workshop on Chorotega pottery from Guaitil. Day visitors come too, so expect busier periods in the middle of the day.

Nature and wildlife

The hotel describes its land as rainforest it protects, with trails, waterfalls and rivers. The El Zaino trails are good for birds, frogs and insects, and the hanging bridges give a canopy-level look at the forest. For a dedicated wildlife hike, the national park is the better bet: SINAC says its trails pass through dry, moist and cloud forest within a couple of hours and all offer good chances of seeing birds, mammals and reptiles.

Sustainability

Buena Vista del Rincón appears in the official CST directory at the Basic level, which means its practices have been audited against Costa Rica’s national sustainable tourism standard. Its website gives few specifics beyond that, so details such as the share of land under reforestation (older descriptions said most of the ranch was returned to forest) couldn’t be confirmed. Local hiring is a real strength, according to the press reports above.

Who it suits

This is a good pick for families with children of all ages, groups and travelers who want to pack hot springs, horses, zip lines and a water slide into a short stay near Liberia. Rooms are comfortable and practical rather than luxurious.

Those after silence, deep forest and small numbers of guests will find it busy at times. For a quieter hot-springs stay in the area, consider Blue River Resort and Hot Springs on the volcano’s north side or Borinquen Thermal Resort nearby. Browse all of our Guanacaste eco-lodges, read more about Buena Vista Lodge, or see our guide to waterfalls, jungle rivers and hot springs.