Finca Verde Lodge, Bijagua

Finca Verde Lodge is a small family farm and guesthouse on the edge of Bijagua, the village between the Tenorio and Miravalles volcanoes that most travelers know as the gateway to Río Celeste. It’s worth a stay for two reasons: the land itself, which was bare pasture about 25 years ago and is now regrown forest full of sloths and monkeys, and the easy, unpretentious feel of a place where you can eat dinner, walk the farm trails and sleep a few steps from the butterfly enclosures.

At a glance

Where it is

Bijagua sits on Route 6, the road that climbs from the Pan-American Highway near Cañas toward Upala, in a gap between two volcanoes. The lodge’s location page gives the drive from San José: north on the Pan-American, a right turn onto Route 6 about 7 km past Cañas, then roughly 30 km to Bijagua. In the village you turn at the small supermarket on the corner, pass the soccer field and the high school, keep right at the forks and follow the signs about 1 km uphill to the farm.

The lodge itself recommends a 4×4 for that last stretch and asks drivers to take it slowly because it’s bumpy. Its own estimates of drive times are about 1 hour 15 minutes from Liberia’s airport, around 2 hours to La Fortuna or Monteverde, and about 3 hours 30 minutes from San José’s airport.

From pasture to forest

The heart of the story is on the home page: land that was cleared farm ground a quarter of a century ago has been left to grow back, and it’s now mature enough to hold white-faced and howler monkeys, sloths, toucans, hummingbirds, frogs and several kinds of reptiles. The family describes the goal as a sustainable, workable way of living in the rainforest that protects nature in its healthiest form.

The farm also calls itself agroecological and grows organic produce for its kitchen. Its website also mentions volunteer stays that combine conservation, sustainable farming and life with local families, though it doesn’t publish program details, so ask directly if that interests you.

The cabins

According to the accommodation page, there are five cabins set among the gardens, with views toward Tenorio and Miravalles. They come in double, triple and quadruple configurations, each with a private bathroom and hot water, and they’re cleaned daily. Breakfast is included. Wi-Fi reaches the restaurant; the site doesn’t promise it in the cabins. English is spoken.

These are simple, homey rooms on a working family farm. Older descriptions of the property counted four cabins, so the count may have grown over time.

Things to do on the farm

The lodge’s activities page lists three guided experiences on the property:

• Sloth Adventure Tour: an easy walk of a little over an hour on the farm’s trails, leaving at 8 am, 10 am, 12 pm, 2 pm and 4 pm. Guides look for sloths, monkeys, frogs, snakes and birds, and explain how the farm handles conservation and organic growing. Recent guest reviews describe sloths and howler monkeys as regular sightings, though wildlife is never guaranteed.
• Butterfly garden: three netted enclosures where you walk among free-flying tropical butterflies and their host plants. The lodge explains the cycle: staff collect eggs from the leaves, raise the caterpillars in a small on-site laboratory and follow them through the chrysalis stage. The activities page names morphos, owl butterflies (Caligo) and swallowtails among the species, and says some adults are released into the garden and others back into the wild.
• Night tour: about two hours on the forest trails with a local guide, searching for frogs, insects, sleeping birds and nocturnal mammals.

The sloth walk is popular with day visitors as well, including groups coming up from the Guanacaste beaches, so the trails can be busier around midday. Staying overnight gives you the early morning and late afternoon, when the farm is quiet.

Birding

The birding page is short but specific about what lives here: motmots, toucans, antbirds, song wrens, manakins, woodpeckers, woodcreepers, hummingbirds and owls. It singles out three harder birds that patient watchers may find in the area, the tody motmot, the black-eared wood-quail and the rufous-vented ground-cuckoo. For more on what to look for, see our birds of Costa Rica guide.

Day trips from the farm

• Río Celeste: the lodge puts the entrance to Tenorio Volcano National Park about 15 minutes away by car, with roughly an hour’s walk to the waterfall. The trail continues past hot springs and the spot where two clear streams meet and turn the river its famous blue. Check SINAC’s page for the current entry system before you go.
• Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge: a full day, with a drive of around 1.5 to 2 hours each way and a guided float through wetlands known for caimans, birds, turtles and three species of monkey.
• Llanos de Cortés: a broad waterfall off the Pan-American Highway that’s popular with Costa Rican families for swimming.

Our Arenal and Río Celeste guide covers the park’s trails and seasons in more detail.

The Hummingbird Café

The farm’s restaurant, the Hummingbird Café, is open daily from midday to 9:30 pm and serves homemade Costa Rican food built around local and organic ingredients, some of them from the farm’s own gardens. Earlier descriptions mention a pizza oven and a bar with smoothies and cocktails. You can come back from the night tour and sit straight down to dinner. At least one listing mentions vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, but it’s worth confirming when you book.

Who it suits

Finca Verde is a good fit for travelers who care more about seeing sloths from a garden path than about room service. Families do well here because the butterfly house and short trails hold children’s attention, and the location makes Río Celeste an easy morning outing. It’s also one of the more affordable ways to stay on a farm with its own wildlife in this corner of the country, and the full listing on Costa Rica Journeys adds more photos.

It’s less suited to anyone who wants air conditioning, a pool or complete seclusion, since daytime tour groups pass through. For a more polished stay on the volcano’s flanks, compare Celeste Mountain Lodge or Tenorio Lodge, and for another small, owner-run choice in the village see Sueño Celeste Bed and Breakfast. Browse all our Northern Plains eco-lodges, or read about farm stays and permaculture in Costa Rica.